“I suppose we are,” the other man replied, offering Phoenix a smile.
Rachen couldn’t withstand the scene any longer. He must have made some sort of noise, because Phoenix returned to his side. Suddenly, Rachen could move again.
“I’m sorry I had to do that,” Phoenix said, “but I didn’t want you to get in the way. You would have hurt yourself for no reason.”
Rachen just stared at the face of the creature that had stolen his mate’s body. The phoenix in its beastly state had no comprehension of what it had done. It truly didn’t understand the concept of murder, good or evil. The only thing it knew was instinct—and its instinct was to protect itself and its mate.
Rachen’s Phoenix had grown through their love, through their bond. The illusion Ferradul Cyraltin had once cast had given Phoenix the time to get used to being a person. But this phoenix didn’t have that. In spite of everything, Rachen couldn’t hate him. He could only hate himself because he’d allowed things to get to this. He’d been unable to keep his mate safe, now, and back in their own world. It was his fault for failing his family, and most of all, failing his beautiful Phoenix.
He didn’t realize he was crying until this Phoenix turned toward him and gave him a concerned look. He kissed the cheek of the second Rachen, then left his side to join Rachen himself.
“Don’t cry,” he said, his gaze glittering like burning coals. “I can…I think I can understand it’s not easy to accept all of this. It’s very different from what you knew. But we can rebuild—the four of us, as a family.”
An alarm started to ring in Rachen’s mind. The four of them—not two, like he’d said before, not three, but four.
Somewhere to their left, a tiger cub wailed, and Rachen found himself asking, “Why didn’t you kill them? Why didn’t you kill Philip and Raleigh?”
Phoenix seemed surprised at the question, but then shrugged. “I suppose Raleigh did stand up for me, so I figured I’d leave them like this. Besides, they can’t hurt us anymore. They’re just animals, and they’ll never be able to shift again.”
It occurred to Rachen that this Phoenix still seemed to have memories of the old world. This confirmed it. Rachen’s mate hadn’t been completely consumed by the power he had once wielded. Yes, the recollections seemed tainted by a darker perspective, but that didn’t change the fact that they were there.
Most importantly, Rachen’s bond with Phoenix still existed. It was muted, like it had been blocked by an outside force, so Rachen couldn’t reach out to his mate. He had mistakenly believed that this could just be because, in a way, this Phoenix was also his mate. But no, that wasn’t the case. Rachen’s Phoenix hadn’t been absorbed completely. He remained somewhere within this beautiful, misguided, tortured, and terribly powerful creature. Rachen could still reach out to him.
He cupped Phoenix’s cheek and brushed a kiss over his lips. “Baby…you need to undo what happened. We can’t live in this way. You need to restore the previous world.”
Phoenix’s eyes widened, and he shook his head adamantly. He stepped back, pushing himself away from Rachen. “No. Don’t ask that of me. I won’t kill you. I love you.”
Rachen’s heart shattered into a million pieces. He knew he was being cruel. He could almost understand why Phoenix had done everything he had and a part of him selfishly wanted to cling to Phoenix. But as long as they carried the burden of the reality they had destroyed, their connection would forever be tainted by that sin.
Rachen shared a look with his equivalent in this world. “Do you really want this? Do you want to survive, knowing what it means for everyone else?”
The second Rachen scowled. “Phoenix can just bring back the people who died. There’s no reason to sacrifice ourselves for it.”
Phoenix perked. “Yes…I can do that. I’m sure I can, if I try.”
Rachen hesitated. Would that be so bad? If Karein, Sari, and the others lived through the whole thing, would it be so bad to accept this?
But then, it didn’t work like that, did it? Rachen’s family and acquaintances hadn’t been the only ones to suffer. Countless had died because in the war for draechen domination. Rachen had seen the records. Werewolves might not be extinct, but they were certainly very close to it. Humans were enslaved. Industry as Rachen knew it practically didn’t exist, and technology had mostly been developed by the draechen and the sprites. It was really kind of surprising that the fae and the naga had been able to craft airplanes and sophisticated guns in the first place. Hell, Rachen had yet to see a bottle of lube.
