Chapter 41
CHAPTER
His body was heavy in my arms, as if he was slowly giving in, but his eyes were locked with mine, unwavering.
“I figured… you would rather see him than me right now… besides I wanted to grant you your wish,” Malakai whispered, his voice weak, almost far away. “For him to be there for you, one last time, without arguing… Sorry for not being able to uphold the illusion for a bit longer.”
Malakai wanted to… My heart tightened, something breaking inside of me. “Why?”
He smiled lazily. “You’re my spark, sweetie.”
Malakai’s words dissolved into a cough, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. The sight ignited my flames anew, fury blazing hot in my chest. What did that even mean!?
“Oh, you came back?” Nicron’s voice dripped with amusement as he reloaded his gun, each click deliberate, unhurried. “I thought you’d be off drinking with your shiny demon lords by now, claiming your price and leading them here to devour the rest of these worthless humans.”
“I did,” Malakai said, chuckling dryly despite the blood. “Gave them a warm send-off.”
Nicron froze for a fraction of a second. His eyes sharpened.
“You killed our reinforcements?” he clipped, before he eased up again. “I guess you’re arrogant enough to want to claim the victory all by yourself? That was a neat trick. Where did you pick up shapeshifting?”
Malakai hissed, not able to respond as the quartz burned deeper into his chest, the sound raw, guttural.
“Ah, brother, my mistake,” Nicron drawled with a shrug. “I didn’t realise you weren’t done playing with your toy. You want the honor of finishing her off yourself? I thought I was doing you a favor.”
A low growl rumbled through Malakai, primal and dangerous.
“Touch her again,” his voice cracked like thunder. “And I’ll make sure the Demon King himself hears your screams echo for centuries.”
Scarlet threads of his power erupted, cutting through the water around my feet, thickening it with blood until it recoiled from us.
Nicron sighed, unimpressed. “How utterly boring. Predictable, just like a human.”
My head spun. Betrayal, or double agent? He killed Michlael and Jarkas, where did that leave us? According to Nicron, Malakai was never supposed to come back, and yet, here he was.
For me.
The sharp sizzle of burning quartz snapped me from my spiral, followed by Malakai’s pained grunt.
“Malakai, where did it hit?” I snapped, reaching for him.
“Ignore it,” he barked. “I can’t hold him and pull it out at once. Kill him.”
“I—” My voice faltered. Nicron’s smirk lingered in my vision, but I saw how Malakai’s threads tangled Nicron’s gun, forcing it upward, coils already slithering around his feet to root him in place.
Malakai’s body trembled. His teeth ground together as he hunched, agony twisting his expression.
“Malakai…” I whispered. His hand shot out, grabbing my shirt, the grip desperate and unyielding.
“I’m sorry,” he rasped, each breath tearing through him. “Sorry I startled you, but you have to kill him. Trust me.”
The words were like a punch to the face. I’d told him once that I trusted him, right before he tore my world apart.
And yet, staring at him now, broken but still shielding me, my heart already knew its answer. No matter what he had done… I wanted to believe.
My flames surged at my command, lashing towards Nicron. He summoned water to drown them, but it was pushed back by crimson blood, splitting under the force of my fire. An opening, my flames roared through, searing him.
Nicron hissed, staggering. “Enough of this. I get it, you’re angry I threatened your little plaything.”
“Angry?” Malakai’s voice rumbled, low and lethal. His eyes burned with red fire, something feral cracking loose. “Oh… you haven’t seen anything yet.”
The water around us convulsed as scarlet threads ripped through it, twisting upward in a storm of blood and flame. They split the field, choking out Nicron’s control, devouring his power at its roots.
He staggered back, his smirk faltering. “You—”
The threads struck, coiling around his limbs, his throat, dragging him down until his knees slammed against the ground.
“Pathetic,” Malakai spat, though a shudder of pain cut through his chest, and blood darkened his lips. His hand briefly pressed to the wound where the quartz burned close to his heart, and then he forced it away, refusing to show weakness. His fury drowned it out.
“To think, you even considered tasting what’s mine.” His voice deepened, guttural with rage. “You touched her. For that, I will see you torn apart.”
The field quaked. Red threads bloomed across the muddy ground, burning hot, as they all wrapped around Nicron in a thick layer of blood. Nicron gasped, his water hissing into steam where Malakai’s power bound him.
