33. Chapter 33
Chapter 33
Alyssa
I hated passing out. Doing it in front of a crowd of people was even worse. It couldn’t be healthy to do it twice in such quick succession, even if the first time had been more about sinking into the surrounding magic.
This was twice in less than an hour, and I’d be damned if I was staying down. I was supposed to be showing these people that they could rely on me to protect them. This was hardly going to give them that impression.
With a groan, I forced myself upright, apparently against the wishes of whoever was hovering next to me as they tried to keep me down on the ground. Every muscle screamed in agony in time with the pounding headache that made me want to throw up.
“I’m fine.” I tried not to think about how that sounded slurred, even to my own ears.
Damn, the magical burnout was hitting me hard. I could barely feel any of my own magic inside me, but I knew it was because the pathways I usually accessed it through were fried. The amount of power it would take to do that was more than I wanted to think about right now. Mostly because I was more worried about whether I’d done myself some permanent damage.
Fizzle was going to give me one hell of a lecture about this later. Whoopie!
As it turned out, Dean was the one at my side. I shouldn’t have really been surprised about that. Of course, it was him.
“You’re not fine. You passed out and you sound like you went on one hell of a bender.”
If only he knew. As Dean helped me to my feet, my head swam, and I quickly swallowed down the vomit that flooded my mouth. Throwing up now definitely wouldn’t look good.
“I’m fine. I just need to catch my breath.”
I heard a scoff from behind me and I knew it was Fizzle without even looking. Thankfully, that was all he had to say on the subject for now.
Rhidian’s fighters still surrounded us as they cautiously helped the now former Endless soldiers out of their armour and up to their feet. The trauma in their expressions made my heart ache. I couldn’t even imagine what they’d been through.
Dean squeezed my shoulder when he saw me looking around at the soldiers. “You’ve got this,” he murmured, so only I could hear.
Right, I should probably say something.
Except, what were you supposed to say to someone when they’d just been through what they had?
I took a deep breath, praying that my head would stop spinning. I could do this. I wouldn’t fail them now, not when they were on the cusp of getting their lives back. Or at least, whatever was left of them.
“I know you’re hurting right now. We can never understand what you’ve been through, but just know that we’re here to do whatever we can to help. We aren’t far from the Spring Palace. If you’ll come with us, we can see to your injuries, and get some food into you. I won’t force you to join us. This doesn’t have to be your fight if you don’t want it to be. But know that we are going to strike back at Arik, and I’m going to make him hurt. He will pay for his crimes against you and I intend for it to be with his life.”
As I spoke, I felt my strength slowly returning to me. It came with the wave of hatred I felt for the man who had ruined my life. The people around me listened intently, but I didn’t miss the gleam in their eyes. I could already tell that most of them would join the fight. The fae were never ones to back away from a bit of revenge, and Arik had so much of it coming his way.
“We have enough supplies to make everyone comfortable,” Rhidian pointed out. “We’re going to have to move on soon before Arik regroups for a second attack, but if you choose not to come with us, we’ll do what we can to make sure you find your way to safety.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Rhidian and the stoney look on his face. Maybe I should have discussed it with him before jumping in and taking charge. We hadn’t really talked about how it was all going to work. He’d have to accept it sooner rather than later, though. This was my court and I had my own path to follow here. He was welcome to join it, and I hoped to fuck that he would because I needed him. Not to mention the fighters he’d bring with him.
As if sensing my thoughts, Rhidian nodded and then turned away, calling out directions to his fighters to help those that needed it back to the palace.
“We should look for the others,” I said to Dean, turning back to my mate. “They should have come back by now.”
He was worried about them, too. I could tell by the look on his face. If I was being honest with myself, I was surprised he’d come back. I knew Dean and his wolf were completely devoted to me, but he’d chosen me over his brothers, and I knew exactly how much that meant.
Slipping my arm around his waist, I stepped closer, leaning against my mate as Dean wrapped his arms around me. He dropped his forehead to my hair, and we stood for a moment, soaking up the reassurance that we’d made it through. We were one step closer towards the end of this, towards the battle which, if Fizzle was right, would end with us dead on the ground, and the realm finally free. It was hard to face that kind of reality and not want to run away, but this was bigger than us. The fate of thousands hung in the balance, if there were even that many fae left now. Turning away would have been a bigger atrocity than Arik was committing and it was something I’d never be able to live with, not again.
“There’s no need,” Dean whispered, and I was confused at first about what he was talking about.
Then I heard it. The soft steps of people moving closer.
My hand darted to the sheath of my sword, only to find it empty. There was no magic left for me to draw on, and for a moment, I panicked.
But then their voices reached me, and I sighed in relief. Not just because they were back, but because they sounded happy, and that could mean only one thing.
The four of them emerged through the trees, a familiar dark-haired man at their centre. He locked eyes with me, a crooked smile lighting across his lips as he did, and they all walked closer.
