His eyes widened. “Watch out!”
I spun, sword sweeping out in an arch and decapitating a creeper. “Shit, shit, shit.” I hauled him to his feet, groaning under his weight. “We have to get into the tunnels.” I dove for the nearest exit. “Erebus, come on!”
Erebus sliced off the head of what looked like a crawler, and ran toward me. He was barely a foot away when something burst from his chest. The tip of a stinger … the tip … oh fuck. Blood sprayed from his mouth and his whole body froze. He blinked as if surprised at this turn of events, and then he focused on me. Our eyes locked, sorrow etched into his face. And then he was yanked backward, back into the chamber with the monsters. They descended on him, covering him with their horrific bodies, and my scream was a monster all of its own.
31
I was being pulled away.
“We need to go. Kenna,” Baal said. “There is nothing we can do for him.”
Erebus … Erebus was dead. Dead.
My cheek stung and my eyes watered.
Baal stared at me, bleary eyed, swaying on his feet. “I’m sorry. I had to snap you out of it.”
“You hit me.” I touched my cheek.
“We have to go.” He fell back against the tunnel wall. “I don’t know how much longer I can stay with you.”
The haze over my mind dissipated. I’d lost my sister, my mum, and now Erebus; there was no way I was losing Baal. But he was bleeding out. Ripping off my shirt, I quickly tied it around the wound in his shoulder. Something had taken a chunk out of his arm. He was pale, shaking, and would probably go into shock soon.
“Why aren’t you healing?”
“I don’t know.”
Allowing him to use me as a crutch, I ventured further into the tunnel, leaving the screams and screeches of the chamber behind. Leaving Erebus behind.
The tears were hot on my cheeks and I let them fall. Legion would pay for this, for everything it had done.
The tunnel opened up further and a strange melodic humming drifted to my ears.
“What is that?” Baal asked.
“I don’t know.”
But we found out a moment later as we took a curve in the tunnel and came upon a wretched figure chained to the wall. It was female in rags, her hair long and tangled, her face almost skeletal, but her eyes were bright and intelligent. She cut off her song when she caught sight of us.
“Marigold?” she cocked her head. “What? No. You can’t be here!” She squinted and stared at me for a long beat. “You’re not my daughter.”
Oh god … Was this Orin’s wife? My grandmother? Mum and I had been right to assume that Legion had taken her. He’d held her here as leverage over Orin to prevent the king from breaking its hold on his mind. He’d used what Orin loved the most and held it hostage. What had he promised the king? What lengths would Orin have gone for love?
“I’m Kenna, Marigolds daughter.”
She closed her eyes and nodded, a deep sigh rattled her chest. “Yes. Better that you do it.”
“Me?”
“Yes, my sweet child. You must set me free.”
Of course. Shit. “Baal, can you stand?”
He nodded.
I slipped out from under his arm and drew Frieda. “Just stay still while I cut the chains.”
She cocked her head and smiled. “No, dear. You need to kill me.”
She said it matter of fact and completely calm.
“And do it fast.” She frowned. “Orin is mounting his horse. He is about to lead his army to battle. He is fighting, but with half a heart. My husband is a strong man. He will survive my loss, and his anger will free him. Once I am gone, he will no longer be chained.”
“Do it,” Baal said. “If killing her can stop Orin, then you must do it.”
It was the only way, and yet I couldn’t stop my hands shaking. “There must be another way. Maybe if we freed you and took you to him?”
“There is no time. Once he rides he will be consumed. Orin will be lost to Legion, and his army will follow the horror that fell to this world. Please, Kenna. Let me be free. By killing me you set us all free.” A single tear tracked down her cheek.
I gripped Frieda’s handle tight and plunged it into my grandmother’s heart.
“Oh …” Her smile was filled with wonder, and then the light in her eyes died.
The ground shook and a roar reverberated around us. My hand lit up with pain, but not as a warning, as punishment for what I’d done. I could sense Legion’s intention. His rage. And I was coming for him.
