by Serena Nova
I filled my lungs with air, and screamed, throwing out magic against the two creatures, their own hands flew at their heads. My scream didn’t have any sound, just magic. I made it vibrate through the air, used the heat of my fire to make the air boil. They were boiled from the inside out. They slumped to the ground. It was silent for a heartbeat. The fight picked up when the Protectors got up from the ground. I saw Flynn moving towards my side, and Averey was still fighting more creatures with the Protectors.
“Where are Rayan and Cian?” I asked Flynn.
“Over there.” He pointed towards the garden, I could see glimpses of them.
“Okay.” I moved towards them. “We need to push them back,” I told Flynn, my head spinning with ideas.
“How?” he asked me.
“Protectors, fall back!” I yelled at them. They all reacted in an instant, moving back towards us. I saw Averey following them as well.
“Form a line,” I told them. “Keep the creatures off of our backs, and we will start killing them.” I threw out a fireball towards a smaller dog animal. It turned into ash. Flynn and Averey stood next to me, and we started picking off the creatures. Moving forward trying to keep as many of the creatures away from the Protectors as we could. We only let the smaller ones through and took out the tougher ones. Slowly, we moved forward, towards the garden.
I used my water to throw one of the creatures against the wall, a Protector stabbed it through its eye. I let go, and it slumped down to the ground. I trapped a few with earth, letting the Protectors cut off their heads.
Steadily, we walked into the garden. There were so many different creatures, some the size of wolves, others the size of bears. Their glowing red eyes would haunt me in my dreams for many nights. Some creatures flew with wings made out of leather. There were human-looking creatures, which walked on two legs, some with claws as arms, some of them with claws as feet. Others were almost human, wielding magic. I focused on them, they were a bigger threat than the smaller creatures.
“Cian, Rayan!” I yelled at them. I pulled up a wall of earth, running towards them.
“Thanks,” Rayan said when he caught his breath. But then the earth started to crumble, and I pushed another wave of magic into it.
“We need to make sure the Protectors are safe from the magic-wielding creatures. Make sure they stay behind us and pick off the ones without elemental magic.” They both nodded, and I let the wall of earth drop, only, to come face to face with a woman. A dark Witch.
She wasn’t like our Witches, she lived from the magic she took from the world around her. I wouldn’t say she lived truly, she just chose to use black magic and lived from that. It made her the strongest creature there and totally mine.
I grinned at her. From the corner of my eye, I saw a wolf creature running at me, I threw him away towards the Protectors. I could feel the others next to me, fighting as well. I kept my eyes focused on the dark Witch. She needed to die.
“There is the little Witch,” the dark Witch sneered when she saw me running towards her. “She is mine!” she screeched and ran at me. I pulled up air and pushed it towards her, she waved her hand, and it disappeared. I threw fire, and she waved her hand again, making the fire sizzle out.
“Fuck a duck,” I growled and moved closer.
“Isa!” I heard someone scream, which made me look over my shoulder, seeing Banu and Astra.
“Here!” she yelled and threw both of my swords my way. I caught them with air and pulled them towards me. Relieved to see them both alive and to have my swords back, I unsheathed them and relaxed in a fighting stance. I may have been powerful with magic, but I was deadly with my swords.
The dark Witch’s eyes flickered towards my swords, and she smiled at them, her black and brown-stained teeth showing. “You are a pretty thing aren’t you?” I said to her. Her mouth closed, and anger burned through her eyes. I moved towards her, swinging with my right arm towards her, she ducked, and I swung my left sword lower, cutting her on her face. She screamed and then laughed. The dark Witch punched, hitting me in the ribs. I sucked in a breath and moved out of her reach.
“Come then, little thing,” she taunted. And I moved, pulling the ground away from her, instead she just hovered in the air. “Magic, little thing, is what I know best.” She laughed at that.
