Chapter 17
Xavier
Waking up felt like wading through knee-deep mud—heavy and exhausting.
The ground swayed beneath me, a dizzying sensation of being jostled and dragged reverberating through my body.
It felt like the whole world was trembling.
A muffled cry pierced my skull, and I winced as the loud noises around me intensified and came into focus.
“WAKE UP!”
Something struck me across the cheek, and my eyes shot open to find my uncle hovering over me. Smoke billowed above his head, his hand raised and striking toward my cheek again.
I caught his arm as it swung, and his shoulders seemed to sag with relief, but only briefly.
“The village! Xavier, we are under attack.”
Flynn grabbed my hand, pulling me up off the ground. We were no longer in his cabin but in the clearing in front of it, twenty feet away. My uncle's cabin was on fire. Flames licked up the sides and engulfed it inside their thrashing tendrils while smoke billowed high into the gray sky above.
He must have dragged me out while I was passed out. Embers fell from the sky, and I whipped my head toward the village where more smoke and fire billowed, mixed in with the cries of my people.
Shaking off the last of my confusion, I took off running. I leapt into the air, wings sprouting from my back. The black silken membrane came into view as I pumped them harder to reach my people.
Flynn was running in the field below, or at least he had been. I flew too far ahead to see him any longer. The smoke became thick, and the cries and screams grew louder.
Something slithered on the ground in the village, and I cursed as I spotted green scales. Scanning the smoke, I dove toward the ground, landing at its center. My palm gripped the sword at my back, and I unsheathed it in preparation.
Squinting through the smoke, I waved my hand to clear the air. Wind swept around me, but not hard enough to stoke any lingering embers.
A roar to my right startled me, and I lunged towards the sound. My blade sliced through the air, connecting with a slimy green tail. A daka roared and spun, its jaws snapping, and I twisted, ducking as my blade embedded itself in the side of its neck.
Yanking the blade free, I watched the beast roar louder and thrash. My shadows reached out, wrapping around its bleeding neck and snapping it backward with a wicked crunch. The beast fell silent immediately, hitting the ground with an impressive, lifeless thump.
A slow clapping sound came from somewhere behind me, and I whirled around, my eyes locking on a petite, dark-haired witch.
Morgana stood twenty paces away, but my gaze went immediately to the girl standing next to her.
Zara was covered in sweat and blood. Her hair was matted to her face, the rest hanging in wet strands down her back.
Her icy blue gaze didn’t meet mine, but I could see that her gaze was hazy, unfocused.
She was eerily still, with a neutral expression on her face.
I would have thought she was asleep if it weren’t for the flames licking up her palms.
As if my noticing them brought it to her attention, they winked out.
Reaching through our bond, I lowered the barrier I'd kept between us, but encountered a massive, steely wall. I slammed against it, but nothing happened. I tried again and again, but her shield was strong, foreign, as if it wasn’t hers.
Morgana laughed, bringing me back to the present.
“What did you do to her?!” I barked, and Morgana had the nerve to look confused.
“What did I do to whom, dear?” Morgana asked, tilting her head like a fucking cat.
I took a threatening step forward, but Morgana stopped me. “Uh- uh, I wouldn’t do that, son. Zara is in a murderous mood right now. Wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”
I took another step and Zara’s unfocused gaze snapped to mine with lethal intent. She couldn’t harm me. Not fatally, so I kept going. Still trying to pry past the shield through our bond as I readied for her to attack.
I felt a prickle on my neck and ducked as Zara's magic tried to ensnare me from behind with her shadows.
I spun again, narrowly avoiding another attempt.
Morgana hissed impatiently as Zara sent a torrent of magic toward me again.
My magic met hers, and they crashed together as I shadowed to my right.
Footsteps echoed behind me, and I glanced back to find Julian and Flynn running out of the still lingering smoke to my side. Zara stopped her advance, and Morgana’s lilting voice echoed.
“Hello Flynn, so good to see you again so soon,” Morgana crooned. “Maybe you can help your nephew and tell him where you hid my book.” Her fists clenched at her sides as she stomped one foot forward. Zara shifted and did the same, mirroring her like some fucking doll.
I saw red, and power erupted from me, seeping into the ground and spearing toward Morgana. She was controlling Zara. The glazed look in her eyes, the distance I felt through our bond—I doubt Zara even knew what she was doing. Being used like some puppet.
Vines shot from the ground, the twisted roots reaching for that vile witch, but they were stopped by a torrent of flames that arched high into the air and shot toward us on a massive wave.
Zara stood protectively in front of Morgana, and my jaw clenched so hard I thought I'd break my teeth.
Julian had already stepped in front of me, blasting ice at the approaching flames.
He kept throwing up layer after layer, and I mirrored him until the fire died down, leaving only thick steam hanging in the air around us.
Out of the steam, a figure advanced, and my eyes widened as a glint of a blade came slicing through the air toward Julian.
Wind gathered at my palms as I shot them toward him, blasting him out of its path.
Julian screamed, and something thumped to the ground at his feet.
The blade that had been aimed at his neck instead sliced through his arm, and Julian fell to his knees gritting his teeth in pain.
He looked wide eyed at his now missing arm, at the jagged cut that licked across his left side.
He shakily raised his other hand, desperately and awkwardly trying to control the damage.
Zara was nearly upon him again, her blade raised for another strike.
Roaring, I shadowed behind her, my arm crashing down onto hers, knocking her blade from her grip as I locked my arms around her.
She thrashed and Julian looked up at her—not just with fear, but with revulsion so raw it splintered my heart.
Zara thrashed in my hold, and she managed to spin free, turning to face me, but I had been ready for it, a tunnel of wind sending her tumbling in the air.
