11. Aldrin #3
Bearded Dante unleashes a rain of deadly needles upon me and I roll away, throwing up a network of mycelium as a shield.
The mushrooms form almost instantaneously, blasting a cloud of spores in older Dante’s face.
He shakes his head and trips backward. The moment his eyes haze over, pupils fully dilated, and froth seeps from his lips, he winks out of this time period.
The gong sounds and the Mistress’ voice rings out. “Two minutes until the sand runs out.”
Fuck. I need more time.
Desperation floods me.
I cannot—I will not die here.
If that sand runs out and Dante still lives, I am going to have a blood-frenzied horde on my hands.
My heartbeat ramps up until it pounds violently in my ears.
I think I am going to vomit. I am just one man and I cannot take on the entire order of the Assassins of Belladonna.
Right now, I can hardly beat one of their number.
The heart-stone, Aldrin! Keira shrieks. Destroy his heart-stone!
It is time to show my hand. Use the move that will only work once on a target who can time stutter.
I stand in the center of the arena, perfectly still, and hold my sword ready while Dante’s Nightmare barrels toward me.
I run my power along the flagstones until the many channels of it reach Dante and sink into him like hooks.
Taking over each of his muscles one by one.
Removing his control over his own flesh.
His whole body shakes as he fights me, but I haven’t met another who could remove my talons once they have sunk deep.
I run at the beast, refusing to think of him as Dante, and meet him in a head-on attack.
My shoulders collide into his and, controlling both our bodies, I flip him onto his back, straddling his huge barrel of a chest as I thrust my sword deep into its center.
I send raw power through my blade, forcing it to emit pure sunlight into the wound.
A tear runs down my cheek as obsidian cracks and breaks, and I thrust my fist into his ribcage.
My fingers wrap around his heart-stone and tear it out of him.
The blue light it releases stutters and begins to fade as I thrust my earth power into it, finding the life throbbing within, tapping into it and choking it off.
It is taking too long.
Hot breath curls across my skin a fraction of a second before his jaws wrap around my throat and his teeth puncture my flesh. Somehow, he broke my hold over his muscles, but his control over his body is weak.
The gong sounds and I know my doom.
I am out of time.
They are going to kill me in the most brutal sort of way. Will they revel in my blood being spilled? In my organs being scattered across the pavers? Will I be nothing but a red smear across the killing floor by the time they are done with me?
Dante’s teeth release me and he collapses against the ground, emitting shallow, wheezing pants.
I drop his heart-stone back into the cavity of his chest, because somehow I still like the man, and what is one more enemy at this point?
I back away from him and hold my sword at the ready.
It doesn’t even shake in my grip. I will die fighting, no matter that I have no chance of survival.
I will meet my death with whatever courage I can muster.
Keira is screaming and wailing incoherently at the back of my mind. Devastation rolls through her like crashing tidal waves, her entire body shaking and hot tears running down her face. How her heart shatters for me. It is nothing but an endless well of pain.
I will find you in the next life, dear heart.
Then we will enjoy that life of peace together that we promised to each other.
I send her an intense wave of love and regret, before blocking her out completely.
There are things a mate should never witness.
I do not want her to feel my agony as I am shredded.
The assassins in the audience stand, but they don’t swarm me. Instead they clap and cheer.
I turn around on the spot, taking them all in as confusion rolls through me. Then three Nightmares race toward us, and I am sure they will attack me in small groups, hacking at me in turns until I am drained of magic, blood and life.
But they race right past me.
To Dante.
They crouch before him, sharing the smoke and shadows of their bodies until his wounds close up.
I stare at them, then at the crowd, with absolutely no idea what is going on.
The Mistress is making an announcement from her stand, but I cannot follow her words.
Is she ordering them to swarm me? Will they turn it into a sport?
I jolt as Dante limps toward me. He is back in his humanoid form, with a massive slash down his chest that is now mostly closed. It looks like it bloody hurts. “Fuck, you are unhinged, Aldrin.”
I put space between us and hold my sword at the ready. “Why isn’t the audience trying to kill me yet?” I yell over the noise of the crowd.
Dante scratches his head awkwardly. “Yeah, I did tell you that, didn’t I?” I growl an animalistic sound and he shrugs and points to the Mistress, who is still speaking. “Listen.”
I force myself to calm down enough to do as he says, allowing Keira back in. She has been clawing and fighting against the block I put on our mate bond.
“With the survival of his final trial, and such an impressive fight at that, we have deemed Aldrin, exiled King of the Spring Court, to have passed the Trials of Belladonna and been initiated into our order!” she announces in her musical tone. The crowd goes wild.
I turn on Dante. “They aren’t going to swarm me because the sand ran out before I could kill you?”
“Nope.”
Energy bleeds out of me all at once as relief washes over me, so strong my legs almost give out. In the distance of my mind, Keira sobs.
“They were never going to…” I let my words trail off.
Dante places an arm over my shoulders, then cringes with pain as the movement pulls on his wound. “Aldrin. Do you honestly think a member of the Wild Hunt has to die each time a candidate passes the final trial? We would have practically no one in our order.”
I narrow my eyes at him and shove him off me. It is obvious now that I have not been dragged into an arena to fight for my life with a hungry crowd calling for my blood. “Why lie, then?”
He lets out a long breath as another Nightmare approaches him to share his darkness.
They must be giving him their biomatter to help him heal.
“The candidate is to try to kill a member of the Wild Hunt and put their all into it. I needed you to be desperate enough to show your best face. To come at me with brutality and not hold back from a killing blow, even though I know deep down you really like me.”
“Not anymore,” I grumble.
“Trust me, Aldrin. A candidate can survive the final trial until the sand runs out and still be put down afterward if the Mistress is not impressed with what she sees. She is ruthless enough and has done it before.” He slaps me on the back. “Congratulations. You passed. We should celebrate.”
He leads me out of the arena. I’m in a daze, head spinning, disconnected from my body as the roars of the crowd die away. The shock of this last trial was too much.
Keira’s chest heaves and shudders with sobs she cannot stop. Her eyes sting from the salt of the tears running uncontrollably down her face, but her heart rate has settled.
I’m still here, dear heart. My whisper coils through her.
I will come for you soon. I will be there to hold you and kiss away your future tears.
To protect you and make sure no one can hurt you again.
I just need you to hold out for me. The connection between us is so deep, it feels like I can embrace her quivering form and kiss the warm skin of her forehead.
We share the shiver that runs down her spine.
All her grief and fear is suddenly eaten up by a black rage. Don’t you dare ever block me out again. It was the most terrifying moment of my life when our connection went cold and I couldn’t reach you.
I stumble, almost missing my step. If they…you didn’t need to see it.
Never. Again, she growls. And don’t give me that “in another life” bullshit. I want you in this life! The gods know we have both worked hard enough for it.
I can’t help smiling. Despite the wrath of her words, the tidal wave of love behind them is so potent it washes everything else away.