by Lynette Noni
Alex allowed his words to settle deep within her as she nodded her gratitude. She wouldn’t cry—she’d promised Niyx no more tears would be spent on his account. So instead, she just said, “Thank you, Roka.”
He gave her shoulder a squeeze before removing his hand.
Swallowing against the dread of what she might hear in response to her next question, she forced herself to ask, “My family—my friends—” She cut off, fearful of the answer, since the last she’d seen, Kaiden, Jordan and Bear had been covered in blood and fighting to hold down the deranged D.C., while her parents, Hunter and Niida had been on the ground, unmoving.
Sensing her anxiety, Soraya moved closer, the fully-grown wolf tall enough that Alex had to raise her hand to stroke her chest-height head.
“Everyone is fine,” Roka told her quickly, and she would have crumbled from the weight of her relief if Soraya hadn’t been there for her to lean on. “They’re all exhausted and sleeping off the trauma of what they faced, but physically, they will recover swiftly.”
He gave her a moment to process that before he continued, “The veeyons were forced to retreat thanks to the draekons, but we weren’t willing to wait and see if they would return, so we evacuated everyone to Akarnae. While the draekons are strong, their numbers are considerably fewer than my brother’s beasts, and the strain of their journey across worlds has left many of them weakened. They will need time to recover—time they wouldn’t have been given if we’d remained in Draekora.”
“With Aven now able to access the Valispath again, everyone needed to get out of there anyway,” Alex pointed out, while sending a quick mental call to Xira who just as quickly responded that he was fine and they would talk soon.
“Aven can’t use the Eternal Path any longer,” Roka said, causing Alex to focus on him again.
Frowning with puzzlement, she said, somewhat indelicately, “But… You died…”
“And once you Released Grimm and he deactivated his gift’s hold on me, my heart started beating on its own, meaning I was once again the rightful heir to the throne.” His eyes dulled with grief as he explained, “With my father’s passing, I’m now the King of Meya. As such, my first act was to officially disinherit Aven again.”
Alex struggled to believe it, but when she tried summoning the Valispath and it didn’t come at her command, she knew he was right. A startled laugh left her as she said, “That was quick thinking. How on earth did you catch up so fast on everything that happened while you were… sleeping?”
“Fletcher was wrong about my lack of cognisance while I was under Grimm’s sleeping curse,” Roka said. “I could hear everything that was said around me.”
Alex’s eyes widened. “The whole time?” At his nod, she muttered, “I guess that saved some long explanations.”
She winced at the idea that he would have heard her declaration of having to kill him and wondered what he’d thought of that plan. But since he’d already accepted her apology, she wasn’t going to revisit that conversation. Preferably ever.
“Anything I missed, I’ve managed to learn in the time since we evacuated,” he said. Then, somewhat hesitantly, he told Alex before she could ask, “You’ve been sleeping almost a whole day.”
Alex jolted. “A whole day?”
She was in motion then, blurring away from Soraya and Roka and over to her wardrobe, pulling out clothes to swap with the pyjamas she was now wearing. During the endless hours she’d been sleeping, someone had removed her Tia Auran armour and draped it across D.C.’s bed. It also appeared cleaner than when she’d last been wearing it—almost as good as new, if not for the slight tear in the upper leg area where D.C. had grazed her with Hunter’s dagger.
Ignoring Roka’s questioning calls and Soraya’s tilted-head expression, Alex slammed the bathroom door shut and shoved on her jeans, shirt, jacket and boots combination before rushing back out into the room.
“A whole day?” she said again, much more of a shriek this time. “Why didn’t anyone wake me?”
“You needed to sleep,” Roka said, as if it were that simple.
Eyes narrowing, Alex said, “I can sleep once this is over.” She refused to consider what kind of sleep that would be—and whether it would perhaps last forever.
Wariness flashed across Roka’s face, enough for Alex to ask, “What is it?” When he remained silent, she said, “What aren’t you telling me, Roka?”
