Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
KILLIAN
War.
I had been in many, on the right side and some on the wrong. It was disturbing, horrific, soul-wrenching, hopeless, bleak, depressing, bloody, violent, never-ending, scary, monstrous, overwhelming, inhuman, disheartening, and chilling.
None of those words truly captured the feeling when you were in it. Living it. Breathing it. Your senses couldn’t take it all in, holding onto a singular thought.
Survival.
My survival to stay among the living was based solely on the gut feeling that Rosie was alive. Nothing, including death, would stop me from getting to her.
A boom rang out, smashing the last portion of the wall, taking out more of the skeletons fighting for us. I had seen a lot in battle, but beholding thousands of corpses rising from the river to be used to battle for the freedom of our country, went far beyond anything I could ever imagine.
Keeping low, using the remains of the wall and building for cover, we made our way closer to Istvan’s convoy. The bastard was probably hiding in the bunkers below, waiting it out.
Our group bulldozed through the units of soldiers, slicing, shooting, and stabbing our way throughout, making me grateful I had these people fighting by my side.
I wasn’t someone who trusted. Not fully.
I always understood as a lord, no one would truly have my back.
The closest I came to feeling that way was Sloane.
This group I trusted with more than just my life. I trusted them with Rosie’s, which was a hell of a lot more important to me. There was not one who’d second guess going after her, not one who wouldn’t fight to the death for her.
That meant they had all of my trust.
There were more faux-fae soldiers, but we had the will. Numbers did not always mean victory. Triumph came from determination, love, and sacrifice. We had a reason to fight. Our lives, our families, friends, and country were on the line.
My expression locked with fury and determination, I moved like a samurai warrior, cutting and gutting Istvan’s men. The armored truck Istvan was in was only feet away. The one Rosie should be in as well.
My sword hummed happily in my hands, greedy for action.
Slicing through the air, my old friend came back to life, reliving all our tales as a pirate.
Old swords were just as alive as fae books.
The blood of its victims sank into the metal and became part of its story.
They had power and status and could sense weaker or more powerful blades.
I had hidden it in my own safe place for decades. As if I could lock my past up with it too. Keep the truth hidden because it clashed with the noble air I put on.
I turned away from the pirate life. From my truth. Feeling the blade’s power, I realized it was as much part of me as the fae lord.
I was a pirate. A lord. A poor starving child. A king.
I was a man who would cut everything down in his wake to reach my mate. I could feel her; I knew she was still alive, but I had no idea what shape she was in. What cruelty Istvan could inflict upon her to punish me.
We slaughtered the last few guards around the truck. Kicking them out of my way, I ripped open the door to the car.
Empty.
“Fuck!” I howled, wrath tightening my muscles. If he had done anything to her, I would gut him like a pig.
“Is this what you are looking for, Lord Killian?” A sneer whirled us around, stopping us dead in our tracks.
Istvan stood on the steps of HDF, looming over us, a smirk on his face.
He was surrounded by guards and two large metal cages, which shook as if live animals were in them.
All that disappeared as I spotted the only thing that would bow me to Istvan’s will.
Rosie was on the ground like a pet, handcuffed to a chain he was holding.
A large soldier stood behind with a gun to her head, ready to blow her brains out if we made one wrong move.
Her eyes were black and blue, and her cheek was red as if she had been struck.
She kept her chin high, not reacting to the gun threatening to take her life.
“Tsk. Tsk. How the great fae lord has tumbled. Falling for a human whore. She spread her legs, and now look at you . . .” Istvan wrinkled his nose at Killian. “Though she isn’t human anymore, is she?” It was not a question. He knew she wasn’t.
“Let her go.” A gurgling growl rose from my throat.
Istvan laughed. “What wasted words. Is that all you’ve got, great noble leader?
Do you really think because you say so, I will?
Stupid fool.” His lids narrowed. He was right in a way.
Though my position gave me more power than other fairies, the iron around my neck in Věrh?za had wrecked me.
I struggled to do the bare minimum. Helplessness rang in my ears like failure.
Failure to protect her. “Hand me the nectar.”
Brexley stiffened next to me, her mouth parting slightly.
“If you lie and tell me you don’t have it, she dies,” Istvan snapped, his glower turning to his old pseudo daughter.
“Haven’t you been the cause of so many deaths, Brexley?
Those you claim to call family. Do you even recall shooting Andris dead?
Murdering the man you considered an uncle?
How about Aron’s throat you slashed? Yes, I know you murdered him too. ”
Her fists rolled into balls, not responding.
It took everything in me not to rip it out of Brexley’s pocket and hand it over. Though Istvan might kill Rosie anyway.
My gaze went to my girl. Her crystal blue eyes were already on me, full of words she could not speak, but I felt them in my soul anyway.
“Don’t you dare hand it over.”
“I will not let you die.” I could feel mine were speaking back to her.
