Lars was dressed in dark jeans, a black sweater, and boots, not his usual “King” attire, but the one I had grown used to seeing him in.
He stared down, not reacting to my entrance, though I knew he was aware of my presence.
“Lars?” I took a wary step closer. “Lars, what are you doing?”
He didn’t even seem to hear me, his focus on an open vault box. My gaze trailed down to see what was in it. The cauldron sat in one, still and lifeless.
Lars’s attention was not on the cauldron, however, but on the compartment next to it.
Shite. My heart plummeted like a lump of cement.
A small stone lay in the open container. I knew it was no ordinary beach rock.
The Stone of Fáil.
I had heard plenty of stories about it, and if the magic pulsing off it showed any indication of its power, we were truly screwed.
Out of all the treasures, the Stone of Fáil was rumored to be the worst. It stood, for lack of a better description, the captain of all the others, and it had been searching for centuries to find its companions.
Now it had. What have we done?
“Lars?” I reached for his arm, my heart knocking against my ribs. He didn’t respond to my touch, his body tight and straight like a plank of wood. Touching him was similar to touching the rails on which a train is steadily coming. Pulsating. Even his aura blurred around him. His hand lifted, moving for the treasure.
“Lars, no!” I flung out my arm and snatched his hand in a bone-crunching grip. The momentum twisted his body slightly toward me. His head jerked up, as if he only just noticed someone else was in the room. His eyes met mine and panic crawled up my throat like a dozen spiders.
Black pits stared back at me, emotionless and lethal.
“Fight it.” The lump in my throat bobbed as I swallowed, moving my firm grip to his face. “Don’t let it have power over you. You are still a high demon. Don’t let it control you. Be stronger.”
His lips parted in a snarl, his daggered cuspids displaying their warning.
“You think you scare me?” I moved in closer, yanking his head even with my own, low anger building up in my voice. “Try me. You know I can go toe to toe with you, demon.”
Lars didn’t move, but a nerve in his cheek twitched.
“You don’t want to do this. We can fight what’s coming. Together.”
“N-o.” The word garbled from his lips as if he were struggling to talk. “We can’t. It’s the only way…otherwise I lose you. My kingdom. I have to fight my uncle. He cannot become King.”
“Not this way! You are not leaving me,” I growled. Last night my heart was crippled with the idea I would lose him to Stavros. I tried to think of any other option. This wasn’t it. I would lose him just the same if he gave into the stone.
My fingers dug into his skin, my muscles shaking trying to hold him in place. “Do whatever you have to do, but fight it. Do it for me. For the little girl upstairs, who wants nothing more than to cuddle on the sofa and watch a movie with us.”
His lids finally blinked, a tint of green swelling in around the edges.
As if the stone felt it was losing him, pressure in the room bloomed around us so that my ears popped and my legs bent. I curled over with a cry, tears building up behind my lids.
“I can’t fight it anymore. I don’t have the strength.” Lars choked, pivoting back toward the object, his hand extended.
“No!” I leaped for him, my body crashing into him, but it didn’t even bump him off course. “Lars! Don’t! Please...” I knew the moment he touched the smooth surface of the rock he was lost to me. Forever. When he had his King power’s he could fight the call. Now that he was just a demon…the power was too great.
A terror I had never felt throttled my soul, squeezing out one undeniable, blinding truth. “Lars. I can’t lose you.” I shook at his arm. “I. Love. You.”
He jerked to a stop, only his head turning back to me.
“I am so deeply in love with you. I don’t know when or how…but I am. Fae, demon, Unseelie, King. It doesn’t matter to me. I love you. All of you.” My hand pressed into my stomach, feeling how true my statement was. “You are needed here. By me. By Piper. The world needs you. Do not let an object or your uncle govern you. Fight.”
Yellow-green leaked across his irises.
“You aren’t getting rid of me. Whatever your uncle brings our way, we can fight him together. Side by side.” I inched closer, touching him, hoping to keep him locked on me.
