THE LOOPHOLE
41
- MALAKAI -
I scream her name until my voice dies out. Pain radiates in every nerve of my body. It hurts to move. To breathe. To even think.
Listless, I watch the Gods and Goddesses disappear, her body limp and lifeless on the floor.
Only her father remains.
He glances up, his face completely devoid of any emotions. I feel the barrier I have been fighting all damn day fade away.
Kailu and I race to her. Pushing her hair back from her face, I feel for a pulse, my heart stuttering when I find none. Kailu drops to his knees by my side, attempting to resuscitate her, not stopping even when footsteps sound behind us. Hannah gasps, Siveral trying to comfort her. I can scent Elion’s anger and pain. My father’s loss and fear. Even as Kailu works to bring her back, she looks so serene, almost as if she’s just sleeping.
“Please don’t leave us. Come back.” Kailu pleads, not stopping until Viros pulls him away. I scoop her into my arms, rocking her back and forth.
I’m not sure how long I sit with her body cradled in my embrace, Kailu holding her hand and staring into her face. People begin filtering out, taking stock of our losses. I feel a strong grip on my shoulder. My father kneeling next to me.
“Let’s take her home, son.”
I pick her up, unwilling to let anyone else touch her. “Kailu.”
He turns his bloodshot eyes towards me. He loved her so much.
“I want Iclas’s head on a spike.”
He nods slowly. “I will get Siveral on it.”
“Oh. And Levi.”
They all pause, Elion gives me a questioning stare.
“Alanis sent me a message right before she…” I swallow hard, not willing to voice the truth. I clear my throat. “Levi is a traitor. He was planted in your lives by Iclas.”
“FUCK!” Elion screams, tugging at his hair.
The journey home is a blur. I hold my mate tightly the entire boat ride. I’m in a trance when I walk through the castle doors. My mother’s cries of sorrow echo through the halls. The healer has a bed prepared in the healing quarters. For a split second I think she is going to heal her, until I see the black bedding. The black veil meant to be laid over her body.
My chest aches. I’m not sure how, seeing as it is now just an empty cavity. When Alanis left this world, she took my heart with her.
Now I’m just an empty shell.
Laylani goes to place the black veil over her, but I halt her movements, not ready to say goodbye. She glances between myself and Kailu before backing away, letting us have this moment with Alanis.
I grab her hand, the warmth of it shocking me. I kiss her fingers, each one.
“I can’t do this without you. I don’t want to. You were supposed to be by my side until we grew old and gray. I never told you, but you saved me. Before you I was so lost. Unsure of what I wanted out of life. And then there you were, just standing in that cave, your fire and sass shining like a beacon. The second your eyes locked on mine, I could feel it. I didn’t know what it was at first, not until you were hurt. But there was this thing drawing me to you, and Gods, was it the best thing to ever happen to me. You always say you don’t need a male to save you. I was your knight in shining armor one time, but every other time it was you, firecracker. You saved me. Every damn day you saved me. All those fairy tales really got it wrong. I think the princess is the one who saves the prince in the end.”
Tears stream down my face, my chest pinching at the profound loss. Months. We only had months together when it should have been centuries.
“I felt it,” Kailu whispers. “The mating bond, right before she…before she died.” His voice cracks on the last word.
I stare at him, and then anger surges through my body. The fucking Fates did this. The Fates and their stupid games.
Iclas and his greed for power. His unhinged ass couldn’t handle rejection, and he turned into a fucking loon.
Those damn Gods and Goddesses, who stood there and ripped her from this world. They took her from me without a thought. Without a care for the destruction they left behind. The never-ending pain and agony that my and Kailu’s souls would be in until we took our last breaths.
Soft footsteps catch my attention. I would recognize them anywhere. I’ve been listening to them pad along the castle corridors since I was just a babe.
My mother’s tender hands brush across my back. My body is exhausted from being in my dragon form, the shift happening so abruptly that it shook me to my core.
“The matriarch is here with her coven. They would like to pay their respects,” the queen whispers.
I laugh. Ironic, seeing as the damn witch couldn’t bother with respect while Alanis was alive. Now that she’s…dead.
Grief overwhelms me, my body shaking with sobs. My mother wraps me in her arms, cradling me for the first time in decades.
“Shh, Mal. Shh.” She soothes me like a newborn, the effect just as calming as it used to be when I was only a boy.
I wipe my hands down my face, inhaling deeply before telling her to let the Witches inside. Kailu stands to make room but does not release Alanis’s hand.
The matriarch leads, wearing a black gown. The rest of the coven enters, forming a semi-circle around Alanis, just as they did around the temple. When they link hands, their power surges. My body aches, my dragon trying desperately to escape, but my Fae form is too mentally and physically exhausted to shift.
My father enters with Viros and Elion, the latter looking completely wrecked from the loss of Leena and his sister. I thought his screams for the Banshee were gut-wrenching, but his silent horror as Alanis left this earth shook me to my core.
