by Jaymin Eve
My limbs went heavy; I could no longer feel my arms. Misty smoke clouded my mind, dark tendrils taking over, pushing its murky energy everywhere. Break the prison. Free us.
These insidious voices floated across my mind, and I lost myself, reveling in the intense power, in the kinship I felt to them. This was family, not that insignificant pack of supes and dragons.
Grace! Little witch. Tyson’s voice was faint, echoing underneath the strength of the darkness. It didn’t register with me, I didn’t care about following that call.
Baby, wherever you go, I will follow. I will follow you into the darkness.
My shadowy mind snarled and snapped at him, but his bright presence would not go away. It held on, sending warmth through me, warmth which sent my ice magic crazy.
Tyson… Confusion and awareness flickered within me. I held on to his energy, wrapping it around me. The darkness lost its geniality, snapping hard at me. A mistake. My diamond energy flared to life, and also my healing side – the part of me that was completely Grace before shadows appeared in my world.
I let out a gasp, feeling like I had been trapped in my own mind for hours, but since Josephina was just approaching the shadow now, it could have only been seconds. The darkness pounced on the queen, wrapping around her so tightly I was only getting glimpses of her golden hide as they struggled and fought.
Grace, you back with me?
Tyson’s voice was loud and clear this time, and I used his energy to push more of the shadow out of me. I’m here. Thank you for bringing me back … I love you.
I did love him. I had loved him since I was a lanky teenager with more freckles than sense. It hurt so bad that I might have to leave him. I had to sacrifice for them all.
I love you too, Grace Carter. I have to kill a few demons now, but I will be right there. Hang on for me.
I sent him all the soft energy in my soul, all of my love and hopes and dreams for the future … even though I was pretty sure I didn’t have a future any longer. Josephina told me to choose, and I had. I chose Tyson. I would always choose him. Which meant it was up to me to make sure he survived.
You’re ready … this is what you say: Letstra frende jewels. Free the guardians protecting us from the darkness. Josephina’s presence faded out of my head. I sensed she was being slowly drained of life from the shadow.
The shadows could never go free. That knowledge came from deep inside of me, from the darkness that was mine to both fear and control. These shadows would take everything light and make it dark. They were the bringers of death.
This was why if I had to sacrifice myself, I would do it. I would save all of my family, who by some miracle were not lost to me.
“I need you all to repeat a spell with me.” My voice was flat, all business. If I let my emotions out again, I’d never be able to do what was needed. “‘Letstra frende jewels. Free the guardians protecting us from the darkness.’”
I repeated this more than once, and even tripping over the unfamiliar Faerie words at the beginning, the girls had it memorized quickly.
“Those are the words, but it’s your intentions which are important in magic. We need to break the spell on the jeweled meadows. We need to free our kingdoms so they can renew the spells on the shadow prison. Can you do this with me?”
This time I heard the resounding yeses. They were with me all the way.
To destroy the prison, that shadow planned to absorb blood from the four of us, taking it to the sacred grounds below. This would unlock the securities on the prison that were formed many years ago by the blood of our families, securities that had been weakening over the past twenty-five years. To break the spell on the jeweled meadows, however, that was all on me. It was part of the reason I had a shadow inside of me, why I had not been posed as a human. Sacrifice your life. I could do it.
“Start repeating the spell,” I said, conviction in my tone. “Tap into that energy which awoke when we unlocked our fey sides.” I swallowed hard, already heartbroken at the thought I would never get to know my princess sisters. But there was no time for regrets. “Make sure your intentions are strong in your mind, and I’ll do the rest.”
Their voices chimed together in unison, and I felt their focus, I felt their power. They were not going to let me down. Sucking up every last vestige of strength within me, I started to repeat the words too, in my mind, silently sending my intentions out into the lands. At the same time I let a simpler spell leave my lips. “Divinde, blood be free.”
Gashes started just below my elbows and sliced to my wrists. I gritted my teeth at first, but as more cuts crossed my body, I couldn’t halt the pained screams. This was like being tortured all over again, but worse somehow, the magic burning the wounds across my body.
I expected my blood would rain down; instead it splashed out in giant arcs, each one burning through the demons before trailing across the sky to spatter across each of the spelled lands. Cam started screaming then too, which set off the other princesses. I silenced myself, taking a few deep breaths, before I was able to say, “The spell. Say the damned spell.”
They didn’t let me down. Even though they were sobbing, they repeated it with me. “Letstra frende jewels. Free the guardians protecting us from the darkness.”
I grew weak quickly. Far too quickly. So much blood and energy was required to break the spell, that once it was over I would be too far gone to seal my wounds. The shadow screamed within me, angry that we were dying. I pushed it out with the blood, sending it into the world. It didn’t stop even for a moment, abandoning my dying body, swirling out and joining with the darkness still fighting Josephina. The moment the last dark tendrils were gone, I felt free.
A rumbling reached my ears, coming and going as my senses started to shut down. My lashes fluttered closed. Grace … don’t you dare die on me.
Tyson was speaking. Justice was speaking, demanding I open my eyes.
