Chapter 23
~Velra~
“Almost got it.”
“I have no doubt,” Cassius responded and I caught his sweet and supportive smile in my peripheral vision, as he stood by the arched window of the bedroom, while I perched on the edge of the massive bed where Sylas lay unconscious.
Sylas.
Sylas was here.
Back with us.
About a half hour ago, a massive surge of black magic had swept around Solumira.
It hadn’t been able to enter because of the Celestial potency of the ward that Ariana had in place, something that had even been reinforced by Ketheron recently, just for extra overkill.
But then Ambrose Wisteryn had materialized outside the boundary—with Sylas in his arms.
An unconscious Sylas.
Bruised and bloodied.
Magically tapped out.
But alive.
And here.
Ambrose had broken him out with black magic.
We’d get all the details soon enough, but our priority was to see to Sylas.
Nothing came above that.
Kai had allowed Ambrose through on the condition that he would only use his black magic when within Ka’s lab and nowhere else, because he was concerned about it infecting the environment, specifically Ariana.
I forced myself onward, watching as my purple power continued to draw the dust particles from Sylas, amassing them in a levitating ball in the air above the bed.
Until it was all out of him, Cassius couldn’t heal him effectively.
That Light Fae shit, Somnoria, compromised mental acuity needed to wield magic, the usage itself, and a supernatural being’s healing capabilities.
It was some nasty stuff.
The fact it had been infused with Celestial power in order to significantly impact somebody of Sylas’ caliber was fucking disturbing beyond belief.
Cassius had already pulled out the Celestial power itself.
But actually drawing out the dust itself was a task best handled by me. It was Fae magic, something I was obviously familiar with, even with this being Light rather than Dark Fae in nature.
Finally, I watched as the last of the dust crowded around the sphere, and I cut out my purple power and stepped back with a breath.
“Very well done,” Cassius said, coming over and calling his white power to either palm.
He placed his hands either side of the sphere, his magic flaming and infusing it, until it was swallowed entirely in a burst of white light.
Gone.
That nasty stuff was obliterated.
He brushed his hands, then shrugged off his black jacket and laid it over a cozy oversized ivory chair in the seating area a few feet away underneath the window.
As he strode back toward the bed, those big biceps of his flexed, his muscles rippling beneath his form-fitting black T-shirt. Much to my surprise, given the situation, it sent a lick of desire through me.
Of course he felt it through the Brand, cocking an eyebrow at me.
And then the door flew open and his eyes darted behind me, while I spun around, just as Lazriel burst on in.
“Holy hell,” I choked as I took in the sight of blood dousing him, all over his dirtied tactical gear, staining his hands, dripping down his face, and even in his hair, obscuring the green highlights.
“It’s not mine,” he told us. “Once you got word to me, Jaxon, and V that Sylas had been rescued and where from, we hit that subterranean nightmare. Some Puritas assholes were still there trying to rebuild it under Gregor’s orders—orders from a distance because that shithead is apparently in hiding now.
So we put that contingent down. Jaxon’s taken their badly beaten unconscious bodies to the Guardian Compound for processing.
” He turned his nose up as he sniffed his arm.
“Most of this is the rancid blood shit that was all over that place. Fucking thing was destroyed once by the Guardian Movement, but those assholes rebuilt it. Well, no more. It’s gone again, and Jaxon’s gonna cleanse the grounds with Mia Snow’s help so it can’t be brought back again or anything. ”
Wow, that was a lot of information to process.
Lazriel didn’t wait, and made a beeline for the bed, then was all over Sylas, stroking his hair, nuzzling against him.
Cassius grimaced at the blood from Lazriel getting all over him and the white and blue-gray colored sheets. “You’re very fortunate those aren’t open wounds.”
Lazriel eyed him as he stroked Sylas’ hair. “I knew they weren’t. Highly-attuned wolf and vamp senses, Cas.”
“When you’re riled up, those don’t always win out over your urgency.”
“Well, we’re good now.” His brow creased then as he ran his hand carefully over Sylas’ ribs. “There’s internal damage here.” He listened carefully. “Internal bleeding. Straining.”
