by Kiersten Fay
Behind Portia stood two individuals Sonya had never seen before. The dark skinned female draped in black exuded a deadly aura by way of her deadpan stare. The male, much like Portia, appeared uncaring about the war waging around him.
“Aren’t you going to help?” Sonya inquired curtly.
“We’re forbidden to engage in battle,” the female replied, her tone almost bare of emotion but for the coldness in it.
Incredulous, Sonya gaped at Portia.
Portia shrugged. “It’s true. The counsel has denied my request in that regard. But I’ve devised a workaround. We’re stirring up some big magic that should offer solid protection. Try not to die till then.”
Together, the Serakians vanished.
Sneering back at the battle, Sonya squeezed off another round of shots.
From her peripheral vision, she saw Cale clutching Kyra, trying to talk to her. Kyra’s eyes were wide as she surveyed the carnage. Cale tried to claim her attention, lightly shaking her. He kept asking if she was alright. She wouldn’t be if the Kayadon broke through.
“Cale, we need you,” Sonya yelled over the clatter while taking out one of the two ravenous creatures that had scrambled past Rex. Ethan dispatched the other. She cast him a hooded look, loving the crooked smile he shot back.
Finally, Kyra seemed to come to her senses, and Cale left her side to add his hefty might to the battle. As he retrieved a dead Kayadon’s fallen sword, he instructed Ethan to join Kyra and the Faieara farther out on the cliff.
Sonya frowned, but didn’t have time to protest. A feral beast had wrapped its jaws around Sebastian’s leg. Sonya stepped forward and blasted it through the neck. Sebastian shook it off and then grated a quick, “Thanks,” before slicing into the chest of his closest opponent.
Once again, the Kayadon gained ground, pushing Sebastian and the others back till they were all fanned out in a line of gunshot blasts and swinging blades.
Cale yelled back to the group, “Kyra! What’s the holdup?”
That piqued Sonya’s curiosity, but she didn’t have time to inquire what they were up to. Two gnarled creatures leapt on Cale. The first sank its fangs into his shoulder, clinging to him with lengthy limbs. The other came for his jugular. Sonya adjusted her aim and fired, bursting the skull of the latter.
“Cale, get it together!” she said. Then she swung around and dispatched a group of Kayadon as they lunged at Marik.
Cale snapped the neck of the creature attached to his shoulder. “You get it together! That shot was a little too close to my head.”
Sonya laughed.
“What are they doing back there?” Cale asked.
She glanced at the Faieara. They were poised in a circle, hands clasped, eyes closed. “They’re holding hands. Maybe they’re praying for a quick death.”
As if feeling her gaze on him, Ethan glanced her way. Something in his expression gave her understanding. Whatever they were doing, magic was most definitely involved, and might even be the only thing to save them when exhaustion finally overpowered their resolve. They just had to hold the Kayadon back till then.
Sonya turned with renewed energy and a fierce determination to do just that. She squeezed the trigger of her gun so much her fingers were starting to go numb.
Without warning, a heavy blast smashed into her back, throwing her forward. A bomb, her mind quickly rationalized, even before her body settled from the jarring hit.
Oh gods! Ethan!
She rolled to a stop and heaved her torso off the gravel, her eyes landing in the spot she had last seen him. In his stead, a blinding light engulfed the entire edge of the cliff.
“What the hell is that?” Marik barked from right next to her on the ground. Everyone gasped for breath, pulling themselves to stand. Sonya dared a look behind her, finding the Kayadon just as stunned, yet recovering just as quickly.
Sebastian noticed the bound Kayadon that had been delivered alongside Cale and Kyra.
Cale ground out, “That one belongs to Kyra.”
As what? A pet?
Sonya and Marik shared a look. Then Marik started for the odd light imitating from the Faieara. Sonya took a step to follow.
Cale motioned them back. “I don’t suggest getting too close to that.”
Whatever was happening, he didn’t seem worried, which eased Sonya since his own female was lost in the light.
