Chapter 51 #2
The second I struck out at their prince, the Draugr all attacked, which told me that their loyalty already lay with Caelan and not their queen.
But before they could manage more than a few steps, I had erected a dome of shadows over Darragh, Nuala, Aoibheal, and myself.
The hissing shield certainly kept the Draugr back since they did not want to risk their magic being siphoned.
But being inside a dome formed of my shadows was wildly disorienting, even for me as my power crackled over my skin.
The air was ripped from my lungs, and the only reason any of us could still breathe was because Darragh was using his air magic behind me.
Aoibheal seemed to regain her senses and attempted to form a portal beneath her, but I grabbed her bony ankle and pulled her away before she could escape.
She gave a wail of denial and tried to kick free of me before lashing out with fire magic so feeble I deflected without thinking.
And the fact that the Queen of Ahnnaòin could not seem to mount even a small defense made me sick.
How could she believe that she should be ruling our court when she was too weak to defend herself?
“You are pathetic. I am ashamed to exploit something so weak and futile,” I hissed in disgust. But there was no other choice, so I gripped her throat and got to my feet, lifting her bony body with me so her feet were under her.
“This is your last chance to surrender your power to your heir of your own free will. Or I shall take it from you!”
“Kill him! Kill him!” she screeched, her tattered wings fluttering as feebly as a dying moth.
I looked up at Prince Caelan who stood helplessly on the other side of my shadows. All he could do was wait and watch as I did what he should have done long ago.
And hope to all the gods that I was right, and it would strengthen our failing court again rather than doom it…
“Very well,” I growled as Darragh opened a portal for the other riders to join us. “Then I shall take it.”
Ornella
I did not hesitate to follow Sage through the portal that Darragh had created for us, but the maelstrom of magic we emerged into was nearly intolerable.
The air felt too heavy to breathe, and my lungs began to burn for oxygen.
My head and joints ached, and I flexed my jaw when it began to feel like my ears needed to pop.
I felt disoriented and like I might be sick, but I held onto Sage until I had finally acclimated enough to function.
I raised my head, and the first thing I saw was Rian with his hand around Aoibheal’s throat. But Nuala lying prone with Darragh was all that held my attention.
Releasing Sage, I stumbled toward her on weak legs.
My braid was ripped over my shoulder by a violent gust, and I realized I’d been too disoriented to notice the air rioting around me.
It was also insanely loud in the dome, there was a roar echoing around us, which was partly why it was so unsettling. Like my senses were overwhelmed.
I finally reached Darragh who restrained the witch as gently as he could while she thrashed and convulsed.
“She broke Mionn na Síochána,” explained Darragh. “You cannot heal her.”
I could probably use Rian’s magic to try and consume the curse, but I was completely drained.
And I was also wary of messing with whatever ramifications would come from breaking Mionn na Síochána.
I glanced up at Sage who stood with Ciaran right behind me, but both of them were staring at Rian.
I followed their gazes across the dim expanse of the dome to our leader.
Rian had raised Aoibheal up into the air by her throat with one hand.
His shadows had latched onto her like a cocoon of spiderwebs, and her thin body was convulsing with every deep pull he was taking from her.
Her power flowed through his shadows and ignited them in pulses of purple as he consumed her.
It was the most morbidly beautiful and the most horrifying thing that I’d ever seen.
But I could practically taste the anticipation blaring down the bonds from each of the other riders who had all been waiting years for this moment.
The moment when they would know whether everything they had done to find the fey monarchs and protect Ahnnaòin had been right.
But it was not just my fellow riders who were feeling a tentative hope.
There were no traces of sadness in the rapt eyes of any of the Draugr warriors who watched through Rian’s shadows.
They had been forced to protect an old queen beyond her natural reign.
I didn’t think they were displeased at all by the prospect of her power transferring to a younger and stronger monarch.
“Rian cannot contain all of that power,” said Darragh, drawing my attention. He was still holding Nuala, but his worried eyes were on the Autumn Prince.
“Can we help hold it?” I guessed, but the demidragon shook his head.
“Not even all of us could manage such power,” he said before shifting his gaze to me. “You can weave magic. Perhaps you could become a conduit so he can funnel the power directly to Caelan?”
“But I am completely drained!” I objected.
“You need not do anything but allow power to flow through you,” Darragh insisted urgently.
I hesitated before glancing back over my shoulder at Rian again.
His jaw was clenched, and I could tell he was in danger of crumbling under the immense weight of so much magic.
As powerful as he was, he was not made to house it; none of us were.
There was only one fey in all of Ahnnaòin who was built to be a vessel for this magic.
I rose before I could overthink. Sage caught my hand and interlaced his fingers with mine to stop me, but I had the feeling I might need him, so I tugged him with me.
“Where are we going?” he asked as I formed a portal to take us to the other side of Rian’s shadows.
“To make a king. I hope,” I answered just before we strode through the swirl of autumn leaves.
