Frightened she may slip from his grasp, Hugo tightened his hold. Gods, he was so tired, his arms were shaking so much he didn’t think he had the strength to turn her around. Even the guardian inside him seemed depleted and sluggish. Unable to prevent it, his body shifted back, his bones and wings reverting to their normal size, but with that shift he lost even more strength. The metal on his wings disappeared instantly, and the scaled armour that had protected his body became soft and vulnerable.
Gripping onto Diamond for dear life, Hugo pushed toward the approaching wall. Ghostly faces watched them. Dimly Hugo became aware of a familiar figure shouting and waving their hands in warning, Hugo raised his eyes from the ground. Elexon.
But he had no time to figure out what the red warrior was saying above the din of enemy soldiers and the sharp twang of bows.
Twisting his wing, he banked sharply, fighting the invisible force of the wind, focusing only on the battlements. Before he could straighten up, something thudded forcefully into his side, burying itself deep in his flesh. Hugo cried out as red-hot pain saturated his ribs and back. They dropped towards the ground. Diamond’s scream reverberated his eardrums. And no matter how hard he tried, Hugo could not move his wing properly.
A second arrow pierced his leg. Agony ripped through him. This time he dropped like a stone, his one wing unable to keep them airborne.
“Jump!” he thundered, gripping her wrists and dropping her down until her feet dangled down toward the earth. With a roar of anger and frustration Hugo let go.
Diamond tumbled over and over in a mess of hair and limbs.
Powerless to control his forward momentum, Hugo crashed with stunning force into the wall. Pain cleaved through his entire body as both of his wings snapped and his ribs shattered. He heard his own scream just as his skull smashed into the unyielding marble and everything went black.
CHAPTER 55
Breath whooshed from Diamond’s lungs as the world stopped tumbling, and she slammed face-first into the dirt. Blood flooded her mouth and nose. She gagged, spat and jumped to her feet, drawing her swords in one swift move as Hugo crashed into the wall. Helpless, she could only watch as he fell heavily to the ground. Freezing darkness descended, shrouding the clearing and hampering her vision. She could make out the gruesome remains and bloodied carcasses of the giants and the monstrous forms of her enemy closing in.
Orders were bellowed from the wall. A second later, a red glow illuminated the night, giving her guidance. With no consideration for her own safety, Diamond sprinted over the burnt ground, ash exploding in plumes around her. Slashing sideways, her sword beheaded a lumbering Dust Devil, then eviscerated a Wolfman.
Blowing blood out of her nose and spitting globules from her mouth, Diamond ran faster and fought harder than she ever had in her life. Remorselessly, she slaughtered the endless stream of her enemy.
She scrambled over the dismembered arm of a giant, a sudden chill freezing her heart. Hugo was crumpled at the base of the wall. His wings sprawled at unnatural angles under him. Her stomach clenched with panic. His energy was grey. Grey and fading. He was dying.
An arrow released from the wall thudded into an enemy soldier behind her but Diamond did not look, unable to tear her horrified gaze from Hugo’s face. The soldiers on the wall kept the monsters and dead things away from her, but she knew it was futile. Unless the warriors up there defied their orders not to leave the wall, both she and Hugo were going to die.
Diamond reached his body, crashing down on her knees. Her panicked mind barely registered the shouts of warning from above as she slid over the ground to his side.
Hugo’s face was pale as death under the dark smattering of blood that covered his features. With a sinking heart, Diamond noticed a blue tinge to his lips. Thick blood streamed from the arrows protruding from his chest and thigh. And his wings! She swallowed her nausea.
They had been ripped apart by the force of his impact, their broken bones white and grotesque against his silky blue feathers. Blood dribbled from a wound on his head, down his neck, pooling along the exposed ridge of his collarbone where his strange clothing had been shredded.
“Hugo?” she croaked, grabbing and shaking his shoulders. Terror stole her breath when she looked at his chest. It wasn’t moving!
No! No! No!
With shaking hands, she reached for his neck, her fingers slipping on the slick blood.