Everything was different, and artificially bringing the people who’d died back wouldn’t help. It would just thrust the world into chaos. Another war would be imminent. The same hatred and the destruction would persist. No, it would never work.
“Baby, we aren’t gods. You tried it once, tried to fix things, but we only ended up making it even worse.”
“I disagree,” Phoenix replied. “I have you back, don’t I? As long as that’s the case, I can handle everything else.”
Rachen pulled Phoenix in his arms again and crushed their mouths together. Phoenix parted his lips, granting him entrance, and Rachen thrust his tongue into Phoenix’s wet cavern, seeking his familiar taste.
He found it, and he clung to it, enveloping himself in it as he opened his heart to Phoenix. Their bond strained against the strange barrier, but Rachen flooded it with emotion nonetheless. Phoenix went rigid in his arms, accepting the kiss, but at the same time, almost trying to fight it.
At last, Rachen broke their lip-lock and faced Phoenix. “People are defined by their relationships with others,” he said. “You and I exist because of each other. We were born for each other. Our mate bond is the most beautiful thing in the world, but there are many other mate bonds out there, connections we tore apart. But you already know all this.” He wrapped his arms tighter around Phoenix. “What you have to understand is that we also depend on countless others to be the way we are, the way we were. Our lives connect with a limited number of people, so every step we make can affect someone we might not have even met. Even if you did try to bring everyone back, the end result wouldn’t be the one we seek, and you know it. You wield great power, Phoenix, and it comes at a cost.”
Something stirred in Phoenix’s eyes, his lower lip trembling as his eyes filled with tears. “Rachen… Please… I…”
Rachen’s breath caught. “I wish I could help you to carry this burden instead of adding to it,” he said, clenching his jaw. “I realize how selfish it is of me to ask this of you, when I know you will be the one to feel all the pain. I would do anything to save you that sorrow. I might even be inclined to cast everything to the winds, just for you. But can you truly say that you will be happy this way, that you will be able to sleep in my arms at night with the knowledge of what was lost?”
“Anything is better,” Phoenix insisted, “anything is better than losing you.”
Surprisingly, it was the second Rachen who replied to that. “You’ll never lose me,” he said as he approached them. “In this world, or the next, we will always be together. I will forever be a part of you, no matter what happens.”
He smiled slightly. “And in the end…this could all be a moot point. Once you return to the other world, you could bring me back there.”
“I’m not sure I can,” Phoenix confessed. “I’m…I’m not sure I’m as powerful there as I am here.”
In spite of Phoenix’s words, Rachen felt the bond between them begin to glow brighter. His Phoenix was making his way back to him. Rachen just knew it. “You have to trust in yourself and in our love,” he added.
He must have pushed too much and too quickly, because Phoenix started to back away. “No!” he shouted as he covered his ears with his hands. “No, I don’t want to hear any more. I won’t. I won’t lose this. I won’t lose you. I refuse.”
Fire erupted from Phoenix once again, the intensity of the heat cutting Rachen’s breath. Somehow, in spite of it, he still ma
naged to cross the distance between himself and Phoenix.
“Always, always remember that I love you,” he said. “No matter what happens, that will never change.”
Rachen kissed Phoenix again, pouring all of the emotion inside him into their mate bond. Finally, the lock to Phoenix’s heart opened. A whisper echoed in Rachen’s mind. “I love you, too, Rachen…so very much.”
There were a million things Rachen would have liked to say and do, countless emotions he’d have wanted to express. But his time had finally run out. His mate’s fire finally engulfed him, and he knew no more.
* * * *
“Do you think we should have stayed?” Talrasar asked his mate as he leaned against Kael’s naked chest. Night was starting to fall, but they were still lying in the grass where they had stopped hours earlier to make love once again.
“I don’t know,” Kael replied, petting his hair. “To tell you the truth, we couldn’t have been much help. Just looking at the emperor made me so angry I couldn’t see straight. But perhaps we can return later on.”
Talrasar nodded. He liked that idea. “Later. Much later. Right now, we’re more important.”
