“I don’t know what’s going to happen. But I will be by your side, and we will survive whatever comes. I can promise you that. Because what we’ve been building toward these past weeks is so much bigger than all of this. I don’t know where our path leads, but I know you were destined for something great. Something that will change the course of history and restore this realm to what it once was. I promise that every single thing I have concealed has been for the greater good. I know that’s impossible to believe right now, but it’s true. All that I do is for you,” he said, the expression in his eyes so pure I couldn’t help but be melted by it. “Always,” he finished, softer now. And even though it was just a single word, it seemed like a promise forged by magick and fate.
I crumbled just enough to let him back in, though I knew rationally that we would never be the same. He was right. It was impossible to ask me to believe in him fully. Not now. Maybe not ever—and that thought was crushing.
With an impending battle on the horizon, I refused to squander these last moments on fear and anger. As foolish as it might’ve been, I walked to him, and I let him pull me into his chest. He relaxed as I did, and he rested his chin on my head.
“I will not let anything happen to you,” he repeated softly.
“Because I’m your pet?”
After a beat he laughed, the sound welcome to my ears after the day we’d had. “Of course, that’s what bothered you most after all of that,” he chuckled, kissing the top of my head.
“I wouldn’t say most,” I said, unable to match his laughter as I faced the impending storm.
He lifted me into his arms, and in a flash of movement managed to throw me on the bed and pin me under him.
“However, you are mine,” he growled, grabbing my face in his hands.
I nodded, breathless and so close to losing myself in his possessive eyes. But I didn’t.
I couldn’t.
He rested his head against mine. “But I am also yours.”
I was strangely devoid of the anxiety I knew I should’ve had, knowing that at any moment Daelon’s defenses could be breached by some cruel, power-hungry witch king. The thing about inevitability was that it was going to happen whether I was anxious or not. I refused to waste my energy on what I couldn’t control.
Let Lucius come. Let our world come crashing down. Like those who came before me—whose strength flowed through my magick, whose whispers reminded me I was a part of something much bigger than myself—I would fight.
Daelon had been on high alert the rest of the night, wrapping his arms around me possessively once we retired to bed. So when his body twitched next to mine signaling he’d fallen asleep, I was more than surprised. I figured he’d continue his hypervigilance until the early hours of the morning given the circumstances.
I frowned, listening to his slowed breathing. I couldn’t fall asleep without at least making a lap around the perimeter, and lucky for me, I knew just how to do that without leaving Daelon’s arms.
I relaxed each muscle in my body one by one, envisioning the other times I’d floated up out of my body as I breathed deeply. After a while I began to feel the familiar tingling, which turned into more violent vibrations as I leaned into them. The usual popping and ambient sounds filled my eardrums, and I heard someone call my name. I began to detach, floating upward at my own accord this time.
When I opened my eyes, I was midair between the bed and the ceiling, casting a glance back at my body eclipsed by Daelon’s before rising up past the roof. I followed the light that shone from my physical body up into the sky. Once I was high above the house, I searched for Daelon’s protective barrier. It was just as bright as before, encircling the forest around the house.
I swooped down toward the outskirts of the property, flying past the tops of trees and coming to a halt just above the ground. I tentatively touched down to the earth, digging my feet into the snow. The magickal force field resembled more of a wall from this perspective, rising as tall as the evergreens. It shimmered a whitish glow, opaque enough for me not to be able to see through.
I reached a hand to it, yelping when it shocked me. It felt decisively solid and impenetrable. I took a step back, satisfied with its energetic sturdiness. Snow had begun to fall, dusting the ground in a thin layer of powdery white.
The hairs on the back of my neck suddenly bristled, and a chill ran down my body. I got the distinct sense that I was being watched, but I couldn’t see through the barrier. I backed up, concentrating on seeing past the wall of energy into the forest beyond. Just as the beyond came into vision, revealing nothing but moonlit evergreens and brush, I heard whispering from behind me. The voice was low and masculine.
I spun around, peering into the darkness to see a man kneeling in the dirt with his eyes closed. I crept closer, the wind biting as it carried the now heavy fall of snow. My heart beat violently in my chest, and dread pooled in my gut. I became aware of two things instantaneously as the moon illuminated this intruder: It was Lucius, and he was not in his astral form.
I held my breath, staring straight at him as he rose to stand. He’d stopped whispering, and a slow smile lifted the corners of his lips. His eyes darted all around, and I remembered he couldn’t see me.
“I know you’re here,” he said. He was dressed in regal gold and black attire, his hair in perfect, loose, black curls peeking out from beneath his golden crown. “I feel your presence.”
How did you get past the barrier? I asked him, trying to sound strong. Somehow, I knew I could only communicate telepathically cross-dimensionally.
I watched Lucius stand in the snow in utter horror, his energy somehow even more crippling and violent in the flesh. The black smoke of his aura held the screams of thousands, and it whispered tales of utter destruction from mass death, torture, and suffering.
Daelon’s voice sounded in my mind from memory: We’ve run out of time.
Lucius laughed. “What barrier?”
I breathed erratically, a lump forming in my throat. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. This didn’t make any sense. My astral body started to feel heavy, burdened by a sudden, overwhelming desire to sleep.
What are you doing?
“I’m not doing anything,” he said, pacing around me, his eyes still unable to pinpoint my location. “What I would be concerned about, however, is what’s happening to your physical body.”
I felt my eyes begin to droop, feet cemented in place. I didn’t understand, but I knew I had to get back to warn Daelon. I thought back to my body in his arms, praying that whatever Lucius was doing hadn’t affected him yet.
Chapter 22
I snapped back into my body, still fighting off impending sluggishness that threatened to pull me into its unconscious depths. I fought to open my eyes, and when the dark room came into focus, I found Daelon standing over me, chanting something with his hand on my shoulder.