Sonya turned to fend off the Kayadon, expecting them to take full advantage of the confusion. Yet nearly all of them were motionless, shocked expressions tilted to the sky.
Sonya looked up and sucked in a harsh gasp. “By the gods,” she muttered.
A translucent blanket wrapped over the sky above, stretching out and pouring down like water over an upside-down bowl. An array of electric-like veins writhed, morphing from blue to white and back. She couldn’t tell if it met the ground or just went on forever.
Her lungs suddenly felt heavy. She fought for breath, fending off a full-blown panic.
The Kayadon seemed equally disconcerted, some of them retreating entirely while others remained transfixed.
“What’s going on?” Sonya managed, glancing at Cale.
His lost expression was not comforting. He shrugged. “This is new.”
Chapter 35
Ethan clasped hands with Anya and Nadua as Kyra completed the circle. Almost instantly, he could feel their prospective powers tingle through his skin. Rituals such as this worked to intensify the magic of a chosen individual. Each of them would be sifting their energy into Kyra, hoping to merge their gifts as one.
The moment Kyra had suggested it, the king’s words had echoed in Ethan’s head. “Restore, enhance, sacrifice, sustain. This you must do.” Ethan had looked around, expecting to see the king’s phantom form watching over them, but all he found was unending carnage as his world delved deeper into chaos.
Was this the moment the king had spoken of? Was something in his actions now imperative? He couldn’t help but focus on the suspicion that had haunted him for ages.
Sacrifice?
Using magic extensively, pushing too hard, could harm the yielder beyond repair. This circle could overexert one or more of the princesses, essentially risking their well-being, or worse, their lives—especially because they were still considered novices by normal standards.
With his advanced experience, he could spare them the consequences of what was to come—what they probably didn’t even know to expect—and enhance Kyra’s magic. But to do that, he would have to deflect the repercussions onto himself. A harrowing—as well as dangerous—task for even the most powerful of his kind.
Could he risk himself like that? Sacrifice himself so that others could possibly live?
He would have liked to say it was the desire to save his people that made up his mind. After all, it was all he’d ever worked for. But when he imagined Sonya dying at the hands of her greatest enemy, the decision was easy to accept.
He turned to take one last look at her and found himself trapped by her gaze. The concern that transformed her expression broke his heart. In that second, he knew without a doubt that she loved him. He cherished the realization, claiming it as his greatest success. He would hold onto the thought with his last breath, and then, if it came to that, beyond.
He consoled himself with the knowledge that he would be giving her a chance at survival, and was oddly grateful that she had not mated him. There was a chance she would be gifted with new love…if the gods were merciful.
He closed his eyes and opened his magic to Kyra. He sensed Anya and Nadua do the same. Then he manipulated the circle to take the magical recoil.
When the pain started like fire in his veins, Ethan pictured Sonya’s beautiful violet eyes, her begrudging smile every time he’d managed to force it from her. He imagined her soft skin relenting under his touch and her sexy moans in his ear when they lost themselves in the other’s body. He called on every memory they had created together and would use them as a distraction when the energ
y became too great for his mind to comprehend.
His magic flared, gouging into his energy. He struggled to sustain his efforts. Sustain the circle and the power flowing through it. He could tell Kyra was making progress, taking control of her volatile magic as if wrestling with a feral beast and winning, and then latching onto theirs to feed it.
Satisfaction surged, even as Ethan’s essence was crushed by the pressure, his energy being sucked from the very marrow in his bones. Still he forced more magic into the circle, utilizing his gift to revitalize the others.
Without warning, his power was no longer his to command. It now belonged to Kyra, and he didn’t resist. As he siphoned all the consequences of calling so much magic, agony nearly brought him to his knees. Lava burned through his veins, and his brain pulsed painfully against his skull. His teeth clenched to keep from crying out. He brought Sonya’s calming image to mind once more, focusing on her instead of the anguish.
His last thought: I’m so glad I had a chance to tell her I loved her.
