I close my eyes and reach out for my magic. It bleeds through my veins, waiting for my command. I give it none. Instead I wait for Theon. I feel him after a beat. He’s getting stronger. I feed my magic into his. They touch, like old friends. A stupid smile breaks out across my face. It feels like a drug. I’ve never connected with another nether user before. Not like this. It makes me feel dizzy.
“Amara, are you okay?” Roman whispers to me.
“Everyone get down!” Theon shouts suddenly.
We all drop immediately. A loud crash and then the glass from the large window shatters. Roman throws himself over me, shielding me from the blast. Some glass glances off his back harmlessly.
I let out a strangled gasp, looking up into panicked green eyes. “Roman?”
“I love you.” he says suddenly.
My eyes widen at the words. I’ve heard them all my life. From my father, my siblings, my friends, even Keenan. But it feels different coming from him. At the worst possible moment I hear the words and I have to wonder if I imagined it.
“What?” I choke.
“You said to say it. So I’m saying it now. Not because we might die tonight, but because I don’t want to go another second without you knowing the truth of how I feel. I love you, Amara Boudelaire, and I will fight for you, till the end.”
Till the end. His words to me when I questioned whether he’d fight this battle with us. He will. I know that now. Roman and I will not be on opposites sides of this war.
Beyond Roman, Kol stands waiting. The look on his face tells me he heard every word. When I look at him he smiles, soft, resolved. All he needs is for me to win. All Roman needs is for me to lose. All I need is to figure out what the hell it is that I want.
“It worked. We gotta go.” Felix says, dragging me to my feet. “Time to fight.”
“Fee, I—”
“Please, Mar.” Felix waves me off. “You can yell at me all you want. It was hot.” I run my hand through his wayward curls and he laughs with me. But as our laughter fades we eye each other. “See you on the other side?”
“Damn straight.” I whisper.
The palace is a battlefield. Everywhere you look there are fights between soldiers and Hunters, my friends and Hunters. None of them immune to the magic used against them. It worked. Everything we’ve worked for and we’re finally on our way to freedom, to equality. All we have to do is get through today.
Most of the Hunters are soaked.
Somewhere in the distance, thunder rolls.
There’s a storm brewing outside. That no one had predicted, however it’ll do our water users some good. We generate our own elements, but it always helps our cause to have our elements handy. I learned that in the short time I had fire magic.
“Hey,” Aaric grabs my arm, racing through a couple of Hunter bodies lying in the middle of the hallway. “We could use your help at the front. That’s where most of the elder Hunters are. The younger ones are scrambling in their loss of immunity, but the elder ones are making do with what they have.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me the power was going inside him?” he shouts as the two of us race toward the front of the palace.
“Because you never would have agreed had you known the true plan.”
“You’re lying to me. Keeping things from me. It isn’t us, Mar.”
“You wanna know what else isn’t us? Competing against each other for a crown, but in a few short months we will be.” That’s where the conversation ends. We enter the foyer at the top of the stairs and get launched into a swarm of Hunters charging our way.
My brother and I crash into them with deadly force, spitting ether and nether magic wherever we can get it.
Roman is behind me suddenly. Haydan isn’t far either. He sticks with Aaric, fighting alongside him, fighting his own people. I suppose he has a foot in both worlds and he’s chosen ours because it is the winning side. He’s a bottom feeder. He’s also the Novak siblings’ brother.
I feel the chill of ice nearby. The air almost freezes around me. I look over to find Missy has already dropped four Hunters with her ice, their bodies shivering and freezing on the floor of the stairs.
One guns for me and I reach with my left hand to grab any limb I can reach to silence him with my nether magic, but he kicks a boot out, landing me in the chest. I rocket back on my heels, gasping for air. My ribs are intact. That’s all that matters. If they weren’t though Aaric is here, ready to heal if he needs to.
