by Elina Vale
“Are you okay?” Shri laid her hand on his shoulder.
He avoided her eyes. “Yes, I’m fine. Let’s do this.”
“I can see it, Javid. You’re not fine.”
Javid pushed her hand away. “We have no time for this! You have no idea what the Spike is capable of. The things they can do with magic...”
“And you know?”
“Of course I know!” Javid said, his jaw clenched and his eyes cold like ice. “I was trapped there for months.”
“We can get to the street level now!” Roxana yelled. She ran to the edge of the roof, performed a front flip, and landed gracefully on the street. She had barely touched the ground before sprinting ahead. Shri followed her, mimicking her jump.
"Showoff!” Teron called.
Javid leapt down without any hassle, but landed a bit harshly. Teron simply used magic to float down with ease.
“Who’s the showoff now?” Shri smirked at him.
“Watch out Shri!” he yelled.
She turned in time to see a fireball swooshing towards her. Tossing herself to the ground, she covered her head with her arm to protect herself from the wave of heat. The fireball blazed over her, colliding with a small house behind her and blasting into flames.
Teron rushed to her. “Are you okay?”
“I am.” Shri stumbled up. “Thanks for the heads-up.”
He glanced around. “They shouldn’t be able to find you while you’re wearing Boa’s pendant.”
“I took off the ma’tera bracelet yesterday,” she said. “And one of the Mairas was spying for Shea. She knows where I’ve been for a while. Still, she can’t pinpoint me now.” Shri fingered the pendant. Somehow, Boa Riverson had found a way to protect her all the way from the mainland.
“Make sure it touches your skin.”
Shri placed the pendant under her shirt. The chain was long, and it rested between her breasts, cooling and comforting. Looking up, she saw the flames reflecting in Teron’s eyes, heard the cries, the shouts of the ongoing fight. “We need to stop this.”
“How?” Javid asked. “How are we four going to stop Shea Ziragh?”
“I have a weapon against her,” Shri responded. “Trust me.”
Anger burned inside her as she raced into the middle of the fray. Shri had the Heart of Senatai. With it, she could take down Shea. She would end this madness here and now.
“We won’t get through there!” Roxana shouted.
They had run into a dead end. One of the houses in the alley had collapsed and barred their way to the harbor. An explosion burst from their left, raining down a shower of sand and pebbles over their heads. Shri shielded herself with her arms.
“Which way should we go?” Javid asked. “We need to find Sambran! He has Eavan!”
Teron’s face paled. “Oh, God... Eavan! I will go. She’s my responsibility!"
“And Shea is mine,” Shri returned. “This city is burning because of me. Its people are dying because Shea knows where I am. Go and find Eavan. We’ll handle Shea.
Teron squeezed her hand. “Be safe.”
He vanished into the alleys of Lighthaven. Shri, Javid, and Roxana sprinted toward the explosions. Most of the people had fled into the castle; only the warriors rushed alongside Shri. As she approached the main pier, they pulled to halt. A familiar figure stood in front of them, her raven hair fluttering in the wind. She stood with her hands on her hips, her crimson lips curved into a wicked smile.
“You.” Shri held her breath. “I remember you.”
“I’ll deal with her,” Javid whispered. “Take Roxana and find Shea.”
CHAPTER 31
JAVID REACHED FOR HIS FOUNTAIN, ready to strike at Doria.
She tossed her head back and laughed. “Why in the name of the Grim Mistress would you defect to the losing side?” she asked, taking a few small steps forward. “I thought we had an agreement.”
“I was never on your side,” Javid said. He was unsure if he could defeat someone of her skill, but if he could just keep her busy until Shri had taken care of Shea...
She flicked her hair over her shoulder. “You certainly looked like you were when your lips were caressing my skin.”
“I was under the influence of that evil rock.”
“When you were with Shea, maybe. But I didn’t use any spells on you," Doria said. "I rather think we created our own magic." Sauntering closer, she reached out to touch him. Her eyes ignited. “Our lips locked together. Our bodies entwined. My nails on your back. You inside me.”