Nothing.
No matter where she placed her fingers, she couldn’t find any flutter of life. Panic swamped her, and in that instant her whole world imploded. Her fingers dug into his soft armour, gripping until her knuckles turned white.
She shook him again and again. Fiercely. Desperately. It made no difference. He did not stir.
The ground tilted underneath her. He was dead. But he couldn’t be. He was too powerful, too invulnerable and too vital to her life to be dead. He was her mate, her Nexus, he was her guardian.
Paralysed by disbelief, Diamond could not tear her horrified gaze from the mask of his pale face.
“Hugo? Please. Wake up,” she sobbed, bringing her blood-soaked hands up to cup his head. Something inside her broke. The thread that had bound her spirit together, that had kept her going after losing her home and her father and after becoming the Queen’s puppet, it snapped. Through that fracture in her soul, Diamond’s remaining strength ebbed away. She collapsed against his inert, ravaged body. Unbelievable grief and pain built in her chest; it ripped at the shards of her heart and squeezed her lungs until she couldn’t breathe. For a few seconds she just gasped; opening and closing her mouth, drowning in grief, not even registering the racking sobs that escaped her trembling lips. Her tears fell, hot and unchecked, onto his face. She dropped her head until she rested her forehead against his.
Oh gods, Hugo, I’m so sorry. I made you do this. This is my fault. I’m sorry. I’m sorry…
A broken sound escaped her lips, her voice a whispered plea.
“May Lunaria protect your soul and the guardians guide you on your final journey.” She breathed the ancient blessing against his lips then kissed him, her tears cutting a path through the blood and dirt as they landed upon the pale mask of his face.
It sickened her—the realisation of how much she had taken him for granted. He was so strong, so formidable, she had never expected him to die. Pain twisted her gut, sending bile rushing to her throat. It burned viciously, and she tried not to vomit.
Just like that, these monstrous creatures had taken him away from her. She was lost. She had no future beyond this battle. She had no right to be here instead of him.
Grief erupted in a scream of rage and despair from her soul.
Soldiers stopped firing their weapons and stared at the distraught young woman, her sorrow reaching out through the night and across the wall, her screams gripping their hearts. They shouted urgent warnings as she was surrounded by a seething mass of rotting corpses.
An authoritative voice bellowed orders from above, and the red light glowed brighter. Diamond did not hear. When she ran out of breath and her screams stopped, her body slumped forward against Hugo’s. For a few seconds that was how she stayed, oblivious to the danger she was in—or just not caring.
Then she pushed herself up and reverently ran her hand over Hugo’s pale, blood-covered cheek. Gently, with all the love she had in her heart, she kissed his cold lips and, still on her knees, turned to face her enemy.
White-hot rage descended, invading her mind and burning her soul until she could think of nothing but revenge.
You trained me to become a weapon, so that is what I will be. I will kill as many as I can, until they lay dead at my feet or turned to ash. I will send them screaming for the hell of the afterworld. Back to Chaos where the dark god can devour what’s left of their souls.
The torches and the red glow of Elexon’s warriors revealed a seething mass of hellish creatures. But Diamond was not afraid. Her power grew, feeding off her hatred and grief.
She released that power, letting it take over her conscious mind. Her awareness expanded until she absorbed everything that was happening for miles around her. She felt no vertigo as she looked down from beyond the mortal world. Her mind whirled through the atoms, the fragments that made up this realm, seeing more than just the walking dead and soldiers of shadow.
Diamond perceived a shimmering, dark force that shrouded the forest, that held energy greater than the Wraith Lord. It was a darkness not of this world, overpowering and wicked. It wanted to smother life, to take the energy from all living things and all mortal souls. And it was hungry. That evil pulsed malevolently against her, like it had done before in her dreams. Needing to be free of it, she soared up into the moonlit sky until she could view the far-off glow of Valentia. So many people—so many vulnerable souls waiting to be harvested. Even now that darkness tried to drag her back towards its empty void. A cold, malicious laugh seeped through space and time.
