Chapter 43
Iblock his next three assaults. My feet slide against the marble floor as smoothly as my breathing. I’m in control, balanced. But when a cry rings out, I stumble.
Lachlan.
That’s Lachlan’s voice. Julius takes a step in retreat and I risk it, my eyes sliding to Lachlan. He drops to his knees. Blood blooms scarlet from a sizable stab wound to his thigh.
My glance costs me. A vision occurs too late as a fist slams into my mouth.
I crumple.
Blood sprays from my mouth and I fall to my stomach on the cold marble floor.
Julius looms above me, his sword held high. But my eyes are only on Lachlan. His mouth opens in a silent scream as he stares at me. Fear and horror contorting his features. The whites of his eyes swallowing the green I love so much.
Get up.
Time crawls.
Lachlan falls to his stomach, crawling over the bodies of the slain. All the while screaming my name. My eyes flick up to Julius, who looks down at me.
A triumphant smile blazes across his face, his sword lowering in an arc meant to decapitate me.
“Key. Get up!” Lachlan screams.
Still scrambling over bodies, his leg dangles uselessly behind him. His silver armor dented and drenched in blood. His eyes seem otherworldly in the flames that spew through a hole in the ceiling as stones and dust rain down from above.
Is this it? Is this the end?
My life seems to play out in a carousel of images.
My parents loving faces as they teach me about honor and duty, the importance of love and kindness.
Lachlan’s charming smile, whispering words of love, and our dreams of the future.
Mathilda and Mina, the kind friends I had dreamt of my whole life. Evander’s contagious laugh, and Tane’s dance moves.
My hopes and dreams of a better world.
All the people that I would lose if I let this monster win.
I can not allow Julius to reign.
Time resumes and I flip onto my back, holding my sword above my head.
His sword crashes down upon mine, locking them against each other.
He leans down over me, pushing against my sword with all his might.
My entire body tenses, and my muscles flex so tightly that I wonder if they might snap.
The marble is hard and unforgiving underneath me. My armor whines as it screeches across it.
“You. Will. Die.” He grits out, still pushing his sword—his entire body against mine. “The prophecy said you would.”
I shove, thrusting with everything I have as Lachlan’s words fill my ears.
“FIGHT LENA!”
My skin tingles and light flares from me. A gust of wind pushes him back and I twist. Scrambling out from underneath him. He falls where my body was.
His face twists into confusion, but I jab.
Punching him right in the mouth.
“The prophecy was unclear.”
His eyes darken, madness overtaking him as a maniacal grin spreads his lips. An iridescent red coats his teeth and he spits the blood onto the ground.
He laughs, a crow’s laugh as he stands, facing me.
Behind him, I see Lachlan make his way to his feet. The magic here already healing the wound in his thigh as he stares at me. “Finish this,” he mouths.
I nod.
Inhaling, I count to four.
“You think you will be the one to end me?” He cocks his head to the side, his eyes roving over me. The familiarity of my father’s face slips. He would have never made a face like that.
“I do.”
I charge at him, swinging with all the hatred, anger, and frustration I have felt the past year. He will die by my blade, by my father’s blade. His jaw goes slack, and for the first time—genuine fear widens his eyes.
My sword cuts through the air. The point of it slows as Julius raises his to block. He squeezes his eyes shut, bracing for the impact.
But my blade keeps cutting. The strength behind my swing shatters his sword.
He jumps back and out of the way, holding half a blade in his hand.
“It’s not possible!” Terror has his golden skin blanching.
“This was my father’s blade,” I say, swiping low at his unprotected stomach.
He lurches back, falling against the throne. His stomach is split wide open. The silvery red blood pours from the gash. He collapses onto his stomach and crawls away.
His hands and knees slip against the bloody marble beneath him.
I stomp a boot upon his back, shoving him face down onto the cold stone. His face makes a loud whack sound as it collides against the stone.
The black-as-night hair shifts back into his original blonde.
His form slides into him again.
Which makes what I’m about to do much easier.
I thumb my dagger from the thigh holster. The sapphires glow in the light from the chandelier, swinging from the ceiling.
Gripping a handful of his blonde hair, I pull his head up. He moans as his blood puddles beneath him. I lean down to whisper in his ear.
“I didn’t say up yet.” With one steady motion, I slit his throat.
Ear to ear.
A dragon roars in the distance. The sound rattling the crystal chandelier above us.
Silence settles upon the room, like it was dropped underwater. All the sounds of the outside world are muffled.
“Key,” Lachlan murmurs.