Sonya marveled at the vision in the sky, wondering what was happening. A deafening boom rang out, echoing with tangible vibrations that curled through every nuance of her body.
She jumped back in horror when a nearby group of flabbergasted Kayadon began to…melt? No, that wasn’t right. It was as if they were disintegrating, one molecule at a time and incinerated by invisible flame. They didn’t even have time to yell out a protest. When those few were rendered to dust, the process spread to another group.
At once, dreadful understanding sparked over the battlefield and the purest form of fear spread over the Kayadon. They scrambled over each other to get away. Yet none of them could run fast enough. Eventually, they all succumbed to the weight of the frightening magic. The decimation was staggering.
Sonya, frozen in unmitigated awe. She had to work to gasp in a long breath. She struggled to rationalize what she’d just witnessed.
Nothing but a bit of trampled grass stood as evidence that an army had been there but moments ago.
She turned her incredulous gaze toward Sebastian and the others, hoping someone was willing to break the dazed silence. She was stunned anew to find Kyra’s pet Kayadon unaffected, still unconscious and lying in that same spot on the ground.
Small stones rose several feet off the ground around them, hovering. The group collectively tensed.
What now?
Cale gasped, studying a wound on his arm that he’d acquired during the fight. Amazingly, the deep slash was knitting itself closed right before their eyes.
Her own scratches, though she hadn’t realized she’d had any till now, were healing as well. She marveled as they faded out of existence, leaving nothing but smooth, healthy skin.
Yet Ethan and the others weren’t finished.
The unconscious Kayadon heaped in a ball began to stir, to change. His skin shifted from the dull, dead gray to a warmer hue. His bones began to grind and morph into something less grotesque, almost pleasing to the eye. Dark hair emerged from his newly reshaped skull.
Sonya turned her back, sickened by the sight. Everything in her demanded she take her gun and end his life before he had a chance to beg for it with what she was sure would be a pair of sparkling clear eyes.
Moments later, Cale ground out, “Guess this means I don’t get to kill you after all.” Where was the malice? Where was the centuries-long hate? He’d almost sounded amused…jesting with a fiend from every demon’s nightmares!
And then the bastard spoke back. “Is this an illusion?” Despite his accent, he sounded so…normal.
Infuriating rage brought tears to her eyes. She swiftly blinked them away before becoming distracted by the barrage of falling ships that seemed to be breaking apart from within. The pieces scattered as though no more solid than dust. Any fires that still raged were miraculously extinguished as if by a great breath.
The gust reached her moments later, nearly knocking her over a second time. The radiant light that had encompassed the cliff dissipated.
As if utterly exhausted, Kyra, Anya, and Nadua went to their knees, breathing heavily. To Sonya’s horror, Ethan fell back and landed hard against the stony ground, unmoving.
“Ethan!” She rushed to him. She gasped at the bruises, like patchwork over his skin. She cupped his face and rubbed her thumb over his cheek. “Ethan?” she muttered, shoving aside the terror that gripped her chest. “Wake up. You did it. The Kayadon are destroyed. It was amazing.”
He didn’t even flinch as two of her arrant tears dripped over his face. She wiped her cheeks and pushed through her tight throat. “Please wake up, it won’t look good if you pass when the girls have not. You have a reputation, remember?”
No response.
The only reason Sonya managed to hold it together at all was the fact that Ethan still breathed, although shallowly.
To her left, Cale cried out in joy as he whirled a smiling Kyra in his arms. Sonya had to keep from lashing out. Instead, she demanded. “What’s wrong with Ethan?”
Kyra turned sorrowful as she focused on Ethan. “He chose to accept all the consequences of using so much magic.”
“What?”
“Energy magic costs energy. That’s why Anya and I get so exhausted afterward. I didn’t realize it till the end, but he sacrificed himself so we wouldn’t have to.”
Sonya speared Ethan with an accusatory glare. He’d done this to himself on purpose? He knew what would happen, and still he sacrificed himself. How could she have protected him from such power? From something she didn’t even understand? And why hadn’t she realized before that there had been a goodbye in his final gaze?