“Soon they will all be mine; their souls, their life, their energy. And your blood will not stop me,” it whispered threateningly.
Diamond recoiled, unable to think about what those words meant.
It did not matter. Hugo was dead.
Her consciousness hovered over her own body, searching among the blue energy of the living and the souls of the dead.
Where is Hugo’s soul?
She would not let these creatures rip his essence into their darkness or use his body against his people.
Nor will Ragor take the lives of anyone in this valley tonight, not even the Queen’s. Her wicked immortal life is mine, Diamond vowed, plunging back into her mortal body.
Then she felt him nearby, just a feather-light touch of his energy. She had only a moment to register his intent before he slammed the energy of his soul through her skin and it melded into her magic. Her cry was full of grief and rage as his power surged through her blood. His last gift, she realised, sobbing. The energy and magic to burn her enemy to dust. To live if the goddess willed it.
She would not waste it.
Diamond scrambled to her feet, unable to look at Hugo’s ravaged body.
More arrows rained down from above onto the monsters that growled and snapped from so close by.
Warriors, glowing red and fearsome in the darkness, flew out of the protection of the shield, followed closely by golden-winged fae. Diamond could feel their anger. They had seen Hugo destroy their enemy hour upon hour, never stopping or giving in. They had come to protect his body. They had come to take him back inside the shield.
Diamond choked back more tears, honing them into anger. Elexon would bury Hugo properly in the temple of the goddess. The warriors who had knelt before him, who had wanted to protect him, would give his body a safe place of rest. Diamond stared upward.
Elexon looked down at her, his red eyes full of pity and grief. “Let us take him,” he said quietly as he landed in front of her and bowed low.
A whole squad of heavily armed, red-winged, warrior fae descended until they formed a solid arc of defence. It was not arrows with which they killed their enemy, but short, controlled blasts of red-hot magic. Above them hovered more golden-winged fae, their arrows whistling as they were loosed with precision into the mass of monsters.
Unable to speak with the weight of her grief, she nodded at Elexon. Tears burned her eyes as he gently moved her to one side. Havron appeared and bowed his head sadly, touching his fist to his chest, a mark of respect for her and Hugo. Together they hoisted Hugo’s broken body up between them.
Diamond watched them, seeking hope, but there was no hint that any of Hugo’s beautiful sapphire and silver energy remained. He had given everything for her. Feeling utterly alone, tears ran down her cheeks and dripped off her chin.
“Stay there, my lady! I’ll come back for you!” Elexon shouted at her.
“No. Don’t!” she replied harshly, shaking her head. A move that sent her blood-matted hair free of its braid. Reflecting the light, it clouded around her head like a silver and red halo.
Elexon hesitated, sudden panic in his face, but before he could order his men to scoop her from the ground, a deafening roar went up from the hordes of Ragor’s soldiers, a tidal wave of sound that shook the very ground she stood on.
Diamond’s heart thumped against her ribs—from fear, yes, but also anticipation. Revenge was hers to claim. Hugo’s last gift of energy and magic buzzed around her body, fuelling her ire. Dropping her gaze from Hugo’s limp body, she focused on her enemy, on the monsters who had violently ripped away the one she loved. She would slaughter them—for him, for the people in the valley, for her friends and for Jack, so that he may reclaim his kingdom and once again have a home.
A vicious snarl escaped her lips as the seething mass of creatures surged forward.
The warrior fae could not stop them, even their magic was no use against such numbers. Horrified, the red warriors flew down to her aide. But Diamond raised her hand and sent an arc of energy upwards, forcing them all to retreat behind the safety of Valentia’s shield.
Deliberately, the half-blood magic wielder turned to face her enemy. She drew more and more energy from the fabric of the world, from the magic that was her legacy. Mixing it with the gift of Hugo’s energy, Diamond wrenched up a surge of power, unwinding the magic from her soul. Glancing up, she made sure Elexon was safe and had returned Hugo’s body to the wall. Satisfied, she rolled her neck and grinned savagely.
