by Deirdra Eden
Alamar planted his feet stubbornly. “I refuse to run away now. I do not care what the cost is.” He yanked his dagger from his boot, and sprinted toward Red Beard.
Even in the darkness that had fallen while we eavesdropped on the group, the whites of Red Beard’s eyes flashed with horror. “Help!” he shouted as Alamar bounded onto him and slammed him against the sharp volcanic rock of the mountainside.
“Alamar, stop!” I raced with immortal speed to catch his hand before his blade plunged into Red Beard’s body.
“Let me go, Auriella,” Alamar hissed through his teeth.
I gripped his fist tighter. “No. We agreed to get you justice. Watchers are not supposed to kill humans unless we have no other choice. You will feel his death ten times worse than he does.”
“The pain will be worth it,” he said. “I’m sending him to the devil to burn.” His voice rose with every word, years of pain and anger grating it, making it sharp.
Red Beard flinched away. “Save me a seat at the pub in purgatory,” he spat with pretended bravado, and he flicked his gaze over Alamar’s shoulder.
The scent of death washed over me. My heart sunk with terror as I fought to gather courage. Hot breath heaved on the back of my neck. It was standing right behind us.
I tore the dagger from Alamar’s hand and jabbed. The wolf snapped at the silver blade, bending the metal in its mouth. The beast shook with laughter and bowed in mock reverence. “Lady of Neviah,” the Shadow Wolf’s voice growled low as it seethed in victory. The Shadow Lord and Joab stood behind the wolf. Their black cloaks billowed like smoke and dark fire burned off their shoulders like poisonous fumes.
“Well, well, well. What have we here?” The Shadow Lord asked.
I unsheathed my own sword and positioned the blade between the rebels and myself. Alamar still held Red Beard in an executioner’s grip.
“It looks like our plan worked.” The Shadow Lord brandished his sword and removed the hood of his cloak. His false human facade was lined with gapping cuts over dead skin. One cut was so deep, I could see into the true identity of the Shadow Lord. Orange brimstone smoldered under the skin. The smell of rotting human flesh could not be masked.
“Let us make a bargain, Lady Auriella of Neviah,” Joab said, his voice low and velvety. His fingers curled elegantly like hooks.
My gaze darted from the wolf that could kill in a single pounce, back to the Shadow Lord, and then to Joab. All three had a lethal touch that could destroy an Immortal. I kept my blade extended.
“I am making no bargains with the Dark Rebellion.” I swung my blade wide, pointing it at each in turn.
“Perhaps you will take an interest in this.” He dropped a gold ring on the ground at my feet.
Why would I have interest in a ring? I glanced at the ring again. The symbol of the rose and arrow crossed over a shield stared at me. “Azrael?” It was his signet ring.
“Azrael? That was the fool’s name?” The Shadow Lord’s smoldering eyes dug into me with a hateful gaze. The wolf paced back and forth with ravenous intent. The Shadow Lord pointed to Alamar and spoke to me. “Give up the filthy mortal Watcher you protect. In exchange, I will release the high druid and his wife.”
Zacaris and Eva. I glanced at Joab. As I suspected, there was no mercy or concern for his parents in his eyes. He had killed his own brother. He was truly a Fallen Watcher. His skin was grey, as if he had banished the light of our kingdom from his heart.
“He’s lying to you, Auriella. Slice him in two,” Alamar ordered from behind me. His voice shook, but his words sounded brave nonetheless.
“Where is Azrael?” I couldn’t help but ask.
From inside his billowing cloak, the Shadow Lord lifted a spiked mace. The ball of iron spikes on the end of the weapon had to weigh at least forty pounds. “The Prince of the Winds died trying to save the high druid and his wife. That fool walked into our trap, just as you have.”
The giant mace was still caked in Azrael’s blood. My heart stopped beating, but somehow my breath quickened, making my head whirl. Heat smoldered from my hands and hot tears burned at my eyes. “I don’t believe you.” The sword I wielded trembled as the emotion coursed through me. I willed myself the strength I needed for this fight.