She landed like an animal on the ground, her nails digging into the dirt as she slid to a stop. I was already running toward her, and she lunged forward. We met in the middle, and Zara’s fist landed across my cheek.
I laughed darkly as my dagger embedded into her upper thigh, and Zara let out a curse of pain as she pulled it free.
Spinning it in her grasp she stabbed it through my left shoulder.
I let it happen, and clenching through the sting of it, I lifted her by the legs, slamming her onto her back on the ground.
She pivoted, her elbow slamming into my jaw, and I felt something slither around my neck as I was pulled back, allowing her to roll out from underneath me.
“Zara,” I hissed, my magic searing through the vines.
My boot swung out, and I swept her legs out from underneath her, and she stumbled right into the spinning ball of water I had conjured.
Zara’s limbs thrashed, and a snarl left my lips as I spun around to check on my uncle and Julian.
My blood ran cold as my eyes landed on Morgana.
She had Flynn in her grasp, her hand wrapped around his throat.
His body rigid as if an invisible rope bound him.
My gaze cut to Julian, who was now passed out on the ground, but his chest was rising, the blood a slow trickle from his mutilated arm. Fuck.
“Your uncle’s cabin had excellent protective charms,” Morgana purred, glancing down at him. “Kept even me out, which is impressive. I was surprised, though, when they were lifted only hours ago.” She smiled, her grip tightening, and I narrowed my eyes at her.
Flynn’s warm brown gaze landed on me, and they were filled with tears, with unspoken words.
“Let him go,” I begged, taking a step closer.
“I think you need to learn what is at stake here, son,” Morgana whispered, and something shot past my head.
A glint of silver flew in the air. Morgana removed her hand from my uncle's throat, and my eyes widened as I watched a dagger slam into the center of his neck. Blood sprayed, and my uncle’s eyes widened, still frozen in her grasp.
I whirled around and saw Zara advancing, another dagger in her hand, and I drew in a sharp breath. “Stop!”
She didn’t hear me. Only kept stalking forward, no emotion, not even a pitying glance in my direction. She raised the dagger, and I shadowed in front of her, tackling her to the ground.
Morgana’s laugh echoed around us, and she dropped my uncle. His wet gasps filled the air as he tried to pull in breath, his body thumping to the ground at her feet, still bound.
“You will give me that book, or everyone you care about will die,” she barked, and I knew what she was going to do next, and I couldn’t let it happen. I wouldn’t let her kill my uncle. He was still alive. I could still save him.
I shadowed in front of her, slamming against a shield I hadn’t seen. Suddenly, Zara was in front of me, blasting me back. My body rolled on the ground as my nails dug into the earth, desperately trying to stop my momentum.
She has caused enough death.
I shot to my feet, my body vibrating, filling with power and erupted.
My magic hit Zara first, throwing her back and slamming her against Morgana, whose eyes were wide, fear entering them for the first time. Unfortunately, she managed to throw up a shield, and the massive black wave of power slammed against it.
A dark dome appeared around them as my magic fought to break through, but the dome was shrinking. Morgana was unable to hold back the onslaught of my anger, my power.
I gritted my teeth, pouring all my energy into breaking through that infernal barrier and reaching the ancient witch who had stolen everything from me.
My family, my mate… and now my kingdom. She had inflicted enough death and pain.
She didn't deserve a swift end, but a brutal one, one that would make her bleed and suffer as she had made so many others. I advanced step by step until I was upon them, my magic still surging, clawing its way forward. I felt her defenses falter under the strain, sensed Zara’s raw panic through the bond, and then it became distant, a faraway ache.
They fled. Ran away like cowards.
With a snarl, my magic imploded. I contained it, channeling it skyward as agony ripped through every limb and muscle.
The raw power I'd unleashed could have leveled this entire kingdom.
Power surged upward, exploding into the sky and forming a massive black mist that blotted out the sun.
The sound and the tremor of the earth made me cringe as I fell to my knees, my eyes burning as I crawled towards my uncle.
Blood was pouring from Flynn’s mouth as his gaze locked onto mine, and my hatred for Morgana only grew.
Flynn was dying.
Tears fell from my eyes, and I shook my head as I approached my uncle.
“Tell—tell my son,” Flynn choked, and I shook my head more violently.
“Don’t talk, it will only make it worse.” I pressed my fingers around the dagger still protruding from his neck, trying to slow the bleeding. I glanced toward Julian, but he was still unconscious, unmoving.
“Fuck!” I snarled loudly, helplessness dragging me down with each ragged breath.
I had locked him away, kept him from everyone. Our last words to each other were spoken in anger… and now…
My uncle's eyes went unfocused and I watched as his skin started to pale.
“Ja—x—Jaxon,” Flynn breathed, and I couldn’t do anything but listen and watch as my uncle died.
“What do you want me to tell Jaxon?” I asked, my voice breaking under the pounding grief that was now blooming in my chest.
“Te—tel—tell my son, I’m sorry,” Flynn coughed, his eyes glimmering with tears. Blood sprayed out from his lips, and I gritted my teeth, not understanding what he was saying. I put more pressure on his wound, trying to give him more time. “They asked it of me—the—the Fates.”
Furrowing my brows, my spine straightened and something Caelan said whispered through my mind. They had a son together and were happy… son not sons.
No. That didn't make any sense… I would have known. He had to be confused.
Flynn's body convulsed, a small breath escaping him as his head lolled to the side, his eyes going vacant.
No.
I looked around desperately for someone to help, but no one was there. The smoke began to clear, and the smoldering village beyond was littered with bodies and debris. Grief and guilt crashed through me, and I buried my head in my uncle's chest and screamed.