Chapter 36 #2
The impact of my bone against the stone shoots through me.
“Elowen,” I cry.
We did it, we killed the horde. But at what cost?
I tug at her arm, pulling her from beneath the pile of monsters. She coughs, and blood dribbles from the side of her mouth. I bring her to my chest. The metal of armor clangs. I inhale deeply and gag. The smell is horrendous.
A metallic stench that mixes with the mottled gray corpses around us. There’s movement around us, and fear lances through me before I realize it’s just Tane, Lachlan, Mina, and Mathilda. Evander guards our position from the rooftop.
“Do something!” I shriek, looking up into the grave and somber faces of our friends.
Tears stream down my face, and Elowen squeezes my hand.
“There’s nothing to be done,” she rasps out.
My head slumps to my chest as I stare at her through my burning tears.
“Stay with me, please.”
Blood pours from a slash across her throat. More seeping out when she tries to nod.
“It’s an honor to die among friends.” Her words come out garbled and I have to strain to hear her past the cries of Mina and Mathilda. They hold each other tightly.
“You’re not alone, Elowen. You will never be alone. We’re all here.”
My voice cracks as I force them out past the burning in my throat.
“You’re not alone,” I whisper.
She smiles faintly, her eyes turning glassy as her hand relaxes in my grip.
She’s gone.
Tilting my head up to the sky, tears streak down my face, and I tighten my grip on her hand.
“You’re not alone,” I repeat.
Howls rent the air. They must scent her blood. A large hand settles upon my shoulder, and I flinch.
Lachlan whispers in my ear, “I’m so sorry, Key, but we’ve got to go. We’ve got to move.”
I stare down at her. She’s so still. So small. Her eyes are still gazing at the night sky and the stars twinkling above us. The savage slash across her throat is the only evidence she’s not sleeping peacefully.
“We can’t just leave her here,” I choke out.
“Let me take her.” Lachlan’s voice is only a whisper. It’s like he’s afraid to startle me. Afraid that I’ll fall apart. But this isn’t the first time I’ve seen death this closely.
I can barely manage to nod.
He sweeps her up off the ground, holding her brutalized body close to his chest, and walks swiftly to the building on our right.
I trail after them, my head held high as I whisper prayers for my departed friend.
Tane swings the door open. His lips are set in a grim line.
Mina and Mathilda are on the other side, heads hanging, voices whispering prayers and goodbyes.
Clothes are hung on the walls of the shop.
The smell of fresh leather and linen drifts around the room, cleansing my senses from the rancid scent of death on the street.
Lachlan lays her gently on the rug in the middle of the room.
I tug a cloak off a wooden hanger and drape it over her body before gently closing her eyes.
The growls outside are getting louder, closer. Footsteps thud against the wooden floor, heading back outside.
There’s a gentle tug under my arm, and I turn to look up into Lachlan’s eyes. “We ha’ to go. We—I need ye to push past this. We will grieve her together. After we finish this. Okay?”
My mind empties.
They did this. They killed her.
This woman, whose only wish was to never be alone. Anger burns away my sorrow, sharpening my resolve. They will pay for this, for all of it. My parents, this realm, Elowen, all of it.
Lachlan gives an order to the rest of the group. “Lena and I are going to make a run for the capital. Kill as many as you can and meet us there.”
And then we’re off. Pushing my legs harder than I ever have before, we sprint up the road. A creature shrieks in front of us before it’s gurgling in its own blood, an arrow protruding from its neck. With each slash of my ax, Elowen’s face burns in my mind.
With each demon we down, I get one step closer to making Odessa and Julius pay.
The whacking sounds of blades meeting flesh follow us up the road. A crack of a blade against bone makes my stomach lurch.
“We need to stick to the shadows,” I breathe out in between pants.
My mind is finally thinking past the pain.
“We won’t be able to face that many on our own if we run into another horde.
” Lachlan nods, and we slow into a jog. We slink from shadow to shadow, the sounds of battle tapering off as we move farther away from our friends.
I send a silent prayer up to Odin to protect the rest of them.
Hopefully, he hears me.
We cross the second bridge over the Ayele, and debris glides down the raging river. Clothes, building materials, and even crates of supplies bob along the current. My teeth clack together. Working to control my breathing, fury rages through me.
“How could this happen?” I glare at the water below us.
The debris begins swirling when it meets the rapids by the rocks. Lachlan shakes his head, his movements jerky from rage. Where are the guards? Why are demons just running amok?
Fire crackles from the building beside the river, and we finally reach the foot of the stairs.
The smoke grows so dense as we hit step two hundred that it blots out the stars above us. My legs burn, and I choke on a cough as we crest the last stair and I prepare myself for the sight of a massacre.
But there’s nothing.
