Chapter 43
Chapter
Forty-Three
Eilwen’s broken sobs rose to a crescendo as Jaxon stepped into the fractured light, his smile too pleased to be anything but cruel.
Caylin prowled forward to stand beside him, her eyes gleaming as she raked her gaze over the desolate female.
Kai stood on Jaxon’s other side, his face pale and unhappy, but it was the bundle Jaxon cradled in his arms that stopped Araya’s heart cold.
“Jaxon—” she stumbled forward as Selan squirmed, fussing in his arms. “What are you doing?”
“Retrieving you, Starling.” Jaxon shifted, rocking the child like it was something he’d done a hundred times. “Are you really surprised? After all my gifts?”
“You mean the innocent fae you murdered?” Araya spat.
“That’s your fault, Starling.” Jaxon cocked his head, glancing down at Selan. “I told you I would burn your world to the ground before I ever let you go. Did you think I didn’t mean it?”
“I didn’t run.” The words tumbled from her lips, frantic. “They drugged me—I woke up on a boat halfway across the Shadowed Sea. Jaxon, please—” she forced herself to take another step forward, holding out her arms. “Give Selan back. Let the children go—I’ll come with you. No one has to get hurt.”
Hale laughed.
“We will do no such thing,” he said, twisting Eilwen’s arm harder as she cried. “This one already belongs to us—as does her child. The children will go to the reeducation camps, like all the other orphans. The older fae will be processed and either put to use or culled. And you—”
He dropped Eilwen to the ground, stepping over her. Araya braced herself, refusing to fall back even a step as he prowled toward her.
“You are quite the prize, aren’t you?” Hale circled her, the weight of his attention sending a shiver down her spine. “Our spy delivered on his promises for once—our escaped bond and the mate of the fae prince.”
Araya turned, a terrible part of her already knowing what she would find as she followed Hale’s gaze.
“You continue to make things more difficult than they need to be, Miss Starwind.” Eryn sighed, brushing at the mud staining his pants. “Is it really so difficult to do as you’re told—just once?”
“I trusted you to help me, to help them.” Araya stared at him, the words ash on her tongue. “You led the New Dominion right to us. You know what they do in those camps—”
“Better the camps than growing up half-starved, waiting for the humans to finally come and slaughter us all.” Eryn’s voice softened, the pity in his gaze cutting sharper than his contempt.
“The war is over, Miss Starwind. The fae just refuse to see it. At least this way, the children will live. And all it cost us was you—the king’s mate. ”
“He’ll kill you.” Araya clenched her fists, her nails biting into her palms. She used the pain, focusing on nursing the flame of magic in her blood. Slowly—she needed to do this slowly.
“No one here is afraid of your broken prince.” Jaxon shoved Selan into Kai’s arms, freeing his hands to draw the bone staff from his belt.
He twirled it in his hand, circling her.
“How long did it take you to crawl into his bed? A day? A week? You always did gravitate toward the most powerful man in the room.”
“That’s not what happened.” Araya bit her cheek until she tasted blood, her magic burning hotter. It rose, desperate to reach for the stolen magic that hummed through the carved bone. “I swear, Jaxon. I didn’t want to leave—”
“I’m just not sure how I can believe you.” Jaxon sighed, dragging the polished bone across her skin. “How about this for a deal? Tell me you love me again, and I’ll let the children go. Even your friend and her baby.”
“I—” Araya coughed, her gaze flicking to Eilwen’s tear-streaked face and the wide-eyed children, who still stared at her like she could somehow save them.
And she could—all she had to do was say three words.
But she was fae. And fae couldn’t lie.
“I thought I loved you,” she said instead. Her skin burned, her face flushing with heat as her power pushed against her skin, searching for an outlet. “But what we had…that wasn’t love, Jaxon. You just wanted to own me.”
“You didn’t seem to mind belonging to me when it served you.” Jaxon’s eyes flashed, a piece of the monster staring out at her through the crack in his composure. “You wore my mark. You slept in my bed—and if you’d never met him, you’d still be there. We would be happy.”
“No.” Araya shook her head. Her voice was steady now, magic sparking across her tongue and burning her lips. “If I’d never met him, I’d be dead. Or I’d wish I was.”
Araya took a step forward, clinging to the last shreds of her control. The power in her veins screamed for release, searing her from the inside out.
“I’d have done something wrong,” she continued. “Something that disappointed you. You would have killed me—or drained my power and locked me in that apartment, keeping me around to play with whenever you got bored.”
