Chapter 103 Xerxes
Xerxes
The pain of the false king’s power forced me to shift. I lost my Primal form and slipped back into my male body, barely able to hold myself up as his magic, dark and wrong, rolled through me.
Where I stood with Adrian and Elias, I could see almost everything; the destruction of the battle, my own mess of upturned earth meant to slow his army, the bloodshed that would not cease.
A spire of the palace had been lit on fire, the flames untouched by the storm.
Bridges like the one we’d crossed upon our arrival crumbled beneath the force of magic.
Bile rose in my throat, my stomach churning as I looked around. All this death, and for what? A crown that didn’t belong to him? Dante was willing to risk everyone’s lives for power that could never be his simply because he knew something he shouldn’t, and that knowledge would destroy us all.
And all these creatures still willing to fight for him were prepared to die for the same.
Behind me, a flutter of air drew me to Hawk’s presence. The male took Dante’s back, finishing the mate circle. Blood splattered across his face as he landed, the knuckles of his right hand split open.
When he found my stare, he pulled a blade from his belt, clutching it between bloodied fingers. “He’s overpowering her.”
As the words left his lips, the shield shifted, the darkness around it growing. Desperately, I searched for any sign of weakness within, but there was none.
She was trapped, and they were glued together. The skull keeping them from us glowed as if it were already absorbing her power, and that single thought made the terror grow into fear.
Beside me, the wolf shifter growled, and it seemed to influence the gathering beasts, because they dropped into defensive stances and moved to form another barrier between us and the growing battle.
“One of us should try and break through,” Adrian murmured, low enough so only we could hear. “See if we can draw his attention, pull him away.”
“That is too risky,” Orion stated, turning to us, violet eyes glowing. “And it might distract Ivy.”
My stomach dropped. I watched through the hazy light as her face shifted into a mask of pain. “We might not have a choice.”
Through our bond, I felt her anguish. Her terror. It came through in fractions, broken apart because of the shield between us. I never thought I would want to feel something as badly, or to hear her voice again inside my head, but I did. I wanted to make sure she was more than just alright.
I wanted to ensure she would live.
Silently, I called upon a partial shift, ignoring my own pain as my hand transformed into the clawed paw of my Primal. Heart pounding, I reached for the bubble, but the wolf caught my arm.
“He isn’t wrong,” he said, voice low. “And I hate to admit that. We can’t risk distracting her.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?” I snapped, pulling my arm away. “Hawk is right. She is losing the battle. The worlds are literally falling apart around us.”
As if to prove my point, fire erupted along the ridge line of the mountain, flames licking at the trees and small huts lining the waterfall’s cliff face.
The earth rumbled, rolling beneath us, lifting the stone of the courtyard and cracking it.
Lightning crossed the sky angrily, chased by a loud, deafening clap of thunder.
There was nothing but the anger of the elements, the natural magic of the realms slamming together to remind us of their power.
And there was nothing we could do to stop it.
Within the shield, Ivy made a pained sound that called for not just my Primal, but for me, too.
Elias looked from me into the shield, devastation playing across his features. “She has our bonds.”
“What?” I asked, but Adrian moved beside me, emptying his bullets into a crowd of approaching Fae before turning to us.
“That might not work,” the mage shouted.
The wolf looked between us. “But we should try.”
“Try what?” I shouted, pulling away from both males. “What are you talking about?”
Elias’s nostrils flared, frustration leaking from him. But it wasn’t just that. It was something else. Maybe a hope that hadn’t been there before. I could sense it from the mage, too. Desperate hope but hope nonetheless.
I tore my gaze from them and stared into the bubble as the sky darkened. Throughout the earth, I felt it tremble, not enough for it to disrupt the battle, but enough for me to know that it wasn’t just us dealing with the damage.
If I had to guess, these quakes were happening across the entirety of the island. Perhaps across the realms.
Faery, the Underworld, and my home were not safe from it.
“What do we do?” I asked, unable to look away from the darkness swallowing our mate.
“We focus on our bond with her,” the mage stated, sheathing his weapon as magic flared to life around him.
“And we flood it with our magic,” the wolf finished, eyes glowing an unforgiving green.
From the other side of the shield, the half-demon flipped his dagger, eyes already taking on a silver hue. “And we pray to the Goddess she overloads with our power enough to beat him.”