He knew that it was likely selfish to think of things this way, but he couldn’t help it. Irresponsible though he might be, he wanted to just live for Kael. He needed to truly acknowledge that he had his mate back. Only then would he be able to trust and love the world enough to try to save it again.
For the moment, they had earned a little time to themselves, and Talrasar had every intention to make use of it in the most enjoyable way possible. He climbed on top of Kael, rubbing his still-naked body against Kael’s.
Kael’s hands kneaded his ass cheeks, spreading them to nudge at the hole hidden between them. “Oh, love,” he murmured. “What you do to me…”
The draechen’s voice was pure, molten lust, and Talrasar would have loved to exploit the potential of that desire. However, he suddenly got the feeling that something wasn’t right. He turned, just in time to see the dark skies grow red. For a few seconds, it occurred to him that it looked a lot like the dawn, but then, it became clear that this was not the case.
Pure fire advanced toward them, and both Talrasar and Kael shot to their feet. They would have tried to find shelter, except the strange blaze was advancing too quickly.
Talrasar threw a shield around the two of them, but even as he did so, he knew it was pointless. Kael seemed to know this as well, because he pulled Talrasar into his arms and pressed their mouths together. The taste of Kael’s love and despair was the last thing that registered in Talrasar’s mind before the fire consumed him.
* * * *
“Caelyn… Gods, angel, don’t do this to me. Fuck… Please.”
Graham rubbed his arms over Caelyn’s, trying to push heat into Caelyn’s body. He couldn’t believe that his reunion with his mate—one which he’d long considered to be a useless dream—had turned out to be such a nightmare.
Caelyn was just as beautiful and perfect as Graham expected him to be. Of course, Graham hadn’t counted on him already having a consort, but he thought that it was a problem that could be handled if Caelyn had come to find him.
However, there were some things that definitely couldn’t be fixed—such as Taryn’s death. And just when Graham thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse, his mate got hurt, too.
Thankfully, the spell had struck Caelyn’s shoulder, avoiding any vital organs. Graham didn’t know how that had happened. He suspected that, at the last moment, the ice draechen must have tried to stop himself. The end result was that Caelyn was hurt and had fallen unconscious, but was miraculously hanging on.
However, the chill caused by the spell was now working its way all throughout Caelyn’s body, threatening to stop his heart. In spite of Graham’s attempts to keep it in check, it soon became obvious that his efforts wouldn’t suffice.
“Help him, damn it!” he shouted at Hareematek Tersain. “Banish the spell.”
The ice dragon just stood there, staring at him without a word. He didn’t seem to process anything of what was going on. Meanwhile, Monroe appeared to have lost his mind completely and was charging toward Hareematek once again.
The draechen didn’t even bother to cast another offense spell. Instead he just knelt next to his dead mate once more and surrounded himself in a tall ice shield, effectively shutting everyone out.
Despair rushed through Graham at the realization that the one man who could have helped him had no intention of doing so.
And then, something unexpected happened. Graham’s hackles rose as he sensed an odd power approach. He stole a look behind himself, only to see the sky growing bloodred. The odd stain spread faster and faster, but it wasn’t only the horizon it consumed. In the distance, Graham saw the forest disappearing under the strange haze, burnt into a crisp in mere seconds.
Cursing, Graham picked his mate up in his arms and started to run. The irony of the fact that he was running away from heat when his mate suffered from extreme frostbite didn’t escape him. However, Graham had the feeling that if the fire struck them, the spell cast by Hareematek Tersain would really be irrelevant, and for all the wrong reasons.
Behind him, his pack followed, trying to escape the strange power, too. Graham moved as quickly as he could, all the while trying to keep his body as close as possible to Caelyn’s, in the hope of somehow giving Caelyn his heat.
Graham could monitor Caelyn’s heart even over the sound of his own ragged breaths and the panicked howls around him. Because of that, he detected the exact moment when it stopped beating. Like a puppet that had his strings cut, Graham ceased to run. He placed Caelyn down, frantically beginning to do heart compressions in the hopes of bringing his mate back.