The Shadow Lord laughed. “So you want more proof, do you?” He raised his hands in the air and a gust of wind swept through the jungle. The wind felt bitterly cold as the stolen power moaned past me and tangled itself in my hair. It was true. Tears blew off my cheeks as I stood there, shocked with pain as my worst fear tore my heart to shreds.
Azrael was gone forever. “No!” I screamed in rage, then clenched my fists and tried to get control of my emotions.
“What will it be Auriella? I am offering you a bargain. All I want is the life of that mortal Watcher behind you in exchange for the two Immortals I hold captive.”
I swallowed. I breathed in. I breathed out. I took hold of the fire inside me, envisioned it glowing in my chest, saw myself controlling it. Pain and longing burned through me, fueling it, but I held it at bay. “Very well,” I said, surprised that I managed to sound reasonably calm. “I agree to your bargain. Alamar has given me nothing but trouble. But let me say goodbye to Alamar before you take him.” I spread my hands out in a show of surrender, and dropped my sword to the ground.
The Shadow Lord looked satisfied and nodded. I reached for Azrael’s ring, scooping it from the ground before gripping it and holding it to my heart.
I stood before Alamar, who watched me with a cautious expression. I yanked Red Beard out of his grip and shoved him aside. Alamar took a step forward, but I put my hand to his chest, stopping him. I kept a steady gaze with him, hoping he could read my expression. Trust me.
Red Beard scrambled to his feet and stood between the Shadow Lord and Joab as if they would really protect him.
“I am sorry,” I said to Alamar, as though my heart broke for the betrayal I was supposedly about to enact. “I must protect the druids.”
He shook his head at me, confusion filling his expression. I slid Azrael’s ring onto my finger and made an exaggerated move of dropping my face into my hands, cupping them as I cried into them. Though I had failed to convince Alamar to return to the druid sanctuary, I would not fail as his guardian.
Recognition dawned in his eyes. He stepped toward me, cupping his hands under mine in a pretense of holding them. My tears spilled into his hands. I didn’t have to force myself to cry; the tears flowed freely for the loss of my love.
“I understand what you have to do,” Alamar said. I nodded and turned to the rebels.
Small darts of immortal water, piercing as knives, shot past me toward the Rebels. Red Beard screamed in pain as one caught him in the arm, opening a wide gash there. Another hit him in the back and knocked him to the ground unconscious. When the lethal tears hit the Shadow Lord and Joab, they both cried out in pain, falling to their knees. Their wounds smoked and hissed as my immortal tears attempted to purify such filth.
I held out my hands in front of me, fire streaming from them in a tsunami of heat. I kept the flames flowing like a wild vengeance. The inferno bathed the rebels.
The Shadow Lord fought against our attack, his face contorted in pain as he continued to advance toward us. The Shadow Wolf lunged for Alamar. I grabbed the wolf’s gaping jaw as he jumped past me, stopping him with my fiery hands. I pulled his mouth open wide and didn’t stop until I heard the jaw snap from the skull. The beast whimpered and swiped at me with his lethal paws. A gust of Azrael’s wind, sent from the Shadow Lord’s hands, threw me off balance.
The wolf refocused his attack and knocked Alamar to the ground. The massive claws pressed into his chest. Alamar shouted in pain. The wind whipped through my fire, fueling the flames wildly as I prepared to attack again. I aimed my rage at the wolf attacking Alamar.
With my back turned, I didn’t see the Shadow Lord’s mace before it slammed into my shoulder. It smashed my collarbone and tore into my imm
ortal body. I screamed and ripped the mace away from my shattered bones and shredded muscle, crying out again as the spikes tore away from my body. I would not die with anything belonging to the Shadow Lord inside me. My knees hit the earth. I tried to staunch the blood flowing from the wound with my hands, my cloak, anything I could reach.
“Blood!” The Shadow Lord flew toward me, his jaw gaping hungrily. He bent low and opened his mouth of fangs. He dislocated his jaw like a snake about to devour prey.
“Auriella!” Alamar shouted my name over and over. The Shadow Wolf pressed him harder into the ground. Alamar’s ribs snapped under the weight, silencing him with a shuddering gasp.
