Chapter 39
The temperature in the room drops instantly. Ice shoots in every direction, racing from me to the cambions. I scream, desperately clawing at it, trying to pull it back.
No, no, no, no. Not Elle. Please no.
But the ice doesn’t touch her.
The cambions freeze instantly, each one frozen in place. With a single thought, I make them explode into icy dust. A layer of frost coats the ground.
Elle lays in a heap, blood pouring from her neck, the wound turning black. But she’s untouched by the ice. I run to her, slipping and sliding as I do. My dress gets caught under my feet, and I go sprawling.
No, no, no. Not Elle, is all I can think. I scramble toward her, cutting my hands on icy shards as I clumsily move toward her.
No.
No.
No.
Not.
Elle.
Her body is limp. I cradle her in my lap, trying desperately not to cry. Trying to think. If I could just think if I could just do something.
Do something, Mae.
I rip the train of my dress, the beautiful floral applique torn apart as I do. I use it as a makeshift bandage and cover the wound, pressing on it hard to stop the bleeding.
She doesn’t even stir. But I feel it. A faint pulse.
She needs a healer. I let out a frustrated cry.
“Please,” I whisper, pleading to nobody. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to help her.”
Soft footsteps fall behind me, and I whirl, ready to defend Elle with my life. But it’s just the stag. The ice melts for him with each step. His amber eyes survey Elle and me, both of us covered in her blood.
I stare at him as he approaches, each step graceful. He comes closer, nostrils flaring as he does. Finally, he lays across from me, careful not to bump Elle sprawled across my lap. The stag shifts closer to me and rests his head on Elle’s chest.
“I don’t know what to do. I can’t save her. This is all my fault. She protected me, and I was too late,” I whisper, but a sob finally breaks through.
I need to get up, but I can’t leave Elle. I can’t leave her, and I can’t take her anywhere. I have no clue where to go that’s safe. I’ve never felt so helpless. My friend is dying in my arms, and there is nothing I can do to save her.
All my power and it’s still not enough.
Through my tear-stained eyes, I watch a single tear fall from the stag’s eye. It falls to Elle’s bloodied chest, her dress ripped to shreds from the cambion’s claws. The tear mixes with her blood. So much blood.
Screams tear through the room, coming from the throne room. So much screaming.
I grit my teeth and press my fists into my ears, desperate for it to stop. I have to do something. I shift, trying to get out from under Elle. The stag shifts, rising to his feet.
I stand and lift Elle underneath her shoulders, trying to drag her to a corner of the room where I can hopefully conceal her body. But as soon as I do, the makeshift bandage on her neck shifts, and blood starts leaking through the opening.
I place her back down gently and hurriedly place the bandage back in place, ripping another piece off my dress to tie around her neck and hold the bandage in place.
As I stand to try to move Elle again, the stag kneels and glances from me to Elle, then back to me.
“Are you sure?” I ask, understanding his request.
He just stares at me, so I gently lift Elle again. This time, the bandage stays in place. I’m not strong by any means, but I can at least get Elle onto the stag’s back. I drape her over him, face-up, so I don’t disturb her neck wound.
The stag stands slowly. Elle still doesn’t stir.
“Keep her safe. Please.”
He dips his head, nodding in understanding. I cup his head in my hands and place a kiss to his snout. “Thank you,” I whisper before turning and running in the direction of the screaming.
The throne room is in chaos.
Cambions and other creatures reeking of dark magic run around the room, attacking anyone who dares to resist Cora and Marik. I’ve never seen any of these creatures before, but they look like they were made from the depths of the darkest corners of dark magic.
Cora stands in the center of the stage, darkness swirling around her as she hurls magic at each member of my court.
Ivan, Holly, and Luca are dodging her blows, but they’re no match for her.
It’s not even a fight. All they can do is defend themselves.
By the time they’ve blocked one of her blows, they have to block another.
They don’t even have time to attack before the next blow comes.
On the other side of the stage, Asmo fights his parents. He dodges a blow from Vasuki and then fires a shot at Minerva. She goes down, but not for long. All three of them look exhausted.
Marik stands with his back to Cora, hurling black flames at members of the Royal Guard. The flames pour into their armor, burning them alive inside their suits. Their screams are haunting. A pile of bodies lies before Marik.
The smell is unmistakable.
Marik sees me watching him, a cruel smile gracing his handsome face, his dark eyes gleaming, black hair disheveled, dirt smeared on his arm. His lips form words, but I have no clue what he’s saying. He reaches out his arm, and a guard flies toward him.
