Chapter Thirty-Eight
The connection forged by Spiky offered Carys insight into Aidan. His fear, determination, and anger coursed through her. But the flooding feelings turned into a trickle as he used Curse Magic to command Spiky.
"What are you doing?" Carys asked in alarm.
"I wasn't gone too long, was I?" Aidan asked. "I didn't miss the ball?"
"No, Kieran and Meical still are having it out," she said. "Without magic, of course. I don't think you were gone for more than ten minutes."
Ten long minutes. Certain that her heart would stop during that time.
"Your dress is torn," Aidan said as if it mattered. "And you're missing a shoe."
She looked at her once beautiful gown. "Controlling Spiky was hard, and Kieran's mages kept attacking. I tried directing Spiky to those mages, and the beast just wanted Kieran."
He patted Spiky. "Good boy."
"You do know that Spiky has no gender?"
"Ah, well eating Kieran requires no gender."
"You don't truly mean to have him eat Kieran?"
His face showed nothing, and their connection offered less. "Law of the Beasts. He must go."
"We could just go," she whispered. "Spiky can fly so far away. Meical will sort it all out, he always does."
"What of Gil?" Aidan asked with a dark tone.
She burned for revenge but recognized the futility. "Killing Kieran won't change it at all. And he's so powerful..."
"I never thought of you as a coward."
"I am not a coward!" she said hotly.
But she was a coward. During those minutes when Aidan was in the Starlands, she realized that she didn't want to die.
It didn't make sense. She had no reason to live.
Everything she did was for Meical. But he had forced her to marry Aidan, humiliated her in public, and sent her best friend to his death.
She was no longer willing to die for her brother.
"Kieran is a monster," Aidan said. "His own daughter will die in a few hours just so that she can get her baby to safety. He has done unspeakable things."
She couldn't argue. The Curse Magic directing Spiky cascaded through Aidan, turning his righteous fury into something much darker. Spiky flew through the broken ceiling of Cinder Fortress.
Aidan seemed ready with a plan. He cut his hand and let the drops fall a great distance to the floor.
The blood dripped straight and swift in a most unnatural way, but focusing on directing the magic caused his hold to slip on Spiky.
So Carys had to bear the brunt of an attack that Kieran threw at Spiky.
A blast of fire soared through the air, and she forced Spiky upwards, the heat of the flame barely missing them.
"Go down," Aidan ordered.
"We were nearly fried!" Carys objected.
"Go down," he repeated. "Keep the bastard's attention focused on Spiky."
She wasn't a fool. Aidan wanted to use Spiky as bait. Revulsion rocked her body at the noble Dalon prince taking such a ruthless course, but there wasn't time to argue.
Kieran was still attacking.
She forced Spiky back down into the main hall.
Streaks of fire hurtled toward them, so close that heat consumed the air around them.
She maneuvered Spiky to the right, but crashed into a pillar.
The impact on Spiky's left head rippled through their connection.
Carys' head reeled back, feeling as if she had run straight into a stone wall.
She fell on her face. Pushing herself up, she found Aidan was likewise affected by the blow.
But he used one hand to keep himself from falling, while the other hand directed his blood magic.
He wasn't just using Spiky as bait, he was deliberately using Spiky to mask his own magic. If his actions were to remain undetected, Carys had to keep forcing Spiky to attack.
She urged Spiky forward and down to Kieran. Her whole being filled with Spiky desire to tear into Kieran's magic. The desperate urge nauseated her, but when she saw Kieran, only one thing came to her mind.
Gil.
She allowed Spiky's craving to overwhelm her, giving her the willpower to force the beast to attack. It was a bad idea. The spell protecting guests at the ball stopped Kieran from direct attacks, but he could strike the uninvited Spiky.
And the spell didn't protect them from attacks not purposely directed toward them.
At least seven blasts of fire came at them, and Spiky couldn't dodge fast enough. A cry of pain escaped Carys as black fire seared Spiky's poisonous tail. She pulled back her skirt, finding a considerable red burn on her left foot.
"Fuck!" Aidan spat.
Even if Carys couldn't feel the echoes of pain through their connection, the word would have said everything to her.
Ignoring her own pain, she reached for him. "Are you..."
"Keep going!" Aidan said through gritted teeth.
Carys lost count of how many times she directed Spiky to attack, only to be thwarted by Kieran's magic.
But as she persisted in the fool's errand, it dawned on her what Aidan was attempting.
The stone floor was shifting and growing around Kieran, but he didn't notice, too distracted by his rage-fueled attempts to take down Spiky.
"You have to get me down," Aidan said, just as a fireball just missed his head.
"Are you mad?" Carys asked. "You'll die!"
"I won't!"
"Aidan..."
"Do it!" he snapped.
Fury threatened to surface. She was so tired of being pushed around by men. Meical, Kieran, Aidan, and even Gil.
Why do I have to serve their every whim?
The connection between Aidan and Carys muddled everything, and she didn't know how much was her own anger, Aidan's wrath fueling her resentment, or the Curse Magic summoning her darkest feelings.
It didn't matter. They already were set on this course. So Carys forced Spiky to the ground. Rapid fire kept striking the dragon, burning his stony body. Scorching pain tore into Carys, but she bit her lip, landing the beast with a resounding thud.
"Hold Spiky back!" Aidan ordered.
"What?" Carys cried. "How?"
Aidan didn't respond. He slid down Spiky's body, using magic to assist with the landing, but still landed hard on his feet. Carys winced as pain echoed through their connection. Another wave of agony rippled through her as fire assaulted Spiky. She couldn't bear Spiky's pain.
