Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
RAFE
Rafe hated waiting like this. He and Aytigin stood side-by-side at the mountain entrance, waiting for Amelia and her party to arrive.
The dragon had claimed Amelia was on her way and they’d all prepared themselves in the stations already planned.
Rafe was here on the other side of the mountain, as far away from Rose as possible.
If Rafe was smart, he would be on the other side of the realm by now. The way the curse pulled and clawed at him tore through each part of his body. His very bones ached at the urge to shift into wolf form and rip the Minister limb from limb like he had the previous one.
He shook his head in an attempt to push the intrusive thoughts away.
All this waiting didn’t help. Waiting only invited more contemplation about things that he didn’t want to think about and experiences he didn’t want to relive, but that dark side that Stula controlled made him think he wanted them. He wanted to kill.
Rafe shook his head again. “Are you sure she’s coming?” he asked Aytigin.
The dragon peered at him through narrowed eyes. A slight shimmer of ice hovered around his face, but no other sign of annoyance or impatience showed in his expression. “After all these years, don’t you trust me by now? How long have we known each other?”
Rafe rocked his head back-and-forth. “Known is a strong word. I would say we’re more like frequent acquaintances.”
“Frequent acquaintances over a few centuries still adds up to more time together than most people in a lifetime.”
“I would say neither of these options paint either one of us in a good light. For the majority of that time, you’ve been cooped up in this castle and I’ve been bound to a goddess. How am I supposed to know if you’re trustworthy or not?”
Expecting a chuckle out of Aytigin would have been too much to ask for, but he did offer a wry smile. “Fair enough,” he agreed. “Even so, you’ve known me longer than you’ve known your pirate. What makes you trust she’s doing to do as she says? Does her track record show she’ll follow through?”
“We’re in this together,” Rafe said.
“You’ve discussed it? You think now that her curse is broken and once she has her friend and ship back, the two of you will sail off into the sunset?”
Rafe’s chest tightened, and his jaw grew stiff.
The probing questions didn’t help his current situation.
Anger and frustration always made the curse force him to lash out.
He sucked in a deep breath through his nostrils, held it, then released it slowly.
“What does it matter to you, anyway? I didn’t think you cared.
It wasn’t all that long ago you were allied with Amelia. ”
“I was desperate and alone,” Aytigin confessed. “Amelia found me in a moment of weakness. I say this because if you or that pirate do anything to harm Princess Eira or her sister, I’ll be sure you pay for it.”
“I doubt you can kill me. If you can, you have more power than you’ve let on.”
Aytigin didn’t give any indication whether he was capable of such things or not. “Killing you isn’t the only way to make you pay. Some punishments can be worse than death.”
“I have no desire to hurt either of them,” Rafe told him.
It was as much honesty as he could give.
He hadn’t wanted to kill Renata either, and that haunted him every day.
Her life was only the most recent in a long line of killings in the name of Stula over the years that he regretted.
How much they truly were what Stula wanted and which were commissioned by people using her name in misguided situations blended together like mist.
The dragon held his gaze for a moment, and Rafe accepted that they had reached an understanding.
“How touching. But words won’t save them.”
As though appearing out of thin air, Amelia stood before them with a baby in her arms, Charis and Mariah flanking her.
She regarded them with a thin smile. A darkness hovered around her that made Rafe’s skin crawl.
Whatever she had done to Dusan and his magic was unnatural and against all the ways of the deities.
She no longer fit into the world and made everything and everyone around her recoil in her presence.
Aytigin’s knuckles cracked and popped as he clenched his fists. “Maybe not words, but those of us behind them will.”
“And you’ll be able to save the princesses the way you were able to save Malle?”
A small circle of ice formed around Aytigin’s feet as cold, white clouds poured from his ears. “You don’t know what you speak of.”
Rafe stepped between them. This was going to a terrible place and quickly. He and Aytigin were to make sure Amelia got into the mountain; Eira, Myra, Rose, and Finley would take care of the rest. “I believe they’re waiting for you inside. I trust you don’t want to waste time?”