It was time to kill!
Elexon looked down and roared her name, but it was too late; Diamond was lost in a world of revenge. Power surged through every cell of her body, turning the blood in her veins, and the marrow of her bones to pure energy.
Flinging her arms wide, she hurled a violent wave of power outwards. Exploding through the air in all directions, it surged toward the monsters. Faster than the eye could see, power raged up through the shimmering marble wall, healing the cracks the giants had rent, bursting through the shield and knocking the mortal soldiers and warriors off their feet.
CHAPTER 56
Seconds earlier, Elexon and Havron placed Hugo down on cold marble. Both avoided looking at the warrior’s broken body, but reluctantly Elexon’s eyes returned to the male he had secretly sworn to serve. Bile stung his throat as he took in Hugo’s injuries.
At that moment something strange caught his eye. Frowning, he yanked the arrow from Hugo’s thigh. There was something wrong; it did not look like an enemy arrow. It was brightly feathered.
Hourian.
Quickly he threw it to Havron, who caught it in his fist. “Take that to the prince. Show him and no one else, then follow whoever he sends to find the assassin. Do it without being seen,” he ordered curtly.
Havron nodded once and disappeared.
Elexon bowed his head to Hugo, silently begging forgiveness. His failure hit him like a solid blow to his guts. Elexon was a warrior of the First Legion, an army of fae sworn to protect Valentia and the descendants of the true heirs: the Arjuno line. It seemed the promises Elexon had made, the oath he had taken to protect the heir to the throne, meant nothing now.
Elexon looked to the wall. Diamond fought alone out there. Knowing she would refuse any help, that she may incinerate anyone who tried to stop her, only made his impotence worse. His father would know what to do, how to help. He had such vast experience. It often tightened something in Elexon’s chest when he thought about how ancient his father actually was, how much life and death he had seen. How long would his father have to wait for an heir of the Arjuno line to return now?
Elexon knew his father had given up his life to fulfil the vow he’d made to the goddess. Erzion had hidden his wizard power from prying eyes, he had even hidden his red fae magic, not trusting any in the royal court other than his friend, Prince Lexon. One night had changed his father’s life, the night King Noan Arjuno had left to face Erebos in battle—and was betrayed. The very same night his queen, the goddess, gave birth to a daughter.
The goddess
had refused to leave her mate to fight alone and had extracted an oath from Prince Lexon—to become protector of her blood line. She entrusted the safety of her new-born daughter to him, bestowing a well of ancient magic to his soul. Then, before he could refuse, she had immortalised Erzion Riddeon. “One day,” she had told his father, “my blood line will return. You must serve this city and protect it for when that day comes. You will become a traitor to your prince and serve the Queen. You must fight for her, lead her armies and ingratiate yourself with her; then, in the darkness of the catacombs under this valley, in the sacred place she knows nothing of, you will build an army of loyal fae.”
And that is what his father had done.
Elexon rubbed his eyes, trying to take control of his thoughts. His father had always believed the true heir to the throne of Valentia would return. But not even his father had been prepared for the boy the Queen had inducted into her guard, who would grow into the blue-winged warrior and who was prized above all others.
Erzion had felt the blood of the guardians in the boy and had brought Elexon up with the sole purpose of serving the heir when the time came.
Elexon knew his father had been there, watching when Prince Lexon had cast a powerful curse over the Queen, when the shield had fallen over the city. The vow he had taken to Lunaria had destroyed his father’s heart. But his father, the half-wizard, half-fae general of the First Legion, had done everything the goddess had asked of him. From afar, he had watched his beloved friend grow old and die; he had loved and lost mates and children enough to break Elexon’s heart. His father had told Elexon about his past family, for which Elexon was eternally grateful. He loved his father fiercely and was awed by his resilience to such heartbreak, by his ability to remain kind and keep his capacity to love. Erzion Riddeon had imparted his story only once to his son, on the day he had asked Elexon to swear an oath to serve a dark-haired prince, one who had no idea of his heritage or power.
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