When Viros steps into the circle, my father, mother, and Elion stand against the back wall. Viros lays a hand on Alanis’s head, muttering words under his breath.
“Isn’t it enough that you took part in her death?” I stand up, ready to fight the God with my bare hands.
His angry gaze latches on my own. “Do you think it was easy watching my daughter’s soul leave this world? The daughter I have had to watch grow up from a distance? There was no other way.”
I hear a gasp, my eyes falling on the matriarch. “You’re her father?”
Viros sends a scathing look her way. I must say I take great joy from seeing the matriarch’s discomfort.
A light flashes, and Caselia, Ryta, and Ames appear in the empty space on the other side of Alanis’s body. The tension in the room is palpable. It grows worse when we see Caselia holding a jar.
“What is going on?” I snap, my patience nonexistent.
Viros clears his throat. “The prophecy has been fulfilled. Alanis’s sacrifice unlocked her full powers. She has weakened Iclas by fulfilling her end of the prophecy. Now he can be defeated to cleanse the world of evil.”
“You mean the evil that the Hell Gods helped run free,” I spit out.
Ames looks at me, but I will not cower in fear. “We had no intentions of letting Iclas become this powerful. We play and stir up chaos, but never to the point of damning the world. We keep everything in balance. Good and Evil. Both must exist. Iclas made sacrifices, which we accepted, and then gifted him certain things. The ability to leave the Isle, but only for short lengths of time. Immortality. He feeds on blood. He took it further by dabbling in dark magic. He has become a being that should not exist, and it is time for that wrong to be righted. He is at his weakest.”
I grunt. “Obviously.”
The God of Hell tilts his head at me with narrowed eyes.
“You still haven’t explained what the hell you’re doing here,” I snap. “We are mourning our mate and want to be left in peace.”
My father growls from the corner. “No, you want to be left alone so you can join her in the afterlife. Don’t forget who I am, boy. My powers sense it. I read it in every emotion that passed by in her final moments.”
My mother gasps, her chest heaving with each breath she tries to take.
Caselia offers the jar. “These are the ashes of the Banshee.”
Elion jolts, the first sign of life from him since Alanis left this world. “Give me those.” He tries to snatch them, but the Goddess easily sidesteps him.
“Alanis took a risk in setting her free. Burning the bones of the cursed is no easy task. The curse set upon them tends to roam, trying to latch onto the closest living thing. Luckily for Alanis, she already had a curse placed upon her.”
I glance at the matriarch, thinking of the words she used to describe what shielded Alanis’s mind. “What curse?”
Ames shakes his head. “From what I could tell when my power linked with hers, it was placed after the prophecy. This curse is something newer.”
“Who would have placed a curse on her? She lived in a realm that banned that type of magic,” Elion says, worry coating his words.
Everyone’s eyes turn towards the matriarch, who raises her hands in defense. “I would not curse my own flesh and blood. No matter what you think of me.”
“Caselia brought the Banshee’s ashes—”
Elion cuts off Ames. “Her name was Leena.”
Ames actually looks apologetic. “I’m sorry. Caselia has brought Leena’s ashes. Seeing as when Alanis freed her soul, her body became one with the land, Viros is able to bring her back. Alanis asked her father for this favor before she died.”
Elion’s breath stutters from him. “Why would she do that?”
Viros smiles. “Your sister loves you dearly. She came to me with questions pertaining to Banshees. She wanted to make sure you didn’t lose both her and the woman you love. In her last moments with me, as I stepped up to her, she asked me to bring her back for you.”
“Leena could also have information that may help us finish this,” Ames says.
Viros takes the ashes, sprinkling them on the floor of the healing hall, then lights a candle beside Alanis’s body. “I think Leena knows more than any of us. Always in the background, doing Iclas’s bidding. She saw more than any of us even know.”
The Goddesses link hands with Viros, the three casting their powers onto the ashes before them. The ashes catch fire, smoke swirling into a funnel that stretches to the ceiling. They step back. When the ashes settle, Leena stands there, looking confused as hell.
Elion stares in awe. He races to her, grasping her face and kissing her roughly.
A lightness fills my body watching the reunion, but it is soon followed by a bitter taste. Why her? Why could she come back and not Alanis?
“Why am I here? How?” Leena’s voice is soft but shaky.
Ames explains everything to her. Her head whips towards Alanis’s body, tears falling as she passes a gentle finger over her cheek. The same cheek with a faint scar from her Banshee nails.
“Tell us everything you know about Alanis,” Ames orders, his voice leaving no room for argument.
Leena takes a breath, carefully sitting in the vacant chair opposite me. Perhaps coming back to life hurts. “I watched Iclas torture my mother for decades. I listened to her weep as he raped her repeatedly.”
My father flinches at hearing what his sister endured, and he clutches my mother’s hand.
