“Rafe!”
“Ana!”
She clutched his fingers. He grasped hers. They were floating, flying, racing through oblivion together.
57
Xander
The cool kiss of water woke Xander. His head throbbed and the world spun as he opened his eyes, awareness coming slowly. Gentle trickling filled his ears, then cries and screams, then the grating groan of stone, and suddenly it all came rushing back. The House of Wisdom had fallen, taking him with it.
The gods!
Xander jumped to his feet. His clothes were soaked and sticking to him like a second skin. A stream rushed over his toes, flowing up to his ankles. Unlike his home when it fell, the ground didn’t sway or bobble in the sea. It was steady. But the rocks were porous, and the city lay deep underground. If he didn’t get out, he’d drown. It was only a matter of time.
Heart lurching, he spun. The air was alive with the flurry of wings. People pounded at the ceiling. They circled, zipping this way and that, like bugs in a jar, fighting inevitable suffocation. Where the dark opening of the tunnel should have been, there was nothing but a mound of collapsed rubble. Owls dug at the stones, flinging them away, but for every one that was removed, two more slid into place. Liquid seeped through the cracks, flowing faster with each passing second. The barrier acted like a dam, keeping them alive even as it killed them.
They were stuck.
They were trapped.
I won’t let it end like this.
His vision spotting and his skull pounding, Xander took to the air and surveyed the masses for the telltale flash of amber silks.
There.
“King Sylas!” he shouted, but the name died on his lips as he neared.
The king wasn’t moving. He lay sprawled across the castle courtyard, the wall beside him crumbled, his forehead stained red. The queen knelt over him, her body trembling as her warm honey wings spread wide, trying to shield him from view. Prince Nico and his mate stood to the side, grief-stricken as they clung to one another. Guards stood around the family in a protective ring, though the rest of the owls seemed too busy trying to escape to even notice their fallen king. When Xander landed in the circle, no one tried to stop him.
“What happened?”
“The wall,” Prince Nico said, his voice thick.
“Is he breathing?”
The prince could only shake his head.
Heaviness pulled at Xander’s heart. He understood this specific hurt rather well—he’d felt it twice before. And though he longed to give the family space to mourn, this was the sacrifice that being royal exacted. Private pain had to wait. Their people needed them.
“I’m sorry for your loss, truly I am, but we need to find a way out of here.”
Prince Nico nodded, his warm brown eyes glazed and unseeing.
Xander put a hand to his shoulder. “The tunnel collapsed. Is there another way out of the city? A secret passage? Air holes? Anything?”
“I— I don’t—” The prince shook his head, unable to speak as he turned back to his father, his gaze growing distant once more.
“There are air passages, but they’re too narrow to fit a body, and they’re blocked by metal bars above and below,” the princess said softly, studying Xander over her mate’s bowed spine. “I don’t know of any way out except the tunnel. I’m sorry.”
He glanced toward the queen, but before he could even speak her name, a wail spilled from her lips and her body began to shake anew. If she knew anything, she was beyond telling him—she and the prince both.
If the tunnel was the only way…
If there were no air holes…
If there was no backup exit…
The ceiling overhead shone copper in the firelight as shadows danced along the layers of sediment. Cracks marred the once-smooth surface. Stalactites that had been dry for centuries now glistened with an ominous sheen. Many of the vast columns holding the cave aloft still stood, though an area on the northern side had fared worse than most. Three of the library’s pillars had fallen, all right next to each other, and dust clouded the air as loose boulders ground together, fighting the downward pull. That was the way out, but he’d need help.
He’d need magic.
Dark humor made Xander’s lips twitch. Of course it came down to this. The very thing his people had spent their lives persecuting was the only thing that might save them, if—and it was a big if—he could find someone willing to step forward.
“Is there a horn?” Xander blurted, asking everyone and no one, his mind racing. “Is there an alarm, some way to cut through the chaos?”
Silence greeted him. The princess watched him uncertainly. The prince and queen hadn’t even heard. The guards shifted their weight but maintained their positions, unsure whom to obey.
