by J. L. Weil
“Perhaps not. Perhaps this is the end.”
Glaring, I was about to tell him he sucked at motivational speeches, he when opened his mouth again.
“But…” he continued, and I snapped my jaw closed. “I’m not giving up. Not on us and never on you.”
I sucked in a breath. The fathomless eyes of Talin’s army stared back at me as we drew closer. Lost souls, bound by Talin’s greed, his corruption, his need to be worshiped, feared, and to dominate. To him, they were nothing but mindless soldiers, a means to an end. Their lives were worthless.
Sometimes I wished I could be so cold and heartless, that I didn’t care, but the truth was, I did.
What was the point to this war? To all the death? The destruction? For what? Power? Control?
Fuck that.
And the worst part? He had Devyn.
A flash of steel reached my gaze, the familiar hissing over the stomping of feet, the grunts and cries of pain echoing in my ears. My head whipped to the side, and I stumbled over dirt and rock. Devyn had fought his way from one side of the castle to the other. Our eyes meet for a heartbeat through the gate, but they weren’t his. They lacked the bright color I loved. Instead, the green of his irises was washed out by darkness, as if he had given himself wholly to the blight—to Talin.
Kai continued to dash, dodge, and lead me through the maze of mayhem, but through it all, I couldn’t take my eyes off Devyn. To see him unleash Wrath and Fury against the wrong team cracked something inside me. He was the Sin Eater.
I knew Devyn was damaged and had a past he couldn’t erase. I knew that the things he’d done haunted him. We all lived with regrets. I just prayed that he would be able to live with this.
Guilt gnawed at my stomach. This was my fault. Devyn would not have made such a reckless choice if he didn’t need to protect me so fiercely.
“Hey,” Kai called, gripping my chin and turning my face up to look at him. I hadn't even noticed that we stopped moving.
I stared into his eyes. Breathe. Just breathe. “I’m okay,” I assured, shaking out my arms.
Kai’s hands moved to my shoulders but he kept his gaze leveled with mine. “I never doubted that you weren’t. Don’t look at him. Keep your eyes on me, okay?”
Nodding, I took a deep breath, letting the frigid air fill my nostrils. Death. The stench of it clogged my nose.
A head rolled at my feet, hitting the toe of my boot and I stifled a scream. Not that it would have mattered. The shrilled would have just gotten lost with all the others.
“Eyes on me,” Kai reiterated in a cool voice, drawing my gaze back to his face.
My pulse was racing like a damn horse on speed, but through our bond, I felt Kai’s steadiness. It made me wonder how many wars the Unseelie had seen to be so unaffected by the madness.
The dragons circled over the field, and together they cleared a path, incinerating a section for me to work. Behind me, orders were barked, and my guards rushed forward, shielding me as Kai escorted me into the scorched clearing. Within seconds, I was completely surrounded by Katsura warriors, all there to protect me.
“Close the gap!” Someone shouted.
This was it.
This was the moment I’d worked months to reach.
How I would save my mom.
How I got Devyn back.
Devyn.
My sweaty hands tightened into fists as an image of him on the battlefield flashed behind my eyes. The emptiness I felt through our bond. The harshness of his features. The robotic and calculating swipes of his blades as he cut through guard after guard. Blood splattered on the sharp lines of his jaw. Seeing Devyn used as a puppet snapped something inside me—that last missing piece.
Sensing the sudden charge of energy vibrating off me, Kai stepped back while keeping his shadows around me like a cloak. Power flooded my veins, alive, pulsing, and hungry for justice. The wind picked up all round us, blowing the loose strands that had fallen out of my braid. They lashed across my eyes and cheeks, but I didn’t care.
A film of gold descended over my eyes.
Staring at the endless stretch of darkness, I took off sprinting. I let the shift roll through me as I leaped over a pile of fallen fae. Mid-air, power exploded inside me, and seconds later, I landed on four paws, a whorl of magic ebbing and flowing around me.
The entire field, the castle at my back, and the dark skies looming above me erupted in bright light. So blindingly bright that even my Kitsune had to shield her eyes from it.