Marik pulls the guard to him with ease, as if the weight of a fully armored guard weighs nothing. He rips the guard’s helmet from his head.
William.
Marik doesn’t take his eyes off mine as he brings his hand to William’s mouth. William refuses to open it, jaw clenched tight. He stares at me as he struggles against my husband. He gives me one curt nod. There is no fear in his eyes. Only acceptance.
I scream and sprint toward them, but I freeze in horror as I watch Marik shove black flames through William’s eyes, wrenching a gut-wrenching scream from his mouth.
William, who loved serving this kingdom, who dedicated his life to protecting me and the goodness that this court represents, has sacrificed his life, his future, for me.
This time, I can’t stop the bile that rises. I vomit and stumble to the floor, narrowly avoiding the bile.
Tears cloud my vision. I did this to all of them. I chose Marik as my husband. I was too blind to see his manipulation. I can still save the people I have left. I push myself from the floor.
Out of the corner of my eye, Barrett rips the head from a cambion, sending it flying through the air. August and Koa are nearby, ripping creatures apart, leaving a trail of corpses in their wake.
I see other enormous shifters from Houses Ursidae, Panthera, and Canis.
Polar bears, wolves, coyotes, panthers, black bears, and bobcats are all fighting.
But still, there are so many dark creatures fighting against us.
And there are too many bodies on the floor. Too much blood on the ground. Too many screams ripping through the night.
Too much.
Too much.
Too.
Much.
The scream that erupts from me is full of unbridled rage.
Cora’s head whips toward the sound. It gives the Herd the edge they needed. Luca, Holly, and Ivan all send a magical blow to Cora’s exposed back. It strikes her hard. She goes down.
But just as quickly as she went down, she jumps back up. Her eyes are pulsing with anger.
Marik’s attention snaps to me, the guards beneath him forgotten. He stalks toward me, Cora right beside him. Their backs are exposed to the Herd, and they strike at the couple again.
This time, it’s blocked by a shimmering black shield. Another scream of rage permeates the room. Asmo.
He stands over his unmoving parents. He looks between me and the couple of darkness heading toward me and starts sprinting.
Looking at Asmo was a mistake, one that Cora takes advantage of. She hurls a wave of black magic at me. But magic courses through me, ready to be released. Ready to strike, to maim, to defend, to kill. I throw up a shield of my own, blocking Cora’s attack.
The moment her magic collides with mine, I feel it eating away at my shield like acid corroding steel. Marik sends a rippling wave of his black fire toward me. I drop my shield, summoning water to counteract the fire.
It doesn’t work. The water has no impact on the fire that’s hurling toward me. I throw my shield back up just in time to block the fire from reaching me.
Asmo fires his own black flames at Marik, forcing Marik to shift his focus, making his flames die instantly.
Cora whips around to block an incoming attack from both Koa and August, both of them flying in the air toward her in their animal forms. Their sharp fangs are exposed, ready to sink into her neck. With her eyes on them, she doesn’t see the tree roots speeding toward her.
Holly stands in deep concentration, hands twisting and directing the line of roots. They snap over Cora’s feet, pinning her to the ground. She tries to take a step and instantly falls, her hands outstretched. She stumbles when she realizes she’s trapped.
August pounces again, but Marik strikes August with his arm of black flames. August goes flying, yelping as he makes contact with the black-flamed sword.
Before Marik can strike Koa, he sinks his teeth into Cora’s arm and pulls, wrenching her arm from her socket. She screams again, and Koa darts away, narrowly avoiding Marik’s sword.
I watch in horror as Cora’s arm starts to grow back. She can heal herself in a matter of moments. We can’t even injure her. How the fuck are we going to kill her?
Strong, bloody hands wrap around my arm and turn me around. Asmo is staring at me.
“Are you okay?” he breathes, inspecting every inch of me. He makes it to my ankle and hisses.
It’s still bleeding, but the blood is black. Just like Elle’s neck. But I don’t feel any pain.
I nod quickly. “I’m fine. Are you?”
He nods, but he doesn’t look okay. He’s covered in blood and dirt. His eyes are hollow. “We need to get you out of here,” he says.
“No. We have enough people to fight. We have to end this.”
“Mae.” He bares his teeth at me. “You’re the High Queen.”
“I won’t be if they win,” I say, baring my teeth back at him. “Let me protect my court.”