“He was so focused on the fact that she abandoned their mating bond that I’m not sure he even realized he wasn’t acting out of love. He wanted to possess her. To own her. When he cursed me with the black magic, my mother fell into depression. She slowly withered away, but he made sure she still survived, no matter how horribly. When Odessa disappeared, he lost his mind. He thought she was the key, so he sent Orion to hunt her down.”
“Orion,” the king repeats. “How long has he worked for him?”
Leena shrugs. “Since the beginning. Orion is his best friend. He was working in Weynmar at the time of the curse. He soon infiltrated the King’s Guard, working undercover for Iclas.”
My father swears, and I almost want to laugh. Not very kingly of him.
“Orion found Odessa. He and a few of the kidnapped Fae Iclas brainwashed snuck up on her in an alleyway. They were supposed to bring her back, not kill her. But something went wrong.”
I can hear Viros’s heart thundering in his chest. His mate died because of Iclas’s greed. His daughter died because of Iclas’s greed. His anger grows, overtaking every other emotion in the room.
My father tenses, feeling the shift.
“I want his head on a fucking spike,” Viros spits. “I want his soul dragged to Hell and tortured, Ames.”
The God of Hell simply smiles, and the sight freezes my blood. No wonder he is the most feared God.
“Please continue,” Caselia orders Leena, who reaches for Elion’s hand before continuing.
“When Orion returned and told him she died, he lost it. He tortured my mother to the point she became nothing more than a shell. Her brain was so severely damaged she was catatonic. I then became his outlet. He didn’t torture me nearly as much, but he used my body as he saw fit.”
Elion grows tense, but doesn’t seem surprised. The two must have spent quite a bit of time sharing secrets.
“The day he realized the tug was back is when he found Alanis. He realized who she was. What she was. He reached out to a Witch. The same one who helped him with all his other dark spells.”
“What did this Witch do?” Kailu asks, his voice more tired than I’ve ever heard.
Leena’s voice drops to a whisper. “She made a loophole, so even if Iclas failed in stopping Alanis from sacrificing herself, he could still unleash the curse upon the land. Could still unleash his curse.”
My blood is at a boiling point. Uncontrollable sorrow and anger mix together into a potent cocktail. “How? He can’t join with Alanis and drink her blood. She’s gone.”
Leena’s hollow gaze meets mine. “The dark Witch placed a curse on her, shielding her soul.”
Ryta curses. What worries me more is the pale complexion on the face of Hell himself.
“You can’t mean—” Caselia starts, but Leena cuts in with a damning explanation.
“The curse shields her soul. Meaning when she died, the curse claimed her soul. Most likely, it led her soul back to the one who cursed her.”
Elion looks as confused as I feel. “What does this mean?”
“It means that if Iclas manages to claim her soul,” Ames says, “he can place it in another body. He doesn’t need this body to fulfill his side of the prophecy. He just needs her essence. Her soul. And a bit of her blood.”
My stomach turns, a sour taste coating my mouth. “You’re saying he could take her soul, place it in another body…and then…complete the sadistic ritual that would unleash the evils of the world? But he doesn’t have her blood…”
Leena hiccups, unable to speak through her tears, and drops her face into her hands. “I’m so…so sorry. He took some of her blood when he had her hostage.”
The matriarch is a pale shade of green, as if she is also feeling quite ill. “The only dark Witch I know who has powers that strong is a Nightblood. She belongs to no coven, not anymore. There are Witches who roam free, never settling with a coven, but the Nightbloods disbanded when their matriarch was killed with no heir. They live in some abandoned building deep in the Sinwood Mountains now.”
My father looks weak as he asks, “What does this mean?”
Ames sighs. “This means that we need to locate Alanis’s soul before Iclas does. If not, the end of the world is imminent.”
The king nods once before barking orders. Ames stops at the threshold of the healing hall, turning back towards me. His eyes flick pointedly to Leena, and I understand.
“Father,” I say through a throat gone dry, and he pauses in his orders to look at me, “I’m sure you already figured it out, but this is your niece. Leena Ambrose.”
Leena’s tear-filled eyes meet the king’s, and for the first time in my life I watch as my father crumples. Tears flow down his face as he grasps Leena’s face.
“How could I not? You look so much like your mother. Strong like her, too.”
I smile as they embrace.
Leave it to Ames to break the tender family reunion just as easily as he started it.
“Sorry to interrupt, but time is of the essence. Preserve her body. If we can retrieve her soul, the Goddesses of Life and Death may return it to its rightful place.”
Hope surges through me. “You can bring her back?”
Ames nods. “I told Alanis before she left this world that even us in Hell honor the bonds of mates. For her sacrifice to this realm, the Gods and Goddesses feel it is only fair to restore her life so that she can follow the other path the Fates laid for her.”
I stare at her face. Stunningly beautiful. Her long brown hair framing her face. Her full lips and sharp cheekbones. Her dainty freckles that I love to stare at as the morning sun shines through our window.
Determination courses through me.
I will bring her back.
No more goodbyes or tears.
I glance at Kailu, the determined glint in his eyes fueling me.
We’re bringing our woman back where she belongs.