“Stop it,” Javid said.
“Javid, I...” Her grin vanished, and an unfamiliar honesty crept into her eyes. “I miss... your company.”
Javid scoffed. “Doria Tamarian, valuing the company of someone other than herself?”
For a brief moment, Doria looked hurt, but she shook off the expression. “Javid, look around! Shea is here, Shri is here. They will collide. Shri can’t win!”
“Shri has power to end Shea!”
“I doubt she is strong enough to defeat the Black Star,” Doria said. “But she might weaken Shea, give us a chance to kill her and take the Black Star for ourselves.”
“I would never allow you to possess the Black Star.”
“I know,” she said. “I-I have considered everything you’ve said. Javid, I just want to study it! It’s such an enormous source of ancient power... Just imagine all we could learn, about our universe, about ourselves!” Stepping closer, she ran her hand longingly up his chest. “Just imagine if we could be together again.” Her breath quickened.
Javid faltered. Doria was beautiful and fierce. She was powerful and glorious, and in another life, in another place, he could have loved her. But he remembered too much. Shea and Doria had manipulated him. They had hurt him. The hate he felt for the man they had forced him to be tumbled inside him like a storm, and the shame of his weakness tore his already broken heart. Magic burned inside, ready to burst out. Unable to hold back, he lifted his hand and broke a wooden door loose from the nearest building.
Doria’s eyes filled with regret. “Don’t,” she whispered. “I don’t want to hurt you anymore.”
“That’s a lie!” Javid shouted. “You’re nothing but a liar!”
Doria shook her head. “No. I’m not lying. I played my role when we were in the tower. I did what Shea wanted me to."
“You did what you wanted to,” Javid shot a finger at her. “You tried to kill us in the Gate Run, all for your own gain!”
Doria frowned. “So, your memories have returned. I should have guessed it was Eavan who took them. But... But that was before I knew you! Before I had been... close to you.”
Again, Javid hesitated. She had to be manipulating him. Even if she did have feelings for him, he could never return that love. Doria had already altered Javid to fit into her world once before. She had changed him into something horrible. She would do so again. “I won’t fall for your game. All you’ve ever sought is power. You wanted the Star when you figured out that Aldemar possessed it, and you want it now! The Star is all you care about.”
“Things were different when Aldemar was Master!” she shouted, thrusting her hands to her sides with frustration. “He had me under his own spell! He offered me magic beyond my wildest dreams. Yes, I was a slave to that desire!”
“You still are! I can see the lust for that stone in your eyes.”
“Don’t you see, Javid?” she pleaded. “Shea has lost control of the Black Star, and it will consume everything!”
"Then join us,” Javid said, extending his hand. “Help Shri to destroy the Black Star once and for all. You are powerful enough to do that!”
Doria reached forward, then snatched her hand away. Her lips trembled.
“You can’t do it,” Javid whispered. He despised her. “You simply can’t let go of the power it represents.”
“And why should I?” she argued. “Javid, think of all we could do with the Black Star! Shea has no idea what she’s
dealing with, but Aldemar was grooming me to inherit his power. I’ve been preparing for years. But now that I know what it’s like to have someone like you at my side, I would use the stone differently than Aldemar did. Don’t you see? I would use it to learn, to build a better world for the people of Aviden!”
Is it possible? She has so much power at her command. Could I really influence her to do good in this world? Javid heaved a sigh. “I can’t trust in anything you say. I could never be with you again.”
"Why not?” she cried.
“Because you’re poison, Doria,” he said. “I used to be a good man. Thanks to you, the things you made me do, I am ruined. I will never be able to atone for my sins. But I won’t let you ruin any more lives. You or Shea.”
Doria’s eyes sparked with red and black as she drew from her Fountain.
Javid took a step back. “You’ve made contact with the Star.”