Holding her gaze, he said, “Aven’s been in contact. He… wants to talk with you.”
Scrunching her forehead, Alex asked, “How?” But then she cursed as she realised, “D.C.”
“Fletcher had to sedate her,” Roka said, before going on to confirm, “but while she’s no longer attacking herself or others, she’s been rather… vocal.”
Alex closed her eyes slowly before steeling herself and looking straight at him. “Take me to her.”
The Meyarin prince—king—looked at her for a long moment before activating the Valispath around them, delivering them straight to Darrius’s office at the top of the Tower building—an office that was filled with people.
The headmaster was there, along with most of the teaching staff. But that wasn’t all. The room had been set up in representation of some kind of war council, with all the leaders of the other races in attendance, or at least those who had not yet become casualties of Aven’s forces.
Azalia Shaw and Saber Karn of the Shadow Walkers were there, and while Caspar Lennox’s friend Shirez Ganare was also there, her elder grandfather, Radek, was not. Trell Roven, the female Alex had battled during the vatali targo, was also seated at the table, her hand holding Shirez’s—but who was comforting who, Alex wasn’t sure.
Beside the Shadow Walkers sat Kaysia of the Dayriders along with Lidael, but Xayder was missing, the stricken expressions on both women’s faces telling Alex all she needed to know.
Of the Flips, only Tork, Glyn and Eefi were present, with no Ayva or Neiko in sight. And as for the Jarnocks, Taka and Mietta were missing, while Mareek and Tibbs sat morosely at the table, their short legs dangling from the height of the chairs.
The grief Alex felt in the air was tangible as she looked around the room, casting her eyes over the human contingent.
Commander Nisha, General Drock and Warden Jeera were all stony faced, with the latter jumping out of her seat upon Alex’s arrival to pull her into a tight embrace.
“Seven weeks, Alex,” Jeera breathed, her voice wobbling. “I thought you—I thought Kaiden—” The Warden couldn’t finish, but she did tighten her grip, and Alex held her just as fiercely before Jeera pulled herself together and backed away again.
It was then that Alex caught sight of King Aurileous and Queen Osmada, both of whom looked like they’d had their hearts ripped out. That might have been due to the fall of their city, but Alex presumed otherwise when she saw the devastation in their eyes as they stared at D.C., bound and gagged on the far side of the room.
On wooden legs, Alex walked towards her best friend who was flanked on either side by Zain and Kyia, as if they feared she’d throw off her sedation and break free of her bindings. They weren’t the only Meyarins lingering close. Niida was there too, her eyes following Roka as though she would never see him again if she were to look away. Roathus and Cykor stood like silent sentinels with her—the latter of whom kept sending shocked glances towards Mayra who sat with the other teachers, steadfastly avoiding his pleading gaze. Alex wondered how Mayra had avoided his notice if she’d travelled with Fletcher to Draekora in the past weeks, or if she had simply ignored her father during those times, as well. Then again, ‘father’ wasn’t the best term to describe what he was to her, considering he’d ostracised her since birth. Her only real family had been Niyx— whom she had lost twice now.
A light, warning touch from Roka had Alex stopping with some distance remaining between her and D.C. Like Zain and Kyia, he was clearly apprehensive about this confrontation, as if worried Aven would leap out of her body and slaughte
r them all. The mental imagery almost had Alex descending into hysterics—a result of both its ridiculousness and her nerves.
With a nod to Zain, whose features had relaxed marginally upon seeing her back on her feet, Alex indicated for him to remove D.C.’s gag. As he did so, she had to fight the urge to quake at the look of complete and utter murder pouring out of her best friend’s familiar blue-green eyes.
Aven didn’t make her wait.
“I was beginning to think you wouldn’t come, Alexandra.”
Alex struggled not to recoil from the way D.C. acted like Aven’s mouthpiece, her full name sounding like venom to her ears. Even before she and D.C. had become friends, her roommate had called her ‘Jennings’, never ‘Alexandra’.