Impossibly, it worked. Caelyn’s heart responded to Graham’s efforts, beginning to beat once again. But Graham didn’t have the time to enjoy his triumph. The wave of fire finally swallowed both him and Caelyn, and Graham fell away from his mate and into the darkness.
* * * *
When the fire came, Hareem knew it wasn’t a normal blaze. He could feel the strong energy gathering, a magic unlike anything Hareem had felt before.
Cursing, he started to shift into his dragon form, fully intending to carry his mate out of here and out of reach of the fire. He had sworn to forever be by his mate’s side and never allow anything to hurt him.
At the last moment, though, he changed his mind and turned back into his human shape. He threw a glance at the approaching fire, then lay down next to Taryn once more.
“Look, sweeting,” he said, pointing at the crimson horizon. “Isn’t it beautiful? Almost as beautiful as you.”
Taryn didn’t answer, but that was all right. Hareem had known he wouldn’t. Taryn was tired, and he needed to rest after all the suffering he’d been through.
Hareem wanted to sleep, too. He wanted to find Taryn in a dream they could share, in a world that wouldn’t separate them. So, he just sat there, holding Taryn close, and waited.
He couldn’t see anyone anymore, his wall of ice keeping the others from getting to him and Taryn. Distantly, he wondered what had happened to Caelyn and Taryn’s brother. There was something he was supposed to remember regarding Caelyn, something he had to do… But no, nothing could be more important than being here, with his sweet mate. After all, he had promised Taryn that he’d never leave his side, that he would be here until Taryn woke up, and he had every intention of doing just that.
Only…Taryn would never open his eyes again, would he? A small part of Hareem acknowledged that, and that was what urged him to linger here, staring at the approaching inferno.
It didn’t take long. The blaze advanced far quicker than Hareem would have expected, consuming everything in its path. When it finally reached Hareem and Taryn, Hareem brushed a kiss over Taryn’s forehead. “I promised you we would be together. I’m coming for you.”
With that final promise, Hareem closed his eyes and surrendered to o
blivion.
Chapter Fourteen
The surface of the cliff felt cool under Phoenix’s cheek. He opened his eyes slowly, taking in his current surroundings in a haze.
The last thing he remembered, he’d been in the throne room with the two Rachens. Well, he and the phoenix—because at the end there, Phoenix himself hadn’t been in much control. And gods, one could go crazy just thinking about thinking about that. Then again, the entire situation had been crazy, starting with what the great fire bird had done.
Being possessed by the phoenix of the other world had been…odd. It was like Phoenix had been propelled back into the years he’d spent trapped in the box. He’d experienced that same desperation, that anger and hurt. Through him, the phoenix had been granted human emotions, which had led to him practically murdering three-quarters of Rachen’s family. All the while, Phoenix had been trapped inside his own body, unable to do anything about it, unable to help—until that last final moment when…when Rachen had said good-bye.
With that thought came pure dread and terror. He instinctively reached out to his mate through their bond, but predictably found the connection severed. If he’d had the energy to move, Phoenix might have torn apart Draechenburg all over again. His mate was gone. He was back in his reality, the one where Rachen had died.
In hindsight, it didn’t really surprise him. It had been a conscious decision on his part, one he’d made because of Rachen’s own words.
Phoenix would have gladly shouldered the guilt of the countless deaths if it meant that his mate would have lived. He’d have accepted even Rachen’s loathing and disgust. He couldn’t pretend he was a good person, because at the very core of his being, he remained the phoenix. He might have acknowledged the realities of being a person, but the center of his universe was Rachen. Everything else was irrelevant.
But Rachen hadn’t wanted that for the two of them. Rachen had known that they could never be happy if that shadow loomed over them. In that moment, when Rachen had kissed him and whispered soft words in his ear, Phoenix had pushed aside the instincts of the fire bird that had taken over his body, seized its power, and fulfilled Rachen’s wish.
Hyacinth, Scarlet - From the Ashes [Chronicles of the Shifter Directive 7] (Siren Publishing Epic Romance, ManLove) Page 24