“We are aware,” Cassius assured him. “Velra has just extracted the Light Fae poison that was slowing his healing, so now I can effectively heal him with my magic.”
“Good. Good. Do it. Do it now,” he said, kissing Sylas’ forehead, then jumping back from the bed with a burst of speed.
He moved right beside me, and I swept my hand over him, cleansing him of the blood and dirt.
He jolted and grinned down at himself now wearing just a pair of forest-green boxers. “Really, love? Stripping me? Right now?”
I wrapped my arm around him and glued him to my side, wherein he snaked his hand along the small of my back.
When he was in a heightened state, it was well known that Lazriel was soothed by physicality.
So that’s what this was from him. But my go-to wasn’t usually that, yet that flare of desire I’d had with Cassius out of the blue moments ago and then feeling the same now as I’d cleaned and dressed Lazriel made it clear I was gravitating toward the same sense of solace.
Maybe it was the pregnancy altering that for me.
Maybe it was the fact when Sylas had been taken, me, Lazriel, and Cassius had been in different places, not around one another, so now it was hitting harder that we were again.
We watched as Cassius swept his magic carefully over Sylas’ prone body, back and forth measuredly, healing him.
A rush of relief rolled through me as I watched the bruising and grazing fade bit by bit, that gaunt look dissipating and life and energy breathing back into him, because as Cassius healed him, it enabled Sylas’ power to flow again without compromise.
After a few moments, Cassius snuffed out his power and smiled out at us with a definitive nod.
He went to step back, but then we all jolted as Sylas’ hand shot out and grabbed Cassius’ throat.
Cassius choked.
Sylas’ crimson magic sparked.
“Sylas…” Cassius rasped.
I saw him move to call his power, but stop, not wanting to hurt him.
As I started forward, Cassius moved to exert his Celestial strength to peel the fingers from around his throat. But he grunted as Sylas’ magic shocked him, sparking dangerously.
Lazriel burst forward to intervene.
“Stop!” I cried out.
Lazriel’s insane reflexes had him pulling up short just a fraction of a second before making contact. He swung his head toward me.
“Necromantic power flaming wildly,” I told him. “You’re part vampire.”
“Shit,” he uttered, taking a reluctant step back.
Sylas’ eyes snapped open, flaming with his power too.
His gaze flickered unstably, his confusion clear, disorientation leading the way.
And then he registered Cassius fully, his flaming eyes quieting.
I saw his grip loosen.
Cassius sucked in a breath.
But Sylas didn’t release him, and his magic was still sparking around Cassius’ throat.
“Something is wrong,” he rasped. “My magic… it’s destabilized.”
“It’s all right,” Cassius told him. “You cannot kill me like this. You know that.”
“Hurting you isn’t acceptable either. Rip my hand off.”
“Sylas—”
“Do it.”
Cassius grimaced, but then snatched Sylas’ wrist. With a burst of his white power, he used a combination of his strength and his magic to break his grip.
I winced as I heard a series of resounding cracks, followed by a pained cry from Sylas.
He panted and cradled his now broken fingers.
And they were still sparking with his power.
“What’s happening?” I asked, moving toward the bed.
“No!” he cried. “Stay back.” His gaze dropped to my belly. “Keep away. Keep him safe from me.”
Him?
What the—
“Come, love,” Lazriel spoke, urging me back with him.
Cassius stood just out of physical reach of Sylas, studying him. Then a deep frown marred his brow. “The necromantic cores have been destabilized through something you endured during captivity. They’re separating… breaking from being a part of you.”
“Yeah,” Sylas spoke. “Hence me not being able to control my magic properly.”
“Endured what?” Lazriel barked. “What the fuck did they do to you?”
Sylas’ gaze darted to Lazriel’s briefly, and then he looked away, focusing on his sparking hands as he murmured, “It was the torture chair… I warped it when I broke free and fed Gregor’s pain to it instead.”
“Hold up—torture chair?” Lazriel pushed.