Lars grunted, lifting his fingers to my face, gripping tightly as if I were his anchor. He drew his forehead down to mine. “I was arrogant enough to think I could regulate this kind of power.” His voice sounded low and gruff; each syllable strained his vocals. “I was a fool. But I will not let him gain the throne. I must ensure we win this war.”
“No.” My head brushed against his in denial, my stomach twisting like clothes on the line on a windy day. “Not this way.”
His hold constricted, tipping my mouth to his, his lips demanding, filling me with fervor. Desperation, fear, and need deepened our kiss, the magic of our bond glinting off my skin as it took hold of my soul.
He broke away, his mouth a sliver from mine. “It’s too late. I’m doing this for my kingdom.” His Adam’s apple bobbed, his thumbs tracing my mouth. “For you, Ms. Cathbad.” Without hesitation he whirled around, fingers latching on to the stone.
“No!” I screamed, a blocking chant already bubbling over my lips.
BOOM!
Magic detonated from the stone through the room with waves of energy, crashing into everything blocking its way.
My body flew backward up into the air, my bones cracking as I rammed into the wall. But I felt nothing; the blast had ripped my senses from me, shredding me of emotions. I hit the ground as the lights above flickered, raining down on the room like sparks from fireworks.
Darkness spread throughout me.
~~
My eyes bolted open with a gasp, my lungs contracting as I coughed out the thick layer of dust swirling the room. My head rolled to the side and I groaned. Every bone and muscle ached. My head was fuzzy, unable to hold a thought for long, similar to nailing melting Jell-O to a board.
Understanding started to slip through. I slowly sat up, as bits of the ceiling and walls rolling off of me to the ground.
“Lars?” I hacked, my chest burning. I scanned the room.
Gone.
Shite.
I stumbled trying to rise too fast, then rushed to the wall. I felt no power coming from the compartments.
“Damn,” I cried out, wishfully hoping for a different outcome than what I already knew to be true.
Three of the treasures still lay in their place, all as dead and empty as the cauldron. Only one treasure was gone.
And so was the King.
I flipped around, running from the room. Please, please say it’s not too late. I had to stop him.
I only made it a few steps, my view spotting a twisted massive lump on the ground at the end of the hall.
“No. No. No.” Fear lodged in my throat, my knees knocking into the floor with bruising force as I fell next to the body. “Goran?” I grappled for his shoulder. His limp form rolled to face me, his neck hitching in a way that told me it was broken.
I sucked in a gulp, placing my hand on his chest. We may not have liked each other, but I knew how much he loved Lars and would die for him. The stabbing pain in my heart wiggled down into my stomach. Lars would never hurt Goran. Goran was like his brother. They had been together so long that respect and trust ran deep, and nothing would break that.
But Lars was no longer himself.
A severed neck would end a human’s life in an instant. Fae were harder to kill, but not impossible. I could sense his energy trying to hang on with mere wisps of life.
Closing my eyes, the chant flowed off my tongue. I shoved the healing spell into his body, but right away I knew it wasn’t enough. He
was gone. Death had taken him, jumping over into another plane.
A cry splinted from my mouth. I realized what I had to do. Blackness swirled around me, coating my insides and mouth like syrup, the taste disgusting and stale. Similar to death. Ignoring the anxiety in my gut, I chanted the dark spell to bring someone back to life. Black magic was not natural, but bringing a person who is already gone? That went against all laws of nature and fate. If he came back to life, he would never be the same.
I understood this rule. Respected it. But it didn’t stop me. Because I couldn’t save Lars, I would at least save Lars’s friend.
Sweat trickled down my back, my shirt sticking to my skin, but I pressed on.
With a sharp gasp, Goran’s eyes flung open, his lungs fluttering, trying to start up again.
“Take it easy. Don’t move too fast.”
“What happened? Where’s my liege?” His head twisted around, his eyebrows wrinkled in confusion.