“Yes!” she shouted. “Shea has given me more power than Aldemar ever trusted me with, and soon it will be enough to overthrow her! I am one with the Star. When it’s no longer attached to Shea, it will come to me.”
“And what was the cost, Doria?” Javid snapped. “What did the Star take in return? Your heart? Your soul?”
“My heart is still mine to give,” Doria growled. “But unlike you, the Black Star will not reject it. You will regret this.”
She stretched her arms out in front of her. Black glitter slithered from her fingertips. Fear hit Javid's gut—it was the spell of ripping. Still recalling the last time he had been touched by it, he thrust the floating door towards Doria, but her counter-spell blasted it to pieces. The distraction gave him the chance to dive for cover, away from the ripping spell.
Doria cried out, her voice filled with emotion. “Listen, you can’t win! Don’t waste this opportunity, Javid! We could be magnificent together! With the power of the Star, we can live for hundreds of years!”
Javid remained silent, crouched in a nearby alley.
“No one has to suffer unduly!” Doria called. “We will only rip those who threaten the peace and security of Aviden, those who seek to use their power as Aldemar and Shea did! We will scour evil from creation, absorb it, transform it, and live forever as guardians of Shadear!”
Javid imagined it. He and Doria together, hand in hand, bringing to and the face of creation. They would live forever young, entwined in one another for centuries. Quickly, the image became dark, revealing them as vile magical creatures who ripped and enslaved anyone who defied them. For all of Doria’s knowledge and power, she was a slave to her own magic and her desire for more. Once again, she would turn him into someone he never wanted to be.
He couldn’t allow that to happen. He had to stop her, as surely as Shri had to stop Shea.
I have to kill Doria. Nothing else will ever stop her from chasing her mad goals.
He envisioned her body. Her face. Her eyes, which hid a vulnerability that she refused to let anyone see. But secure in the warmth of her arms, immersed in the heat of passion, he had seen it. He had to let go of those memories. Were they even real? Were they his? Or created by all that evil magic in the tower?
I don’t want to hurt her.
He cursed himself for being weak.
"Javid, come out!” she called.
Stepping into the open, he reached for her again. “Doria...” Closing his eyes, he held his breath and declared, “Doria, I do care.”
Her expression softened, and the power of the Star faded from her eyes. “You... You do?”
“Please,” he said. “Please, join us, Doria. You can change. I know you can. Come with me and help Shri destroy the Black Star! We can end all of this now! We can protect Shri.”
She laughed. “Protect Shri? Change? I don’t want to change. I am the best version of me! Javid, my fate is not to toil amongst the small and insignificant, and neither is yours. People like us are born with power for a purpose. We are meant to be Gods! The Black Star is ours for the taking. How we use it is up to us, don’t you see?”
Javid had sworn to become a better man. He had sworn he would never let anyone use him again. “I’m sorry,” he said. “But I suspect that no good can ever be achieved with the Black Star. It will only corrupt all who touch it. It must be destroyed. I stand with Shri.”
“Shri... So, you made your decision. You are choosing her.” Tears gathered in Doria’s eyes, but she repressed them. “I’m sorry, Javid. I truly am.” She waved her arm, sending a chunk of jagged rock at him.
He tumbled out of its path.
“I’m sorry I have to hurt you, but you leave me no choice!” she shouted as the red and black returned to her eyes. “The world cannot afford to have Shea in possession of the Black Star any longer, but only I can wield it properly! But I will not let Shri destroy it!”
Another boulder came at him. Javid used his own earth mastery to shatter the stone in mid-air. While he was distracted, Doria unleashed another cloud of black powder. Javid responded with rage, bombarding her with tiles, rocks, and sand—anything he could reach with his magic—causing her to abandon the spell in order to defend herself. By her expression, it was clear that she didn’t expect such a level of power or aggression from her erstwhile lover.
A tornado of sand and pebbles overtook Doria, blinding her. Pulling out his curved blade, Javid sprinted toward Doria and leapt into the chaos before she could dispel it. Allowing the whirlwind to fall, he whipped his blade up against her throat.
