by Marie Harte
Lexa crossed her arms over her chest, uncomfortable at being so easily read. After being kicked out of Tanselm, a sad reminder of how she’d never fit in, she’d spent most of her life trying to be something she was not, hiding behind one façade or another. The few people she’d allowed herself to care for had been on her terms. She’d befriended Ellie and Jonas out of necessity, and had found, to her surprise, that she liked them. So she kept them at a comfortable distance. They noticed about her what she wanted them to see.
Sava, however, had a disquieting tendency to see through bullshit. Maybe because he was so familiar with dishing it out.
As much as she longed to confide in him, longed to share her burden and stop being so damned alone, she couldn’t do it. “I’m fine.” She glared at him and wasn’t surprised when he dropped the hard-ass attitude and flopped next to her on the couch. He never had been able to win in a confrontation with Lexa.
“Say what you want, your aura doesn’t lie. Your Djinn protector isn’t fooled either. Yes, Lexa, Jonas and I talk on occasion. You know, he’s actually very amusing. I’ve noticed he has a tendency to irritate Arim nearly as much as you do.”
She smiled at that, and Sava chuckled.
So when he latched onto her arm and muttered a spell under his breath, she was unprepared to relive the memory of her hellish imprisonment.
Hundreds of eyes stared at her through green, unearthly flame. Thousands of mouths fed on her spirit, gnawing at the energy of Lexa’s very being. Pinpricks of pain shot through her brain, icy daggers that demanded relief, if only she could move her hand to rub away the pressure. Trapped apart from her body, caught in the limbo between life and the Next, the constant torture stirred in her a loss so profound it caused her physical, mental and spiritual devastation.
“A life for a life,” the demons around her echoed through gurgling laughter, choking on the essence of corrupted souls as they taunted her. They’d said the same thing to her repeatedly, eating away at her spirit until she almost looked forward to the bliss of true death. Almost. “Your Killer of Shadow is safe, but at what cost, Dark Mistress?”
They spoke of the one man in all creation she didn’t understand and apparently never had. Arim. Just the mention of his existence was enough to stir her anger enough to fight, and she gladly embraced his memory, needing it to survive.
Here in the heart of Mount Malinta, her form was all energy. Lexa thrashed against the demonic bonds holding her tight, still not finding that opportunity to escape. For what seemed like an eternity, she’d been fighting to be free, to rejoin her body before she dwindled away into nothing. She knew her body remained alive though she couldn’t see it. She’d felt, oddly enough, a strong presence by her side. As if someone who cared about her wanted her to battle, to live on. It was that strength that had given her the power to continue the struggle. But her energy was fading. And all because of the Malinta demons that bloodsucking bastard, ‘Sin Garu, had unleashed upon her.
‘Sin Garu, the last living member of her blood family, and the person she refused to acknowledge as her brother. She and the evil piece of fhel shared a mother—the extent of their hate-filled relationship.
He had made his bargain with these demons. Through no fault of her own, she’d been born of the same blood. She’d be damned—literally—if she’d allow ‘Sin Garu to escape the deal he’d made with the Malinta demons. Lexa had a life to return to, and quite a few scores to settle, the least of which was with Tanselm’s great sorcerer too stubborn for his own good. After all that she’d sacrificed for Tanselm, Lexa had no intention of succumbing to death to fulfil ‘Sin Garu’s pledge.
Her thoughts straying to Arim again, to the thought of finally putting matters between them to rights, she called on the power deep within her. Like before, the green flames of the demons burned brighter, feeding on her Darkness. But she pushed through the agonising pain and sought the small source of Light still beating inside her heart. Arim’s face shone bright and steady within her memories, a small shard of love for the man stunning her even as she knew to embrace it.
Shrieking with dismay, the demons loosened their hold in shock, giving her the opportunity she needed.
With a burst of energy, Lexa pushed past the hatred binding her and shot through the demons’ plane towards her own. But as she left, she felt a tug and an excruciating tear as part of her soul was ripped away. Glancing back as she floated towards the boundary of the demons’ world, she saw them cage and contain a bright blue piece of her soul.
“A life for a life,” the masses ranted as they swallowed that part of her. Confined in flame, the bit of her soul flickered but remained strong. The contract was not met, and her life was not yet forfeit.
