Devian let out a fascinated sound.
"So you're attempting an awakening, then?” he said lightly. "Interesting…"
Jason's gaze was wary, and even I had mixed feelings about how this was turning out. On one hand, it would be easier not to have to drag Devian out of here, but on the other… letting him remain with the knowledge we'd given him could be dangerous. If he told the wrong person, they'd know what we were up to.
But the outcome I was aiming for was to awaken Adrina and still drag Devian out afterwards—preferably with her powers as help. Perhaps we weren't fighting fair, but I didn't care. This was our town, our planet they'd attacked. I would use every opportunity I could get to further our footing in this war.
Devian suddenly rose from his chair and stalked slowly over to Valarie. She backed up a little, and Jason stepped forward, but Devian held up his hands.
"Let me approach her. Do you want my help or not?” he said, eyeing both of them. Jason's hard expression didn't change, but he stepped back a little. Valarie gulped and took a shaky step towards him. I watched as he brushed his fingers gently along her cheekbones. She visibly shuddered, her eyes falling closed, but every muscle in her body remained tense.
After a moment, Devian shook his head, and stepped back. "She's not ready,” he stated, and Valarie gawked in confusion.
"What do you mean?” I asked, frowning.
"She has yet to come to terms with the reality of her situation… and her emotions. Without that stability in her mind, the sudden recollection of her past will drive her into madness and destroy her from the inside."
Valarie's face paled and she visibly deflated.
"So… we can't awaken her?” I confirmed.
"Not unless you wish for her to die,” Devian replied, eyeing me with a curious expression. "However, if you allow her time to heal, her mind will eventually reach a stage where she can welcome these memories smoothly."
"How long is that going to take?” Jason pressed, glaring. Devian returned a glare of his own.
"Well, I imagine it would help if you weren't hanging around her so much,” he replied, and the blow was evident in Jason's eyes. Devian smirked and strode back to the desk. "Of course, if she stayed here, I'm sure the process would move along a lot faster… and I'd be able to determine exactly when I can awaken her."
He turned to face us.
"But then again… I don't answer to you lot."
He grinned cockily at us and smacked a button on the desk. A whirring sound blared through the building, and my heart rate spiked.
"You bastard!” Jason snarled, and he raced to the window, throwing it open. "We've got to go,” he urged us. My heart dropped, and I shook my head.
"We can't! Not without Skye!” I insisted.
"Forget that now! We're going to get caught if we stay!” Jason pressed. But I didn't budge.
"I don't go back on my promises,” I replied with a dark glare. "You take Valarie and go—I'll get Skye."
"You'll die!” Valarie protested, her eyes wide with alarm.
"Maybe,” I agreed, drawing my dagger. "But I can't just leave her."
"How noble,” Devian drawled with a cocky expression. "She's downstairs—three doors to the left. Mind the guards on your way."
I didn't know whether to trust him or not, but I followed his instructions anyway as I headed for the door. The moment I'd opened it, I could already see Urenphian guards hurtling up the staircase. Magic tingled under my fingertips, and I knew I couldn't fight through them all. There was only one way through this.
Let's do this, I thought, calling my power forth. It surged, spilling through me like warm honey. My shield materialised, thick and strong around me. The guard's swords glinted confusedly in the light. I charged towards the guards, and they swung at me. But their blades bounced off the starlight shield. I pushed through the lot of them, racing down the staircase. I didn't care who saw me now—speed would be my biggest asset. The shield wouldn't hold forever, so I needed to grab Skye and get us out quickly. Devian would have to wait; besides, he wasn't of any use to us right now.
When my feet hit the bottom floor, hundreds of eyes fell upon me. I only spared a moment to acknowledge their gazes—some of which I recognised—but I didn't have time to help them. It broke my heart to leave so many people here, but I didn't have a choice.
I flew down the hallway past columns and statues until I reached the third door. I threw it open and came to a halt. It was empty, and for a split second I wondered if Devian had been lying. Cursing, I turned to leave.