The magic died.
“You won’t kill me,” Doria whispered.
“Give me one reason I should let you live,” he said. She had used him, made him into her little puppy. But still he hesitated.
“Because you love me.” She lifted her hand to Javid’s cheek, caressing it softly. “Because we are bonded. We belong together.”
Pressing the knife deeper, he drew a tiny stream of blood. Doria didn’t flinch. “I remember everything!” he shouted. “I remember how you attacked us in the Gate Run. I remember the way you treated everyone else in the Spike. You know what I think? I think if you got hold of the Black Star, you would be worse than Aldemar or Shea!”
A flash and a rumble from the hill drew their attention.
“Shea and Shri are fighting,” Doria said. “Javid, we want the same thing. You and I both want to see Shea lose.”
Looking at those dark eyes and those soft red lips nearly convinced him. Stop, he told himself. What am I doing? This is Doria Tamarian, the woman who can move the very earth to get what she wants. Right now, I’m lucky to be alive. If she didn’t have feelings for me... If she wasn’t going easy on me... I would already be dead.
Shaking off the weight of his emotions, he leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Back at the Spike, you taught me to survive. Play the game, knowledge is everything, never let your guard down.”
“Yes, yes!” She let out a soft laugh. “I knew you understood!”
“Better than you know.”
She gasped as Javid’s blade entered her stomach.
The world became silent.
“You told me that you and Shea are connected,” he said. “Your death will distract her, and Shri will win.”
A sense of relief welled inside Javid, a sense of justice, but it was overshadowed by sadness. He would finally be free. This woman had used him, but she had touched something inside him. He had glimpsed the humanity behind her cold eyes. Pushing his blade into her made him feel treacherous.
A trickle of blood dribbled from her mouth. Collapsing into Javid’s arms, she whispered, “Stupid boy... We could have had it all...”
His hand shook as he pulled the blade out. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, tears rolling down his face. “This is what you made me.”
An explosion from a couple of blocks away startled him. Wiping his tears away, he turned to see what had happened, but before he could raise his guard, the earth opened beneath him and dragged him down to his neck, then closed around him. Doria stagge
red to her feet, blood from her wound spattering the earth. Her eyes gleamed as she looked at Javid with a mixture of pain and fury, her hand hovering in the air as she debated whether or not to crush him. For a moment, the earth around Javid’s body quaked, and he believed he was going to die.
Doria faltered, the anger on her face melting into anguish. She doubled over in pain, spun around, and with a lash of her arm, opened a portal. Staggering through, she vanished in a blue flash.
Instantly, Javid’s rocky prison weakened, and he used his own magic to push himself to the surface. As he climbed out of the fissure, he pushed thoughts of Doria and the fear of her revenge aside. He had only one thing in his mind.
He had to find Shri.
ROXANA LED SHRI FORWARD. People rushed past them, screaming, crying, and pleading. Shri wanted to help them, but she knew she was the only one who could put an end to this attack. If she killed Shea, it would all be over. She had the Heart, she had her magic. She was ready.
I can end this. The thought pushed her forward.
"Here!" Roxana yelled and circled a corner. They were nearly at the harbor, where the most intense fighting was going on, when the house in front of them collapsed. The walls crumbled, enormous logs from the roof falling in a puff of dust and smoke. Shri could no longer see Roxana.
"Roxana!" she screamed.
She found her friend buried under a pile of coarse wood, her face pale and sweaty.
Roxana tried to move, but she stopped with a grimace. "The logs are too heavy. My leg is broken, Shri. You need to go on alone.”
"I’ll get you out first." Shri tried to lift the wood with her bare hands. It didn't move.
"I’ll be okay, Shri!” Roxana said. “Go stop that witch. Put an end to this."
“The flames will consume you,” Shri said. She stood up, reaching for her Fountain to locate the proper spell to move the heavy log. Instantly, a powerful magical surge forced her to the ground.