His breath caresses my face as he grabs my hand. I peel my eyes from the body below me. Glassy eyes gaze upon the still throne room. His heart beats no more.
I killed him.
The thought doesn’t relieve me like I thought it would.
Bile rises in my throat. Burning and clawing its way into my mouth.
I swallow it down, slowly turning my head to peer at Lachlan.
“Odessa isn’t back yet. Eira and Balthasar went to find the gods, too. But the giants have almost broken through the doors.”
His words slowly register and I step over Julius’ body. Wrenching my axe from the throne, I strap it on my back as I race for the hallway. Over the piles of bodies.
Gaps in the broken wood have light spearing through before a shadow falls and another fist thunders against the door. Claws rip and pull at the gap in the bottom of the door as the demons search for a way inside.
If they breach that door, we won’t stand a chance.
And they’re close.
So close to breaking through the doors. The hinges whine and the locks creak. I swallow again and breathe in through the burning in my throat.
Fuck. What do we do? Where are our troops?
“Key.” Lachlan’s voice pulls me from my thoughts. “Ye ha’ to go find the gods and bring them here.”
I shake my head. “They’re almost through the doors. You’ll be slaughtered!”
My friends gather around us, heaving breaths. The throne room is a tomb. Dead bodies littered all over the floor. Julius’ oily blood drips down the stairs of the dais, mixing with that of the guards on the ground.
Mina stares at the door, her shoulders rigid, but there’s a hollowness to her eyes. She’s completely drained. “But you’re the only one who could hear the gods before. You have to find them.”
Mathilda stands beside her, leaning into Tane’s side. He gazes down at her, exhaustion and acceptance set in his jaw. “They can end this.”
Freya, Odr, and Piominko slink past us. She turns around to look at me. “We’ll hold them off as long as we can. To give you time.”
Realization dawns.
They know they’re going to die. They’re sacrificing themselves to buy me time to rally the gods and end the entire war.
I shake my head. Tears fall in a race down my cheeks. My throat burns as emotion clogs it. “I can’t”
Lachlan tugs me against his chest, squeezing me tight and placing a kiss on my forehead.
“Ye can.”
I shake my head. Loose hairs that have slipped my braid snag in his armor and rip from my scalp.
“I can’t leave you. You’ll die.”
He gazes down at me, with all the love in the world teeming from his eyes.
“I’m so sorry. But ye ha’ to do this next part on your own.”
My eyes squeeze shut, tears falling in a steady stream, as I shake my head.
“Go, Key. Save the world. I will find ye again.”
I break. A sob erupts from my chest as I tremble.
“No.”
The wood of the door splinters. A large piece of it slams into the marble floor, sending pieces scattering and sliding down the hall.
“Here they come!” Freya yells, as demons flood through the crack in the door.
“Lena, listen to me. The gods will end this war. And only ye can find them. Go!” He pleads, pulling away from me.
My heart splits right down the middle.
If I stay and fight, it won’t make much of a difference. We’d all fall together. But we’d be together in the end.
If I leave, they will die, but the world might be spared.
Lachlan holds me at arm’s length, tears spilling over the rim of his eyes. And I wish for all the world I could stop time and hold this moment forever.
“I will always be with ye. Right here,” he breathes, touching his finger to my chest.
No. No, it was supposed to be one sailing.
“I will find ye again.”
I shake my head, my lip trembling and my eyes burning.
“Go!” He shoves me and whirls around as the advancing demons hit the first line of our defense. Freya screams with rage.
If I find the gods in time, I could save them.
But I would have to go right now.
A groan shudders from me as I turn and sprint down the hall. Leaving my entire world behind me.
With each strike of my feet across the ground, pain sears through my chest, tightening my lungs and making breathing difficult.
I hurtle through the halls, an invisible wind at my feet.
Paintings of my ancestors flash by. My legs and arms pumping as fast as I can push them.
The medallion around my neck slaps against the outside of my armor.
Go.
Lachlan’s face is seared in my mind.
I need the gods. But where are they?
I slam to a stop. My joints bark in protest, but I close my eyes.
Listening.
Feeling.
My chest heaves with each breath, the air stutters out of me and I choke, gasping to breathe around the emotion constricting my throat.
A tremble through the floor has my body shaking.
They had a hidden cave in Idirhalla. Behind and below the Great Hall.
The runes on my necklace flare, the magic in this realm healing my injuries. Stitching me back together, but nothing can fix the break in my chest.
The ground trembles again.
They’re below us.