Thwack!
Something smacked into me hard, throwing me back. My shield shattered to pieces, and my eyes widened in alarm.
What the—?
Kale materialised out of thin air, a swirling mass of black smoke shrouding off of him. He stopped, offering me a pitying, teasing smile.
"My, my,” he mused, his eyes holding such intensity that fear shot straight through the very core of me. The Urenphian guards appeared a moment later, but Kale turned lazily to them.
"Don't bother—I'll handle her,” he drawled, and they bowed to him. Once they'd exited the room, he clicked the door shut and slowly turned back to me. "This should be fun."
He snapped his fingers, and the room went pitch black. I scrambled for my dagger and tried to summon my magic—at least the barrier would offer some light. But for some reason, it wasn't working.
All of a sudden, I felt hot breath in my ear. "A dagger, huh? How cute.”
I swiped at him, but he misted away like smoke on the air. Gritting my teeth, I looked around, my knees bent.
"Where's Skye?” I demanded. A chuckle filled the air.
"She's wherever you want her to be, little princess."
I shook my head, trying to make sense of his words. Another chuckle, and then the room lightened. A figure was lying on the ground in front of me, wearing a familiar black sweater. Eyes wide, I charged towards her, but as I got closer. my breath hitched in my throat. A sharp dagger protruded from her chest, stained bright red. Her eyes were lifeless and glassy. A startled gasp escaped my lips, and I fell to my knees beside her. My gaze fell to my empty palms. My dagger… how had it…?
"This is what you wanted, right?” Kale's voice echoed around the room. "To be rid of her? After all, she gave you an impossible request. Save Devian?” Another chuckle. "The longer a Chard is bonded to their Shadeow, the more darkness consumes their heart. I know you saw it. Take it from me, princess. Devian is too far gone to be saved."
My eyes were hot with tears. I blinked them away and swallowed hard.
"At least now you don't have to fulfil an impossible wish."
"That's not true,” I growled darkly, fists clenching into Skye's sweater.
"Oh? Well then, what about your family?” he added, and when I looked up, my surroundings had completely changed. I was looking into a grand foyer of some kind. It was strangely familiar, but the paintings were ripped and statues had fallen. Blood stained the walls, the floor… trails of it leading to three more figures. My eyes settled on the first one, and I drew a shaky breath.
My mother, the queen, staked on a spear in the grasp of a knight statue. Blood spilled down the front of her dress, and her hand fell limply.
Beside her was my father, the king, stabbed with a sword and pinned to the wall, to hang in the stench of his death forever.
And my younger sister, whom I'd only faintly remembered, lay lifeless on the floor, blood spilling from her slit throat.
"Wasn't it easier to leave them behind?” Kale's voice echoed. "You were going to run, that night. You were going to just abandon them."
I thought back to the memory of me escaping through the library, ending up in the courtyard. I hadn't yet understood what was going on. But I realised he was right—that had been my first instinct. To run, not to save.
A lump formed in my throat as I stared at the scene before me. Had this been the fate of my family? If I had not run, would I have been a
ble to prevent this?
I couldn't bear to look any longer, and I turned away—but my gaze fell upon yet another scene that formed behind me. This time, I was standing on some kind of lookout. I realised it was the highest point of Lorelei, where the richest of the rich lived. There was a hiking track that led up here.
The town below was in ruins, burning. I saw thousands of tiny bodies… so many bodies… every single person who was still alive in this building was now dead. And I could see my house just a little way down from here. The street was filled with blood and limbs.
My chest constricted.
Kyra… my parents.
All of them were lying there. I spotted more familiar faces and started to feel dizzy. The stench of rot and smoke grew stronger, and there was deathly silence. A reminder that I was alone. I was the lone ruler, with no people left to rule. Everyone I cared about… everyone I had ever loved… was dead.
"This is your fate,” Kale mused in my ear, his breath hot once more. I didn't have the strength to flinch—I was frozen, my entire body numb. "This is what will become of your world. What will you do then, I wonder?"