She stopped directly in front of him, so close she could see the flecks of gold in his brown eyes. The perfume of his vanilla soap surrounded her, thick and cloying.
“There was never a happy ending for us, Jaxon,” she finished quietly. “Only an ending.”
Magic tore from her like a tidal wave, heat and light bursting outward.
Jaxon took the brunt of it, skidding into the altar so hard that the statue of the Goddess trembled above him.
Caylin shrieked, throwing up an arm to shield her face, and even Hale cursed viciously, staggering as his inquisitors were thrown off their feet.
“Run!” Araya screamed.
The chaperones didn’t hesitate. They snatched children up by hands and arms, dragging them into the shadowed depths of the temple.
An inquisitor lunged for them, but the shimmering wall of magic Araya had called into existence held, blocking pursuit as the children raced for the door.
Between them, Eilwen scrambled to her feet, lunging for Kai and her son—but Caylin was faster.
She yanked the female back by the hair, slamming her to the floor with a sickening crack.
“Stop them!” Hale roared. “Don’t let a single one of them get away—”
But the crypt door slammed shut, the sound echoing through the suddenly quiet sanctuary.
Araya sagged to her knees, her shield flickering out. No one who meant the fae harm could open that door now. The children were safe. They were safe—
Hale seized her arm, wrenching her backward.
Araya’s head slammed into stone, stars bursting across her vision. Her knees buckled, a scream ripping from her throat when Hale shoved her hard into the nearest column, twisting her arm until her shoulder cracked.
“No—” Araya gasped in pain as he exposed the ly’ithra rune inked at the base of her thumb. She clawed at him with her free hand, trying to stop him—but Hale wrenched her mind open.
Someone screamed—she was screaming. Hale tore into her, ripping her magic free in long strips. It felt like her soul was being flayed, every delicate nerve ending peeled back and scraped raw.
By the time he dropped her, Araya couldn’t force her limbs to obey her. It was all she could do to stay conscious as she lay on the stone at his feet, gasping and trembling.
“Halfblood slut.” Hale loomed over her. Stolen power—her power—crackled over his hands. “Do you think you saved them?” His voice rose, echoing in the vaulted chamber. “Get that door open! I don’t care if it’s enchanted—rip it out of the wall if you have to!”
Caylin dropped Eilwen, stumbling toward the back of the sanctuary with blood still dripping from her temple. The other two inquisitors scrambled after her, eager to obey.
Araya laughed, the ragged, broken sound that bubbled from her throat foreign even to her own ears. A pack of zal’vorr hadn’t been enough to bring that door down. Three inquisitors didn’t stand a chance.
“Do you think this is funny?” Hale snarled. He dropped to one knee, seizing her jaw and forcing her to meet his gaze. “I’ll kill them all just to teach you a lesson. All you’ve done is make things worse for yourself, you stupid little bitch—”
Araya spat in his face.
Hale reeled back, her bloody spittle dripping down his cheek. For a heartbeat, all he did was stare at her, shock twisting into something far uglier. His hand snapped out, striking her across the face so hard that her head snapped sideways, her vision blurring.
“Enough, Hale,” Jaxon snapped. “She’s not yours to punish—or drain.”
Hale sneered, his eyes wild. “And she’s not yours now either,” he said. “The Arcanum won’t smile indulgently like your father while you play house with the fae king’s mate. Everyone will want a chance at her bloodline—”
Hale’s words broke off in a wet gurgle.
Araya blinked, unable to believe her own eyes as Hale staggered, his fingers clawing at the blade jutting through his neck. His eyes bulged, his mouth still working soundlessly, trying to speak even as his lifeblood soaked his shirt.
Jaxon ripped his sword free, Hale’s blood spraying across her before she could turn away. Araya choked on it, bile mixing with the iron tang as Hale dropped like a marionette with its strings cut.
“Get up.”
Araya flinched as Jaxon reached for her, bracing for a killing blow—but instead, his hand closed around her uninjured arm, hauling her upright.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Starling.” He laughed, smearing his thumb through the blood that coated her face. “Do you really think I’d kill you after everything I’ve done to keep you? Now—go stand over there with Kai.”
He gave her a little shove, sending her stumbling across the blood-slick floor toward Kai. The other mage just gaped at her, clutching Eilwen’s son tight to his chest as if he could shield him from the violence.
“Jaxon—” Kai said, his voice strangled. “What are you doing?”
“I’m taking vengeance for our High Inquisitor, of course.” Jaxon turned, his sword still dripping blood. “After our double agent brutally betrayed us all and tried to rescue his queen.”