Tank moved straight for me, dipping his head and kissing me passionately. Considering that we were standing in a crowd and he was as naked as the day he was born, it probably wasn’t appropriate, and I heard a few soft snickers flow around the bystanders nearby.
Ryder and Maddox stayed flanking Damon, but I didn’t take it personally. They were finally reunited, and besides; they weren’t as used to walking around naked after a shift as Tank was. Dean seemed to have gone down the route of ignoring the whole thing, but from the blush touching Maddox’s cheeks, he wasn’t finding it as easy.
“We’re moving out,” Rhidian called out. “There’s far too many asses out around here for me to want to stay.”
More of the fighters laughed, and thankfully, my guys saw the funny side of it all as they joined in. Tank just shrugged, still not seeing what the big deal was. To be fair, the bear had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of in that department. Not that any of my other mates did, either.
It was an awkward walk back to the palace. I hadn’t realised how far out we’d run to meet our attackers until now. All it did was give me plenty of time to spiral out over how I’d break it to the others that Damon needed to go straight into a cage. At least for now. He might be their brother, but he wasn’t the same man they remembered from home. I was burned out, and without access to anything powerful, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t feel what was coming off him, and it was a magic I wasn’t familiar with. Which couldn’t be a good thing.
Somehow, I’d ended up in the middle of our procession back to the palace walls. Rhidian and Fizzle were leading the group, a small amount of the fighters and the former Endless following them. Maddox, Ryder and Dean had all fallen in around Damon. I could hear them chatting and laughing as we moved through the forest. Thankfully, none of them were talking about anything that had happened since they’d arrived in Nymeria. It seemed like they were reminiscing about the old days. Whether that was coincidence or by design, I couldn’t tell. But from an outsider’s perspective, the guys were enjoying having their brother back with them, and I really didn’t want to be the one to burst their bubble.
“I’d push you down for a burger right now,” Damon grumbled, both hands cradling his stomach as they walked. “Do you remember the ones from the diner on the corner? What was the name of that place? Damn, that was the best burger I’ve ever eaten in my life.”
“Stacey’s!” Ryder blurted out. “Oh my god, yes! And the fries. Oh, the fries.”
Tank’s hand slipped into mine, drawing my attention away from their group in front of us.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
“Yes, just… we’ve got a lot to do and a lot of people to organise. It’s going to be a long night.”
Tank hummed in agreement, not quite sounding convinced that was what troubled me. He knew me far too well.
The palace wall came into view, and I heard the sighs of relief from the fighters that brought up the rear. You couldn’t blame them. The forest wasn’t a place any of them wanted to be.
A flap of wings heralded the arrival of Fizzle at the same time as Tank suddenly ducking.
“Don’t even think about it,” he blurted out, dodging away to stop Fizzle from landing on his shoulder.
Instead, I ended up with him on mine, much to Tank’s relief. “The perch is getting a bit too full of himself,” Fizzle grumbled as he made himself comfortable.
“Your claws are bad enough when I’ve got a shirt on!” Tank complained, and Fizzle snapped his beak in his direction before turning away and deciding to ignore him.
“We have the dungeons ready,” he said to me instead.
Brilliant, so we’re doing this now then. There was no avoiding it. I had to put the people here first, and for now, we didn’t know how much we could trust Damon. He hadn’t been controlled by Arik the same way that the Endless were and there was no denying that some kind of dark magic still clung to him. We had to be practical. This was the only way.
I needn’t have worried, though. As soon as our group came to a stop waiting to see what happened now, Dean kicked the back of Damon’s knees out from beneath him, forcing him down to the ground.
“Shall we cut the bullshit now?” he sneered.
Damon cried out as he fell forward onto his hands and knees. “What the fuck, Dean? That was completely unnecessary.”
Only as he tried to climb back to his feet, it was Maddox’s hand on his shoulder to shove him back down.
“Don’t insult me. I know my brother, and I haven’t been talking to him for the last five minutes,” Maddox spat.
I glanced at Tank, who looked just as surprised as I felt. I’d been right behind them, and I might not have been paying attention the whole way here, but I hadn’t seen or felt any change in the man in front of me. Perhaps my magic was more burned out than I first thought.
Damon’s face almost seemed to change as the sneer slowly moved across it, and he started to laugh. “Not as stupid as you used to be, dear brother.”
Maddox shoved him again, and it only made Damon, or whoever was in control right now, laugh harder.
“And here I was thinking you’d just let me straight into the communal bed.”
No one had time to stop Dean before he punched Damon straight in the face. He swiped the blood from his nose with a derisive laugh. “I remember you being so much more effective than that before. Not going soft on us, are you?”
I could see how much Dean wanted to lash out again, but before he had the chance, Rhidian slammed the hilt of his sword into the back of Damon’s head, knocking him out cold.
“Secure him down in the dungeon,” Rhidian instructed two of his fighters, who immediately stepped forward and grabbed Damon under the arms. “Guard him until we come down to question him. No one else goes near him.”
The guys didn’t object. If anything, they looked relieved as they silently watched their brother being dragged away.