Something warm and soothing weaved and curled along my veins, through my blood, and into my very soul.
Power.
World-changing power.
I blinked, realizing that I was the source of the golden light. It came from me.
“You are my heir. My power is yours,” a voice whispered in my head, deep and mighty, one I recognized from Belle’s final vision—my grandfather.
The golden glow continued to burn bright around me, a halo of power. I glanced down toward my soul star, only to find the thing that had become vital to me gone. “My amulet!” Panic struck me in the gut.
“It is a part of you now, imbued into your heart and soul,” my grandfather spoke again. “The magic dwells within, no longer needing a vessel to contain it.”
Understanding dawned on me. I had felt the change.
“This last gift is a power granted by the stars themselves, and from the gods that dwell among them. Celestial,” my grandfather explained.
Hearing his voice made me feel as if he stood before me, within the circle of light.
I didn’t fully understand what it meant to commune with the land, but now, with the celestial power thriving through my veins, I recognized that I could do more than breathe life into Katsura. I could reshape it, make it into something new.
That kind of power was worth killing for, and that was what Talin wanted. The power to make and destroy worlds.
The power was life itself, and the force of it nearly brought me to my knees.
“I’m sorry. For everything…”
The apology wasn’t just for me, but to my mother as well, the daughter he once banished. His voice drifted off, leaving me to finally claim my destiny.
This was my do or die moment—my hero moment.
As the light radiating from me dimmed, Kai sucked in a sharp breath, and for a brief second, I saw myself through his eyes. My fur was no longer pure white, but glimmered gold, and on top of my fox head sat the crown of Katsura, the same one I’d seen on my grandfather’s head in Belle’s vision.
I bathed in my newfound power. After eight tails, you think I would be used to the feeling, but no. This one, the last Kitsune tail, was an indescribable feeling.
“You are magnificent, little queen.” His awe drifted through our bond. Kai and Devyn both had a way of making me feel special, putting me up on a pedestal.
While I stared into Kai’s eyes, I saw his utter confidence in me. He believed I could never fail—truly believed it. To have someone with that much surety in me, stripped away a layer of my fear.
Magic, brilliant and pure, coursed through me. Gold sparks flickered off the tips of my claws as I blocked out the violence and havoc, centering my attention to the steady stream of power that flowed within me. Not wasting another second, I slammed my paws into the ground, nails digging into the soil.
Chapter Fifteen
KARINA
Arrows rained over the battlefield. Blood soaked into the ground. The air echoed with the cries of the fallen. Again and again, Katsura’s men rallied, pushing themselves despite being outnumbered. They had a spirit that was inspiring.
The instant my claws sunk into the soil, through the crunchy, dead grass, the blight grabbed a hold of me. Spindly hands crafted from the earth clung onto my furry wrists, sending stirrings of terror into me.
NO!
I’d been there before.
Caught by the darkness.
No. This corruption had tormented me for the las
t damn time. I would not shrink or scream. I would not call out to Devyn to save me. Not this time. I would stay and fight.
Tearing my paws free, I slammed them down again, this time piercing the darkness, imprisoning it with my light gifted to me by the stars. “I am not afraid of you!”
The blight laughed, a laugh that was meant to be a warning. “You should fear me,” it taunted.
I shook my head in defiance. “It is you who should fear me.”
“You don’t have the strength to defeat me.”
“We shall see.”
I pushed harder, claws digging farther into the ground while my magic poured out of me and into it. My grip remained firm and steady on the blight. I would not let go. No matter what it did to me, no matter how much it hurt, or how tired I became.
The darkness pressed against my magic, attempting to ensnare me in its net, but I shoved it back. Inch by small inch, I gained ground, driving out the blight. At the first speckle of life, the vibrant color of green moss mixed with slim blades of grass, my heart gave a wild thump in my chest.
Yet, the small victory was short-lived. A shudder rolled through me when the blight caressed its disturbing inkiness over my body, sensual and invasive, but I did not stop, did not recoil. Let it torture me, it would not succeed.