“You’ll get your life, that I promise.” But it won’t be mine. She stared grimly at the monsters and fires of damnation as she merged into the between…
“Holy Mother of Shadow and Dark,” Sava breathed, staring at Lexa with shock. “They’ve got a part of you. I can’t believe you’re awake and breathing.” Admiration battled the worry in his eyes. “Lexa, you have to tell Arim about this.”
She immediately shook her head, trying to focus her scattered thoughts. Dammit. Friend or no friend, Sava is going to pay for that.
“He’s the only person I know of that can help you retrieve your soul. You need Light more than Dark and Shadow, I’m afraid. Despite the problems Tanselm is having, she’ll give everything she has to repair the damage you’ve been done. Tanselm needs Dark magic. The land needs you, Lexa.”
“No, she doesn’t.”
Sava continued as if she hadn’t spoken, his eyes hard and knowing. “Almost as much as you need Arim.”
Chapter Two
Arim stared at the familiar faces around the large, marble table. He wondered if he might have been better off letting Jonas pass the word about the situation in Philadelphia while he chased after Lexa.
His nephews sat around the table arguing while Ravyn and he did their best not to intervene. Except for their eye colour and personality, each brother was an exact replica of the other.
“Cadmus, first of all, not all the Djinn are sympathetic to the Light Bringers, just the Sarqua warriors like Jonas.” Marcus, the icy, blue-eyed River Prince nodded in Jonas’ direction. “Most of the Dark ones are still working with ‘Sin Garu to kill the last remaining Storm Lords—which would be us, in case you’ve forgotten. Secondly, we can’t just invite all the Sarqua Djinn into Tanselm without stirring our people into a panic. Half of our Light Bringers have never seen a Djinn before. Integration takes time.” Marcus spoke with a bite, yet without raising his voice, intentionally aggravating his sibling.
The angry flush on Cadmus’ face warned Arim of the coming argument. The Earth Lord had quite a temper when provoked, for all his mischievousness.
“Screw panic,” Cadmus answered. “It’s time we stopped our prejudices from blinding us to the truth. Since I’ve been back, Tanselm has been reaching out, touching the Earth Lord within me. The land wants more Dark to help balance our presence here. So many Light Bringers is starting to wear her thin.”
“Cadmus is right,” Aerolus agreed, glowing with magic, ever the peacemaker. The Wind Mage, a sorcerer in his own right. “Balance is needed. Tanselm’s power scatters.” He glanced at Arim, holding his gaze for a moment before turning back to those at the table.
The arrogant whelp subtly let Arim know his weakening magic had been noticed. He needed to have another talk with his nephew. Too big for his own britches, Aerolus’s deceased father, Faustus, would have agreed.
“Fuck balance.” Darius, Prince of Fire and resident hothead, spoke without thought to his mother beside him. Too late he realised his blunder, chastised when she smacked the back of his head. “Sorry, Mother. I mean, to hell, ah, heck with balance.” Darius fumed, his red eyes gleaming with frustration. “It’s not the Light Bringer populace Marcus is worried about. It’s the Congregation of Idiots.”
Ravyn sighed.
“Church of Illumination, Darius. And Marcus is right to be wary. The Church exists to check our power. Tanselm’s watchkeepers. They make sure our sorcerers and Storm Lords abide by the needs and wishes of the people. Frankly, with all that’s going on around our lands right now, we can’t afford to alienate them.”
Arim wondered. The Church used to stand for what was right. But lately… Things weren’t as they should have been with the Church. He’d been so busy hunting Dark Lords he’d begun to lose sight of Tanselm’s domestic problems.
“Arim, what do you think?” Ravyn asked.
“I think we have bigger problems than the Church just now.” He related the battle he’d fought with Jonas on the mundane plane, pleased to see frowns darkening his nephews’ faces. Good, they understood the ramifications of the Netharat’s interference.
“So what do you intend to do about it?” Ravyn asked.
“I need to talk with Sava and a few others I can think of off the top of my head. It’s time the leaders of our worlds came together to form an alliance. If ‘Sin Garu mounts a successful attack against the xiantopes, other Dark Lords may come forth and try the same with other mundane worlds, upsetting the Balance. Earth must stand fast against those with magic, or Light worlds will begin seeing serious repercussions.”