Aytigin pulled back his anger, the ice and clouds vanishing as he went to the mountain wall and opened it to let them all inside. He led the way with Amelia and her two minions following, and Rafe entered last to ensure that no one snuck away.
And he would still be the farthest away from Rose. He gave a silent prayer to Stula and any other deity who would bother to listen that it would be enough.
Rafe lingered close to the entryway as Amelia and the others crossed the courtyard toward the castle where Eira, Myra, Rose, and Finley were waiting.
Even from that distance, Finley’s dazzling blue eyes found him, and he held her gaze for as long as he dared.
He was there with her, even if he couldn’t be at her side.
He was there, and in her gaze, he found a promise for him too.
Something surged in his chest, something he hadn’t felt in so long he hardly remembered it.
Hope.
But they couldn’t stay in their own world, just the two of them, for long.
As Amelia approached, the glint of the Shadow Slayers strapped to her body pulled Finley’s focus.Rafe followed her gaze as she looked away from him to the other desire of her heart.
The weapons that would kill Amelia once and for all.
Amelia pursed her lips and subjected Eira to a cold regard up and down, and then her gaze landed on the crown of stars upon her head. “You couldn’t wait to make yourself queen, could you? I suppose I did us both a favor.”
The new queen kept her back straight and head high. Even from where Rafe stood he could feel the power pulsing from the two of them, rivaling one another. “It’s my honor to take his place, even if it was too soon. But I do have one more thing to get out of my way.”
Amelia let out a low chuckle and rocked the baby back and forth.
“They won’t accept you, you know. They all believe this little one is the rightful heir.
It seems the people would rather have a sorcerer as a king than a queen who ran away and betrayed her birthright and the title the deities gave her. ”
“They’re afraid and unsure. I’m sure it was easy for you to turn them against me. But they’ll learn the truth soon enough.”
“I suppose that means you’re not here for surrender.”
It was Eira’s turn to smile and chuckle. “Hardly.”
A loud roar rumbled the mountain from above, and Aytigin swooped in, breathing a pillar of ice down at the trio before them.
Charis and Mariah screamed and covered their heads while Amelia ducked to cover the child and tried to hand him to Charis.
But the young woman was too busy running away, and Aytigin’s cold claw came down instead and swept up the baby.
The ice dragon held him with his two front claws, cradling him to his chest, then flew off to the castle to deliver him to the priestesses protecting Nell inside.
Magic exploded once again as it had during the pretend wedding.
Waves erupted from Amelia and Mariah as Eira covered them in darkness and froze the water the moment it hit the ground.
They were a fierce force, a clash of power fighting against one another to determine who was the strongest.
Vines grew from Rose’s palms and wound their way toward Amelia, crawling across the ice and twisting up her body to wrap around the weapons she possessed. The magic of the Shadow Slayers hummed and sang to Rose’s magic and loosened themselves from Amelia’s grip to be swept away.
“Oh, Rafe,” Amelia cooed. “I’m in need of assistance.”
Rafe’s breath stuck in his throat as the curse within him stirred.
It rumbled and roared beneath his veins, a monster ready to leap out and destroy anything in its path.
He gritted his teeth and tried to resist. He pushed himself up against the wall even as he knew it wouldn’t be enough.
Rafe had been avoiding this fate for too long.
Kill.
No. He didn’t want to. He couldn’t.
Amelia clapped her hands twice, and an invisible force reached out and grabbed Rafe.
He soared through the air until he appeared between Amelia and Rose.
Red and black shadows poured from his hands and feet and circled around him.
His eyes grew wide, and his body shook. He wanted to scream and yell a warning, to stop what was about to happen, but it was too late.
The curse was taking over. His face contorted, and he pulled his arms back, then with a loud shout he transformed into his wolf form.
Doesn’t she look so delicious? Kill her. You know you want to.
He growled at Rose, his giant fangs snapping at her. She did look delicious. Just like her grandmother had been. It was wrong to think it, to want it, but the monster was taking over. He could sense the blood pumping through Rose’s veins. The meat beneath her fragile flesh.