“Bring it, bitch,” I gritted.
My mind was vaguely aware of what took place around me, the fight, the dragons in the sky, and Kai casting out his Unseelie magic, guarding me. Still, I ignored it all. I couldn’t afford to let myself be distraught for even the split of a second, so I trusted they would protect me for as long as they could.
“Hold! Do not break rank!!” a voice bellowed.
Again, the blight laughed. “Surrender,” it hissed. “Surrender now and I will spare you.”
“NO!” I refused.
A dark wind snapped and hissed over my fur, yet my lips curled while the force of my magic spread. There was still so much rot and decay to eradicate, and as the minutes turned to hours, beads of sweat gathered on my forehead.
The blight fought me every step of the way. “I will spare your mate, but only one. You chose…”
“Don’t give in, Karina. Don’t listen. Don’t be tempted by its vile words…”
I glanced upward. The dark clouds in the sky formed a strange pattern. It looked as if a wolf had clawed through them, leaving behind scratches in the sky, as streaks of sunlight peeked through. I was so tired, nearly out of magic, with still more than half of Katsura in blackness. My paws were numb. My energy depleted. My strength sapped. The muscles in my fox’s body began to shake.
Deep down, I knew that I didn’t possess enough power to dispel all of the sickness that infected the earth.
Not on my own. Not with the blight shoving back.
It didn’t matter. I would use every ounce of power in my veins.
A roar splintered through my focus, vibrating the air. In the core of my being, a flicker of violence licked, the kind of anger speared by revenge. It was familiar, and caused my heart to swell and kick in my chest.
Devyn.
Our bond hurdled into me. Fierce. Raw, and utterly overwhelming as all of his feelings crashed at once.
My power stuttered in my veins. Desperately, I tried to maintain my hold on the blight, and keep my magic seeping into the world while absorbing the assault of pure wrath and fury that burned through my bond with Devyn.
On one hand, I was relieved to have our connection back in place, but on the other hand, the distraction cost me. If I wasn’t so damn drained and exhausted, perhaps I would have been able to sustain my control. However, shit was getting real, and the long hours of battle were wearing on us all.
The world tilted as a blur of black flew through the rank of guards that shielded the field. A wolf pounded to the ground in front of me, lips curled back into a nasty snarl. Eyes the color of blood pinned mine.
Kai swooped forward, putting himself between Talin and me. Both of the Unseelie’s hands flung out on either side of him, and a gust of wicked wind whipped his cloak. Shadows and smoke huddled.
From behind Talin, Devyn came barreling past the line of sentinels, blood splattered on his face and hands. Wrath and Fury were clenched in his grip, the blades dripping with more blood. He looked fearsome, but regardless of his state, my eyes ate him up. The desire to run into his arms tornado through my core.
Devyn shook his head, just a small warning for me to stay put, and then his sole focus went to the wolf. His grave face was tight with rage.
Devyn turned into a weapon like I’d never seen. Vicious. Ruthless. Focused on only one thing—killing Talin. I thought Kai could be frightening, that his magic scared others, but for the first time, I saw why Devyn truly earned the nickname Sin Eater. As he cut a path through Talin’s army, straight to the bastard himself, I gaped. Floored. Mesmerized. Fascinated by Devyn’s full fae power. I swore he could have annihilated an army on his own, and I understood why Talin had brought him into his Elite.
Devyn was a gods damn force to be reckoned with.
And he was mine.
The Shaman finally squared off with the onyx wolf, red eyes blazing. The realization that the two men I loved had planted themselves on either side of Talin, caused my heart to trip. Fear knocked into my bones.
However, Talin didn’t seem intimidated, not even at the sight of Wrath and Fury. The fae snakes hissed with rabid hunger in Talin’s direction. He shifted out of his wolf with a single flip of his head. He wore no armor, just average clothes in all black.