“You said the next time we met, we wouldn’t be talking,” Alex managed to reply. “And yet, here we are.”
D.C.’s eyes narrowed, and Alex could have sworn she saw them flash gold before turning normal again. “I said the next time we see each other. Right now, you are merely seeing your friend, nothing more.”
“It’s not my friend I’m looking at right now.”
A bark of dark laughter left D.C.’s lips, and Alex saw the king and queen flinch from the corner of her eyes.
“I have no care for what you think,” Aven—through D.C.— said. “I’m here with an offer for you. A one-time-only deal.”
Alex turned rigid, both in response to Aven’s words, and also in response to the tension that settled around the room at his declaration.
“This all started because of you, Alexandra Jennings,” Aven said. “I’m willing to let it end with you, too.”
The silence that met his statement was unlike any Alex had previously encountered. But he wasn’t done.
“You have two options. The first is that you surrender yourself willingly, in which case, I swear by the stars that I won’t harm any more of those you love. No more mortals will die—it’s now vengeance against you I seek, no one else.”
Alex felt pins and needles start prickling in her fingers and toes, the shock of what he’d just offered too much for her body to handle.
“What—” Alex had to clear her hoarse throat and try again. “What about those you’ve Claimed? Will you Release them?” She ignored the way Roka, Zain and Kyia all jerked, as if they were unwilling to believe she might be considering his offer.
“I will not,” Aven said. “They are mine, and forever they shall be. As is Meya, despite my dear brother”—he spat the word, D.C.’s eyes pinning Roka with loathing—“having miraculously risen from the dead to reclaim it. I might not be able to access the Valispath again, but I won’t give up my city or the people in it. However, I give you my vow that we will remain here and leave the rest of your world alone. Meya has been hidden from mortal eyes for millennia—it will be so once again, under my ruling. All you have to do is surrender to me.”
Alex couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t… she couldn’t…
“The second option,” Aven went on, “is that, should you turn down my generous offer, at noon you and every mortal on the face of Medora will feel my wrath. The full force of my armies will be sent out and not a single one of you shall survive. Not one. The reign of mortals will come to an end, and I’ll see to it that every person you have ever cared for will die in the most agonising ways possible. Of that you have my word.”
Roaring filled Alex’s ears, the sound of her blood rushing through her body and mind so fast that her vision faded at the edges. Since she was too busy trying to make her lungs work, it was Roka who spoke before she could even consider what to say.
“There will be no deal,” he said, his tone unyielding enough that she knew he would battle unto the end of the world if it meant sparing her from whatever fate Aven had planned.
“It was not you to whom the offer was made, dearest brother.”
“That matters not,” Zain said in a growl. “Because there’s no way we’ll let Alex—”
“Deal.”
The word was barely a whisper of sound, but the entire room stilled at hearing it come from Alex’s dry lips. She wet them and repeated, her tone shaking, “We have a deal, Aven. Me, for them.”
“Alex, no!”
Alex wasn’t certain who had said it, since it seemed most of the room around her had jumped to their feet and were screaming their objections. But like white noise, she didn’t hear them, because she was too focused on the triumphant expression that spread across D.C.’s face.
“Then we shall meet where this all began,” Aven said, gleeful anticipation lighting D.C.’s eyes. “I’ll give you until noon, but if you don’t appear by then, if you renege on my offer, my armies will not hesitate, and the world as you know it will fall.” In a menacing whisper, he reminded, “You for them, Alexandra. And as a token of my faith that you will make the right decision…”
D.C. suddenly slumped forward, a gasp leaving her lips. Her eyes cleared as she looked at Alex, then over to her parents, then back to Alex, before her face crumbled and she burst into tears.
“He’s—He’s—g-g-gone,” she sobbed, and Alex lunged forward to grab her as she collapsed sideways off her chair, catching her in her arms.
At Alex’s quiet instruction, Zain released D.C. from her bonds, though warily. It was possible, Alex knew, that Aven still had a hold on D.C.’s mind, but Alex didn’t think that was the case. The genuine agony her friend was exhibiting was more than any acted performance could have allowed.