Aerolus nodded. “In the altee scrolls I’ve been studying, I’ve watched prior battles fought over worlds without magic. Did you know Kreer was once like Earth? A flat plane with little to recommend it. Then one of the Aellei found it and began tinkering. Now the place is lit with odd resonances of energy. Though it’s mostly Light, Kreer is expanding—”
“Enough, Aerolus. Thanks for the unnecessary lesson about Kreer, but if we could get back to our main problem at hand?” Darius rolled his eyes.
“I feel like I’m back in University,” Marcus mumbled.
“I hated University. Too much learning,” Cadmus said. The troublemaking Storm Lord turned a sly grin Arim’s way. “So how about we ask what we really want to know?”
Arim inwardly cursed.
“Have you found Lexa yet? With Jonas’ help, you must be close.”
Jonas smirked. “Yes, oh great sorcerer. Do tell them how the hunt goes.”
Arim clenched his jaw, not amused when Cadmus shared a grin with the Darkling. “I’ll speak to you about your ‘help’ later.” He glared at his brown-eyed nephew, then turned back to the group. “As for Lexa, it’s been three weeks and she’s still missing. I’m sure ‘Sin Garu doesn’t have her. We’d have heard if he did.” I’d have felt it.
“I, for one, am glad she’s still alive.” Ravyn nodded. “Her magic helped save my life, and that of my sons, lest you forget. Aerolus, she healed you and Alandra when you needed it most, and asked nothing in return. Cadmus—”
“You don’t have to sell her to me, Mother. She took care of Ellie for years and saved my ass—myself—from ‘Sin Garu.” He shivered, clearly recalling his time in the Netharat’s grasp. “The wraiths are not nice creatures. At. All.”
Jonas piped in, the Djinn always needing to have his say, Arim thought with displeasure. “Don’t forget me. She allowed the Sarqua Djinn to return to our homeworld.” Jonas directed his emphasis Arim’s way. “She’s not the monster you think she is. She’s actually a very nice woman.”
Darius stared at Jonas as if he had three heads. “Right. The woman who kills with a touch, who murdered her Light Bringer family and who worked with B’alen and ‘Sin Garu to kill our father, aunts, uncles and cousins, is just a wonderful gal.”
Arim wondered why Darius’s sarcasm bothered him, considering he’d been thinking the same thing.
“She didn’t kill anyone.” Jonas huffed, then quickly amended, “Well, not anyone not deserving of it. I’m telling you, my Dark Mistress—the woman—I know, is no more a murderer than you or me.”
Marcus eyed him with a raised brow. “That so? Because I clearly recall you killing several Light Bringers not too long ago. A hunting party near Foreia during the Dark moon? I guess they deserved it, hmm?” His tone was as provoking as his words.
Jonas’ amber gaze flared. “For your information, Prince Jackass, those Light Bringers were trying to kill me and Ethim at the time. I’ll be damned before I lose my ruler to a measly Light Bringer warrior who doesn’t know his head from his ass.”
Cadmus chuckled. “Well said. Though I think those particular warriors were Church brethren who confused their left from their right, not exactly a head and ass thing.”
“Shut up, Darkling,” Darius shot at Cadmus and leaned closer to Marcus. “Ever since he married Ellie, he’s been more one of them than us anyway.”
Marcus nodded, his lips quirked, and chimed in about wraiths and the Dark, pecking at Aerolus, who’d married an Aellei.
Aerolus, for once, didn’t remain silent and absorbing, but fired back in retaliation for the slight on his affai. “Alandra helped defeat B’alen, who could have seriously damaged our people if he’d been allowed to live and join with ‘Sin Garu. What are you thinking, Marcus?”
“You have some nerve, you arrogant lekharn.” Cadmus glared at Marcus, including Darius in his hostility. Jonas crossed his arms over his chest, apparently in agreement with the Djinn insult—lekharn translating to shithead. “Ellie saved our world from annihilation at the cost of—”
Marcus cut him off, and then Jonas joined in the fray, voices rising in volume as male annoyance overrode the uneasy calm in the room.
