“Release him,” she said, finding her strength again and walking towards Erikka.
The witch looked shocked for a moment and then smiled.
“No.”
“I said, release him.” She raised her hand, calling all the power she could.
Sunlight broke into the room. The day was winning in her fight against it. The pull inside of her was unbearable. Her knees wobbled and threatened to buckle beneath her. She forced herself to remain standing, unwilling to give Erikka the satisfaction of seeing her weak. She was one of the heavens. She was a ruler of this witch.
“No,” Erikka repeated and flicked a glance at Zane. “He could so easily lift the curse himself.”
Celene frowned and looked at him. It seemed to be the exact moment that Erikka had been waiting for. A bolt of magic knocked her off her feet and she heard Zane call out her name as she skidded across the floor. When she hit the wall, she gave herself a moment to recover and then struggled to her feet. Her eyes widened when she saw that Zane was fighting Erikka. Magic zipped around the room as they threw spell after counter-spell at each other. The air began to cloud with the discharge of power and she ran to his side. Calling up everything she could, she launched it at Erikka and the witch flew backwards into one of the tall black banners at the rear of the room.
Zane ran forwards and Celene flanked him, trying to keep up with him and keep conscious at the same time. The dawn was calling to her now. She didn’t know how much longer she would be able to defy it. An orb of magic, crackling and red, flew past her ear and she ducked away from it, only to be hit by a bolt of silver. She gritted her teeth against the pain and pushed on.
A glance at Zane revealed that she wasn’t the only one being hit.
“You broke my heart,” Erikka shouted.
Celene stopped dead and almost laughed. A broken heart? All of this over a broken heart?
“If I can’t have you, no one should be able to! No one.” Erikka threw another bolt of magic but Celene easily dodged it. She frowned at the witch. Erikka sneered at her. “An easy curse, one to keep him alone for all his life... and he finds the one damn person who can lift it.”
Celene was too stunned by Erikka’s words to see the magic coming. It smacked her hard in her stomach and raised her off the ground. She looked down with wide eyes at the floor below her as it spiralled away and then up at the crystal that the magic was propelling her towards.
She fought against it and managed to turn in time to grab the crystal and stop herself from being impaled on it. It burnt her hands and she growled with effort as she pushed her fingers through the solid material as though it was made of thick tar not stone.
A cry from below her caught her attention. Zane curled up into a ball on the white stone floor and turned into a cat.
Screaming, Celene unleashed all the power she could muster into the crystal. It exploded, raining down fragments on the room below. She fell to the floor and landed on her feet. She didn’t pause and give herself a moment to recover from the drain of what she had done. She ran over to Zane and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, slinging him onto her shoulder.
“You chose a great time to change!” she said to him.
Erikka roared in pain as the shards of crystal settled on the floor and the power that had been humming in the air disappeared. Celene gave her a hard look as the witch collapsed to the floor, clutching herself and muttering incoherent words.
It was over.
The ground trembled beneath them and Erikka raised her head, her eyes dark as midnight and empty. Celene sensed the rise in magic around her. The white walls fractured and then cracked open and pieces of stone crashed to the floor.
Erikka stood and Celene bolted, holding Zane to her so he didn’t fall. They couldn’t fight Erikka. She had hoped that the destruction of the crystal would render the witch powerless, but it had only seemed to anger her. She didn’t have the power to fight Erikka alone, not with the constant battle she was waging just to stay in this spot, and Zane was no use to her now.
All they could do was flee and hope to make it out in one piece. She had been wrong. They shouldn’t have come here. She had forced Zane into it and had risked both of their lives in the process.
Running down the steps, it was hard to keep her footing as the castle shook, pieces of it falling away. She leapt over a gap in the steps where they had dropped to the floor and kept moving. Her face screwed up when Zane dug his claws into her shoulder.
“You’re hurting me!” she said and tried to get him to release her but he only dug his claws in deeper.
She struggled to keep running as the pain tore through her and she instantly knew that something was wrong.
A glance at his paws confirmed her fears. Blood coated them, rivulets of red that ran onto her skin and soaked into her dress. Cold dread engulfed her, stealing away her sense and blinding her. He was hurt.
There was no time to run. She had to get him out of here now, regardless of how dangerous it was for her to use her power. She didn’t care where they went. She just wanted him safe so she could heal him.
She focused as best she could and the world shifted around her. The castle bent and buckled, and then imploded and darkness swept her away. When her feet touched solid ground again, she was standing beside the lake where she had left him the previous morning.
She carefully placed him down on the ground and looked at him. He shifted back, becoming human once more and lay still. Her heart wrenched and tears stung her eyes.
Celene bent over him, cupping his cheek and bringing his head around to face her. He was cold. Her eyes dropped to the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and she stared at it as she pressed her hand to his bare chest and tried to heal him. Pain set her nerves on fire, burning her body. She frowned, focusing everything on him and not caring how much damage she was doing to herself. Gasping for air and unable to continue any longer, she halted her magic and looked at Zane.
