Chapter 30 #3
“So—” Kyra winced as she pushed away from the wall to adjust herself. “Is this it then? Am I to finally meet the Goddesses in Arcelia?”
Auraelia’s chuckle was dark as her gaze clashed with Kyra’s. “I think you and I both know you won’t meet the Goddesses in Arcelia. You’ll be lucky if the Goddess Keres claims your soul for the underrealm.”
Kyra let out another choked laugh. “And what about you, Your Majesty? How black will your soul be once this is all over?”
Auraelia clenched her jaw, every muscle in her body drawing taut as she struggled to maintain some semblance of control. She knew that Kyra was going to push her. Had thought that their last encounter had been enough of a lesson to prepare her. But she’d been wrong.
One look at the smug smile beginning to stretch across Kyra’s face had cracked her carefully placed mask, and her rage manifested tenfold.
Heat began to flood her veins, white light creeping into her vision as sparks lit the ends of her fingers. Everything that she’d been suppressing rushed to the surface.
Hate.
Pure, unfettered, and blinding hatred for the people who insisted on uprooting her life.
Lord Harland. Davina. Lady Lavena, Lord Kaemon of Pearl, and the assassins they’d sent to kill her.
But tangled within it was also hatred that she’d thought she’d squashed months ago. Hatred for her mother. For how she’d kept Auraelia in the dark all these years. For the secrets she’d refused to share that inevitably led to her death.
That realization fueled her rage into a living, breathing thing. The air around them stirred, and from her periphery, she could see Piper and Aiden stiffen where they stood just inside the doorway.
Blocking out the anxious gazes on their faces, Auraelia focused on the woman who’d set this all into motion. The one who would receive the brunt of the rage she’d kept bottled up for far too long. “I will turn my soul the color of the blackest night if it means keeping my people safe.”
Kyra shifted then, turning her body to face Auraelia as a Cheshire grin spread across her lips. “Then we are one and the same.”
“I am nothing like you.”
Auraelia released the hold on her magic.
Let it flow out of her in controlled waves and delve into Kyra, her lightning lighting up the dark cell.
Kyra’s screams bounced off the walls, echoing through the small chamber until Auraelia pulled the air from her lungs to smother the sound.
Kyra’s body convulsed so violently that she flung herself from her cot, her head landing with a loud crack against the stone floor.
She could feel the life beginning to leave Kyra’s body.
Could feel her heart slam against her ribs as it attempted to pump blood to her dying limbs. Felt Kyra’s lungs scream for the air Auraelia continued to deny them.
It was a rush like no other.
The feeling of holding someone’s life in your hands. Of being the one to either grant them the gift of life or snuff out the light in their eyes.
Auraelia fed into that feeling, letting it build and grow until it nearly consumed her. The magic in her veins flooded every pore, and she poured it into the writhing woman in front of her.
She no longer cared what happened to her soul.
She no longer cared for anything other than the euphoria from delving into her darkest parts. From the feeling that seeking retribution gave her.
She was on the brink of fully succumbing to that alluring darkness when a ghost of a voice filtered into her mind.
You’re not Kyra, Auraelia. And you sure as hell aren’t Davina. You’re one of the strongest people that I have ever met.
As if Daemon had been standing right beside her, the silky cadence of his voice wrapped around her like the shadows he commanded, luring her away from the nothingness that called her name.
A welcome sense of calm washed over her, smoothing the rough edges of her soul and clearing the blinding rage that coursed in her veins.
It was like being bathed in sunshine, and realization took its place as the darkness ebbed away.
Aiden.
Auraelia spooled her magic back into herself and collapsed into the chair. She hadn’t even realized she’d risen from it until her legs gave out from under her.
Staring into the cell, Auraelia’s stomach roiled.
She thought she’d feel relief. Thought that ending Kyra’s life would have brought her some semblance of peace.
But as she looked at the lifeless body in front of her—at the way Kyra’s limbs were broken and splayed in different directions, smoke rising in delicate swirls from the way her lightning had wreaked havoc on her body—she felt nothing but hopelessness.
She hadn’t just killed her; she’d obliterated her.
Panicked voices surrounded her, but they all sounded like they were underwater—muffled and muted to the point of being unrecognizable.
Auraelia pulled her gaze from the lifeless body on the other side of the cell bars and stared down at where her hands were trembling in her lap.
To the darkened green stain on the tips that had grown past her second knuckle, and she couldn’t help but wonder if they now mirrored her soul.
Auraelia squeezed her eyes shut, attempting to block out the image of Kyra’s battered body, but it was emblazoned in her mind; her screams were a nightmare’s echo.
She kept them closed despite feeling someone pulling the chair away from the cell. She kept them clenched when she felt warm, callused hands wrapped around her own. And even still, when a wash of calm settled over her and a warm, hesitant voice filled her ears.
“Rae?” When she didn’t answer, the grip on her hands tightened to the point of pain, and the voice spoke again. “Come on, lightning girl. Talk to me. You alright?”
Auraelia let out a huff of a laugh as Aiden’s voice finally permeated the fog clouding her mind. “I thought I told you not to call me that?”
His laugh seemed to be one of relief, and he loosened his grip on her hands. “You did, but I think the moniker fits. That was some power back there. Are you alright?”
As she cracked her eyes, she realized that not only had she been pulled away from the cell, but Aiden had turned her chair away from the devastation she’d caused.
She met his honeyed gaze before letting hers travel to meet the glassy eyes of Piper, who was squatting by her side.
When she met Aiden once more, she released a heavy sigh.
“Honestly? No, I’m not. I never intended for it to go that far.”
“She got what she deserved,” Aiden said with conviction.
“Did she? Or is what I did no better than what she did to my mother? What Davina did to my people and is planning to do to the realm?”
“Rae,” Piper’s hands replaced Aiden’s, and Auraelia shifted her attention to her best friend.
The tears in her hazel eyes made the green outshine the golden brown hues, and Auraelia latched onto them as she listened.
“Kyra and Davina attacked your family and your people unprovoked. What you just did? No one can fault you for that reaction. And I hate to say it, but this isn’t the only time you’re going to have to do that.
War is coming. People are going to die. There’s no avoiding that, no matter how hard we might try. ”
Auraelia held Piper’s gaze, then nodded.
She knew Piper was right. Knew that not everyone could be—or should be—saved.
But that didn’t mean she shouldn’t do everything in her power to save the ones she could.
Taking a deep breath, Auraelia pulled her hands from Piper’s and pushed up from the chair.
Her knees buckled, and she was immensely grateful when Aiden wrapped his arm around her waist.
“You need to eat, Sparky.”
Auraelia’s eyebrows shot upward as she swiveled her head toward Aiden. “Sparky?”
“No, you’re right. Lightning Girl fits better.”
Auraelia shook her head and let out a small laugh. Knowing everything she did about Aiden, it shouldn’t have surprised her that he’d try to lighten the mood with ill-placed humor. “Whatever you say, Blondie.”
“Blondie?” Aiden gasped. “You wound me, Your Majesty.”
Auraelia chuckled at their exchange and leaned into Aiden as he carefully maneuvered her around the chair and toward the door.
When they reached the threshold, Auraelia paused as an idea sprung to mind.
Killing Kyra was meant to send a message, and letting her body rot in the dungeon or in the ground wouldn’t do that.
She pulled away from Aiden for a moment to meet his gaze head-on.
“How discreetly do you think you could get her body to the border?”
“To the…border? Which border?” he asked hesitantly.
Auraelia didn’t think a person’s eyes could get as wide as Aiden’s had become, shock etching every feature on his face as she said, “Garnet’s.”