Arim merely sat back, locking his gaze with his sister. “Well, this is nice. Something to break the tedium of hunting missing Dark Lords.”
Her lips curled, and she chuckled, ignoring the sudden bursts of heat and cold, of vines appearing out of nowhere in the room, and wind blowing wildly around the brothers. Jonas burst in truth, taking on the common form of the Djinn. White energy in the form of a man was surrounded by Dark flame all around the outline of his body. He crackled as he leaned closer to Marcus, who shot a blast of icy water his way. Jonas easily diverted the water with Dark magic, drenching the vine curling around Darius’s feet that Darius flamed with a blast of fire from his fingertips.
“Boys will be boys.” Ravyn smiled.
Arim couldn’t help laughing with her, the tension in him easing somewhat at the familiar scene of his nephews bickering. They normally teased one another, Cadmus being the worst offender. With all that had been happening lately, Arim knew they needed to let off some steam. Had he thought for one minute any of them meant what they’d said, he would have smashed their heads together. But he caught the feelings they were unaware of projecting, the underlying entertainment they found in taunting one another.
To Arim’s surprise, Jonas fit in as if he’d been born into the family. The Djinn, like Cadmus, had an uncanny knack for being both amusing and irritating at the same time. And like Cadmus, he had Marcus in fits.
After several moments of sheer chaos, Ravyn nodded to Arim. He immediately quelled all the magic in the room, Light and Dark.
Jonas gaped like a fish out of water as he found himself in human skin again, his Dark energy caught by flesh and bone. “Damn, didn’t know you could do that.”
“Remember that the next time you’re pestering me about Tanselm’s precious need for balance,” Arim muttered.
“Boys, I take it you’re feeling better now?” Ravyn asked. “All out of your systems?”
Her sons nodded, their faces full of chagrin. Jonas, however, laughed out loud.
“By the Dark, that was fun. How about another round?”
Darius snorted, and Marcus snickered. Cadmus slapped him on the back, their fight as if it had never existed.
Aerolus stood, a slight smile on his face, still the most serious of his siblings. “Sorry, Mother. Tension’s been building throughout the land, and I know we all feel it. Believe it or not, I think Marcus has the right of it. We can’t introduce more Dark into the land without figuring out what’s wrong within the kingdoms. There’s more than just Tanselm’s
magic at stake, but the welfare of our people. Alandra and I have discussed it, and we think the Church of Illumination is somehow behind this subtler discord.”
Ravyn sighed. “I’ve had similar reports, but I hadn’t wanted to believe it. Bad enough we’re fighting a Dark Lord and the Netharat. At this point, we really don’t need any infighting to worsen our situation.”
“How bad is it?” Arim stared at his sister, suddenly more worried about her than Tanselm. Now that he opened his senses to truly see her, Ravyn looked more than tired. She appeared drained, her magic much weaker than his. Of the two of them, despite being more than a hundred years younger, he was stronger, magically. But Ravyn had always possessed the ability to take him down a peg when needed. Now she looked as if a stiff wind would knock her over, the same way she’d appeared just after learning of her husband’s tragic death.
“Reports of attacks on Djinn and Aellei have been coming in. It’s not just the northern and eastern kingdoms with problems. In Marcus’s territory to the south, the rilk forest has begun dying, the trees decaying from within. Our healers and sorcerers are baffled. Here in the west, the Church has been stirring unrest in the marketplace. Questions about the royal affai and,” Ravyn paused, staring directly into Arim’s gaze. “Your loyalty has been challenged.”
“My loyalty?” Arim didn’t understand.
Darius was happy to explain it to him. “Those dickhead—sorry Mother, but you know it’s true—Church brethren are implying that since you helped Lexa to heal, you’ve fallen under Dark enchantment.”
Arim could feel the heat behind his eyes, anger building. “What?”
“Yeah. Apparently, doing the decent thing and not killing a vulnerable, unprotected female now goes against everything we stand for. I don’t get it either.” And I don’t think our walls are safe anymore, Darius projected to Arim, using the telepathy he’d inherited from his mother. Mother’s still recovering from ‘Sin Garu’s attack and doesn’t hear the things I can. There are those among the Light Bringers that seek to overturn Storm Lord leadership.