Slipping my shoulder under Baal’s arm, I led us down the tunnel. He was close. So close now. The next turn brought us to a stone stairway leading down. Baal’s weight grew with each step. He was waning. I needed to get him out of here or he might not make it. There must have been something in the creature’s saliva, some kind of anti-clotting agent. I paused and looked back.
“No,” Baal said. “We go on and we do this. We end this. Orin may have broken Legion’s hold, and maybe not, maybe he was too far gone. We can’t take the risk.” He reached up to caress my face. “The fifth dimension is our home. Our people are depending on us.” He looked deep into my eyes. “This is our chance to end this.”
The stairs spat us out into a cavern, and in its centre was a huge black blob. It pulsed slowly like a heartbeat. This was Legion—this heinous mass with no real form of its own. It was an infection, its black tendrils burrowed into the earth, into the rock.
Baal entered the cavern behind me and grabbed the stone wall to steady himself. I wiped the blood from my face and raised my everlight sword.
Laughter echoed around the chamber. Legion’s laughter.
“What do you intend to do with that?” Legion said.
I glanced at Baal but he looked unfazed.
“Did you hear that?”
“What?”
“You didn’t?”
So it was in my head. Communicating via its taint in my veins no doubt. But that was about to end. I stepped up to the disgusting mass and plunged my sword deep. The thing’s hide was tough, had to give it that, but once Frieda got past that, the inside was like butter.
Legion laughed.
I stabbed again and again, my blood boiling with impotence.
“Kenna, it’s not working.” Baal said. He coughed—a wet bloody sound. “We need to get out of here.”
He was right, this wasn’t working. It made no sense. I was the harmony of races. I was sure of it. I was the weapon. Then why, slash, wasn’t, slice, this working?
“My turn,” Legion said.
Black tendrils shot out of the mass and grabbed me.
“Kenna!”
Baal ran toward me, but a thick black limb smashed into him, sweeping him back and slamming him against the rock wall.
“Kenna, no!”
We locked gazes as Legion’s grip tightened, ready to take me. “I love you. I love you so much.”
And then I was yanked down.
Down into Legion.
***
It was inside me again. Filling me up anew, crawling up my spine. I had to fight. Had to unleash the flame. I summoned it now and it flared, ripping through the darkness, cleansing me, forcing Legion to loosen its grip, but before I could break free Legion infected me again. Once again, my luma-laced fire burned through the infection, and once again he tainted me.
There was barely a flicker left inside me, not enough to burn the crap from my veins. I was empty, a shell for Legion.
“Submit.” His voice was a caress. “Submit and be free.”
But it wasn’t freedom he offered. It was servitude. Like Orin, like The Hunt. Like anyone he’d ever tainted. I was moving, down, down into the abyss. The walls were pulsing crimson, flesh and blood. I was descending into hell, but I wouldn’t go without a fight. Clawing and kicking I slowed my downward motion.
“Now you will see my true heart, and once you see it, it cannot be unseen. You will belong to me.”
I froze
mid kick. His true heart?
A heart was vulnerable, the pump that kept the machine running.
“Submit and enter my heart.”
I was fucked either way, but there still might be a chance for everyone else. I tested the tiny flickering flame inside me, nothing more than the light on the head of a match. But it was my last hope. Closing my eyes, I let go. Allowed myself to be swept down into the bowels of the earth, to sink into Legion’s core, it’s pulsing warm heart. Hands reached for me, rubbing eagerly, mouths latched onto me, sucking wantonly. Don’t move, don’t expend any energy. Because this was it, my final moment, my final act. It would be everything or it would be nothing. Either way, it was curtains for me. Bella’s face swam behind my closed lids. Her sunny smile and crazy laugh, the scent of Mum’s freshly baked scones. Baal’s indigo hair between my fingers, his lips on mine, his emerald gaze warm on my face.