I rubbed Lazriel’s arm as I told him, “It’s a device used by Puritas at Genexis to try to undo the duality of hybrid abilities and powers. It punishes that specific thing… balancing and drawing on both sides.”
Knowing of that despicable thing harkened back to my days of living in survival mode, making sure I knew my enemies and how they operated.
Cassius looked sick with it, but in true Cassius fashion, pushed through and focused on the immediate issue, posing, “Given what it can do, it would seem it was identifying those three necromantic cores as hybridized physiology, when in fact that’s not what they are.
You wield your own magic only. They are merely… the batteries at current.”
“Partial batteries, but, yeah.” He shifted on the bed as he managed to stop his power from sparking. At least for now. “Where is… what… is this the interior of Glacialis Arx?”
“It is,” I confirmed. When Ketheron and Cassius had shown it to us before, the interior hadn’t been fully completed. But now there was this. “The main bedroom. Our bedroom.”
“Looks fucking amazing,” Lazriel murmured as he started taking it in properly now.
It was his first time seeing it too. Even Cassius when he’d teleported in earlier after I’d called him to report that Sylas had been returned.
During the short times when Nyx and I had needed to give our magical research space and time to blend, cure, and whatever else, we’d been in here putting this together.
The frosted arches shimmered faintly, the mystical effect enhanced by the crystal sconces all around casting soft light upon the space.
The bed was an enormous four-poster creation with an intricately carved headboard.
The seating area to the right of where Lazriel and me currently stood, and straight ahead for Sylas, was a decadent lounge space with an oversized ivory chair with pewter legs, low tables with frosted glass tops and a wraparound shimmery light gray couch.
There was a magically-floating chandelier above, along with a fireplace wherein the fire shifted color when it was roaring and in full flame.
“This is… it’s really something,” Sylas managed.
His awe and the joyful glint in his eyes was all too short-lived, as it was for us all, when his magic started sparking uncontrollably again. “Ambrose… where is he? He must have the core and Corvin’s magic… I had it before I passed out.”
“Kai has them both now,” I told him. “He’s prepping the spell as we speak.”
Sylas started. “He’s… what?”
The urge to go to him was intense, but I stayed back.
It wasn’t that I thought he’d actually hurt me or the baby—or any of us in a substantial way—it was that he needed the distance to feel safe for us right now. Lazriel nuzzled against me and I saw Cassius giving me a nod of reassurance.
So, instead, I stayed where I was. “We wanted to have the spell done before you woke up, but you roused a hell of a lot faster than we thought. As soon as Ambrose arrived with you, he handed over the core and the magic to Kai, knowing the two of you had been working on a cure for a long time, knowing Kai would have the means to see to it.”
He frowned at me for a moment. “Ah, to spare me the pain?”
“To spare you the trauma.”
“Of yet another fucking horrific medical procedure. On top of the torture it sounds like you just experienced too… it’s way too much, Sylas,” Lazriel said.
A haunted look clouded Sylas’ face for a moment, before he quickly blinked it away. Then he lifted a shoulder. “It is what it is. Given what I am, it’s par for the course.”
“Never gonna accept that,” Lazriel growled.
“No. We won’t.”
“This will be the last,” Cassius added. “Then we fight, we prevail, and all the rest falls away into memory. The future will be a salve upon it all.”
“Wow, Cas,” Lazriel said, grinning out at him. “That was verging on romantic. In an epic fucking way.”
Cassius smiled back at him. “Indeed.”
I was smiling too, and I even saw Sylas crack a smile, despite how distressed he clearly was at not being in full control of his power, and what he’d just endured compounding the already heavy burden of everything.
“There’s hope to be had here,” I told him, gesturing at the four of us, and then my belly. “Real, tangible hope. Okay? Do you hear us?”
He scrubbed his hand over his face, his magic sparking erratically not harming him as he did so, but definitely irritating him.
“Yeah,” he offered. “Of course.” He shifted his weight and carefully pushed off the bed without using his sparking hands.
His eyes darkened as he rose to his feet.
“Besides, I owe those motherfuckers a reckoning. We all do.”