Rose didn’t flinch. She drew her sword, and Finley did the same. There was nothing compassionate or familiar in their gazes. Only an understanding of what they needed to do if it came to it, regardless of the Rafe they knew.
Not that it’ll stop you.
Rafe lunged at Rose, and she shot back with her vines. At the same time, Finley jumped into action, her sword raised in one hand and the other grabbing the Shadow Slayers’ bow and arrows.
“Eira, take it!” She shoved the weapons across the icy ground toward Eira, who was now able to pick it up herself. Amelia shot out water toward Eira, and she blocked the assault by turning it into ice.
Rafe’s paws slid on the frozen ground as the vines tried to wrap themselves around him, but he bit and clawed at them before he could be bound. Greenery flew through the air and scattered across the ice, and he grabbed a vine in his mouth and tugged.
Tear. Destroy.
Rose tried to pull herself back against him, but the ground was too slick and her balance not strong enough. Inch by inch, Rafe pulled her closer to him. Rose wouldn’t go down without a fight, though. Neither did Renata. Which only made it more fun.
Metal and magic clashed all around, but Rafe could only see Rose.
She took her sword and swung at him with what should have been deadly blows if he hadn’t been able to move fast enough.
They clashed together like a storm. He was the thunder and she was lightning, fighting until they knew what the inevitable end was.
He didn’t know what he was doing, only that it felt good.
It felt right. The juicy tang of blood poured into his mouth, and he licked his lips.
People shouted around them, but Rafe couldn’t understand what they were saying. The ground shook beneath them, and the hum of ancient magic pulsed in the air as they fought. The sky grew dark and shadows circled around Rafe. Voices muddled together until one pulled him away.
“This for everything I’ve ever had to hide because of you and your family.”
Against every instinct, Rafe turned to face the voice.
Finley stood before Amelia as powerful and strong as any warrior.
The reflection of the scales across her skin glinted and glowed in the ice and shadows.
She and Amelia both held onto the same sword, and it shook, making the whole mountain tremble.
But the other sorceress was too strong. That dark and strange magic she’d stolen was too much for even the most powerful of magic wielders.
Rafe’s heart pounded, and something pulled within him. She might not make it.
“Finley…”
He stepped away from Rose who gasped and collapsed to the ground.
NOOOOOOO. KILLLLLLLL.
The monster roared and clawed at him from the inside, making his entire body twist and turn in agony. “No!” Rafe yelled. He didn’t want this. He couldn’t do this.
Rafe forced himself to look away from Rose. Only to see that Finley was looking at him. Even if it was for only a moment. And a moment was all Amelia needed.
She grabbed the sword out of Finley’s grip and sliced through the air.
It was as though she tore through the world, and a black shadow poured out into the mountain.
Another world lay through the slice Amelia had created.
One of darkness and cold. One that felt all too familiar, one that it called to Rafe.
He clambered up onto all four legs and stalked toward it, each step more painful than the last. This was his chance. It was the only way he could stop himself from killing Rose.
To the side, Myra, who had fallen at some point, rose to her feet. Her necklace glowed a deep purple calling out to the other world, and she stepped toward it like Rafe did. “Stula bless it,” she whispered. “She tore the veil. It’s Stula’s realm.”
The air grew thin and cold as spirits floated out of the rip between life and death. The wound in Rafe’s arm seeped a deep black and poured out of him toward the realm. This was where he belonged. And going there would keep Rose safe.
Rafe stole a last glance toward Finley, her golden hair whipped around her face in the cold wind of death. “I’ll wait for you on the other side.”
Finley’s brows furrowed at his words. “Other side?” Then the realization hit her, and her eyes grew wide once again. “Rafe! No!”
Noooooo. You must kill.
But it was too late. This was the only way he could protect them all, even if it meant he couldn’t be with Finley where he wanted to remain. In one bounding leap, he jumped toward the rift and into the darkness with the echoes of Finley’s screamfilling his ears and tearing his heart.