“Shut up,” he mumbled, chasing me across the stretch of endless sky. Dodging around some floating bits of debris, I flickered out, then behind his sluggish form.
My kick was solid, sending him into the biggest of the rocks. His growl of pain sounded exhausted. Turning, he leaned on the landmass, eyeing me with disdain.
“If I had to guess,” I said, floating closer. “You're not sure what you're fighting for anymore.”
“Quiet.” He threw a haphazard ball of energy at me, I didn't even need to dodge. “Just stop talking, I don't care.”
“Then why fight me at all?”
He looked away, the corners of his mouth dragging down severely. “The same reason you were alright with killing the girl you love. I have no choice but to obey my Master.” His voice dripped with disgust.
Baffled by his comment, I paused in the air. “How do you know about my instructions?”
“Valenforth told me, he learned about it from Gale's memories. When he revived me, he told me he removed the parts about... about what I did to her. He explained, too, how you were going to murder her under the order of your Mistress,” he spat.
Bristling, I moved quickly to grab him, to shove him against the rock so hard he cried out. Bits of gravel floated off, dangling in the air, defying the rules of physics. “He told you that,” I whispered, “but not the bit where I promised Gale I wouldn't do as my Mistress commanded me?”
Ethlyn was riveted on me, wincing with the pain of being crushed against the sharp stone. “You were going to defy your Queen? You'd have ended up destroyed, doing that.”
“Maybe,” I admitted. “But it was a risk I was going to take. Don't claim to have no choice in this world, Ethlyn. Especially when you tried to tell me you didn't choose to murder Gale, either.”
That got to him, I felt his body vibrating. His hand flew forward, hot energy right beside my cornea, ready to burst.
Ducking low, I released him in order to avoid the blast. It was close, but I was quicker.
“Shut up!” He screamed, slamming his fist into the rock, making the island shatter entirely. “It was an accident, I couldn't—I couldn't stop myself! I was out of my mind, driven by something I didn't understand! She pulled me to her!”
“I don't care,” I said, moving sideways around him. “You're missing the point. If you claim to not want her harmed, you're on the wrong side now.”
“Valenforth will kill your Mistress, the person who sentenced Gale to death in the first place.” He studied me, hands at his sides in tight balls. “Then she'll be free of this awful tragedy, with the rest of us gone.”
“You trust Valenforth, the monster who's manipulated you into thinking I would kill her, who's tricked Gale into thinking my Mistress was the one who ended her life and not you... you trust him,” I said bluntly, “to not harm her in the end?”
His eyes twitched, lucidity sinking in. “Here's a question for you, Nethiun. Do you care if your Mistress dies?”
Lowering my hands, my voice soon followed. “I only care that Gale lives.”
Floating there in the tempest sky, that wicked place, we sized each other up in silence. It was the first real glimpse of understanding between the two of us.
For him, the realization I was so in love with the girl that I would not, ever, hurt her.
And for me, grasping that what had transpired between them was something born out of a dark place burning with insanity and misunderstandings.
Truly, we both wanted the same thing.
We wanted to save Gale.
That was the moment we felt the world shake, heard the scream of despair that shook us to our cores.
Chapter 26.
Gale Everette
She was a creature both lovely and terrible. I'd never stood before such grace or beauty, it took my tongue and made it mush.
The Queen of Dreams reclined in her throne, red eyes watching us like we were a curious brand of insect.
If I'd ever been brave before, it was a feeling that was now very far away. Standing there, feeling the power that emanated from her radiant body, I was sure she would speak and we would simply die.
She shifted, unfolding her bare legs. Her voice was all smoke, hot and wispy. The throne room, the first place I'd smelled anything in that odd reality, seemed fitting with its clouds of cinnamon and charcoal.
“Valenforth, good to see you.” She smiled at the Corpse King beside me, then rolled her crimson orbs onto me. “And you, Gale Everette. I know you well.”