“Malakai,” I cried, my hands reaching for him. His body trembled, shoulders tight, as if each breath was agony. He couldn’t hold this forever.
His eyes flicked to mine, fierce and unwavering even through the haze of pain. “This ends with you.”
My heart lurched. “What?”
He tightened the threads, wringing another scream from Nicron, his voice cracking with both wrath and strain. “I’ll hold him, you strike. You lead them. This kill, this victory, belongs to you.”
“What—”
“Trust me,” he rasped, lips curling in a bloody grin.
Nicron thrashed, panic finally breaking through his arrogance as the blood-threads crushed him further. His eyes darted to me, wild, desperate.
“Mmm-make him stop! You’re nothing without him!” he spat.
“Wrong,” Malakai snarled, his gaze never leaving me. “She is everything, even without me.”
His grip tightened. The threads lifted Nicron’s head, forcing him to meet my eyes. “Now, burn him.”
My flames answered before my fear could. They surged from my hands, washing over Nicron like a tidal wave of fire. His scream tore through the air, drowned by the roar of flame. His body writhed against the blood-threads, then it stopped. Consumed by fire, collapsing into ash.
Silence fell, broken only by the ragged sound of Malakai’s breathing and low murmurs of confusion in the background.
His head tilted towards me, eyes half-lidded, a ghost of a smile breaking through the blood and pain. “You did it, sweetie.”
The last embers faded into smoke. His crimson threads slithered back to him, shuddering, before dissolving completely.
His weight lurched. I barely caught him, his body heavy, trembling, blood spilling hot against my hands.
“Malakai!” My voice cracked. Panic clawed in my throat as I pulled him against me. His skin burned, yet he shivered, his strength crumbling at last. “Stay with me, please, why would you do this? Why… why kill them, why—”
My words tangled, furious and afraid, the betrayal still raw in my chest even as he sagged into my arms. His head dipped against my shoulder, breath warm, uneven.
“Shh…” His voice was weak, yet the tone was steady, soothing, like an anchor in a storm. “Calm down, kitten. Don’t… waste your fire on fear.”
Tears blurred my sight. “You destroyed everything, you burned their trust, killed their leaders and I—”
“It had to be a demon’s hand,” he whispered, eyes half-lidded, blood on his lips. “The leaders… if I killed them, both sides would unite against a common enemy. No more squabbling, no more waiting. Now, they will turn their rage towards the Demon King’s army. They’ll stand together.”
My heart throbbed painfully. “You made yourself their target.”
His smile, faint but real, brushed across his face. “And you… their light.”
The truth hit me like a blade, he hadn’t used me for his own goals. He’d sacrificed everything, even my trust, to give me this chance. To give everyone a chance to fix the world.
My throat closed, sobs threatening to climb it.
“Idiot,” I choked out, clutching him tighter. “Stupid, reckless, unbearable idiot.”
His chest shuddered with a quiet laugh, though it broke into a cough. His hand found my arm, weak but still grounding me.
The glow from the quartz gem pulsed inside his chest, with each beat it was sinking deeper. I felt its burn under my palm, and dread froze me.
“We need to get it out,” I said, desperation sharpening my voice. “Hold still.”
I pressed my hand to the wound, flames flickering carefully along my fingertips.
Malakai hissed through clenched teeth, gripping my shirt harder.
I focused, extending my flames into the wound in an attempt to crack the gem while still trying to not harm him in the process.
Finally, the piece of crystal crumbled under the heat, his body able to expel the fragments onto the ground in a hiss of smoke.
I expected to see his heart pierced, to watch him fade in my arms. But when I looked, my breath caught.
The quartz had lodged against something small and dark, embedded part-way into his flesh near his ribs. Bloodied, splintered, but retaining its shape. I pulled it free and stared.
The tiny wooden carving of a cat.
My lips parted. “This is…”
His eyelids fluttered, a faint, almost sheepish smile curving his mouth.
“My kitten,” he murmured, voice slurred but soft. “Always… watching me, always sharp and saving me from certain death, again.”
The wall inside me broke. Tears spilled hot down my face as I cradled him, the little carving pressed against my chest with trembling fingers.
“You idiot,” I whispered again, though the word cracked with something gentler now. “You absolute idiot.”
He let out a low hum, almost content, his head heavy against my shoulder. “Is insulting me the way you confess your feelings for me?”
“No, I’m still mad at you,” I hissed.
