Chapter 68
G arrik knew nothing other than the darkness in his soul, the pain in his chest, and his hands—bloodied, not a tendril of shadow remaining—wrapped around Malik’s throat as they tumbled from Nevilier’s portal onto the stones of Castle Galdheir.
There. On that starsdamned landing platform, high, high, high atop the massifs and peaks his mother’s castle was hewn from …
He was going to kill Malik.
Then her . Every-fucking-one of them.
Serpent darkness raged on that battlefield, but Garrik had managed to keep her magic subdued long enough until it stabbed him in the back. To keep her from Alora and Thalon and his Dragons. To keep the attention on him long enough that they could escape.
But Alora’s scream in his mind … it haunted him even now. Knowing that if he had not waited those few seconds, doubting the life that Alora wanted for him … the life she said he deserved …
No. It did not matter now. He could not dawn to her—had been too late.
Malik’s face twisted as life drained from him. A short gasp ignited a spark of dark flames in his eyes as Garrik squeezed and squeezed and squeezed. “Little. Dragon,” Malik choked out as if it was a final insult.
Garrik could not be bothered to care.
Footsteps rushed along the stones. Garrik ignored them. He would deal with them soon enough.
As long as his mate was safe. As long as Magnelis could not get to her—that she could not get to her. What they could do to Alora would be far worse than anything they would do to him.
In any world where he would have to choose between himself or her …
He would choose Alora.
And knowing that she was safe. Knowing Thalon would reach the Wall and Alora would open the pathway through it, sealing them inside … that they would gather the allies of Elysian and return their realm to freedom. To live, to fight. To have that peace she deserved. They all deserved.
He felt peace. With Malik’s life draining from his hands… Pure peace.
That murderous grip tightened around Malik’s throat. He heard the distinctive crack.
The infernal male’s eyes widened, snuffing out the fire inside until only white orbs remained.
Dead. Malik was finally dead.
Those footsteps were running now. Crimson lightning flashed behind him, and a voice like demons given full reign hissed to them, “ Do not touch him . He is mine .”
Garrik stood. Blood dripped to the stones from his back and abdomen as his demon emerged from the swirl.
That deceptively saccharine smile contorted. Venom sizzled from her tongue. “You killed my property, pet .”
“And you are next.” Garrik did not recognize his voice. Darkness. It was pure, endless… Darkness.
She hummed. Wicked delight contorted that beautifully evil face as she brushed her long black hair behind her shoulder. “I do so love when you think you can threat?—”
Nearly sixty years of humiliation and pain and torture thrust his hand into the female’s neck. Pouring every ounce of bloodlust into his inkless eyes as he became a beast not of this world.
The ice of her skin was a contrast to the pits of Firekeeper’s realm, but like death all the same, as Garrik’s fist tightened. Fingertips sank deeper into her bone-white skin until streams of black blood dripped down his veins.
A wolfish smile crept up Garrik’s face, the satisfaction of watching her disgusting soul drain away drip by drip reamed through every murderous bone in his body. Silver as moonlight, his eyes speared the wickedness, the deepest black eyes he had ever seen.
The only thing to make this more pleasing would be if she begged.
Garrik’s eyes snapped to her lips, as they had countless times when he had her at his mercy in the Dawnspace, imagining the pathetic pleas she would make.
Perhaps he should loosen his grip and let the serpent cry out for her worthless life. But her freezing blood was too gratifying. He pressed his fingers in deeper, sinking into muscles and tendons.
But she only smiled.
Smiled because iron groaned across that platform. A door opened.
And they felt it.
Him— his unmatched, stolen power.
The very blood in Garrik’s body betrayed him. Every nerve and muscle and vein turned against his will. Garrik cried out as unimaginable pain surged through him. As that blood forced his hand from her neck. And he turned on himself.
Garrik fell to his knees as his fingers hovered over his chest. Pressing deep, cracking through the cavity, until he could feel his heart pumping against his fingertips. Unable to stop it—his hand squeezed and squeezed and squeezed.
Bloodflecting. The same power Ladomyr had used in the collars.
The female’s grin slithered into something hellish. All-consuming, evil, and depraved, as the male who had raised him stepped into sea-misted sunlight.
Unable to do anything more than pant in shallow breaths, Garrik’s vision spotted, watching the snake slither away—to Malik—before she crouched down and merely gripped his temples.
A soul-ending scream echoed from Malik’s throat as he screamed to the sky, “ No .” Repeating it over and over, as if he had been burning in Firekeeper’s flames and now returned to life. Ripping his throat raw, thrashing as the female cradled his head between her breasts and stroked his hair.
Garrik’s blood forced his head upward. Regardless of the pain, of the control against his will, at least he still could conduct his face in hate and disdain as Elysian’s usurper prowled forward.
The guards, perfectly willing cronies, stood stark still as if a simple twitch would have the High King’s wrath poured out on them.
Weathered, hateful years etched harsh lines into that slender face. The long, gray beard and pin-straight hair holding a polished onyx crown laden with ruby and amethyst-covered spikes rested on his head. Emotionless chestnut eyes stared forward as that despicable mouth turned up in disgust like it had tasted spoiled meat.
Garrik made a low, wet growl in his throat.
Magnelis seemed to feed off it. As if the sound itself enriched his power.
With every last thread of defiance, Garrik squared his shoulders and lifted his chin as Magnelis extended a long, crooned finger and dug his nail under Garrik’s chin to raise it higher.
That despicable mouth curled into a devilish grin, exuding the depths of Firekeeper’s realm as Magnelis said, “Welcome home, son .”