Roman catches me from behind, easing me back on my feet. He raises a hand and the Hunter gasps, struggling back, trying to catch a breath that will never come. Roman balls his hand into a fist, tightening his hold on the Hunter and then I hear the snap of his neck. His body drops, but where there is one there are twenty more. They filter in from outside in pairs, like a plague of insects, never ending.
A fireball whizzes past my head, making me stumble and yelp. Hands close around my shoulders, but they aren’t friendly. The Hunter whirls me around to face him, grasping my neck, but my hands are free and I tighten them around his wrists. He’s never felt the touch of nether before because he’s always been immune and I’m willing to bet he’s never been more afraid. It curls through him, tinting his skin gray as it devours and consumes. This is what it was meant for and it’s like it knows it’s time to come out and play. The Hunter’s body crumbles to my feet.
Behind me, another Hunter launches himself at Roman, but a blast of nether sends him spinning over the railing. Below I hear the crack of crushed bones, even in the midst of many battles raging around us.
I realize quickly the fireball had come from Niykee. She’s on the ground level of the foyer. Bodies litter across the floor around her, all black skin and burnt to a crisp, meeting the fateful doom of her ebony fire.
More Hunters stampede toward us and my group takes them all out one by one, though I think either Haydan lied about how many Hunters were coming or he was misinformed because they seem to keep coming out of seemingly nowhere.
I send out nether blasts anywhere I can get them, knocking an entire group of Hunters on their ass.
“Why are there so many of them, Haydan?” I sneer.
“I don’t know. My intel must have been wrong.”
“Ya think?” I shout over the brewing storm outside. It’s a big one. It rocks the palace from all ends. I don’t know if it’s natural or made worse by water users.
A Hunter catches my chest with his dagger, slicing in deep. I flinch away, but he grabs my arm and pins it behind me, slamming my face into the nearest wall. I whimper at the sudden pain. The Hunters’ only hope of defeating us now is rendering our hands useless so we can’t conjure our magic, but that tactic will only work for so long. Some of us don’t need contact to use our abilities.
“Die, serpent scum.” The Hunter sneers in my ear. He reaches for my other arm, preparing to break it. I scream out, but the break never comes. In fact, suddenly his hands are gone completely.
I whip around to find Aaric holding the Hunter back against his chest, one hand clutching his throat from behind. “Serpent scum huh? Not very original now, is it sister?”
“Not really.” I step forward, fighting the urge to touch the gash beneath my shirt.
“Would you like to do the honors or shall I?”
“Oh no. This one’s mine.” I touch the Hunter’s cheek gently. Nether rises in my fingertips, twisting blue and black, eating up his essence like candy. The boy screams so loud I almost laugh. He dies looking up at me, blue eyes turning gray just like his skin. Aaric tosses the body away thoughtlessly.
Down the stairs the front doors of the palace bust wide open. “More Hunters?” Aaric chokes out. We’re severely outnumbered already.
But then I see who pours in. Vakrovian uniforms. My smile widens as I see Keenan enter, more and more of his army filtering in. “The cavalry is here.” Keenan says. When his eyes find mine and he sees me smiling giddily,
he smiles too. “What? Too cliché?”
I race down the stairs to him. The pathway is clear now that his men are here. No Hunters try and stop me. “You came.”
“Of course I came. I’ll always come for you, beautiful.” Keenan laughs when all I can do is throw my arms around his neck. He squeezes me tight for as long as he can. And then he tugs me back, touching my shoulder. “What happened here?” he asks, worried.
“I’ll heal her.” Aaric approaches me from behind. His eyes fall on his best friend and for the first time there is no hatred in them. I dare say he looks relieved to see him here. “Thank you for coming.”
“I’m just sorry it took so long.” Keenan replies.
“Aaric,” I prompt when my boys have all, but forgotten me.
“Right. Come here.” He tugs me over to him and lays his healing powers on me. I feel a slow burning deep in my chest before his magic molds my skin back into place, leaving only blood in its wake. Relief courses through me and the burning subsides. “Alright. Well, now that you’re here we can certainly use your help. There are twice as many as our intel predicted.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’m here.” Keenan looks down at me, smiling. All I can do is smile back stupidly.