Licking my dry lips, I fought to speak. “You... you know me?”
“Oh yes,” she breathed out gently. “You've haunted my dreams, my grisly dreams, for a long time. You and your dread, always sinking into my marrow.”
Staring, I gave my head a weak waggle. “That can't be right, I wouldn't haunt anyone, or their dreams! I don't understand.”
Like standing was an effort, she gripped the arms of her throne, rose onto her bare feet. Around her, the silken strands she wore drifted like seedlings in a breeze. “I portended you would bring death to me, Gale Everette. I am the Queen of Dreams, the only twaelin who sleeps. The one who swims in the world of fate. I've predicted many things in my life, but never have I seen my own death.”
The shiver shook me down to my knees, the muscles in my body going slack. This energy around her, it reminded me of the time Valenforth had given me a hint of what he could do.
My belly ached, I placed a hand over it protectively. “I never wanted to kill you, or anyone,” I pleaded. “Never!”
“Then why are you here today, if not to make my dreams come true?” she whispered, stepping down towards us.
The Corpse King moved suddenly, his arm extended in front of me like a blockade. “You began this fight, Canendore. You chose to exact death in an attempt to stop fate.”
The tall woman hesitated, eyelids drooping like she was ready to go back to bed. “Valenforth, you are mistaken. If she had stayed a corpse, WE would not be at risk. Do you truly wish to go down this road, to end us?”
“I do,” he said, words hot as coals. Looking up, I saw his lips twist into a cruel sneer.
Around him, an energy as terrifying as the Queen's, as horrific and wild, began to swell.
Standing there with them both, my hair in goosebumps so intense they hurt, I wondered if I was in the presence of true gods.
What else could they really be? What were gods, if not this?
Valenforth exploded, sending me falling backwards into the hard, shiny floor. Gasping, I skidded on hands and knees.
My hair fell across my eyes, blocking some of my vision as I looked up. It would have been nice if it could have hid everything.
The Queen and the King, they fought like beasts. No, I thought in wonder, they're like a storm come to life.
I could make no sense of it. They looked like pure, rippling beings of energy. One black, one blue. I didn't know which was which, they both reminded me of something I had seen before.
A drawing penned in a dark tome, depicting a creature that resembled spilled ink.
This is what they look like. This is the twaelins' real form, their source.
Wide-eyed, I wished I could make my legs move. Instead, I crouched in that throne room, staring at a battle no human should ever have witnessed.
The blue being crushed against the charcoal one, slamming it into the floor. Bits of the walls broke, the place smokey enough that it was hard to see what was breaking.
“Stop,” I whispered, covering my mouth. “Please stop.”
The creatures twisted, choked each other, but finally the one on top—the vision of deadly cobalt—seemed to grow.
Gawking, I watched as it became Valenfor
th again. Below him, lying in a heap of blood and black glowing chunks that were no longer graceful or beautiful, was the Queen of Dreams.
Valenforth looked at me, crouching triumphantly over her body. His eyes were feral, dangerous; when he waved me over, I didn't move.
“Come here, quickly,” he begged me.
With tremors rocking me, I found myself stumbling over to him. How am I walking? I'm so scared, I'm amazed I haven't fainted.
I'd never fainted before, but if it was going to happen, now seemed the time. Standing there, looking over her broken body, I wished for it.
“Now,” he said to me, moving away. “Touch her, and end this. End all of this, Gale.”
Her eyes found me. Shockingly, she smiled. “Listen to him, child. Go on. I've... been a fool, thinking I could change fate.”
Looking down at her, at the radiant blackness peaking through the damage in her body, I tried to find my voice. The first attempt, only a crackling noise came.
Calm down, calm down!
“Why?” I asked, a simple word that meant so much. “Why did you want me to die? I would never have come here if you hadn't killed me.”