The rumble grew louder. So loud it was impossible not to hear it, even dying. It felt as if we were being shaken in a giant bag. Ice burst through my chest, coating me slowly, encasing my body so I was no longer able to feel anything, until I felt like I was frozen solid. A statue. I was too far gone, though, to really feel anything.
I love you, Ty.
Darkness took me just as I heard his roar in my head.
Tyson Compass
I was fighting to get to Grace, her screams echoing in my mind, her blood spattered across my body. Dragons were everywhere, but I was focused on the blood pouring across the sky, swirling droplets raining on the demons. Each time they touched one, it cut through them like my fire, and they disappeared.
I love you, Ty. Those weakly spoken words were in my mind, and then I felt the bond flickering.
Grace … don’t you dare die on me.
No response. As our bond flickered again, I held on to it with every ounce of energy I had inside of me. All I got was a burst of cold energy, and then nothing.
No energy. No essence. No life.
I tried anchoring her to my dragon, to my brothers, to every other bond I was currently in access of. I anchored her so tightly that I couldn’t even separate us anymore.
Don’t leave me, I said, even though I knew she couldn’t hear me any longer. She had given everything she had, she had sacrificed...
That was Grace. It had always been Grace, and I’d missed so many years with her because I’d been too fucking stupid to realize what a gift she was. From the first moment blood spilled across the sky, I knew I was going to lose her. Again she had sacrificed for all of us and I couldn’t handle it. A rumble of land and sky knocked me back, and no matter how hard I flapped, I couldn’t get any closer to her.
A new roar drowned out every other sound, the roar of a land under turmoil, the roar of a spell breaking. The world seemed to stand still, then with a crack four huge bolts of lightning, large and thick and blinding in their intensity, struck the ground. They were tinged with red … the color of blood. Grace’s blood.
The jeweled meadows shattered, flames roaring into the sky as colored gems started to rise, swirling around as I hovered over them, unable to move. The newly broken spell was holding everything in stasis. Red, blue, green, and silver gem-sand swirled and crested, filling the sky until I could see nothing but those four colors. They covered the princesses, who were about twenty feet from me. The demons seemed to be gone now. Grace’s blood had cut through them.
I lost those last glimpses I’d had of Grace when the sands surrounded her, mixing together in a rainbow kaleidoscope. In a second, she was completely shrouded in crystals, like a beautiful statue. There was a hole in my chest as I struggled against the spell’s bonds, wanting to get to her, to hold her in my arms. I needed my mate.
The crystal sands that had filled the skies started to fall, dragging with them the few remaining demons, and that huge rolling shadow. As they fell, the dark clouds dissipated, and the sky was once again clear.
Grace! Her body was gone … but she had not fallen. I would have seen that. The other three girls still hung there, but where the hell was Grace?
It was almost like she’d become one with the crystal sands, disappearing down into the earth.
I can’t do this without her. It was too much, too hard to take. I shut my emotions down, biding my time until I could get free from whatever held me. The moment the last drop of sand hit the ground, my body was released, my wings automatically flapping toward the remaining three princesses. Grace would want me to save them.
Two fell and I gently snatched them up with my huge front claws. Jacob caught the other one, and then all of us dropped down, using the air currents to help us glide to the land. My head was filled with a loud static … I was beyond thought. I only had my pain.
When I landed, my back claws dug into the ground while my front slowly lowered the two shaking females to their feet. They scrambled away, but I was already too busy staring at the center of the four jeweled meadows. The golden sands had disappeared, to be replaced by an intricate pattern. The four colors of the gem-sands had swirled within each other, forming what looked like a huge crest.
I turned to the meadows. The emerald world was now filled with forests. Sapphire was an ocean. Ruby had turned into a real, red desert. And diamond was now an ice land. My diamond princess … that ice magic inside of her had been the fey side.
These meadows were mirrors of the lands in the sanctuary, which would have struck me as very curious if I was in any sort of position to give a shit.
It’s time, my dragon echoed in my head, and I knew he was right. I had been hiding myself inside of him, letting the emotions be dulled by the beast, but I had to return to myself now. I had to face my loss.
The shift back was painful, even though it didn’t hurt physically. The pain was far deeper than that. I dropped to my knees as a roar burst from somewhere deep in my gut, aching and guttural, and I felt like I couldn’t shout long or hard enough to relieve the pressure within. My eyes burned, and for the first time in many years, a tear escaped.
The threat is gone. She saved us all.
Josephina’s voice echoed through the red pain consuming my mind. My first instinct was to attack the golden dragon, sensing she had put the sacrifice idea in Grace’s head in the first place.
Why was it Grace? Why was she the one who had to sacrifice everything?
There was a pause, before: She is not only the diamond princess, but so much more. In her blood a spell was born and broken. Her family was betrayed by the shadows.
The darkness within her, the one that had responded to the shadows, must have had something to do with this betrayal. Josephina, as always, was being cryptic as hell. How did she end up in Stratford? How is she a witch?
Justice had seemed human, as did the other two. But Grace had thrummed with a low energy. She could never have passed as a human.
She was too powerful to disguise as a human. She’s the diamond princess.