Xander took a deep breath and strengthened his tone. “Is there—”
“Yes.” One of the guards broke rank and stepped forward, a clear tremor in his voice, from fear or sadness Xander didn’t know. “It’s built into the castle.”
“Go now and use it. I need to get the people’s attention.”
The guard spared a glance at his leaders, then took to the sky. Xander followed, searching for a prominent spot where he’d be seen from every vantage point in the city. The top of the castle would have to do. He landed on the tallest spire, watching owls dash across the sky, their panic thickening the air. His voice alone would never catch their attention. Where was the horn? This had to work. This—
The stones beneath his feet vibrated. His heart skipped a beat, worry tightening his throat, but it wasn’t another earthquake. A low hum coursed through the air, almost like a mournful cry. No one listened. No one stopped. Suddenly, the sound ballooned. The brassy note blared into a bellowing call that reverberated across the cavern, bouncing off stone, crashing and booming. A ringing filled his ears as a quiver coursed down his spine.
One by one, the owls dropped from the skies. He couldn’t tell if it was obedience or if they simply couldn’t fly with the sound waves thrumming through the air. The cacophony of feathers died away. The city grew still. The droning of the horn gradually faded, the echoes lingering in the silence left in its wake.
“People of Rynthos!” Xander shouted across the quiet. No one paid him any mind—a foreign king, a raven, an outsider. He cupped his hands around his mouth and infused an authority he wasn’t entirely sure he felt into his next words. “People of Rynthos, listen to me if you want to make it out of the city alive!”
Faces turned. The hairs at the back of his neck rose, an awareness of being at the center of something. It was a feeling he’d often run from, preferring the solitude of his books and the quiet halls of the castle, comfortable staying at home on the isle he knew rather than dreaming of the world beyond. But that fear had changed. Someone needed to step up, to lead, and Xander could be that person—not just for the ravens, but for his world.
“I know you’re scared. I am too—of what’s happening to our homes, of never seeing the sky again, of the unknown. But we’ve been a people guided by fear for far too long. We let it cage us in. We let it suffocate us. And we’ve lived so safely in our prison, we stopped seeing it for what it was. The bars no longer keep our enemies out, they hold us in, and I say no more. There is someone in this room right now who can save us, someone with a power given by the gods, a power we scorned and cast aside because we were afraid—but they are afraid too. Every day, they live in terror that their secret will be found out, that their life will be forfeit, that their loved ones will be left alone, and for what? Vesevios’s greatest power is the one we’ve given him—the fear we hold in our hearts and our minds. But now here we are, at the end of everything, our homes fallen into the Sea of Mist and the god stones failing us, yet where is he? Together, we are stronger than he can ever be. United, we can overcome. So I beg of you, please, let it go. Step out of the cage. Don’t be afraid of what you don’t understand. Accept it. Embrace it, here and now. And if you a
re that person in the crowd with the magic to help us escape, please, in the name of all the gods, reveal yourself. I know you’ve been wronged, and though the past can never be undone, we can move forward, together, to a new future.”
Xander breathed deeply, his heart pounding in his chest as he waited. The city was utterly silent, nothing except the trickle of water, reminding all of them that time wasn’t on their side. No wings moved. No voice called. With each passing moment, the air tightened like a vice around his throat.
Please. Please.
Someone was out there, he knew it. Lyana had found mages among the citizens of all the other houses, and Rynthos would be no different. He just needed to convince them it was safe, not in the dark hours of night as she had done, but right now, with everyone watching.
“Please,” he shouted again. “For all our sakes—”
“No!”
The shout cut across the rooftops, a woman’s voice, high pitched with terror. Xander jerked his head to the side in time to see someone rise from the streets, their wings beating fast and their flight erratic. A moment later, he realized why—it was a boy. He was small, his feathers little more than fluff, but as he soared across the city, he seemed more courageous than any grown man Xander had ever known. Behind him, being held back by two owls, his mother cried, tears glistening on her cheeks as her whimpers carried softly through the quiet.
“I can help,” the boy said as he landed on the castle spire. “I want to help.”