“Do you know steel, too?” I asked, I gave myself a boost and flung myself at her, my swords pointed at her throat and stomach. I almost hit home, but was pushed away by her air. I landed on the ground with a thud, jumping up as I braced myself for the next attack. She moved, faster than I ever had seen anything move before. She hit me in the back, then kicked me in the knee. I screamed at the feel of something popping. Still I kept standing, swinging my swords around me, trying to hit her.
She stopped in front of me, just out of my reach.
“I thought you were stronger, they told me you were stronger,” she taunted and kept on talking, “They lied.” She tsked at me.
My mind moved around, I needed to think of something, I needed to end this fast. I grabbed hold of my magic and pushed it out. A white shimmering wall pushed out of me, through her, and she screamed for a moment. And then, it was behind her. She cocked her head at me.
“We are playing together now?”
“Yes,” I growled out, the pain in my ribcage making it harder to breathe.
She moved, and I did, too. I needed it to end, quickly. I pushed all my magic into my body, making me move faster than I ever had. I sliced at her and heard her scream. I moved behind her, quickly cutting on her back before she could turn around. I could feel my magic draining, that fight had cost me so much. Still, I pushed.
“Mmh, this is more the fight than I thought I would have.” She giggled at that, actually giggled.
“Go swim,” I said and moved towards her again, I aimed high, then let myself drop down and cut through her legs. She screamed again, blood poured over me, and I swirled around and got on my feet. I threw more magic at her, using air, fire, and water to drown her. I even threw raw magic at her, not bothering to form it into anything.
She laughed at me. “Little thing. You are giving me everything I need,” she said, that had me stopping. I looked at her, watching her cuts heal and a shit-eating grin form on her face.
“How?” I asked not expecting her to answer. Except she did.
“I’m magic, little thing, I absorb it. It becomes what I want. Magic can’t harm magic,” she said. And for a moment, I wavered. She reacted and threw fire at me. The heat engulfed me, burning me, and I screamed. My lungs were sucked dry, and no air filled them again, I could feel my body boiling. Until it stopped, my instincts kicked in and, my magic took it all in.
“What how?” the witch started, and I looked at her and grinned.
“That trick, yeah. I know that one, too.” I told her, not telling her that I couldn't do it on command and had only done it one other time. She was stunned, and I moved.
“You are done!” I yelled at her and ran towards her. Her eyes widened in shock when I pushed my sword through her heart. “How?” she gurgled around the blood that welled up in her throat. “Only Darmors can . . .” she gurgled again, and then she fell silent. I let my magic drop, the shimmering wall disappeared, and the world came into focus again. It was just silent; no fighting. Just my panting breaking the quiet.
“Isa, Babe?” I heard from my side. I looked up to find all four of the Kings standing at the side. There were no more creatures, the silence stretched around us. I looked at them, looked them over. Finding no terrible injuries, I moved towards them. I was pulled into the arms of Rayan, I breathed in his summer rain smell and whooshed out a relieved breath. I pulled back a little and looked at the others.
“How many did we lose?” I asked them. I had seen the bodies littered around the room.
“We saved most of them. We aren’t sure how many we lost,” Averey said, his voice soft, and I heard the hurt. I let go of Rayan and moved towards him, my hand on h
is cheek. “It isn’t your fault,” I said to him. “If it is anyone’s fault, it is mine. I knew something would happen tonight,” I said.
“What do you mean?” Flynn asked before Averey could.
“Your sister, she told me Nox was planning something big, and I think she meant this.”
“Where is Icas Nox?” Cian growled out, I could see Protectors moving around us.
“Sirs,” someone said to us. I looked over my shoulder to find Lars.
“I’m sorry to say, we lost seven Protectors, and three of the Selection Witches didn’t make it out in time. We also lost one council member and four others,” he said, his eyes on the ground. We started moving back towards the ballroom, I saw Liv running towards us.
“Queen.” She nodded her head at me. I looked at her waiting of her to speak.
“We can’t find Icas Nox or Astra,” she said. My head spun, and I grabbed hold of someone, almost falling down.