“Moving, now.” Haydan snaps. “Hunters, trying to kill us.”
“It looks like they could use some help out front.” Keenan says.
“Let’s go.” I lead the charge out the front door. Keenan, Aaric, Haydan, and Roman are all on my heel.
I see what he means. As we enter the storm the lawn is littered with Hunters and Vakrovian soldiers fighting. The Hunters easily double them though, most of Keenan’s men filtering into the palace to rid them of the important areas. Kara must be in there somewhere.
Until I see her. I’d recognize that golden mane anywhere. She walks through the lawn in a pale pink dress, flowing out over her belly. “Kara?” I choke. “What is she doing?” My voice breaks.
“Here I am.” she announces. All battles around us cease when they see her coming. “You want me? Come and get me.”
“Kara, no!” Keenan and I both scream over the raging storm. Side by side we gun for her. So do the Hunters.
We take out as many Hunters as we can trying to get to her. I blast and I blast. Keenan does the same, but with his air magic. We do it until the path to her is clear.
Just when we reach her Aaric grabs onto my arm, yanking me back. “Aaric, let go of me.”
“Amara, that isn’t her.” Aaric shouts over the roaring storm above.
“What do you mean that isn’t her? I know what my best friend looks like, Aaric.” I hiss.
“Theon and I, we got her out. It isn’t her.” Aaric stresses, tightening his grip, trying to get me to understand what he’s saying.
Finally I do.
“A Piscean?” I guess. Aaric nods. “It’s an illusion. Who is it?” But I already know the answer before Aaric can give it. I turn back to her. Around us Roman and Haydan do their best to keep the Hunters away from us. “Mama?” I breathe, the maternal word coming back to me in my moment of shock.
“Hi, sweetheart.” She smiles.
“How did you—”
“Theon contacted Grayson who contacted me and told me about his plan.”
“You’re taking her place, aren’t you?” I have no love for my mother, it’s true, but the thought of losing her to the Hunters, to Tethoris, to a country we could not possibly infiltrate to get her back, it makes me sick. “No, that will only last for so long. Your glamour will fade and they’ll know.”
“Yes. But an attack like this was only possible because they were immune to our powers. They aren’t anymore. This is their one shot at getting their hands on Kara. By the time they leave with me and figure out I’m not her it’ll be too late.”
“No.” I shout. “No, no, we’re not doing this.”
“Amara, please.” She clutches my face in her hands. “I have failed you as a mother in every way, but I can do this. I can protect your best friend. I can protect my goddaughter.”
“What if there was another way?”
“What do you mean?”
“What if I knew a way to kill every single one of the Hunters at once?”
“Is that even possible?” Roman asks.
“It might be.” I turn to Aaric. “Is there anywhere in the palace that hasn’t been hit? Where we can come up with a new plan?”
“Reverie’s room.” We all spin at Haydan’s voice. Beyond him, Roman fends off a Hunter coming at us. More of Keenan’s army have made their way outside and formed around us, fighting off any Hunters gunning for my mother. “It’s basically a panic room. It’s where Theon was going to put Kara before he decided to just get her out of here entirely.” Aaric eyes him, probably wondering how he knew of Theon’s plan to get Kara out of dodge. “What? I may be nothing more than a glorified lapdog around here, but even lapdogs have ears.” Haydan focuses back on me. “Reverie’s chambers are built to sustain bombs, firepower, and the elements. All six of them. No Hunters are getting in there.”
It makes me wonder what’s so special about this Reverie girl for Theon to set her up with such impenetrable chambers. Questions for later. I glance at Aaric. “I need you to get Theon, Malia, and Niykee there. Haydan, you too. I have a plan. You know the way to Reverie’s room. Do you think you can get us there?”
Haydan nods confidently. “I can get you there.”
“Alright. Haydan, Roman, and Keenan, you’re with me. If this is going to work we have to get to that room alive and your air magic will help keep the Hunters at bay.”
“What about Mom?” Aaric asks me.