“Alamar.” I tried to crawl forward to him, but the pain was too great. He opened his mouth to speak, pointing at the bloody mess in my shoulder. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw white fire building there, slowly rolling over my shoulder, growing with each second that passed.
Starfire.
My blood was not the only blood staining that mace. Azrael’s dried blood had mixed with mine. The Starfire enveloped my body, making me glow white with heat.
“Alamar! Use my tears to shield yourself!” I prayed it would work. It was his only chance of surviving. I struggled to control the burgeoning Starfire threatening to explode. Alamar used my immortal tears to produced a thin, but immortal shield around him.
I could no longer hold the explosion of white, blue, and lavender flames. The ground shook. I screamed as the fire ripped through my body. The forest burst into flames around us, white fire blasting from my fingertips, eyes, and mouth, and then through my skin.
Time slowed as the energy flowed through my body and reached out to envelop everything around us. Though both good and evil were being obliterated by my power, I was at peace. It was a warm bath and good meal after a long journey away from home. I closed my eyes and imagined lying on a feather bed of crisp white linens in the palace Azrael had built for me.
Even though Azrael was dead, his blood flowed through my veins and pulsed through my heart. He would live forever inside me. I desperately wished I could stay in the vortex of heavenly fire, with its serenity and hope, but I had to get control of the celestial inferno for Alamar’s sake. I didn’t know how long my immortal tears would protect him.
With all the strength I could muster, I pulled it back inside of me. My body shook with the force of it. I cried out with the pain of holding it all in. But for once, I stopped the eternally burning Starfire, thanks to Alamar’s training.
I lay on the ground, breathing deeply, for several minutes before I opened my eyes. The jungle was gone. The earth smoldered around me and ash floated like black snow from the sky. There were no trees and nothing remained alive in the pyres, not even the rebels. My gaze darted around the mounds of hot embers and charred earth.
Alamar’s fragile, mortal body lay motionless. His long hair was burnt off and blisters covered his entire body. His face was unrecognizable, but he was still breathing.
I scrambled to him, dropping to my knees beside him. “What have I done?” I whispered in anguish.
Chapter Twenty-Three
What Pirates Do
Nothing but the death of Azrael could have prepared me for the immortal pain and regret as I lifted Alamar and placed his scorched body on his bed. At least the linens were now clean from my brief stay in this room.
“Where is he?” Alamar moaned and briefly stirred.
I sat up from kneeling at his bedside, cringing at his disfigured face and bald head. Guilt pulsed through me. “Alamar, I’m so sorry. I didn’t want you to get hurt.”
“Where is Red Beard?” Alamar asked again, his voice no louder than a whisper and husky with pain. “Did he get away again?”
I reached for Alamar’s blistered hand. “No, he was destroyed. No one survived but you.”
He let out a sigh. “Those tears saved me.”
I swallowed hard. With how badly Alamar had been burned, he wouldn’t live much longer. At least he would die on his own ship.
“Are you all right?” he asked. “You’re hurt.” Alamar lifted his hand and pointed to my crushed shoulder. The mace had shredded my clothes, and even though my bones were obviously fractured, my flesh had closed up to protect my blood. When I had carried Alamar here, I had to use my good shoulder to support most of his weight. My collarbone eerily protruded from my shoulder from the rapid closure of my flesh, but the pain in my heart dulled the pain of my broken body. “I thought you were invincible,” he said. “I guess I was wrong.”
“Shadow Lords can kill anything. Even—” Though Alamar was on his deathbed, I stopped myself from revealing my Immortality, perhaps out of habit. “Even Watchers like me.” I let my own fingers trail over my shoulder, where Azrael’s blood on the spiked mace had mixed with mine, saving everyone on Earth for the time being. If the rebels had gained Starfire, there would have been no hope for humans and Watchers. A few drops of Azrael’s blood would forever run through my veins. I had that much.
But Alamar lay dying in front of me, and for all the good it had done, I could not forget what it had cost. More tears streamed down my cheek.
“Why are you crying? Rejoice. We have both avenged the deaths of our loved ones.”
“Yes.” I reached up to place my hand over his on my face. “But they are still dead.” My tears fell onto Alamar’s hand and soaked into his skin.