She repeated this like I should understand. Why didn’t you tell me this before?
I didn’t know until now.
Her voice faded off as energy and bodies surrounded me. My pack wrapped themselves around me, sending warmth and love into me. With a whisper I clothed myself, stepping through them. Josephina was waiting a few feet away, behind her dozens of dragons in varying colors and sizes.
“Where is she?” I asked the golden dragon.
She tilted her head to the side, regarding me. She was called to the shadow world. She was called home.
I shook my head. “What does that mean? How can her home be in the shadow world? She is not a shadow!”
My magic whipped from my clenched fists, sparking out around us, the queen did not look concerned, although some of the dragons behind her got a little closer.
“Ty, stop, you can’t do this.” Jessa’s tearful plea did not reach me. I didn’t even turn my head.
“I want my mate back,” I said to Josephina. “Now!”
There were no more voices in my head, and the dragons all took to the sky. The golden one remained for a few moments longer, and just as I wondered why she hadn’t gone too, I heard a pop, and the baby smoke ball appeared. Evie, Jackson, and Lily were still sound asleep.
She is in the sands, said the dragon as she flew away.
Mischa held my arm, pleading with me: “Ty, please, don’t do what I know you’re thinking of doing.” But the roaring in my head was too strong. Who would have known emptiness could be so loud? “Please,” she was sobbing, and I just shook my head.
“She’s it for me.”
I turned and walked away, stepping toward the sandy tomb of my mate. Josephina had confirmed what I already knew. Grace had fallen with the sands.
When I reached the center, I lowered myself so I could dig into the colored crystals. As I got deeper, there was a tugging on a small section of my mind. I thought it was my brothers in the quad bond, trying to reach me. The tugging came again, and this time more of my attention caught. Grace? It grew stronger, and I dug into the gems again, mixing them around, digging deeper and deeper. Hang on, little witch. I’m coming for you.
A flicker of hope in my chest … I couldn’t let it grow too large. It would kill me if she was actually gone. I felt my brothers drop down and help me shift the sand; it was a large area, and Grace could be anywhere. I sensed where to look, though, feeling her through our bond. As red hair came into view, I let out a choked sound.
Her body was about six feet down, atop a huge swirling portal of energy spiraling downwards, like a one-way entrance. Shadows could go down, but not come back up again.
She looked so peaceful, floating there, red hair streaming out around her face. She was pale, but her lips still looked pink, her cheeks had a rosy sheen to them. The bond tugged again, and as I slid my hands under her and lifted, I felt her again.
Her eyes opened, no longer filled with darkness, the color now a light icy blue that matched the crown nestled on her head, and the glittery pigment of her skin. She looked like a stranger, a very beautiful stranger, but she still felt like my Grace on the inside.
“Hey, baby.”
She jerked at my husky whisper.
“Ty?” she sounded confused. “I … was dead.”
My chest rumbled. “I know, and you’re in big fucking trouble. You’re not allowed to die. Not ever.”
I lifted her free, cradling her as close to my body as I could get. Her cold energy slapped against me, and we were back to only having flickers of a mate bond. The moment I jumped us out of the hole, the gems refilled it, reforming the emblem on top. Grace wiggled then, and threw her weight into me, knocking me onto my ass.
She wrapped her legs around me, crawling as far into my lap as she could. We were surrounded by shouts and happy yells from my family and the other princesses, but I didn’t hear anything but the sound of her heartbeat, strong and firm. Alive.
She pulled back and my lips crashed into hers, nothing in my head except the need I had
to taste her again. She opened her mouth, a low moan escaping. My body went rock hard as I pressed up into her center, still wrapped around me.
“Um, I think we might need to give these two a moment … you know.” Mischa started ushering everyone away. “They have some catching up to do.”
I felt their energy leave, and I took my time kissing Grace. Eventually I stood, lifting her with me, her legs still firmly around my waist. “I’m going to strip you naked and taste every inch of your skin,” I murmured against her lips.
I felt her smile. “I’m going to hold you to that, but there’s something I have to do first.”
I reluctantly let her drop to her feet, intertwining our hands together – she was not going to be out of my sight for a second. She led us to the edge of the ice land, and as she stepped out onto the snow, her head fell back, she lifted her arms, and shouted out into the white world. “Bring her to me!”
Pure energy radiated off her, and I found myself wondering what the hell was about to happen.
Light fractured before Grace, and thrust from that light was a small, older woman. She landed in a heap at Grace’s feet. I was at my mate’s side in a heartbeat, the iciness of the diamond world engulfing me. Grace lifted a hand and the old lady rose with it.
“Hello, Grandma,” she said. “I think we need to have a little chat.”
Grace Carter
I died today. It was a good death, one I was willing to make … I bled so that my family might live. I didn’t remember everything, but when the ice froze my chest, I thought that was the end. I waited. Patiently. In a kind of stasis. Then the gem-sands filled my wounds, surrounding me with the energy of the four jeweled kingdoms. When the sands fell, they took with them all of the darkness I had not been able to purge myself, and the shadows and demons, dragging them all down into the world below. Because the sands were part of me, I went too.