“What do you mean?” I asked, fully knowing what she had meant.
“We couldn’t find her,” she said again.
“Where are Banu, DeeDee, and Lena?” I asked her. “I just saw them.” I turned around to looked at the spot where Banu had been when she had thrown me my swords.
“Isa,” I heard from my other side and whirled around, I knew that voice.
“Banu,” I said. Her face was covered in blood and bruises. “Where is As?” I grabbed hold of her hands.
“They took her,” she sobbed out. I had never seen her cry. “I, we, I wanted her to be safe, so we moved towards the garden the moment we could. I wanted her to get to your room. She would be safe there. She said you had spelled it. Lena and Deedee,” her voice broke, and she swallowed, “they found us and moved with us. I saw you fighting with that monster.” Her hands were now shaking, and I pulled her against me, not caring about the blood. She sobbed even harder; in between her sobs, she spoke.
“I threw you your swords, knowing you needed them. I took my eyes away from Astra for a second. When I turned around, she was gone. I looked around and found her being dragged through the garden to the other side. I ran after her. Lena, and DeeDee . . .” Another sob racked her body. “They followed. When we entered the small door they left through, they ambushed us. It was stupid for us to go after them like that.” She pushed away from me, shaking her head.
“They killed DeeDee.” She balled her fists and then looked at me. Tears streamed down my face from seeing the sorrow in her eyes. “She was the first to run into the hallway. They killed her Slit her throat. We-we had to fight them off.” Banu shook her head, almost if she could make it all go away.
“They took Astra.” She sobbed again, my heart beat against my chest.
“Do you know where?” I asked her.
“I think the dark world.” Banu shuddered at that.
“Why?” Averey asked.
“The creatures who took her, they were more human than monster. They said to hurry, that the master wanted her, that they needed to cross before the magic ran out.” She looked at Averey.
“It sounded as if they were talking about the Gate, that it was opened?”
I could hear one of the men behind me swear and move away.
“Where is Lena?” I asked her, I needed to focus on the things here and now. We weren’t sure if Astra would be taken to the Dark-world.
“She is in the sickbay, she was hurt badly.”
“You did good, Banu. Go to her and stay with her. I’ll let you know when we know more about Astra,” Cian said, he placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. I was grateful for him stepping in because I was losing it, I didn’t know what to do then. DeeDee wasn’t there anymore and Lena lay in the sickbay, and Astra, I couldn’t even think about that.
“I’ll walk with you. I want them to take a look at you, too,” Rayan said, and I mouthed a thank you at him.
Cian moved towards me. “Are you alright Love?”
I shook my head. “No,” I croaked out, and my eyes closed as darkness caught me.
32
I woke up, disoriented for a second and surrounded by warm bodies, a heavy arm over my stomach, and my leg between someone else’s. I tried to move, instead I heard a grunt next to me. I wanted to smile, waking up like this would be amazing. But not then.
“How long was I out?” I asked the room.
“A few hours, it is morning,” I heard Flynn’s soft voice next to me. I turned my head to look at him, his dark eyes searched mine and then settled on my lips. I moved towards him and kissed him softly, giving myself and him the reassurance that we were still there.
“You are safe,” he whispered to me.
“I know,” I said to him. I moved the arm off of my stomach and pushed myself upright. I looked around, finding myself in a room I didn’t recognize.
“Where are we?” I asked the room again.
This time, Rayan answered. “Your room, my Queen.”
I groaned at him using the title Queen. Still, I looked around. The room had soft blue colours and some purple accents. There were high arched windows where the blue curtains were pulled closed. A big desk stood in the left corner, it was mostly empty except for a small picture frame. I couldn’t see who was in it. The rest was white, and the floor was a dark brown, there were small doors and a double door that probably led to another room. The bed was huge, the soft sheets sliding against my body. When I looked up, I found dark-purple fabric covering the top of the bed. It draped down all four of the bed posts, giving the bed even more of a grand feel. I looked around the room again, a feeling of belonging had settled deep inside me. It was my Great-Grandmother's room, she had lived here, and I could live here, too, I could live here with my men. And that bed, it would be perfect for the things I wanted to do with them. Not the time for that. I shook my head and looked towards my men.