Her eyes flashed, then dimmed along with her bitter smile. “I see now. If I had never sent Nethiun to meet you, maybe I wouldn't have set things in motion. I thought I had so much control over this,” she chuckled. “How wrong I was. Death is what has come for me, but child,” she said softly, motioning me down.
Unable to resist, I dropped to my knees beside her. Her hand lifted, perfect nails touching my arm. In a quick motion, she pushed my fingers into her ribs, through one of the larger wounds.
Her scream was ageless, traveling through me, into me. Sitting there, the energy boiling in my belly, coursing through my fingers and down my arm, I felt the familiar tingles.
Red eyes, eyes like blood, stared up at me as they began to fade. “My death... is on my hands... for trying to utilize a concept like free-will,” she said, struggling while I stole away her life. “But I... was not the one who killed you, child.”
I felt confused tears on my face, black arcs of power rolling from her body, into mine. With her words, my memory cleared in a single burst.
Ethlyn's face, his arm in my stomach like mine was in Canendore's. His babbling words, his crazed mannerisms.
The Queen wasn't the one who had murdered me. It had been Ethlyn all along.
I know who made me forget.
Looking up, I saw the giant smile on Valenforth's face. It was too big, it almost split him from ear to ear. It was the expression of someone who had finally had the victory they'd wanted, chased after, for so long.
And he'd manipulated me in order to get it.
My sob escaped me, I couldn't stop it. I wanted to rip my arm out of her, but it seemed stuck, stealing the last of her body away like a grim black hole.
In the air above us, I heard a shout. Tilting back my chin, salty water on my lips, I saw Nethiun.
He looked down with his opal eyes, witnessing me destroy his Mistress. I expected some reaction, but not the one I got.
With a great grimace, he dropped to the floor with his arms around his waist. Crying out, he roared with such a fierce pain it made me freeze.
“Nethiun?” I asked, too soft to be heard.
The man I loved, he looked at me in confused despair. He was trying to speak, but kept doubling over.
Beside him, Ethlyn appeared. The sight frightened me, I was sure Nethiun was too hurt to fight back.
The long haired twaelin crouched, but he was talking with concern to Nethiun. Empathy contorted his face as he grabbed the blonde's shoulders.
I don't understand anything anymore.
“What's happened?” I asked, looking from their faces, to the last black bits of the Queen that didn't even resemble a body. “Valenforth, what's...?”
“I told you,” he said flatly, moving towards the pair of servants. “I want all the twaelin gone. I meant that.”
Hearing him say it, thinking back on how easily I had gone along with his plan, I felt naive. I'd forgotten entirely about Nethiun. If I hadn't, I would have argued against the idea of killing... the idea of...
Looking down at the Queen, seeing nothing but droplets of black, I understood. “She was Nethiun's source. Oh God, oh God. Oh my God. Oh, oh no, I—I—I...” My words babbled endlessly.
“Yes,” the Corpse King called to me. “The source twaelin are where servants get their power. Without us, they cannot exist as separate entities.”
I was moving, but I didn't remember getting up. Shoving past Valenforth, I knelt beside Ethlyn as he cradled Nethiun's head. “Nethiun!” I screamed, my throat hoarse from crying. “Please, no, don't die! Not after everything, not after I've come back to life! I only just remembered you, and everything, and I... this can't happen, please!”
I caught Ethlyn moving in my peripheral, but I didn't look up. My blurry vision was fixed on the face of the man I cared about more than anything. “Nethiun,” I sobbed, pushing my cheek to his forehead. “I love you, I love you, so please, don't...”
How terrible, to only utter those words now as he dies, I thought in self-loathing.
Resting against him, I felt the faint hint of his life pulse. In my ear, he spoke; tender and fragile. “Truly?”
Startled, I sat up, surprised to find him smiling at me. A smile like the ones I had once hated, and now, couldn't dream of living without. “Nethiun, stay with me, I—”
“Shh,” he hushed me. Wincing, he grabbed for my hand. I linked my fingers tight. “I never expected to hear such a thing. I love you as well, Gale. In a way I never knew was possible for anyone, my kind or otherwise. Now, listen closely. You won't walk out of here alive unless you kill him.”