Nothing.
Sinking back on her heels, she stared blankly at his face. This couldn’t be happening. A tear slipped onto her cheek as she blinked and it was quickly followed by another. They dropped, heavy and fast, from her chin onto her dress and her knees. As the reality sank in, more tears came, blinding her and making her heart burn. Anger fought against remorse, grief against hatred. She lowered her head until it rested against his chest and broke down in sobs that wracked her body so fiercely that she couldn’t breathe.
The wind picked up. It started gently, a light breeze that played with her hair and made the leaves dance, but it grew rapidly until it was a gale that threatened to flatten the land. She sat quietly in the middle of it, laying over Zane’s body and not bothering to control her feelings. What was the point when he was gone? She cared about nothing else, not like she used to. He had become her everything and without him she was nothing. She didn’t want to go on alone.
Pushing herself up, she looked at him and then raised her eyes to the sky. Clouds gathered there, so dark that day became night. Her hair whipped across her face and a tree nearby succumbed to the wind and crashed to the ground.
Celene rose to her feet and stared at Zane, willing him to come back to her, to make this world one she wanted to live in again.
Raising her hands, she frowned at the heavens as the storm pounded the earth. Thunder boomed in the distance and rain shrouded the landscape.
“Save him,” she supplicated, tears streaming down her face, hot against her cold wet skin. “Take my life and bring him back. He deserves to live. I won’t go on without him!”
She collapsed to her knees beside him and pressed her hand against her chest.
“What life was mine is now yours,” she whispered.
Her whole body felt as though it was on fire and thunder rumbled threateningly overhead. Lightning crashed to the ground, tearing it asunder and filling the air with the smell of wet earth. She ignored Gaia’s anger and brought her hand to his chest, placing it directly over
his heart.
“What fate was yours is now mine.”
CHAPTER 6
Zane felt as though he had been dragged over the peaks of Amaranthia naked. He took slow deep breaths as his body ached and burned with white hot pain. When it began to subside, his head cleared and he suddenly remembered what had happened to him.
He shot up into a sitting position and stared around him, trying to get his bearings. He was naked. The earth was torn to shreds, huge pits and crevasses carved into the land. Rain lashed down so heavily that he couldn’t see for more than a few metres. Thunder rolled overhead and the wind plastered his wet dark hair to his face. He scraped it out of his eyes and wondered how he had got back there. He remembered Celene grabbing him after Erikka had hit him with the spell.
He remembered her crying, but he felt as though he hadn’t been there at the time. It was as though he had watched it from afar.
The air felt different and he looked back in the direction the castle should have been. There was a blurry shape through the rain and he was surprised to see it still standing. Whatever power had once ruled this land, it was now gone and he could sense that his magic was no longer dampened by the valley.
“Celene?” he said, sure that she was close by.
When she didn’t answer, he turned his head to look for her.
His eyes widened and his heart smashed against his chest when he saw her.
He scrambled to his feet and ran to her where she lay a few feet from him, naked and soaked. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Her pale skin was even more like milk, glowing as bright as a full moon. Silvery wings stretched out on either side of her but their feathers were tattered and scattering in the wind that stirred them. Her face was still, beautiful and soft as though she was sleeping. He knew she wasn’t.
He glanced down at her chest when something shone there and frowned at the symbol that was fading from her. His chest burned and he looked down to see that same symbol appearing on him.
It was so familiar.
Kneeling beside her, he brushed the wet strands of hair from her face and his throat tightened. He swallowed, trying to shift the dry lump there, but it wouldn’t go. She looked so peaceful, her hands resting on her stomach and her face serene. The feathers of her wings began to disintegrate and the ground shook as lightning slammed down all around him.
This shouldn’t be happening.
He had been right. She wasn’t a witch, but she had tried to help him anyway, saving him in the end by sacrificing herself. Her power had brought him back. The curse had been lifted, but not by her gift. No, it had broken because of the realisation that the symbol now burning fiercely against his skin had brought.
He knew who she was now, and why she left him each day. He knew the truth behind the mystery.
But what had happened here today wasn’t right. It was impossible.
The night couldn’t die.
Another tremor shook the ground and he looked up to see the sky clearing. Stars spun above him, slowly falling to earth in bright fiery streaks and leaving the black heavens barren and lifeless. They burned the sky until it turned as red as blood.
The ground began to split and the trees around him were swallowed whole.
The night was one of the immortals. She couldn’t die. She brought balance to the world and it couldn’t continue without her.
Mustering up all the power he could, Zane put his whole heart and soul into the magic and surrendered himself to it. Tears spilt onto his cheeks and he took hold of her hand, gripping it tightly with his and staring at her face.
“You cannot leave this world,” he whispered to her. “I will not let you.”
The earth buckled beneath him, jolting him but not moving her.
He raised his eyes to the stars.
