by Ana Calin
The creature’s blazing eyes drop to the ice blade, then rise back to my face. I know what it’s thinking—the energy of the Ice Lord must be burning me, ice on fire, and it sears my palm indeed, smoke rising as my flesh hisses. But if it can hurt me, it can sure as fuck hurt the creature, too.
This is it. Bastard is going back to where he came from. I raise the blade and swing it above my head, cutting the air with it, my hair rippling in the swirl it creates. I force the creature back, pushing him towards the mirror. I run my tongue over my teeth—He is afraid, just like I expected.
I increase pace and attack more aggressively, letting the blade cut through his shoulder, then through his foot, and then slice the air really close to his throat. The flames in his eyes flare, and the little I can see of his features betrays that he’s confused, uncertain. This isn’t the time to slacken my attack, so I press on, swinging Lysander’s blade at him relentlessly.
But the creature isn’t ready to let go. He wants control over me, this is his chance to get it, and he knows it. He lets out a demonic roar that overburdens my eardrums, thus affecting my center of balance, and forcing me to a halt. He takes full advantage of the gap in my focus and attacks, but this time he does it with the fabric of his own body. The shadows extend to me, curling off of him like sooty tentacles. He winds them around my neck, my waist, and my legs, tying my ankles together. By the time I regain a good enough grip on my senses, it’s too late.
I struggle, but my sight turns hazy. It’s not from the creature’s strength because my body can withstand it, at least at first. It’s from the feelings that the very fabric he’s made of infiltrates into my body. Hopelessness, deep sadness, guilt, especially for what I’ve done to Cerys. The creature must sense what I’m feeling, because he latches on to it. He twists the knife in the wound that is my feelings for Cerys.
My heart remembers all the ways I’ve wronged her, from before we even met. It bleeds because of how I planned to have her killed, then how I forced her to help me get the Firestone, planning to imprison her for life in the end. The omen from our wedding slices through my mind, her bouquet flying through the air and catching fire. Her supposed betrayal, and how I punished her for it. As her fated mate and her husband, I should have known her better than this.
I sure as hell deserve what’s happening to me now, I shouldn’t even fight it. I should just let the creature take over. Maybe if I stop existing the mates’ bond between Cerys and me will dissolve, and she’ll be free to go back to a life of good, and light.
More tentacles tighten around the rest of my body until I can barely see or hear anything anymore. The motherfucker is winning, and I’m letting him do it. But Cerys’ screams reach me muffled from the outside, sending a surge of motivation through me.
Yet the only thing I can do from this position is to emit my own energy, burn the creature with it, or choke him. I can feel it’s not the energy of the underworld I must unleash on him, the energy I got from the Cemetery of Doom, because he’s made of a very similar fabric to that. It will only make him stronger. I must use something that this creature doesn’t possess, something that separates instead of unites us.
My fire energy burns him, his tentacles hissing, but his grip on me doesn’t loosen by a lot. I cling to the motivation Cerys breathed into me. I think about how my death would mean her freedom, but on the other hand, freedom means she will eventually have another lover. Rage fuels me, and I roar, letting my love and my jealousy sear the creature’s shadowy tentacles. My feelings for Cerys aren’t exactly angelic, they’re passionate and possessive, but they are love, and love is the exact kind of energy that can win this fight.
The field around my body starts emitting a strong orange light like that of sunrise, and the creature screams sharply as it touches him. He struggles to keep his tentacles on me, but he can’t put up with the burn for long, and he yanks them away, shrieking and twisting like a tortured demon.
I watch him and, when he tries to switch direction and head towards the stairs, I block his way. I walk towards him with the crimson rays of my love and devotion for Cerys terrorizing him, forcing him back towards the mirror. Understanding he’s lost, he snarls at me one last time like a wounded predator, and disappears into the mirror, his shadows and smoke dissipating like mist.
I can hear my own breath in my ears for long moments as I stare at the frosted mirror. It’s done. I’ve defeated my Dark Side of the Moon, and banished him back to where he came from. He still exists, and he always will, representing a source of power to me. But, as long as the love between Cerys and me exists, he will never be able to take over. And our love is bound to exist forever.
“Xerxes,” her crystalline voice reaches me. I turn around, opening my arms to receive her as she runs into them. I cup her head and breathe in the scent of her hair. My Cerys, my wild lily, my bride. The sensation of being united with her is like drinking from a fresh spring after a torrid drought, but the bliss tears when Lysander starts clapping his hands.
My body instinctively tightens as I watch the King of Frost approach, applauding us.
“Congratulations,” he says, stopping only inches away from Cerys and me. “You have beaten the odds, King of Flames. You have proven that you are worthy of my trust.”
I look into those piercing blue eyes that match the blazing fire in mine.
“Who would have thought,” I growl. “The impossible is indeed another kind of possible. The King of Ice and the King of Fire are actually going to fight side by side.”
A smile cracks Lysander’s icy façade. I have a feeling this is him showing his true face, and I can see compassion, and understanding on a deep level. He knows exactly what I’m going through with my love for Cerys.