“Oh, Auriella, I’m sorry.” He wiped more tears away, letting them run over his palms. “I intended to kill Red Beard anyway, and I would not have given him the quick death you did.”
His confession didn’t make me feel any better. We were here on this planet to protect humans, not destroy them. Even humans as terrible as Red Beard should be brought to justice under their own law, and not by a Watcher’s wrath.
“That was such a powerful blast of fire,” Alamar said referring to Starfire. “I knew you were holding back in practice.” Though it was hard to tell through the burns on his face, I thought by his tone that Alamar was smirking at me. He pulled his hand from my face, turning it around and staring at it in wonder. The skin on his fingers and palm had turned pink and fresh.
“Your hand!” I grabbed it, inspecting every inch of it. It was in perfect condition. “How did this happen?”
“Your tears are healing me,” he said, as though it should be obvious.
Whether what followed were tears of joy or the sorrow and, I didn’t know, and I didn’t hold back. I cried and cried and cried while Alamar bathed himself in my freshwater tears and healed. What would Zacaris say when he heard what I can do with my tears? The healing tears gave Alamar enough energy to leave his bed and soak in the sea, bathing in algae and other sea elements. His ribs began to heal and even his hair started to grow back. It took several weeks of healing, but he regained enough of his strength that we could sail once more. As Alamar had promised me when we originally made the deal, we sailed north toward the Sanctuary.
Alone one day on the deck of the ship, I released my arm from the sling and opened my shirt to let the twilight sun soak into the wound on my shoulder. I had tried shoving the bone back in, but it only seemed to make things worse. I needed a doctor … or survival sleep. But I couldn’t sleep. I had no idea when I would wake up. I needed to go home to heal and see what had become of Zacaris and Eva.
Alamar’s footsteps approached from behind. I pulled my dress back over my shoulder and turned to him. He held his arm to his healing ribs, but tried to walk like he wasn’t still in pain.
“You should be in bed,” I said.
“I’m fine. I could use some sunshine too.” He gave me a brief smile. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you.” He shuffled his feet hesitantly and took a deep breath. “You have done much for me, but I want to ask you for one more thing.”
I braced myself and hoped it wasn’t any romantic favours.
“Auriella.” Alamar took both my hands in his. “Whether from the Great Kingdom of Neviah or from Poseidon and Apollo, we w
ere destined to be together.”
I looked away. Not this again. As close as Alamar and I had grown over the last few week thanks to the trials we had been put through, I still loved Azrael with all my heart. There was no room for me to love another, and with his death still so fresh, I didn’t envision there ever being a time I would be able to give my love to another. It wouldn’t be fair to Alamar for me to even hope for that to come someday. Nothing would change my love for Azrael, not even death.
Although there were benefits to being with Alamar, when I envisioned a future as his wife, the empty void in my heart only widened. The sun started to sink below the abnormally still seas, lighting the ship with warm colours.
“Alamar…” I hesitated as I watched disappointment begin to take hold of his expression. “It is I who owe you a great deal—including my honesty. I cannot pretend to give you my heart. It is still Azrael’s. It will always be his.”
Alamar let out a deep sigh. “He is dead,” he said in a gentle, compassionate voice.
I nodded and swallowed the emotion that came with that reminder. “I know.”
He took a step closer again so that I had to tip my head back to look at him. He didn’t touch me, but his presence was powerful enough. Though my feelings for Alamar paled in comparison to my eternal love for Azrael, I could not deny that they were there nonetheless.
“Then you promise me that you are not denying me out of a wasted hope that he somehow survived?” he asked in a low, husky voice. “We escaped because of Starfire,” he said unnecessarily. “Azrael did not have your blood to combine with his.”
“I know.” My voice broke, but I pushed away when Alamar wrapped his arms around me to comfort me. I put the distance I needed to between us. “I am hurt,” I said evenly. “And I need help. I must return to the sanctuary.”
I met his eyes, hoping he saw the determination there. “That was our deal.”
I returned to the captain’s cabin, glad for the first time that Alamar had felt well enough to vacate his bed. I lay in the bed and wrapped the linens around me. I pulled my body into a fetal position. Coldness enveloped me.