My mouth opened to try and explain when a girl’s cry emanated from upstairs, shooting chills over my skin.
“Piper!” I wailed, already on my feet. I took the next two flights of stairs two at a time until I reached the ground floor of the house, breath locked in my throat with dread. “Piper? Where are you?”
“Ms. Fionna! ¡Aqui! ¡Aqui!” Marguerite’s voice bellowed from the kitchen. My feet hit the wood floor with pounding thuds, terror pumping into my veins.
I turned the corner. Marguerite stood there, Piper in her arms, holding the child to her breast. Nik was nowhere in sight.
“Piper!”
“Mummy.” She lifted her head, her arms reaching for me. I swept her up, a relieved sob hiccupping in my throat. She was in my arms. Safe.
“She’s all right, Ms. Fionna.”
“Are you?”
She nodded as I pulled Piper in tighter to me. Marguerite kept patting me, repeating they were both okay.
I kept hold of her for a long time, needing to feel her in my arms. Now I had her, the thought of ever losing her again was unthinkable. I kissed her head, looking over her shoulder at Marguerite.
“What happened?”
Marguerite’s lips pinched together.
“Mr. Lars. Gone.”
“Did he say anything? Where he was going?”
Marguerite clicked her tongue. “No.” She tapped at her head then her chest. “Mr. Lars is gone.”
Agony closed my eyes briefly.
I hitched Piper higher onto one hip and moved toward the entry doors. “Shite! Nik!” I held on to Piper, running to the incubus lying on the floor, in front of the open entrance.
“He’s okay, Mummy. Darz didn’t hurt him.”
I still bent down, feeling his pulse. It felt strong against my fingers. Lars must have knocked him out. Frantic hollers from guards outside filtered into the house.
“Where did Darz go?” Piper asked, her voice small.
“I don’t know, honey.”
“I want Darz.”
Despair filled my eyes, hearing the longing in her voice. “Me too, sweetheart. Me too.”
Marguerite came up next to me, rubbing Piper’s back. Then she squeezed my arm. “He come back,” she stated firmly. “He always does... and now he has reasons to.” She nodded between Piper and me.
I wanted to believe her. I wanted to believe her so bad it ached. I gritted my teeth, trying to not lose myself to hopelessness.
“He needs you, Ms. Fionna.” She still clung to my arm, giving me strength.
I nodded, staring out into stormy afternoon, the clouds making it dark and bleak.
I had no idea what tomorrow would bring. But as I held my daughter, I knew one thing, I would fight with everything I had to get him back.
The world needed the King.
We needed him.
“I’m coming for you, demon,” I whispered into the air.
My mind flashed. I saw him, surrounded by fog and trees, his black eyes glistening with power. My words traveled over the wind, shooting him in the back. His head jerked over his shoulder. The glow of the house was far in the distance.
“Then come get me, Druid.” The stone spoke through him, forming a cruel smirk on his features, but something underneath the facade tugged at my gut. “Your King has fallen. It’s my turn now.”
My mind snapped back, the image of Lars dissipating.
A slow malicious smile curved my mouth. Lars was still in there; I could feel him.
“But not for long,” I promised the stone.
To save the man I loved, there was nowhere I wouldn’t go, no line I wouldn’t cross. I would destroy the last Treasures of Tuatha Dé Danann once and for all.
I would take back what was mine.
With the fall of a King, a Druid would rise.
Epilogue
Lars
What was left of my humanity hunkered like an animal in a cage. The stone took up residence in my body and most of my mind.
It was power. Alive. Free. Liberated from attachments and emotions. To have nothing holding you back was the ultimate high. I had forgotten how wonderful it felt.
This is only the beginning, King. I have great plans for us, the stone said to me. It moved my body without my input, covering a lot of space quickly. Getting your pesky uncle out of the way shouldn’t be too hard. Even with his growing army of strighoul.
I didn’t need to speak; the stone fed my curiosity.
You will see, Lars, I have been preparing for this for a long time. Players have already been set, waiting for me to lead them.