“There is no way the forces of Hell can win against you now,” he says, “And the Council of the Arcane will never get the other realms to fight against you, not with me and my allies by your side.” He places a hand on my shoulder, and my jaw locks. I don’t know how to fucking react. In the end, this is my longtime enemy treating me like a brother in arms. “Things are clear as day to me now, Xerxes. You won’t betray us, not as long as love blooms and lives in your heart. And it’s bound to do so forever.”
Cerys
THE DOORS OPEN, AND we enter the Arena of the Worlds. It’s a huge round amphitheater surrounded by oval swirling portals of different colors. There are golden, silver and dark portals, each one emitting their own kind of energy. The dark ones make the finest hairs stand on my arms as we pass them by, but Xerxes puts a strong arm around me, making me feel not only safe but also invincible.
“Never forget,” he tells me. “You have my name, my Kingdom, and my sword. You never need to be afraid of anything again.”
My heart swells with joy, but then my spirits sink. I watch Lysander’s back as he leads the way with the retinue of generals that he’s taking along, the rest of his army marching behind us, the ground trembling under their thudding steps.
“Xerxes, about Marayke. I really need to ask you not to hurt her. She turned against her brother, and she actually saved me from him, so—”
But before Xerxes reacts, Lysander stops abruptly and turns around.
“Yes, about that,” he says. “My suggestion is that, when you return to the Fire Court after the battle, you don’t show Kareim Velduros that things are right between you again.”
“Why not?” Xerxes demands, pulling me closer into him.
“I’m sure you know why, Xerxes, if you look at the matter with a cool head. He threatened Cerys that, if she didn’t play this game exactly how he instructed, he would get all the realms to unite against you. Now that won’t bring him much advantage anymore, the two of us allied are much too powerful for anyone to dare stand against you, but Kareim found a way to undermine your power once. I’m sure he can devise ways to do it again. If you punish him, he might even have mechanisms in place that could end up in a war, and I’m pretty sure he’s got ways to hurt Cerys.”
“You’ll have to be careful about him,” Lysander says. “It’s not advisable that you burst into the Fire Palace with your sword out and demanding his head. That might start a new string of disasters.”
“So what would you have me do?” Xerxes’ features sharpen with anger. “Act like Cerys and I are still separated? Stay away from her, let him think he’s won?”
“Exactly. You’ll have to discover the entire web he’s sewn. Because believe me, Xerxes—” Lysander puts a hand on my husband’s shoulder, a gesture that warms my heart, just like it did the first time I saw it happen. “If Kareim has the power to do everything he threatened Cerys he would do, then he’s got a line to a much more powerful, secret enemy of yours. One that has a seat in the Council of Arcane, without a doubt. Without Kareim making mistakes, it will be impossible to identify him.”
The dots start to connect in my head. The highest circle of the Council consists of six people, all of them known to us.
“There is only one way of discovering the evil behind Kareim Velduros,” Lysander concludes. “And that is to play his game until you can trace his entire web. Don’t forget that it was him who approached Cerys about the deal she had to make with Samael. So most probably, it was him that contacted Samael in the first place. And he must have gotten Samael interested in completely destroying you by presenting all the force that was just waiting to unleash against you.”
“On Xerxes’ and my first quest for the Firestone,” I chime in, “one of the Grand Mage’s guards attacked me, intent on killing me. When he thought he was close to the final blow he said Kareim Velduros was sending his best.”
“An assassin,” Lysander hisses. “You see, Xerxes, he’d started working on bringing you down since before the Cemetery of Doom. Since before you angered Samael. If you take him down before you get to the real head of the snake, the Councilman that’s behind him, you might expose yourself to even greater danger. Cerys, too.”
Xerxes looks down, his eyes flaming with fury, the sword of fire appearing in his hand with an electric sound.
“Let’s drive the forces of Samael away from the Fire Realm first, and then nail this bastard.”
Lysander nods, and leads the way to a central portal on the far end of the arena. What looks like liquid fire swirls in it, emitting light, heat and the feeling specific to the Fire Realm. I press myself to Xerxes’ side, putting a hand on his chest. He looks down at me.
“We’re going home, my King.”
A smile cracks his hard warrior façade.
“Cerys Daek, I may not be able to treat you as my Queen yet, but when this is over, I promise I’ll treat you as my goddess.”
He touches my chin gently, pressing a hot kiss on my mouth. Passion adds to the adrenaline in my veins, and I feel like I can take on the world.
Lysander turns to us one last time.
“Ready?”
We turn hand in hand, facing the portal.
The King of Frost steps through, and we follow, the sword flaming in Xerxes’ hand.
TO BE CONTINUED
Stay tuned! There are many questions that will find their answer in the next installment of Fae of Fire and Ash. WICKED KING will hit the Zon on the 24th of September, and it will bring the answer to all your open questions. Thank you for accompanying Cerys and Xerxes on this story, and keep an eye out for the pre-order. Cerys and Xerxes have so much more in store for you!
But until then there is much more you can enjoy. This series is a spin-off of the bestselling series Fae of Dark, the love story between the Kin g of the Fire Realm Lysander Nightfrost and Arielle de Saelaria. Enjoy!
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