My feet echo loudly against the marble floor. If they didn’t know we were here before, they do now.
“My dear, sweet niece.” Odessa purrs across the hall. She lounges on the throne, my throne. I freeze at the sound and ball my hands into fists. “How fortunate that you timed your arrival just hours after the eclipse you undoubtedly caused.”
Her voice is intrusive as it prods at my mind.
A shadow moves next to her, and Julius materializes beside the crystal chair, a crown of what looks like black tentacles upon his brow. He cuts a very intimidating figure in his loathsome black leathers. Moonlight illuminates the perpetual sneer carved on his face.
I know the plan was for me to attempt diplomacy first, but Elowen’s death, the destruction of my home, and the demons we just faced have me sliding my feet apart, readying for battle.
Odessa and Julius act casual, relaxed even. Like there are no demons roaming our streets. Either they don’t know about them, or they don’t care.
“You called for me.” My voice rings out, and the authority of my words has her shifting in her seat. She must have expected the old me, the people-pleaser. Not the new Lena that was forged when she allowed her mate to attack me.
The woman standing before her now is the very person who claimed Odin’s ax and was deemed worthy. The same person who just faced a demon horde and made it out the other side.
“Yes, I’ve called to send you home,” she replies nonchalantly while shrugging her delicate shoulders.
I glance at Lachlan, and he crosses his arms over his blood-splattered chest, not at all believing anything that spills from her venomous lips.
“I thought it was impossible for me to go home until power was restored?”
I sheath my sword and begin walking towards them. Lachlan follows, and we stop just a few feet shy of the throne, leaving blackened footprints in our wake.
Heavy footsteps and metal clinking sounds from the doorway. Tane, Mathilda, Evander, and Mina breach the throne room.
They’re all in one piece. Relief has my shoulders lifting.
Lachlan knocks a boot against mine, urging me to focus. I turn back to face my aunt.
We stand directly under a shaft of moonlight that pours through the open ceiling.
Odessa glares down at me, scrutinizing my new armor and the blackened blood that coats most of me. I stare her down. My lip curls as I take in her black, sheer dress. Her naked body is visible beneath the fabric that looks as if it were spun from cobwebs.
There’s a glint in her onyx eyes as she scrutinizes the color of the blood on us, and her face cracks into a satisfied smile.
So she is aware of the demons, after all.
The smell of festering rotten meat permeates this end of the throne room, and my stomach churns in response.
The madness within her is now written across her wild eyes, pursed lips, and arched brow.
She looks insane. A matching crown of black tentacles rests upon her brow as well. Her wings are nowhere to be seen, and a green light shimmers from her skin.
“Well, we,” she gazes at Julius, “have decided that your presence here has become a nuisance. We’re either sending you back to the human realm or …” She trails off, shrugging, and brings her hand up to study her long black nails.
“Are you threatening to murder me?” I chuckle at her obvious intimidation tactic. “Again?”
Lachlan murmurs, so only I can hear, “Focus on her movements, not her words. She’s trying to goad you into making a mistake.”
Odessa’s eyes slide to Tane and Mathilda, where they have taken up positions on one side of the throne room, and then to Mina and Evander on the other side. Their heavy breathing can be heard from where we stand.
One more fight.
One last fight, and then the throne is mine, and we will have secured our home. We just need to win this last battle, and then this nightmare will be over.
“I do not tolerate idle threats,” I grit out between clenched teeth.
Anger races through me at her threat and the hell of what I have already faced to get here. The life that they have cost me.
“I think you’ve misunderstood my presence here, Aunt,” I say louder.
“I have no intention of leaving or being murdered. I’ve come to claim my throne and fix the problems you’ve so obviously left to fester.
” I gesture towards the mud-splattered floors of the Great Hall, the dead demons in the streets beyond.
The ghost of those battles is seared into my mind.
“I had hoped you would agree and relinquish the throne willingly after seeing the eclipse for yourself.”
I take a breath, my voice softening a shade, when I remember that she is my family, my only family in this realm. “Odessa, please see reason. This goes beyond holding onto the throne. Look around you; the war is here. There are demons in our streets.”
Odessa leans forward on the throne, resting her chin on her palm, a wicked smile grotesquely marring her face.
“Is that what you believe, Helena? That I’ve ignored the signs of the war, that I mistook them for the realm needing you? No one needs you,” she sneers. “I knew all along what the signs indicated.”
My eyes narrow on her traitorous face, and she nods to Julius. She rises from the throne, pulling a sword from behind the crystal chair. Diplomacy is no longer an option, family or not.
My rage at her willful neglect by allowing the realm—my realm—to go to shit, sends tingles down my arms.
“It’s Lena,” I grit out. I jerk the ax from the straps on my back. “Or, Your Majesty.”