Her pain, not Spiky. She had no regard for a foul beast that shouldn't even exist.
Even so, she stroked Spiky's rough hide as if it meant anything. "You must fly away," she said, knowing speech was unnecessary to control the beast.
Taking a deep breath, Carys descended from Spiky, landing even more roughly than Aidan. Her bare, burnt foot screamed in torment while her slipper suffered even more damage.
She ducked as another fireball flew at her. Spiky let out a deafening roar. Carys didn't understand why Spiky wasn't leaving, unsure if her control was slipping or Spiky was somehow fighting past it.
When she tried to force her command, she was met with a block. That was when she understood. Aidan was blocking her. He was forcing Spiky to remain and allowing both of them to be harmed through the connection.
She couldn't believe that he was risking that much for a distraction. Her feet burned as she moved forward. Meical, unable to use magic, was taking out the support for Kieran by fighting the old-fashioned way. They couldn't use magic against each other, so it was a vicious sword battle.
"Nightshade!" Meical shouted when he saw her.
He whirled around as someone with an ax approached him and struck the man in the neck. After the man crumbled, Meical turned to block the last opponent. He was too busy defending his own life to help Carys.
Nyx and Bradon were similarly occupied. Nyx was fighting two swordsmen at once, and the less physically adept Bradon was wrestling someone down to the floor. Neither of them could offer assistance.
Shanna sat on a cushion as if none of this concerned her one bit. Carys could have struck her with a curse. The selfish girl should have been trying to avenge her brother.
Kieran was still conjuring fire as Aidan forced Spiky closer.
The flames gave a positively demonic appearance to Kieran, and he hurled vicious words as well as fire.
"You are truly weak for returning. All for a princess.
That is why you are losing! Your connection to that beast makes you vulnerable.
I merely have to keep hitting the beast, and your frail mortal body shall give out! "
That was true. Torment ate away at Carys. All she wanted was to fall to the floor and scream, but she was a witch and forced herself to endure and move forward.
Aidan was doing the same. "Sacrifice Magic is a powerful thing, my lord," he said, his voice raspy from pain. "You were a fool for underestimating it."
The presence of Spiky made their connection too strong. A fiery sting ripped through Carys' flesh when Aidan slashed his own arm. He allowed more of his blood drip to the floor.
Blood spattering stone was all Aidan needed. Faster than Carys could have imagined, the stone expanded, encasing Kieran's body. Kieran groaned, trying to free himself.
An empty feeling blew through Carys, sweeping away all emotion. She was accustomed to feeling nothing, but this felt alien.
As though she was drowning in a black sea.
The feeling, or lack thereof, was coming from Aidan as he directed Spiky. The massive monstrosity moved faster than ever, and one beastly head leaned down to cover Kieran's head with its mouth.
Carys couldn't believe they just endured all of that torment for Aidan to threaten Kieran again. She wanted to scream at Aidan. It hadn't worked the first time. Why did he think that this time would be different?
In a split second, she was granted her answer. Spiky moved back to reveal that Kieran was no longer in possession of his head. Blood spurted from the neck down to the stone coffin that Aidan fashioned for Kieran.
Carys supposed Aidan lost his control over Spiky for a moment. It would devastate the Dalon prince, but Curse Creatures weren't meant to be controlled. She lumbered over to Aidan. "All is well. I..."
That's when she saw the expression on Aidan's face. It was disconcertingly blank, but that wasn't what troubled her.
Aidan's eyes were black.
"Aidan?" she whispered.
"He's gone," Aidan said.
She tentatively reached out for him. "Your..."
Her body gave out. The strain of using that much magic without Sacrifice Magic had gotten to her. She stumbled, but Aidan grabbed onto her.
"Come now," Aidan said softly. "You can't fall yet. Not here."
She looked around at the scene of a dying battle. As Kieran's followers started becoming aware that their leader now lacked a vital ingredient for leadership, they no longer had the drive to fight. Any fighting going on now was purely for survival. There was good reason as Nyx was showing no mercy.
But Aidan was right. She couldn't fall or show weakness. They were surrounded by potential enemies, any who gladly would make use of a hint of weakness.
So she shrugged off Aidan's support and kept her feet planted on the floor. The pain began dimming. Consuming Kieran's magic healed Spiky, so the connected wounds were healing on Aidan and Carys.
Meical finished off his last attacker and made his way over. Before he reached them, Carys glanced at Aidan's eyes.
Green again.
"Well, look what you've done," Meical said in a low voice.
There was no indication of how he felt about the situation. Carys couldn't imagine what he wanted from Aidan at that moment. Aidan managed to take down one of Meical's greatest enemies, but he also did what Meical could not accomplish.
"You did it, my good brother," Aidan said evenly. "Why did you even go to the Doom Ball if not to take down Kieran?"
"Indeed." Meical nodded.
Aidan took Carys' hand and knelt in a show of fealty. "All for my new family."
Carys inhaled. He just gave Meical everything by presenting his actions as Meical's design and offering a public declaration of loyalty.
Meical took Aidan's hand, raising him up.
"Does everyone see?" Meical addressed the room.
"Kieran opposed me and tried to make it appear as if I was betrayed.
But he was a fool and let his own daughter turn on him.
My people never turn on me, and I reward loyalty.
I gave this young my sister for his loyalty. "
Carys' hand clenched, and she instinctively tried to pull away from Aidan. He kept his hand tight around her hand, not allowing her to go.
Meical raised his free hand. "Follow me for rewards. We are healing the Curselands and will eventually return to the surface. But only those who follow me. Those who defy me will end up like Kieran. Not even the Doom Ball could spare him."
Carys shuddered.