“You stupid son of a bitch!” she screamed, struggling to rein in her emotions.
Sebastian asked warily, “Does he live?”
She fought to maintain her voice. “His pulse is faint.”
“We should move him somewhere safe.” Sebastian turned his attention to Kyra. “I’m assuming the Kayadon are no longer a problem?”
“Only those within the field have been healed or destroyed,” she replied.
With that, the Kayadon asked eagerly, “Others are healed?”
Stroking Ethan’s hair, Sonya leaned close to him. “I’m sorry I’ve been so difficult. I promise to be kinder, easier, but you have to wake up.”
He didn’t.
She only overheard bits of the conversation between the others. Cale confirmed that Ru had betrayed them, setting him and Kyra up to be captured by Kayadon. When Cale launched into a tirade about what he would do when he found the little shit, Sonya broke in. “Can we discuss revenge later?”
Cale offered a look of condolence, which she stubbornly ignored. There was no reason for it. Ethan wasn’t gone yet. Anya had come back from the brink, stronger than ever. Ethan would too.
Everyone began debating options. Returning to Marada was out of the question. Even if they could find their way back, the hike would be too dangerous. There was no guarantee that more Kayadon weren’t on the way right at this moment.
“Let’s go to the palace,” Kyra exclaimed. “It’s not far, and we can rally my people. There might be healers there too.”
They all turned toward the magnificent building residing just beyond their perch. It was mostly unscathed but for a few blackened walls and a crumbled tower.
“Was it cleared of Kayadon?” Cale inquired.
Kyra hesitated. “I…think so.”
“Does it matter!” Sonya said. “If it wasn’t, it will be soon.” She would make sure of that.
“What do we do with him?” Rex said, glaring down at the revived Kayadon.
The Kayadon replied smoothly, “I am no threat.” He looked at Kyra. “You have done the thing I believed impossible. I owe you my life and will serve you till my last breath.”
“Lying Kayadon scum!” Sonya shrieked. “You think your pretty new shell will make us trust you.”
“Bring him with us, but keep him bound,” Kyra ordered. “I’ll de
cide what to do with him later.”
The others readily accepted her queenly decree.
“Whatever,” Sonya scoffed, adding, “If he even breathes wrong I will kill him.”
* * *
“I think we’ve hit the motherload!” Oxnel belted out a hearty laugh as Ethan claimed fistfuls of treasure from the deep chest and stuffed it into the hidden compartments in his jacket. Oddly, his pockets seemed to never fill.
This ship must have been an easy mark. He didn’t even recall the inhabitants fighting back when they overtook it. Where were they anyway? He stilled at the thought. How could he have taken his eye off them? They could be devising a mutiny as he and Oxnel became seduced by the bounty.
He found himself in a dark room where several unrecognizable individuals huddled in a corner. They feared him, not realizing it was unnecessary. He’d not harm a soul if he didn’t have to, but they didn’t know that…and that was the point. Fear kept people in line, a tactic that nearly every race utilized.
Despicable? Yes. Effective? Extremely.
He went back to rummaging through the treasure and found an odd necklace that piqued his interest. He stared at it, trying to remember why it looked familiar.
As he debated clasping it around his neck, something drew his eyes to the left. A great field full of brilliant colors merged seamlessly with the ship. A dimensional rift, he surmised. “I don’t remember seeing that before,” Ethan said to Oxnel.
“Summoned for you, I believe. Been here the whole time, just waiting.”
“Should I go there?” It looked so peaceful, inviting. A place without worry or sorrow.
“Isn’t that where you’ve been headed this whole time?”
Ethan’s brows drew together. “Have I?” He stepped toward the edge, looking down at an entire world of divine grace. He could feel it reaching for him, soothing him. Yet it was hard to focus on any one thing. A meadow stretched out, blanketing a bundle of endless rolling hills. Beyond that? Well, no one could know what lay beyond that. “I’m not sure. Wasn’t there something I was supposed to do?”