“Thank you,” Xander said as he knelt to meet the boy at eye level. He took the child’s hand and held it to his chest, overcome by the sight of such innocent bravery. “What is your magic?”
The boy pulled his bottom lip into his mouth as his brows furrowed, the first flicker of uncertainty flashing in his gray eyes. But there was a stubborn determination in them too, one that almost reminded Xander of Cassi. He lifted his hand, the slightest tremor to his fingers as he waved them sideways. The water saturating the fibers of Xander’s shirt sprang free of the threads, then floated for a moment in the air before dropping to the stones like rain. A collective gasp filled the cavern.
He was a water mage.
A feeling of defeat carved a hole in Xander’s chest, but he lifted his hand to the boy's cheek, keeping a warm smile on his face. “That was amazing.”
And it was. It just wasn’t the type of magic they needed.
But maybe the boy could hold back the flood in the tunnel. Maybe it would give them enough time to dig through the debris. Lyana and Rafe knew where he was. Maybe a delay was all they needed. A group of mages might already be on their way. For all he knew, they might already be aboveground, trying to break their way in. Maybe—
“I can help.”
The words were softly spoken, the voice deep and aged, but they rang loudly across the city, carried along by whispers. A man took to the air, his focus not on Xander but on the boy, as though the sight of such courage had left him in awe. Though his skin was wrinkled and his hair peppered gray, he flew with strength and precision before landing on the castle in a proud stance, his chin tipped defiantly.
“I can move the earth,” he said, then swallowed, his shoulders wilting slightly, though it was hard to tell if the weight was being lifted or made heavier. Turning away from Xander, he scanned the skyline of his home, taking a moment to memorize it as though it might be his last chance. With a resigned breath, he glanced back at Xander. “That’s what you’re looking for, right? I might be able to collapse part of the ceiling.”
“There’s a section—”
“The northern edge, I agree. As soon as it’s been cleared of people, I’ll do my best to form an opening. And you…” He paused and took the boy by the shoulders. “Return to your mother and never scare her like that again.”
“But I—”
“You’re brave,” the man said, “far braver than most, especially me. And you’ve already done the most important thing—you stepped forward when no one else would. But now it’s time to step back and stay safe. I’ll take it from here.”
He nudged the boy between his wing joints, prompting him to leave. Then he beat his own wings, stirring the air.
“I hope you meant what you said,” the mage whispered, all his focus on the stone overhead. The words, though, were for Xander. “I’m an old man. I’ve lived my life. But that boy deserves a future. Remember that when all this is over.”
“I will,” he promised, but the man was already gone. “All right,” Xander shouted, returning to the task at hand. “We need to clear out the northern section of the library.”
The owls listened. Under his guidance, they scattered to safer locations. Anyone who couldn’t fly was given aid, until the area was clear. Then, as one, they watched the mage stand alone beneath the cracked ceiling and save them. A day before, he would have been their nightmare. Now he was a hero. Chunk after chunk of the cavern gave way, falling with unnatural control toward the ground. When the cracks along a different part of the ceiling began to spread, he sealed them. When a nearby column swayed, he steadied it. The power was invisible yet undeniable, especially as a rush of cool, fresh air swept in, tasting of freedom.
The mage went through the opening first to make sure it was safe. When he returned, the city began to empty—not in a mad rush but, as Xander bid, in a controlled and orderly fashion, until he was the last soul left. Alone in the quiet, he surveyed the vast columns filled with books, the entrances to the archival tunnels, the winding streets. Someday he prayed Rynthos would thrive again, not as a secret underground world, but out in the open for all to enjoy. Right then and there, he promised he would live to see the revival, not just here, but across all the houses now left desolate upon the sea.
Xander would save them.
He would build a new world, one where his brother could stand by his side, and Lyana could be free, and Cassi could be his. The isles were falling. Magic was everywhere. The old ways were over, and to them, he bid good riddance. It was long past time to change the rules. Together, they’d create brand-new ones, better ones, built on love instead of fear, the way the gods had always intended.