I was looking down at my future. The future the angels had forewarned me about. But I'd been stupidly optimistic. I'd insisted on staying. I'd been selfish, unable to let go of the stability that my sanity relied on. I couldn't bring myself to break it, to change for the sake of anyone. I'd just wanted to salvage what was already a lost cause.
Looking down at all those people, I wanted to fall apart. This was too much pressure, and I was not capable of saving so many people all by myself. I'd been crazy to think I ever stood a chance.
I wasn't a warrior, or a weapon. I was just a shield. And shields exist to be used.
"Snap out of it!"
Something sharp flicked across my face, leaving a sting on my cheeks. The vision dissolved, and a pair of green eyes stared back at me.
"Lucy!” Jason growled, shaking my shoulders. I stumbled a little, looking around.
"Wha—what—?” I stammered as reality came crashing back down. "What happened? Why are you here?"
But I didn't get an answer. Instead, Jason's eyes focused on something behind me and grew wide. He grabbed my shoulders and threw us both sideways as something swirling and dark hurtled past us. It exploded against the wall, and my gaze flew over my shoulder. Kale had materialised again, and he glared at the two of us angrily.
"You meddling twat,” he snarled at Jason. But Jason didn't respond, only pushing himself to his feet. He handed me something silver—my dagger! It didn't have a single drop of blood on it. Did that mean…?
"Don't listen to what he says. Don't believe anything he shows you,” Jason instructed with a firm gaze. Blinking, it all rushed back to me—Kale's powers! He must have put me in an illusive trance.
Jason offered me a hand to help me up. "Can you handle that?"
Swallowing hard, I nodded and tucked the dagger under my arm. I grasped his fingers, and he pulled me to my feet. He stood so close to my side, I could feel his body heat searing off of him. He held his sword steady, ready to fight. Kale summoned more of that illusionistic magic, but I knew now it couldn't actually hurt me. If it hit me, I'd feel the impact of it, the pain of it, but my physical health would remain fine. I just had to keep that in mind.
He hurtled the dark, swirling rocks at us, and we both ducked. Jason thrust out his sword, cutting clean through the rocks. Kale threw another round at us, and I rolled on my right shoulder to avoid the impact. I was close enough to reach for him, so I swiped my dagger at his heels. It slashed into his skin, and he yelped. I was up again within moments, stepping forward and aiming for his gut. He blocked me, his other hand shooting for me. Andrew's training flashed through my mind.
Sidestep.
I moved aside and deflected him. His other arm knocked the dagger from my hand, and my heart skipped a beat. The hand came clawing at me, but before he could secure his grip, I grabbed his arm and twisted upwards.
He growled, "You little—"
He didn't get to finish. Jason came hard at him, driving the sword into his arm. He bellowed in pain, recoiling from us. I kicked his shins hard, and he toppled backwards.
I analysed his wounds. He was groaning in pain, with one arm badly injured and his ankles injured too. He could probably still fight while down, though. We needed that final, debilitating blow.
Jason held the sword to his throat, and my heart rate spiked at the sight. A sick feeling developed in my gut. I'd been at the other end of that sword. I knew exactly what it was like to have it come down at you, to have your life hang in the balance.
Jason narrowed his eyes at Kale, the sword tip digging into his skin.
"Your kind made me into a monster,” he growled. "Every second I walked this Earth, doing your dirty work, I was burying myself deeper in a pit of self-loathing and hatred."
He slowly drew the sword away, holding it at his side.
"But I'm not that person anymore."
My eyes were wide, and I could barely breathe. Jason sheathed his sword and gave Kale a dirty glare.
"I won't kill you. But give me a reason, and I'll break every bone in your body."
His warning seemed to instill enough fear in Kale, whose eyes had grown wide. Swallowing hard, Kale nodded at him. Jason turned to face me.