“And who are these players?” I asked.
Wait and see for yourself.
My legs followed an unseen path for a long time, fatigue never registering. The stone finally took us down a ravine, to a cave. A single torch sat hooked on the wall, flickering with light, as though it waited for me. Us. Clasping it, we followed the tunnel, no longer aware of time. It could have been minutes or hours, but finally the path narrowed, giving way to an arena-sized space inside the earth. Dozens of fire torches flickered along the walls, illuminating the underground with a sinister mood.
My boots jumped onto a boulder. “Come out!” My mouth moved, the stone using my voice. “Your master has arrived.”
At first, I heard nothing, but then scuffling echoed through the cave, coming from all directions. Lars, the man, would have been wary, but neither the demon nor the stone felt anything but power and control.
A dozen figures moved in from the shadows, all different shapes and sizes. Their clothes appeared ragged and rank. From a distance they resembled humans, but they made me uneasy.
“What is this?” I asked the stone, my eyes not sure what I was seeing.
The best of human and fae. The new breed of weapons.
What?
One came close enough I could see it had green eyes, brown hair, and a round face. He looked human, but my demon sensed he was not.
“Zeke,” the stone greeted him.
“Master.” Zeke bowed his head, his attention on his leader, his lips parting.
Deep beneath my skin I jerked in response. Holy fuck. He might look human, but his body, stature, and teeth were pure strighoul. His physique different enough from a human’s it made you uncomfortable, spine slightly curving, his skin a shade of gray. He was skinny and tall but muscular. Another one shuffled up to Zeke, also brown haired and green eyed, but it had a tail with a spike on the end. It bowed to me as well. Others had Asian features. One by one more of them surrounded me. Each one was unique and very, very wrong.
Not wrong, Lars. You are not seeing what potential these creatures have. I didn’t want Dr. Rapava’s creations to go to waste. There is clearly merit in his ideas. I will improve on them, but I need you to help me retrieve something. Something that got away from me.
“What?”
Their mother.
The stone flashed an image in my head, sending a thread of horror through me. Noooo!
I don’t need your approval, just y
our body, it said to me. But before you go, I want to thank you. I could not have done this without you and that Druid. Saving her life was your downfall.
“What does Fionna have to do with this?”
Everything. She was supposed to die. Her sacrifice and Druid magic would have given my enemy the upper hand.
Dread dripped through the parts of me that could still feel.
Yes. You are beginning to understand. Her fate was to help the cauldron stop me. But you selfishly wouldn’t let her do it. Saving your love doomed you all. Your myths about the cauldron as my equal were right, but not in the way the legend made it sound. We were never partners. It was designed to stop me from gaining too much power, to hold me back. So thank you, demon. By destroying that wretched thing, you gave me all the freedom in the world. Nothing to oppose me and stop me from taking all the other treasures’ powers once you’ve brought us together.
This. He waved my arms around. Is because of you. However, I have no use for you anymore. The stone pushed my soul, cutting out the last bit of consciousness. Numbness settled in. Locking me away in darkness where nothing could reach me.
“That’s better.” I adjusted the King’s body, getting the feel of it. “Fae think themselves so superior their egos don’t let them see the truth. They are so greedy for power. Only the Druids had the wisdom to keep us apart. The demon fell right into my hands, obtaining my fellow treasures so I could drain the others of their power. They are nothing more than junk now.”
I rolled my shoulders back, liking how fit and strong this form was. Yes, Lars’s physique would work just fine. “I feel amazing. I’d like to keep this one for a while.” I turned my attention back up to my men. Because of my connection to their mother, reaching out and twisting their minds to me had been easy enough.
“Now, are you ready to go find your dear mummy and take over the kingdom?”
The creatures yelled, stomping their feet in agreement.
“Let’s go get that deceitful bitch, the one who left you to die. She will pay for what she’s done.”
The Fall Of The King (Lightness Saga Book 3) Page 30