With that promise in his heart, he finally flew through the gaping hole and into the thick fog. He’d told the people to make for Sphaira, yet as he emerged into the mist, a flutter at the back of his neck pulled his gaze from the vast gray overhead. A figure stood by the rim of the crater, shrouded in the haze, little more than a dark outline, yet his heart skipped a beat. He recognized the bend of her wings and the curve of her hips. He knew the silhouette of her face. What was she doing here?
Xander landed on the rocky ground, closing the distance between them. Cassi remained frozen as he neared. With each step, the fog dissipated, revealing why. Tears spilled from her eyes, drawing sharp lines down her mud-stained cheeks. Her arms were brown up to the elbows. Her clothes were caked in dirt. Blood coated her fingers, the nails cracked and broken, her skin covered in scrapes, as though she’d literally dug her way out of an early grave.
“What happened?” He ran to her and took her by the hand. “Who did this to you?”
“No one,” she whispered. Her lips trembled as she spoke. Her silver eyes were wide with shock. “I— I— Rafe told me to come save you, so I did, but the tunnel had caved in, and then I saw you facedown on the street. I tried to touch your mind, but I couldn’t. I thought— I thought—”
Her voice cracked, and in that broken sound, he realized the truth. She hadn’t dug her way out of anywhere. She’d been trying to dig her way in, to get to him, to save him.
Xander pressed her hand to his chest, so she could feel his heart beating. “I was knocked unconscious during the fall, but I’m fine, Cassi. I’m alive.”
“You’re alive,” she repeated, as though afraid it wasn’t true.
“I’m right here.”
Light filled her eyes, a glow so bright the mist receded, and she flung herself into his arms. He caught her around the waist and held her to h
is chest. She trembled against him, crying with relief as she buried her face into his neck. Xander held her, acutely aware that he never wanted to let go. Though she had said she wanted sunshine and unhurried words, that wasn’t their life. Their life was here, now, enshrouded in fog and covered in grime as the world ended all around them. Their life was a countdown. Every moment was precious, and he wouldn’t waste another one. There was no perfect. This was perfect—her arms wrapped around his neck and her laughter in his ears, her body pressed tight to his and her warmth sinking into his skin.
Any moment they were together was the right moment, so he pressed his nose into her hair, his lips skimming over the soft skin of her neck, and whispered, “I love you.”
Cassi jerked back and dropped her feet to the ground as she searched his eyes for the truth. He lifted his hand to her cheek.
“I wanted to tell you before. I wanted to tell you so many times, but—”
The words were lost as she gripped the back of his head and pulled his face down to hers. Their mouths came together in a searing kiss that he felt all the way to his toes. She’d been right. This was so much better than a dream, a moment worth waiting for, because the heat running through his blood was real and the sighs in his ear were hers and they were touching each other with an honesty only the waking world could provide. His movements were a bit awkward, hers were a bit aggressive, yet he wouldn’t change a thing. She tugged at his hair and nipped his bottom lip. He slid his arm around the small of her back, pulling her closer as they stumbled over the uneven dirt. The world faded. It could have ended right then and there, and he didn’t think he’d notice. As his head grew light and their breathing turned ragged, he didn’t want to stop, not even to come up for air. He wanted to live in this small pocket of infinity with her.
The boulder on the ground, however, had other plans.
Xander’s toe caught the rock and he tripped, falling forward as his wings flapped to catch him. Cassi wasn’t so lucky. Her less agile owl wings unfurled a moment too late and she smacked butt first into the soil. By the time Xander landed on his knee at her side, an apology surging up his throat, laughter was already spilling from her lips. She hugged herself around the middle and let her head fall back, succumbing to her joy. Curious relief replaced the panic and he exhaled heavily, not sure if he’d ever seen her so happy. Her mirth was infectious, and it brought a grin to his lips despite the reality of their situation. The world was ending. Their homes were still falling into the sea. Their way of life was over. But within so much darkness, he supposed the only way to keep going was to follow the light.
The Dragon and the Queen (The Raven and the Dove Book 3) Page 41