Glancing up, I saw Valenforth standing some yards away. Ethlyn was approaching him, hands clenched by his hips. “Kill him? He already asked me to do that, I... I don't care what happens to him, just you, Nethiun!”
Ethlyn's voice rose above everything suddenly. His stance was wide, ready to attack the Corpse King. “You never told us what would happen if you, the source twaelin, die! How could you trick her, trick us, like that!?”
Sighing loudly, Valenforth stared his servant down. “You, who complacently agreed to death, who chased the serenity it would bring... now you're chastising me for not speaking about this? I wasn't positive this would happen. No source twaelin has ever been destroyed like this before.”
Destroyed... like this? Surely he meant not destroyed at all?
“If I had instructed Gale to kill you directly, would that have been more to your liking?”
The rage twisted Ethlyn's face, his body tight as he pointed back at us. “She would never have agreed to destroying Nethiun, and you knew that! I thought—I thought maybe, in the end, with his Mistress gone, they could...”
“Could what?” he mused. “Live happily ever after? Was it not clear what my goal was?”
I stared at him, felt Nethiun's grip weakening in mine. He was fading fast, I didn't know what to do.
Valenforth took a step, leaning over Ethlyn with a curved sneer. “I'm the Corpse King, I want everything to return to death. I couldn't accomplish that with the twaelin, with us being so god damn undying. But now, with her, I have a solution.”
Looking my way, he flashed a black smile. “Thanks to Gale Everette, I can destroy the twaelin. Then, finally, the rest of the world.”
Ethlyn bared his teeth, his features becoming savage. “You never wanted to die, did you?”
“No,” Valenforth admitted, shrugging casually. “That part was a lie. I don't care what happens to me, as long as I can bring destruction to both these worlds first.”
The servant pu
lled back his arm, arcs of energy so bright they were almost white. It lit up his face, his eyes, until his hair floated behind with his movement.
The Corpse King lifted a hand, his body flaring with a brief wave of power. Before my eyes, Ethlyn screamed, the sound cutting off as he swished away in a sizzle of heat.
He was simply gone.
Beneath me, Nethiun gave a shuddering breath. His energy was drifting away as well. “Gale, you have to do this. Kill him. I promised you I would keep you safe, this is the only way to do that. Now... you must swear you'll destroy him. Promise me, Gale.”
Pressing my lips to his, I said nothing. If I tried, it would only come out in tears. I promise, I promise, I thought in silent sadness.
Under me, in me, I felt his energy fade away. I didn't know where it had gone, just that Nethiun was no more.
There wasn't even a body.
Hard, chilly, the floor was soothing on my forehead. I heard Valenforth's footsteps, but I didn't move.
I need to destroy him, I need to do it.
He killed Ethlyn, tricked all of us.
It's because of him, I...
Opening my eyes, I stared at my reflection in the shiny floor. Watching myself, I saw the last of my tears streaking my pale skin.
“I'm sorry it had to go like this,” Valenforth whispered over me. I sensed him, knew if I raised my head even a little I would see his shoes. “It was the only way.”
I almost asked him 'why' he was doing this. But then, I realized I didn't care about his reasons.
Sitting up on my knees, I gazed into his hard face that seemed so far away. All I need to do is grab him, and then he's dead.
Gritting my jaw, I whipped my hand out, digging my fingers into his ankle. I expected energy to flow, power to buzz inside of me; for any of the signs that whatever existed in my body was reacting.
I only felt the texture of his clothing, then heard his crude laugh as it echoed. Valenforth kicked me, sending me skidding with a cry of pain.
“Why would you even bother trying that?” he asked me, tilting his head slowly.
Maybe Fate: A Novel (New Adult Paranormal Romance) Page 25