Chapter 37 #2
She continued to meet each opponent blow for blow, her magic and training guiding her through the movements.
Sweat plastered strands of her hair to her face and soaked through her layers.
Blood coated the onyx and gold plates of her armor and mud caked her boots.
But as she pulled her blade free from another nameless face’s abdomen, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end, and a sickly sweet laugh silenced the tumult of battle that had been there mere moments before.
“Hello, cousin.”
Auraelia’s grip tightened on her hilt as she turned to meet the face of the person who’d brought all of this bloodshed to her front door. Who perpetrated grief and loss throughout the realm.
“I do hope you’ve saved some of your strength for me. I want to end you when you’re at your best.”
The sight of Davina’s sinister smile had her magic surging in her veins; sparks of lightning ignited at the tips of her fingers as the wind stirred the air around them.
“I see you’re still letting others fight your battles for you, cousin,” Auraelia spat as her gaze raked over Davina. She was all black except for the crimson breastplate and cape fluttering in the delicate wind that drifted over the field.
Davina scoffed as her blood-red lips pulled up into a sneer. “I’m not here for them. I’m here for you.”
Auraelia’s magic responded before she’d even had time to think, her lightning searing through her veins at the onslaught of Davina’s magic that was determined to take root. The battle around them faded into nothing as Auraelia focused on the enemy before her.
Davina’s assault on her system pulled her concentration into defensive strategies, channeling her strength into fighting off the ice that threatened to crystallize in her blood. She’d trained for years, but not even Ser Aeron could prepare her to fight something she couldn’t see.
She couldn’t defeat her if all of her magic was going to stave off Davina’s attacks.
She needed to attack hard and fast.
What she needed was a distraction.
Grabbing hold of the rich brown thread that connected her to the earth, Auraelia pulled on the ground beneath Davina’s feet in an attempt to knock her off balance.
It worked, but only enough to give her mere seconds to strike.
Throwing out a bolt of lightning, her heart sank as it only grazed her cousin’s shoulder.
Davina’s assault stopped as she brought her hand to where blood had begun to trickle down from the wound and let out a guttural scream. When her crazed gaze met Auraelia’s, she hissed through clenched teeth, “Big mistake, little cousin.”
Frigid magic assaulted Auraelia’s system harder and faster than her own could respond; her lightning fizzled out as it came close to the icy bands that constricted her veins and wrapped around her heart.
Every breath felt like she was sucking daggers into her lungs.
Every movement sent streams of ice so cold it burned down her limbs.
Blinding agony shot through her, causing her muscles to lock.
Auraelia cried out as she clung to her threads, begging them to aid her against the onslaught.
But as Davina’s stranglehold over her body tightened, her magic began to slip through her fingers.
The fragments of her magic dimmed, growing limp like a wilted flower on a vine.
And the more she fought, the harder Davina hit her.
Summoning the strength she had left, Auraelia threw everything she had into one more strike. But it failed, her lightning sputtering as it left her hand and dying completely before it reached Davina.
Lies.
It was all lies.
Davina hadn’t wanted her at her best. She’d wanted her at her weakest. She hid behind people who had no stake in this war until she found out Auraelia was worn down. And she’d gotten her wish.
She was exhausted; her magic spent.
And she’d failed.
Failed her family and her people.
Daemon. The thought of him and the future she’d looked forward to exploring with him had her heart stalled in her chest for an entirely different reason.
She could feel the life draining from her body, her heart slowing to stagnant beats.
Blood began to trickle out of her nose, the taste of copper filling her mouth as her knees threatened to give out.
If this is what the Goddess Dalia had in store for her, then she had no choice but to accept her fate.
Davina’s laugh echoed across the field, its shrill tone stabbing into her skull as she staggered to stay on her feet.
“Auraelia!”
She could have sworn she heard Daemon screaming her name, but through the pain-addled fog, it didn’t make sense. He was in Opal. There was no way he could be there.
Auraelia tried to shake the cloud of agony from her mind, but it was like trying to uproot a mountain. She heard her name again, closer this time, but her knees buckled, and she sank into the muck as the world around her went black.