"Skye's already outside—she bolted when the alarms went off,” he explained. I noticed the shattered window across the room, and something stirred in my heart. Jason had come back for me?
He noticed my gaze, and an almost amused expression formed.
"Did you really think we were going to just leave you?” he asked pointedly. I shrugged, folding my arms.
"You wanted to leave Skye, so if you had left me, I wouldn't have been surprised,” I replied, my tone a little blunt.
We made for the window, and as I was slipping through it, Jason said, "Valarie would have killed me if I'd left you. I'm already in her bad graces as it is."
"Ahh,” I mused, landing on the pavement with a hard thud. I ignored the strange sinking feeling that formed in my chest. "So you were just trying to impress her,” I said dryly.
Jason pushed off the windowsill, landing beside me.
"Not entirely,” he said, leading me around the side of the building. "We need both of you if we're going to stand a chance of winning this war."
"Of course. Never mind that I’m a person; as long as you can use my power, it’s all fine, right?"
Jason stopped in his tracks and slowly turned to me.
"What’s gotten into you?” he asked, frowning. "You're the one who first planned it—you came up with this whole idea!"
I didn't really know why I was upset either, but I was. Something deep inside of me felt isolated.
"You're right. I did,” I replied flatly, narrowing my gaze. "And if anything, it's made it painstakingly obvious that I'm nothing more to you than an obstacle stopping your star-crossed romance from coming full circle. All anyone seems to see me as is a means to an end."
His eyes widened in realisation. "That's not true—"
"Yes, it is,” I pressed, digging my fingernails into my palms to hold back the sobs forming in my chest. "Nobody would ever come back to help me if I were ordinary. The only reason any of you care is because without me, you're as good as dead."
I knew this was a bad time to be discussing this—we were in a wide, open space, with enemies all around us. And they were already on high alert. But something had triggered inside of me, and I couldn't seem to stop myself.
"What do you want from me?” he asked, running a hand through his hair with tired eyes.
"I want you to care!” I snapped, tears spilling from my eyes. "I want people to see me as their friend, not as some stupid shield they can abuse! That's all anyone ever saw me as back in the Starlight Era. A shield for the people.” The sobs shook my body, and I clasped a hand over my mouth to try and muffle the sound. "I want my life to be important for the sake of mean
ing something to someone. Something other than a promise of protection."
He placed two hands lightly on my shoulders, and my heart skipped a beat.
"Why would you think for one second that you meant anything less than that to any of us?” he asked gently.
"Because you d-d-despise me,” I sobbed, wiping my eyes on my sleeve.
"No, I don't,” he said, shoving his hands into his pockets and avoiding my gaze. He seemed to be fighting himself—like he wanted to shrink away, but was forcing himself to speak. "I care, Lucy. Deep down, I care far more than I should. But with every person I let into my life, there is attachment and loyalty that comes with it. Those things can either strengthen you, or destroy you… and the worst blow they can inflict on you is if the person leaves your life. The last time I let my guard down was with Adrina, and she caused damage unlike any other."
He shifted his gaze back to mine.
"It was an eternal torment, knowing that the last thing she ever felt for me was hatred. Knowing that she took a piece of me that I'd never get back. That feeling stays with your forever, and every time it happens to you, it makes your soul darker. You care less, you get reckless… I can't let that happen to me again. It would make me into a man I don't want to be."
He inhaled deeply.
"I'm immortal. Everyone else is not. And every person I meet will eventually leave me, so I'm hesitant to get close."
I was speechless, and I could only gawk at him for a few moments.
"So you're saying… that caring for me in any way would create a dangerous attachment?"
He shook his head. "I'm saying that the reason I was distant with you was because of that. But now… we're too far into this. Despite everything in our past, I'm going to have your back no matter what. And it's not because you're the Starlight Princess—it's because there's a bond between us, and it will drive me to help you. Just as I'd help Valarie, or Andrew. Ignoring that bond, and letting you die, would cause regret and shame that I can't afford to live with."
Lanterns In The Sky Page 21