“Then all will die.” Her head wiggled just slightly. “Including me. You can’t save me, Killian. But you can save everyone else.”
“Fuck everyone else.”
She blinked, her eyes glossing over, her lips mouthing, “I love you.”
The declaration inscribed itself onto my soul. Those words sank deep into me. All the time I wasted over Kat. I had finally met my mate and most likely would lose her before we could be anything. Her vow of love wasn’t in response to my words. It was a goodbye.
Brexley’s magic prickled over my skin, a howl of wind, lightning crackling in the air.
“Don’t.” Istvan glared at Brexley. “You do anything, and her brains will be on the ground before you can even blink.”
“You do anything to her, I assure you, Istvan, your guts will be tied around your throat and used to hang you.” I took a step closer. His guards twisted to me, prepared to drop me where I stood.
“More empty threats. I’m tired of waiting.” Istvan replied, turning his head slightly to his guards. “Kill her.”
“NO!” My voice dropped like a bomb, the power of a lord resounding with fury from the back of my throat, but it still didn’t come out as strong as I used to be.
“Take me instead.” I stepped forward. My expression was set with utter sureness.
“The fight for this country, people . . . is between us. She has nothing to do with it.”
“Killian.” Fear hissed through Rosie, her head shaking.
“You are nothing,” Istvan spat. “Nothing more than a figurehead. Utterly useless and inconsequential. You always have been, Killian. All that so-called fae power, and what became of you . . . a man groveling at my feet.” He turned his attention back to Brexley, like I was not worth speaking to any longer.
It was no secret my ego was sizable. I never took kindly, even as a child on the streets, to those who dismissed or belittled me.
My temper as a teenager was legendary, and to save him from killing me himself, Croygen directed my anger into something productive.
Sword fighting, stealing, and slaying. Having me trained in the styles of the samurai warrior.
I could feel that ingrained anger rise. Markos had always dismissed fae, thinking somehow he was superior in his inferiority. Forgetting we had magic he could never possess.
My magic hadn’t been the same since Věrh?za.
Having absorbed the iron around my neck for so long had crippled it.
Leaving me fangless, but with the dread of my mate being murdered in front of me, I felt it finally hum from deep inside, sparking in my veins.
“Let. Her. Go. Now.” The glamour I could conjure was an order, a command.
Istvan’s head jerked, not ready for the assault. His muscles locked up like his body was telling him one thing while his mind was saying something different. Teeth gritted, he turned to Rosie, his hand reaching for the chain.
“Nooooo.” A noise came growling from his throat, his hands stopping, fury shading his cheeks a deep red. Ire ignited his eyes.
“Do. It!” I vibrated with the sheer emphasis on the two words, dripping sweat down my back.
Glamour used to be so easy for me, especially with the weak-minded.
Istvan’s mind was far from weak. He was firm in his belief.
A solid mass of ego and righteousness. The strain to control him had my arms and legs shaking, trying to keep my focus on him.
A strangled noise came from him, his hands unlocking Rosie’s cuffs.
“Shoot them!” he spat at the guards the moment his fingers unlatched her, giving the order they waited for.
A stream of gunfire came at us, dipping us back behind trucks and tanks to hide, shooting back.
“Rosie?” I bellowed her name, peeking back around. She had scrambled away from Istvan, hiding behind a stone column attached to the arched entry. I needed her in my arms. Safe. Turning to Hanna and Scorpion, I barked at them. “Cover me.”
Darting out, firing at the soldiers, my feet took me toward Rosie. I saw Istvan run to the metal cages, opening them. Two forms leaped out.
Terror lodged in my chest, burning like food was stuck in my windpipe.
“Killian!” Rosie’s voice filled my ear, hearing the utter panic and horror of what was coming for me.
Just as much animal as they were man, the beast-men we fought in the Games raced for me, their jaws open in a roar.
My gods . . .
Joska and Samu. The two HDF soldiers who tormented us in Věrh?za and attacked us in the pit.
They should have been dead by now, their brains bleeding out of their noses like all the ones I had overseen.
But they weren’t. They not only were alive but seemed healthy and even stronger.
Intelligence fired behind their eyes, telling me they weren’t completely wild.
Their frames were still man, but both had teeth and claws of monsters.
They weren’t human, but they weren’t totally fae either.
With the speed of a fae, they came for me. My gun fired, blood spraying from where I hit them, but it did not slow them down. It only angered them more.
“KILLIAN!” The severity of Rosie’s voice curved my head, my gaze latching onto her beautiful face, knowing I would never reach her.
“I love you.” I mouthed back before I felt Samu’s clawed fingers slash across my chest, my body reacting to the pain, though I felt nothing. I kept my eyes on Rosie’s, memorizing every nuance until the darkness swallowed me.
I couldn’t live in a world where she didn’t exist. Now I never had to.