And thank all the fucking gods I brought Sage and his lightening-fast reflexes, because his blade was suddenly intercepting another sword in front of my face. I blinked, almost missing how easily he then disarmed the Draugr and kicked another so it stumbled back from us.
Maybe I shouldn’t have portalled us straight into the midst of the enormous warriors. But my mind had been rather preoccupied with the enormous task that Darragh had charged me with. My only thought had been to get us as close to Prince Caelan as possible.
“Whoa!” I shouted angrily with my arms spread wide, then I turned to look around us until I spotted the prince as he raised a hand to stop the attack. “Please don’t kill us before I can make you our king! Your Highness,” I added more demurely when he glowered at my impertinence.
“Who are you?” he demanded in a deep rasp.
“Ornella and Sage,” I replied as I gestured to myself and then to my mate who still stood braced for battle with both of his swords in his hands.
“We are friends of Rian. I’m going to try and help him transfer Aoibheal’s power directly to you,” I explained, since it seemed like Caelan was familiar with the leader of the Wild Hunt.
They must have known one another before Rian became a traitor.
“How can we know for sure that you are not working together with Rian to take over this court?” asked one of the Draugr as he put a protective hand on Caelan’s arm.
“You know neither of us is even capable of containing this power! That’s why I need to funnel it straight to you. It has to be you, Your Highness. Rian knows this too!”
Caelan gave a slight nod and sheathed his sword at his hip, which prompted all the other Draugr to do the same.
They all seemed to hold their breath as the prince walked forward and stopped before me.
They shifted nervously while I considered Caelan and how to do what needed to be done.
I knew magic was transferred through the blood, which was why the Wild Hunt exchanged it in order to bind the riders together.
So I took my knife and quickly cut both my palms. Caelan seemed to know something of blood bonds as well because he did the same and then let me grip his hands.
“I have never done anything like this,” I warned him, and the prince nodded his understanding before I lowered my head to focus.
Ready, I told Rian who immediately began to redirect the power he was taking from the queen straight to me.
Within seconds, it felt like my body had swelled and my joints were at risk of being torn apart.
Not only was it physically taxing to try and manage even a drop of that magic in my veins, but it was the primal and raw essence of fire magic.
And that was something that I was simply not built to handle, especially in a pure form, which made it even more painful for me to try and work with it.
I could hear myself growling in determination to focus through the pain, and I felt Sage’s hand on my shoulder as he tried to offer as much comfort as he could.
Light hit my eyelids, and I knew from the murmurs around us that the fire was visible under my skin.
I kept my eyes closed and gritted my teeth against the pain as I tried to find a way to push the magic toward Caelan instead, but it felt too heavy for me to move it.
I almost succumbed to panic, but then I remembered what Darragh had said about how I wove magic together. That was the reason he’d asked me to do this.
The only thing I knew for sure was that I needed to put some space between me and the raw fire so I could think.
So breathing in deeply, I reached for Sage’s light to try and insulate myself like I did while using Rian’s power.
The second the burning pressure was relieved, I began to recall how it felt to push my magic into the other riders during my initiation.
Only instead of giving my magic to the Draugr prince, I pushed the maelstrom of fire at him.
I heard him hiss and tense as murmurs rose around us.
But I kept my mind on creating a tunnel of light through me for the queen’s power to flow like liquid fire.
I tried to use as little effort as possible, but it was still physically draining to facilitate such immense magic.
All my limbs grew heavy, my nerves began to fray under all the strain, and I suddenly tasted blood.
I heard a shrill scream like when that infernal kettle in Amira’s cabin boiled.
Amira.
I was not sure why she suddenly came to mind at that moment, but I suddenly felt a sharp stab of regret.
“I have got you,” whispered Sage, and I realized that he was keeping me upright and healing me as quickly as he could to minimize the damage done to me.
“I will not let this take you from me,” he added raggedly enough that it made me worry about how much magic he was using.
My mind went to Ciaran, but he was healing Rian…
And then I felt the shield that Rian had erected begin to waver as he lost his ability to control it.
The shadows began to tug at us, trying to consume everything around them with a ravenous hunger.
I heard the Draugr shuffle back from us but could not pull my attention from Caelan long enough to even consider what to do.
Thankfully, Darragh was ready, using Sage’s light to shield everyone once the shadows finally imploded with a deafening roar. My eyes stayed closed, but I could tell the world was flashing black and white as the light devoured the shadow before darkness could consume us.
I had just accepted that this was going to kill me when everything went numb and quiet. It happened so suddenly that I thought I really had died for a moment…
Then I felt my knees hit the ground before Sage pulled me into his arms and hugged me tightly.
“You are alright,” he said so frantically that I knew he was trying to reassure himself as well as me. His fingers trembled as they lightly traced my face from my temple to the tip of my chin. I tried to focus on his touch rather than the numbness and ringing in my ears.
Is it done? I asked down the bond because I could not bring myself to open my eyes or speak aloud.
“It is done. You did it,” Sage whispered aloud into my hair just before I succumbed to oblivion.