So many lives.
I’d lived enough, and yet I wanted, desperately with all my heart, to live one more lifetime with him.
The fingers on my flesh turned to claws, the mouths sprouted teeth. Pain ripped through me and the flame flickered.
Not yet, just a moment longer.
The heart would consume me now. Tear me to shreds, the inevitable action was locked into a single moment of tension as the teeth and the claws paused, as if to gather their strength.
This was it.
My end.
But by god I was gonna take this fucker with me.
The tension snapped, the claws tore and the teeth gnashed. My scream was white hot lightening, and as I came undone, the tiny flame inside me was set free.
Free.
Burn baby, fucking burn.
32
Was this death? Was I dead? It was dark, so dark. Was this the afterlife? What about Bella? Did I get to be with her, and Mum … I wanted to be with Mum.
The darkness began to fill with light, and the silhouette of a figure appeared.
“Kenna?”
“Sabriel? Is that you? I thought you were dead.”
He laughed softly. “Nothing really ever dies.”
“Legion. Please tell me he’s dead at least.”
“No, Kenna. But he is gone from our world. Your sacrifice was the sacrifice of all the races. It had a power of its own, one greater than destruction and fear and chaos.”
“Good. I’m glad. So what now?”
“I’m here to take you home.”
“Home? As in heaven?”
“No, Kenna, not yet. Not for a long time.”
What was he saying?
His hand slipped into mine. “Are you ready?”
Pulse pounding in my throat, I stepped into the light.
EPILOGUE
My new coronation gown felt twice as heavy as it had that morning. The tailor had made me a replica to replace the one ruined when I’d been kidnapped. All the beading and the tiny gems sewn into it had doubled in weight throughout the day. I stood before the full-length mirror pulling pins from my hair. Man it felt good to let it down. My crown sat on my dresser, another bulky item that would need to be downsized. Kicking off my shoes, I padded onto the balcony and tipped my face up to the night sky.
This was real.
I was alive.
My people were safe.
I reminded myself of it daily. Brett was back in Lindrealm heading up the Fearless division, although since the hoard had settled, denizen activity had calmed down and Lindrealm was enjoying a spate of relative peace. It would stay this way. I’d make sure of it.
Lauren was managing things for me in Twilight as Regent in my absence, and the black mages were helping settle the city. There would be a meeting soon, with Dawn and Dusk to hash out new treaties and build a new future. Oh, and another coronation, because, yep, I was now the queen of Twilight too—no idea how I was going manage two realms, but I wasn’t lacking in support.
A soft knock at the door caught my attention. “Come in,” I called over my shoulder.
I didn’t need to turn around, didn’t need a tether to tell me that Erebus had entered the room. The air crackled with energy. The power that he’d expended all these years to create his clan was now nestled back where it belonged, inside him. When he’d almost died, they’d come to him—Vale, Baron, and Aidan. They’d sacrificed their autonomy, their very selves to save his life, melding with him and going home. Erebus had been restored to what he’d always been, the most powerful dark djinn in his tribe, the reason The Hunt had been unable to take him. He was something else, something new, and it was almost too painful to look at him now.
“Kenna, I wanted to say goodbye.”
My chest tightened. “I don’t know if I’m ready.”
“Yes. You are. You will make a fine queen. You were given a second chance, just like I was. You are whole again. Just as I am. We both have a purpose. I just need to find mine.”
I glanced down at my legs, obscured by the gown. The urge to lift it and check was almost too much, but I knew what I would see. Two flesh and bone legs. I’d come back, and I’d come back whole.
I turned my head to look at him, blinking at the sheen to his skin and the stars in his eyes. He was painfully, savagely beautiful. “Where will you go?”
“I do not know. But we are a nomadic people. Travel is in our blood.”
“Will you come back?” Why was I crying?
He reached up and wiped away my tears. “I do not know.”
I nodded. “I’ll miss you.”