Daemon
War was a brutal part of life. There would always be the ones who died and the ones who lived to tell the story. But as Daemon watched Auraelia fall to her knees, every shred of humanity he had left crumbled with her.
“No!” he screamed, his voice cracking from the strain. He could feel her fading. Could feel her heart slowing as if it were his own, the thread tethering them together weakening with each draw of breath into his lungs. “Auraelia!”
Daemon spooled down to a depth of his magic he’d never explored, letting his power unfurl around him and fill him with a darkness he’d never known.
Shadows spilled out around him, shrouding the ground in a heavy blanket of rolling black mist as snake-like tendrils dove into the mouths of their enemies, suffocating their screams as their lives became forfeit.
Drawing his sword, he began to cut his way across the field.
It didn’t matter if the wounds left by his blade were what leeched the light from soldiers’ eyes; his shadows had become a living, breathing entity.
They shaped into creatures that would haunt even grown men’s nightmares before extinguishing the souls that dared get in his way.
Taking advantage of Davina’s focus on Auraelia, Daemon slipped between the shadows until he was in front of her, and his hand was wrapped around her throat.
“Let. Her. Go.” he bit out through gritted teeth, his hold tightening around the slender column of her neck. Davina’s smile was malicious as she met his gaze, but her assault on Auraelia never ceased; her power was a palpable force surrounding the woman he loved.
“Hello, Prince Daemon. Or is it King now? I’m so glad you could join us.
” He didn’t even have time to blink before ice crystalized in his veins.
“I must admit, I was a little disappointed to learn that you left your precious star. Goddess knows it’s going to be so much more satisfying to let you watch her wither away in front of your eyes. ”
Davina pried his hand from her throat and shoved her own into his chest, sending him staggering back to where Auraelia had fallen. Daemon groaned as a burning cold surrounded his heart, causing him to double over just to stay on his feet.
Only together can you do what needs to be done.
Narissa’s words filtered through his mind as he glanced down at his fallen star.
There was blood caked on her armor, and her hair was matted to her face, but she was still so beautiful.
It looked like she was just sleeping, but the dimming glow of the bond that connected them told another story.
With every slow beat of her heart, each ragged breath she drew into her lungs had her fading further and further away from him.
Open your eyes, Auraelia. Fight this. He mentally pleaded as he took in the soft lines of her face.
“Kneel.”
Davina’s command had him dragging his gaze from the woman he loved to the one he despised.
With gritted teeth, Daemon forced his body to straighten. “There is only one woman I will ever get on my knees for, and it will never be you.”
“I said kneel!” Davina shouted, her power wrapping around him in a way he hadn’t experienced.
Instead of ice, it felt like his blood was boiling.
His heart thundered in his chest. Every breath was suffocating as blood filled his mouth and spilled from his nose.
Daemon crumpled, his knees sinking into the mud next to Auraelia as he continued to choke on the very thing meant to keep him alive.
Davina stalked toward him, bending until her face was mere inches from his own. “Last chance, little King. Bow to me, and you can rule by my side. Refuse, and you will die. Either way, you will be on your knees before me.”
“Go to hell.” Daemon spat, spraying blood over Davina’s face.
She sucked on a canine as she straightened, her head tilting to the side before a feline smile stretched across her face. “Have it your way, then.”
Being drowned by one of Narissa’s creatures would have been preferable to the agony that was being inflicted on every inch of his body. Davina’s magic ravaged his system, snuffing out any glimmer of shadows in his veins.
It was like she was playing with him, prolonging his torment as she alternated between the two extremes of her power. One moment, it felt like icicles stabbing his brain while frost bloomed around his heart. In the next, blood would be pouring from his mouth and nose.
Daemon bent over, his fingers digging into the mud as he gritted his teeth through the onslaught. Fighting through the pain, he slid his hand over to Auraelia and curled his fingers around hers.
Auraelia, please, my star. Your people need you. I need you.
He wasn’t sure if he imagined it, but as stars danced around his vision, he could have sworn he felt the tether tighten.