“Father, bring her back!” he shouted, focusing his magic on the heavens. His heart begged it to listen. His soul burned with hope. He looked at the earth. “Mother, bring her back.”
Zane split his finger open and drew the symbol of the night on Celene’s chest in his blood.
“Bring her back. You have the power to stop this, to change her fate and give me a chance to undo what has been done. Please... bring her back to me. Do not let his happen.”
The sky burned red and darkness swept across the land. It trembled and broke, bursts of fire escaping the earth. He shook, trembling and cold, weak and alone. His fingers tightened around her hand, squeezing it as though that act alone would bring her back. He wanted her back. The world needed her back.
“I know you can change this!”
Giving it everything he had left in him, he muttered desperate words under his breath and brought his mouth to Celene’s. He pressed his lips to hers in a kiss of love.
The ground broke apart, the sky fell, and the lake boiled. The world collapsed in on him, on them, and he still kissed her, holding her tight to him and swearing to never let her go.
Suddenly there was nothing but silence and his arms were empty. A light breeze brushed over his face, barely strong enough to shift his hair, and the sound of water rippling and birds singing came back.
He opened his eyes and smiled when he saw her. She was standing before him, giving him a confused look. The castle loomed behind her and he realised that he had been brought back to the moment where an inexplicable feeling of wrong had settled inside him. Was this why he had felt that way? Had he sensed what would happen if they entered the castle?
She continued to look at him and then held her hand out.
“Come,” she said, only this time he didn’t take the hand she offered.
He stood still, senses reeling and desperate to understand everything that had happened. They had given him a second chance. Mother Gaia and Father Heaven had brought back their child and restored the balance.
He stared into her eyes, memorising their beautiful icy depths and rejoicing over her being alive again. Unable to contain himself, he pulled her into his arms and wrapped them tight around her. He closed his eyes and sighed in relief when he felt the gentle pressure of her hands against his back. She was real.
“I was right,” he whispered and pulled back to look at her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and held her at arm’s length. She looked confused again. “I was right all along... you are no witch.”
Her eyes widened, a startled look filling them. He held her firm, not letting her move away as she so obviously wanted to. His thumbs brushed softly, reassuringly against her shoulders.
When she no longer looked as though she was going to bolt, he released her and untied the neck tie of his shirt and undid the button. The confused look returned but she remained standing in the same spot, watching him with curiosity in her eyes.
He bore his chest and her eyes went wide again, showing the white around her pale irises. She stepped towards him, her hand coming up and her fingers lightly tracing the mark on his chest. She hesitated a moment and then touched her own chest. The same symbol appeared there.
“Do not fight...” He kept his eyes locked with hers. “Both of us will not make it.”
“We have to, we have to lift the curse,” she said.
Taking hold of her hand, he pressed it back against his chest and then brought his palm to cover hers. Their hearts beat in perfect rhythm.
“Together, we can win,” Celene said, her eyes not leaving his. There was a desperate wildness in his. What had happened? He had said that they both wouldn’t make it. Did she die? Did he die?
She searched his eyes and wished that he would tell her the answers to her silent questions and explain why he was suddenly stopping them from going to see Erikka. He had the mark. Her mark. How had he got it if not from her somehow?
“I came back to save you, not lose you again,” he whispered, stepping closer to her, his hand remaining pressed against her chest.
She could feel their hearts beating together and his words made hers accelerate. She had died and he had brought her back.
She stared at
him for the longest time, reading his look and trying to understand what was happening.
“I died?”
His other hand came up and took hold of her free one. He held it tightly, so tightly that she could feel how upset he still was by what he had witnessed and could feel his relief over seeing her alive again.
“You brought me back... now I am bringing you back,” he said.
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“The world could not go on without you... you must have known that when you sacrificed yourself.” His hand left hers and he brushed the backs of his fingers across her cheek, looking at her with eyes that expressed all his feelings for her.
She drowned in them, drank them and wished he would always feel that way for her. She had never known feelings like these. If he had died, she would have given up her life to bring him back, not caring whether the world could go on without her or not.
“Come,” he said and started to lead her away from the castle.
She stopped, forcing him to also, and he turned to look at her.
“Don’t you want to break your curse?”
He smiled, a kind of smile that she had never seen grace his lips before. It was warm and like moonlight. It made her heat through and smile in return.
“It was broken the moment I understood the words... I will only find peace with the night.” He came back to her, stepping up so close that there wasn’t any space between them. She could feel his steady breathing and her body buzzed at the feeling of his against it. He looked down into her eyes and she realised what he was saying. “I have found peace with the night. I love her.”
Celene closed her eyes as he dipped his head. His lips gently played against hers, making hers tingle. She looped her arms around his neck as his went around her waist and he lifted her up until she felt as though she was flying. She swept her tongue along his lower lip and then a thrill ran through her when his came to meet it. They tangled slowly, sensually, and she relished the feelings the kiss evoked. The tenderness and love, the warmth and comfort, the safety and the desire.
The Night Page 5