“Oh come now, kitten, don’t break my heart like that,” his voice sounded stronger, yet he remained nestled up against me.
“Malakai, you have a lot of explaining to do.”
He grunted annoyed, as he slowly slipped down, placing his head in my lap.
“At least let me recover first.” His eyes closed, and I was beginning to worry that the quartz had somehow made it harder for him to heal.
I had taken it out, but his wound was still open.
Had he burned too much energy? Did he need to devour more magic in order to close the wound?
“You’re okay?” a voice broke through, Ashley taking careful steps forward, her eyes lingering on Malakai, as if he might lunge at me any second.
“We’re fine,” I clarified, huffing breath. “Malakai is fine, an idiot, but fine.”
That cracked her up. “Well, I’ve always known, just wasn’t aware that he was a demonic idiot.”
Behind her a figure emerged, arms grabbing hold of her. Her brows furrowed, as she prepared to kick backwards, but then she froze as a head dipped to her shoulder.
“You’re still alive?” Nate muttered, he sounded out of breath, panting as he leaned on her.
“You’re still invading my personal space,” Ashley snapped back, yet she let him linger.
Once the smoke began to clear, I saw how both mages and Ashen Corps soldiers remained and they tensed as soon as they caught sight of each other again.
“Stop!” I shouted out and they jolted at the sound. “No more fighting each other, or I’ll burn you all to cinders.”
“That’s how tyrants are born,” Nate noted, waving his index finger at me as if I had been a bad dog.
“Keep an eye on them, will you? I have to fix his wound,” I turned back to Malakai.
Ashley flung two bombs up from her bag, playing with them in her hands. “If I see any magic, or hear a gun cocked, I’ll blow you to pieces.”
“But you’ll protect the one who started all of this?” a voice cut through, as Izera stepped out of the mass, her hand tightly wrapped around a gun, her eyes set on Malakai.
Then someone stepped in front of her, or rather two. Lionel and Eve blocked her off.
“You—” she began hissing.
“Stand down,” Lionel demanded, as Eve brought her rifle up. “I agree that his nature and some of his actions are… questionable, yet he stood with us against that demon, you heard his words. Malakai chose to not stand with his fellow demon, Nicron.”
Lionel was… defending us.
“Everyone relax, there will be no more killing,” Nate said, lightly whacking Ashley on top of her head, forcing her to release her threatening aura.
My hands shook as I turned my attention, my palms slick with blood, but I didn’t hesitate. I called my fire, soft and steady this time, guiding it into the torn flesh. The wound sizzled, beginning to close beneath my flames.
Malakai hissed, his jaw tightening, but instead of pushing me away, his hand came up to my cheek, thumb brushing clumsily against my skin. His touch was tender, reverent, as if he wanted to memorize every second I stayed close to him.
“Easy,” he whispered, his voice hoarse but warm. “You’ll burn yourself out, sweetie.”
“Don’t you dare tell me to stop,” I muttered, pressing harder, forcing the wound to seal, even as tears threatened to blind me.
He chuckled faintly, the sound rough, breaking, yet achingly alive. “So stubborn, just like when I first saw you.” His hand lingered. Caressing, not demanding, cherishing, as if this might be the last time.
Finally, the bleeding stopped. Relief flooded through me, leaving me trembling. I let out a shaky breath, leaning into his touch. “There. You’ll live.”
Malakai’s lips curved into a tired but genuine smile. “It seems you’re stuck with me for a while longer.”
For a moment, the world was quiet, just the two of us, the ashes of battle still smoldering around us. I wanted to freeze it there, to hold him and not let the weight of everything else press in again.
But it couldn’t last.
His eyes sharpened, the softness giving way to something grim. “This was only the first wave.”
I stiffened. “The Demon King’s army.”
He nodded, his chest still rising unevenly beneath my hands. “They’re coming, and we don’t have long.”
I swallowed hard, forcing steel into my voice. “Then we’ll be ready. We’ll unite them—Ashen Corps, Aetherion, anyone left standing. Together, we can—”
“You don’t understand,” he interrupted softly. His hand dropped from my face, curling weakly against his side. His gaze held mine, steady, unflinching, though his next words carved through the air like a blade.
“The Demon King…” He drew a ragged breath, his voice dropping into a whisper. “He’s my father.”
The world tilted. My breath caught, flames stuttering at my fingertips.
And the silence that followed was heavier than any scream.