“And I you.” He moved closer and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Another time and another place, Kenna …”
I locked gazes with him, my vision blurring. “Another time and another place.”
He stepped back. “Goodbye, Kenna.”
He vanished in a puff of black smoke.
I sagged against the balcony railing, puffed out my cheeks and blew out a breath. Get it together, you have a rendezvous to go to, and as if on cue the beat of Fargol’s wings filled the air. He landed lightly on the balcony and inclined his head.
“Your majesty.”
“Fargol …” My tone had warning.
He grinned. “Fine, Fargol call you Kenna.”
“Do that.”
“Kenna ready?” He held out his hands.
“Yes.” I walked up to him and allowed him to wrap his fingers around my waist. “Let’s go.”
Fargol took to the air, taking me with him. The balcony slipped away, and the palace grounds came into view, kissed by moonlight. I closed my eyes and breathed in the night scents of jasmine, honeysuckle, and stardust.
And then we were descending. Soft grass tickled my toes and Fargol’s fingers slipped from my waist. He didn’t land, but rose back up into the air and away. I stood in the centre of the secret garden, hands clasped before me, heart pounding in my chest. The scent of liquorice filled the air and my pulse jumped in my throat. Baal had promised me a midnight picnic, and I was starving, but not for food.
He hadn’t touched me since I’d been resurrected. He’d treated me like I was made of china, as if I’d shatter with the breeze. Weeks had passed and I’d longed for his touch, to feel him inside me, his heart beating against mine. I was done waiting.
He stepped out from the shadows and walked toward me. His indigo hair was tousled, his shirt was unbuttoned, exposing his smooth tanned chest, and there was a hungry gleam in his eyes. It set my already erratic pulse galloping.
“When you died, a part of me died with you,” he said. “The past few weeks I’ve been waiting to wake up, thinking this was just a dream, that maybe we both died in that place, that Fargol hadn’t brought the black mages to save us. You die in my arms every night, and every day I watch you, thinking you are a dream.”
“I’m not a dream. I’m here.”
“I know, my heart knows,” he stepped closer, the heat of his body pressing against me. “My body knows.” His voice was a low rumble of need. “I’m not waiting any longer.”
Oh
thank god.
He gently gripped my chin and ran his thumb over my bottom lip, eliciting a moan. “Do you remember my promise?” The fingers of his free hand trailed across the bodice of my gown, teasing the tops of my breasts.
“The coronation gown,” my voice was breathless, my core liquid.
His smile was a slow burn of delicious intent. “I always keep my word.”
Yeah, best day ever.
THE END
If you enjoyed Kenna’s story, make sure to check out the other books by Debbie Cassidy for your next obsession.
The Gatekeeper Chronicles
Marked by Sin
Hunted by Sin
Claimed by Sin
The Witch Blood Chronicles
(Spin off to the Gatekeeper Chronicles but can be read independently)
Binding Magick
Defying Magick
Embracing Magick
Unleashing Magick
The Sleeping Gods Series
Forest of Demons
Desert of Destiny
The Shadowlands Series
Written as Amos Cassidy
Shadow Reaper
Shadow Eater
Shadow Destiny
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About the Author
Debbie Cassidy lives in England, Bedfordshire, with her three kids and very supportive husband. Coffee and chocolate biscuits are her writing fuels of choice, and she is still working on getting that perfect tower of solitude built in her back garden. Obsessed with building new worlds and reading about them, she spends her spare time daydreaming and conversing with the characters in her head—in a totally non-psychotic way of course. She writes High Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, and Science Fiction. Debbie also writes dark, diverse Urban Fantasy fiction under the pen name Amos Cassidy, with her best friend Richard Amos. Connect with Debbie via her website at debbiecassidyauthor.com or twitter @authordcassidy. Sign up for her NEWSLETTER to stay informed of upcoming releases.
Under Twilight: an Urban Fantasy Novel (Fearless Destiny Book 3) Page 17