“We’re going to need her, but you’ll never get inside with her looking like Kara.” I glance back at my mother. “If you let the glamour drop can you get it back?”
“I can.”
“Alright.” My eyes scan the palace grounds. All the Hunters seem to be occupied by my men as well as Keenan’s. “Alright. Do it now and then go with Aaric. We’ll meet you at Reverie’s.”
“Amara—” Aaric grabs my arm, but says nothing more.
“I’ll see you at Reverie’s, brother.” I reach up and press a kiss to his cheek. Then I look at my boys. “Alright. Are you ready?”
“Ready.” Keenan nods.
“Okay. Lead the way.” I add to Haydan.
“Let’s move.”
—CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT—
AMARA
Reverie
“We’ll be better off if we go around the back of the palace and enter in through the courtyard.” Haydan explains while Roman, Keenan, and I race to follow him. “Reverie’s chambers are toward the back of the building.”
My thoughts are with my brother as we run. I hope he can gather the nether users. Dariella would have been handy as well, but I doubt they’ll be able to get to her down in the dungeons. She may already be dead. Somehow I doubt the Hunters, while on a mission, will pass up the opportunity to slaughter Zodiacs in cells, unable to fight back given the anti-element cells in our dungeon.
When we round the corner to the side of the palace there is a hoard of Hunters Kol alone is fighting. The boys rush forward first. From a distance I stop, getting an idea. The Hunter Kol battles is winning, despite his ability to use two different types of magic at once. It’s hard to call to your magic I guess when someone is repeatedly punching you in the face.
I try for the magic I used back in Vakrov, when I broke Bastian’s arm. I gather the very essence of nether like a cluster of air Keenan might wield and send it spiraling through the air, ripping into the Hunter pummeling poor Kol. The Hunter screams out when both arms pop back. He crumbles to the ground, crying.
“Man, men are such babies.” I say, marching over and grabbing his shoulders. He kicks back into the grass, trying to put as much distance between me and him, but he can hardly move with two broken arms. He screams louder when he feels my death magic curling through him. He dies quickly.
I tu
rn to Kol who smiles when he sees me. “You saved my life.” His smile turns to a grin.
“Well, it would have been a shame to let him destroy any more of that pretty face.” I tap his cheek and he winces, making me laugh.
“Where are you headed?”
“Reverie’s chambers. I have a plan.” I wink at him.
“Well what are we waiting for?”
I keep my nether at my fingertips. It curls around my fingers, twisting dark blue sparks of death. Keenan notices where we walk side by side, following the Kasanoff boy. “Your powers are growing.” Keenan observes.
“They are.” I nod.
“If only I’d realized months ago that you never needed protecting.” he says softly. I squeeze his hand gently. Instinctively the dark blue magic slithers away from the skin that touches him.
“How much further?” Roman calls up to Haydan. I think he’s just trying to distract me and Keenan from each other. It makes me smile. I like jealousy on Roman.
“Not much.” Haydan calls back.
A few Hunters come our way, blocking us in from both sides. To the left the palace, to the right the wall that closes the palace in. We’re coming up to the river, which we’ll have to cross soon to get to the courtyard. It’s a good thing we found Kol. He can manipulate the water so we can get past it.
Keenan waves a hand and all three Hunters crash into the wall of the palace. Bones crush upon impact, making me cringe.
We race up to the river. I flick my gaze to Kol. “Think you can do something about that?” I ask him.
Kol smirks. “Sure thing, beautiful.” Kol steps to the edge of the river, hands outstretched. A startled gasp rips from my throat when I see the water from the river brush up against the wall of the river like one giant wave curling in on itself. Kol turns his blue eyes on me. “How’s that?”
“Amazing.” I breathe out. “That’s amazing.”
“Show off.” Haydan grumbles. He jumps down into the bed of the river and then holds a hand out for me to take.
Half-dazed, I take it, leaning forward as I jump down. The other boys jump down behind me. My eyes move to the wall of water pinned to the right side of the river bed.
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