“You ignored me,” my uncle tsked at Kai, cocking his head to the side. “So very unlike you, Kai. I wondered how you broke my oath, but I see now.” Those wholly diabolical eyes shifted to me. “How very clever, mating with the heir. Although, I could have sworn she had already claimed the Shaman. Tell me, niece, how did you manage to claim two of my hounds?”
Devyn flinched, his glowing emerald eyes darting from Kai to me. A muscle ticked along his jaw, but it was the only telling sign his features gave away.
I stopped breathing.
Through our bond, his hurt cut through me like a dagger to the heart. My grasp on the blight slipped, and I struggled to keep pushing life into the earth. I hated being on all fours in front of Talin, lower than he stood, letting him stare down at me.
Talin chuckled, angling his body to the side so he could see both Kai and Devyn. “You didn’t think I knew? Didn’t think I couldn’t smell her on you?”
Devyn let out a low growl. “It doesn’t matter.”
Talin lifted his chin. “No, it doesn’t. I will still get what I desire. And you will bow at my feet before this day ends.”
“Like hell! I will kill you. Even if it is the last thing I do.” Devyn lunged, but darkness struck his blade, and the force of it sang over the battlefield.
A slash of magic flew like a whip at him. He raised a shield of his power, blocking the hit. Before Talin could strike again, the Shaman parried, dodging out of the way at Talin’s next attack.
The Lord of Thorndale barely moved a muscle, yet his attacks were swift and relentless. Blast after blast he unleashed his dark magic.
I told myself to block out the fight happening in front of me, but seeing Devyn pitted against Talin… fear and worry shoved out any other feeling or thought.
“Shit,” Kai cursed, drawing my gaze to the line of sentinels doing their best to keep Talin’s men from infiltrating the field.
They were losing.
In a matter of minutes, this place would be overrun, and I wasn’t finished yet. My magic flickered again, growing weaker, I would burn out around the same time my army would fall.
Kai raised a shield. Darkness against darkness. He whirled, sending a burst of his power to the edge of the clearing, targeting Talin’s troops.
I was only dimly aware of the fighting that continued around the castle, the shouting, the bodies, the flaming spears and arrows.
Devyn roared as he charged Talin, but
the lord flicked his hand like he was swatting a pesky fly, sending Devyn hurling across the battlefield. He slammed into the ground, and I gasped, breaking the last thread I had on the blight. My claws thrust out of the ground and the hold on my fox form slipped.
I shifted, claws and paws becoming fingers and nails.
Talin laughed.
The blight laughed.
Their voices blended together.
Thankfully, Kai was there to catch me when my body gave out. “I got you, little queen.”
My shoulders slumped and I collapsed against the Unseelie. Devyn! My mind cried. His pain reverberated through our bond. “Kai,” I sobbed.
“This isn’t over yet.” Cool knuckles brushed along my cheek. “Don’t worry about the Shaman. It will take more than a single blow to keep him down.”
“I can’t. My power—”
“Just needs a boost.” Kai’s eyes flared with smoky flames. His hand clasped mine, and raw, cool power joined the smidge I had left within me. “Take what you need. My power is yours. Always.”
My head dropped back, eyes lifted toward the skies while Kai’s unholy magic swelled in my veins, my skin glowing like moonlight. I had siphoned Kai’s powers before, but this time it was different. The kernel I had left merged with the Unseelie’s to form something new.
Recharged, I unleashed my power again into the ground, pressing my fingertips into the earth and purging the darkness down to the very core where the roots of life tangled into the soil, and up to the sky where the tattered clouds were thick with gloominess.
I pushed, pushed, and pushed until I didn’t think I had any magic left in me to drop into the world. The combination of my power with Kai’s seemed to be able to overpower the corruption, destroying it at a much faster pace than I had on my own.
“Finish it!” Devyn bellowed, continuing to clash with Talin, keeping the Lord away from me.
Kai’s fingers squeezed mine, drawing my gaze to his handsome face. Leave it to the Unseelie to bring a refinement and attractiveness to war. In the distance, a horn roared, its call blasting over the battlefield, and Kai’s eyes shifted to our left. “Willowland,” he breathed.