“Where is Astra?” I asked Flynn, when my gaze focused on him again. He was the one who had left last night, the one who went to check what had happened at the Gate. He would be the one who knew where Astra would be,
“I’m sorry,” he started, and for that moment, my world stopped spinning.
“What do you mean?” I croaked out, my throat closing. Tears filled my eyes, and I prepared for the worst. That they had found her body, that Banu had heard it wrong, and that she had been killed.
“Banu was right, the Gate was opened further, and they probably took her back through it,” he said, his eyes downcast. I sagged at that, relieved and terrified at what would happen to her. I made up my mind.
“Okay, we need to go after her.” I started moving out of the bed.
“Isa,” Averey growled out. “You can’t go now,” he said. I looked at him and arched an eyebrow.
“Watch me,” I said and moved further, this time it was for Cian to stop me.
“Love, we need you here now. You can’t go after her,” he started.
“That you are wrong about. I will go after her, and you can’t stop me. She is my sister. And I can’t leave her in the hands of whatever this master is.” I pulled his hand off of my stomach and moved out of the bed.
Averey sat upright in the bed, his naked chest distracting me for a second.
“Okay,” he said, and that me blown away.
“What?” I answered.
“Okay, you can go. But we are coming with you, and you will be crowned Queen before you go,” he said.
“No, not that. What if I’m killed?” I asked. This had them all growling.
“You will not be killed.” The room filled with magic, and I took it all in. Now that I had done it twice, it became easier. Still, it made my skin crawl to think about what the Witch had tried to say.
“We bond,” Cian said. My head whipped around to look at him.
“I’m sorry what?” My mouth hung open.
“We bond. You are our Natural Bonded. We will make this bond official. It will give you, and us, more power. It will make us one.”
I looked at him, seeing the
logic behind it all. Bonding, for real, with them, it would be better than being Queen. And they would be mine for sure. Something inside me screamed ‘Yes!’
“If we bond, I can go?” I asked them.
“Now you make it sound like you have to but don’t want to,” Rayan said, his blue eyes focused on me, his fingers playing with the sheet in his lap. I was reminded of what he had said about the Witch who made him believe she was his bonded. It made me shake my head.
“No, hunni. I didn’t mean it like that. I would love to bond with you guys, I want you guys to be mine and solely mine. But I need to go after Astra, she is my family. And I need to know for sure that if we bond, if I become a part of you and you of me, that you guys will still give me the freedom to make my own choices.” Cian nodded at that, and I could see Flynn and Averey looking at each other. After what seemed forever, they looked at me and nodded, too. I looked back at Rayan, his blue eyes waiting, he slowly nodded. I gave him a soft smile.
“Still, I need to know that you guys aren’t going to lock me up when we are bonded. I don’t want to become a broodmare,” I said to them, my own fears rising with that.
“We would never,” they all said.
“We love you,” Rayan said, and my head whipped up at that.
“We really do,” Flynn added.
“Why?” I asked them.
“You are amazing, Isa, you fight with your whole heart for what you want. You protect what is yours fiercely, and you love more than you receive back,” Averey said.
“You guys are my Natural Bonded, the pull,” I started.
“Like I said earlier. We still would have fallen in love with you. The bond doesn’t decide for you if you love us or not. It only makes us stronger, we are a part of you and you of us. And with that bond, you make it real. It isn’t about the pull, it is about the choice that you make with it. If you accept the bond, if you accept us, and we accept you. That is the power behind it, that is what you share, you will share the choice to love each other, you choose to give freely,” Averey said, while he moved towards me. His hand was on my hip and I looked down at him.