“Jor-Jor-Jordan,” D.C. sobbed into Alex’s shoulder. “Is he—D-D-Did I—”
“He’s fine, Dix,” Alex whispered soothingly, trusting Roka had told her the truth. “He’s resting.”
D.C.’s cries only grew louder, and when her parents approached, Alex swiftly exchanged positions with them.
Only then did she turn around and take in the rest of the room, all of whom were looking at her with nothing less than outright devastation.
“Alex, you can’t meet him,” Darrius said. Quietly, he repeated, all but pleading with her, “You can’t.”
Hunter and Karter were looking at her with grave eyes, while her other teachers were murmuring their distressed agreement. Those of the other races watched her soberly, knowing they had no right to dictate her actions going forward, and yet, they would abide by whatever decision she made. She had earned that respect from them, their pride and arrogance no longer leading them to withhold their support.
“I have no choice,” Alex whispered back.
“Aven is a liar,” Kyia said, her tone tight with dread. “No matter what promise he makes, no matter what stars he swears by, he won’t—”
“I know that, too,” Alex whispered. “Which is why you need to be ready.” She cast her gaze over the room. Over the humans, the Shadow Walkers, the Dayriders, the Flips and the Jarnocks. “You all need to be ready, because if I can’t do what needs to be done, then you’re going to have to fight for your lives. For this world.”
It was Hunter who said, quietly, “You’re really going to face him.”
Alex only nodded, since the words were caught in her throat.
“Then you’re not going alone,” Roka said, placing a hand on her shoulder. Zain also stepped up beside her, as did Kyia, Mayra, and then every other person in the room.
She had to blink back tears at their loyalty, but while doing so, she also shook her head. “He’s right about one thing—it started with me, and it has to end with me.”
Surprisingly, it was the antagonistic Shadow Walker elder, Azalia, who spoke up before anyone else could. “We made the mistake of mistrusting you once before, Alexandra. If you say it needs to end with you, we will honour your request. However, that does not mean we won’t be fighting alongside you. We may not have begun this journey together, but that is how we will finish it. Come what may, our fate shall be the same as yours.”
It took all of Alex’s willpower to keep from yielding to her fear, to her heartache, to her doubt. She glanced at Roka, then at Kyia a
nd Zain, finding them looking back at her with calm, unwavering eyes. Three pillars of strength who had been there for her in this timeline and the one long since passed. Their presence steadied her, the promise of their continued allegiance and protection like a balm against the warring emotions she felt within.
Bolstered by their silent encouragement, Alex turned back to Azalia and those around her as she replied in the strongest voice she could manage, “Then you all need to make your preparations, because one way or another, this ends today.”
Thirty-Five
Alex told everyone she wanted to check in on her parents and her friends, and while she planned on doing that in the few hours she had left until noon, it wasn’t to the Medical Ward that she headed after leaving the strategising leaders in the Tower.
It was to the Library.
Upon arriving in the cavern, Alex sat on the hard ground just as she had after Niyx’s death, her legs drawn up with her arms wrapped around them, her cheek resting against her knees as she looked out across the intersecting river. She knew she was in a curled up, defeated position, but she didn’t care what that said. There was no one around to see.
“I don’t know how to stop him.”
The words slipped from her lips with barely any sound, but still, the Library answered.
“Yes, you do.”
Alex raised her head but didn’t uncurl the rest of her body. “No matter how much I think about it, how many options I consider, I can only think of one way.”
“You only need one way. As long as it’s the right way.”
Alex shook her head. “But I don’t know if I can do it. He’ll know now—he’ll be expecting it. I don’t know how I’ll—”
“The time for doubting yourself has long since passed, Alexandra. You won’t know unless you try. And if you don’t try, you’ll never know.”
“But what if I try and it doesn’t work?”
“The time for ‘what ifs’ has passed as well.”