My face contorting in confusion, I pushed his hand away. He was the one who was using magick against me. His eyes snapped open as if pulled from a trance.
“Daelon, what are you doing?” I sat up, crawling away from him.
He didn’t look like himself, a deep pain shimmering in his glassy eyes. My mind flashed to Lucius’s whispers in the woods.
“Áine, I need you to trust me,” he pleaded.
“He’s controlling you again,” I said. Fury rose within me. I built up my defenses, putting a psychic wall between us.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I said, my voice shaking. “But I’m going to need you to keep your distance.”
I rolled over to the other side of the bed, quickly moving to my feet as I shook off the last remnants of whatever magick Daelon was using at Lucius’s will.
He held up his hands as if to placate me. “You don’t understand.”
“Then explain it to me, damn it.”
I kept the distance between us as I weighed my options. Daelon stood next to the door, which meant I would need to find a way to s
ubdue him, so I could find Lucius and break whatever hold he had over him.
He ran a hand through his hair. “I know you think the way out of this is to fight him. But you can’t win, Áine. Not right now, at least. You aren’t meant to yet.”
“What are you even saying? You want me to just let him kill us?”
I eyed the door, and Daelon stiffened, his features darkening.
“He’s not going to kill you. He wants you to go with him.”
I scoffed. “Go with him where? You’re not making any sense. He’s literally evil, Daelon. He probably killed my mothers and my people, and your parents too.” I remembered seeing Daelon as a little boy, stricken with fear after watching someone kill his father.
He seethed, his jaw clenching. He moved away from the bed slowly, blocking the door from view. He shook his head, straining as if fighting an invisible force.
He was fighting Lucius.
“You said you were going to trust me. He’s not making me do anything right now. I know that it doesn’t make sense to you at the moment, but you know I would never let anyone hurt you.”
“Get away from the door,” I said. This didn’t feel right. Daelon would never tell me not to fight. What else had we been training for all this time?
“Áine,” Daelon said, slowly and deliberately. “I won’t let you fight him. This is your best chance of finding out who you are and fulfilling your purpose.”
I felt my power rise up all around me, ready to be used for its most important task to date.
“I’ve done all I could to prepare you in what little time we’ve had,” Daelon said quietly. “Hold on to it all. I’ve never lied to you.”
“I think it’s my turn to protect you now,” I whispered, preparing myself for what I had to do next.
I wasn’t sure what lies he’d been fed or spell he’d fallen under, but Daelon wasn’t on my side right now, and I knew in my body and soul that Lucius wasn’t someone to be trusted. He was the evil my people rose up against.
I started to channel.
“Don’t do this. Just stay with me,” Daelon pleaded one last time. “I love you.”
I stopped, momentarily stunned. These were not words we’d said aloud. Tears welled in my eyes as I studied him, watching his chest rise and fall rapidly as he begged with his eyes for me not to fight.
My heart physically ached as I shook my head in confusion. I took a determined step forward as I wiped the stray tear from my cheek. “I—I’m sorry,” I choked out.
Daelon took in a deep breath, his body stiffening. His forehead creased, his gaze traveling off into the distance like he wasn’t in this room with me any longer.
I recalled the time I’d heard voices in Daelon’s room, the lump in my throat growing. “You’re talking to him right now,” I realized aloud. Had they been communicating this whole time?
I stepped forward again and felt the atmosphere between us grow thick and heavy like an invisible wall. I gasped.
“You let him in,” I said in an accusatory whisper, sending my power out to dissolve the defenses Daelon was constructing.
He didn’t answer me, his face contorting in exertion. His magick shattered like glass into millions of shimmering pieces. He was no match for me.
I bit my lip. I didn’t want to do this, but I had no other choice. He wasn’t going to move unless I made him.
I reached out through space and pulled him from the door, crying out as he fought against me with his own power. He’d never used magick against me like this before.
Had he told me he loved me as a way to manipulate me? Just thinking it broke my heart.
In a sudden burst of anger, I sent him flying into the wall to my right, next to the bathroom’s double doors. He crashed hard with a thud then fell to the floor in a motionless heap, and it took every ounce of my emotional strength to leave him there as I rushed through the door.
I quickly slid into some sneakers I’d left in the living room and pushed through the glass paneled door to the back deck. A couple inches of snow had gathered on the ground now, coating the patio in a delicate blanket of white. I started down the stairs before realizing I had a more efficient form of transportation.
I hesitated. I had said that if Daelon wasn’t who he said he was then I would go off on my own. I could try to find what was left of my people. I could figure out who I was on the run. But could I outrun Lucius?
I sighed in frustration. I couldn’t bring myself to abandon Daelon. Not when I didn’t know the extent of Lucius’s hold over him. Not when—even if I couldn’t say it—I loved him, too.
I balled my hand into a fist, my lips pressed together in a hard line. I needed to find this evil so-called king and end him. He clearly would never leave me alone until I did.
I reached out with my mind, searching around for his energy. An image of him leaning against a tree flashed through my head. A haunting smile played at his lips. I gripped the handrail and willed myself there, the scenery around me blurring and then refocusing in less than a second.
“Isn’t this a surprising turn of events,” Lucius said, moving his hands as he spoke. It seemed that everything was some sort of performance to him.
“Get out of his head,” I snarled. “And I will consider doing what you ask. Just leave him alone.” That was a lie, but I would’ve said anything to get him to stop.
Lucius shook his head, looking at me with distinct pity. It only made me angrier. “You poor thing. I almost feel sorry for you. It takes a special sort of… weakness to believe in a false sense of reality so fervently.” He smiled, stepping closer to me. “To be so blind.”
The blood in my veins turned fiery, the warmth from my magick protecting me from the biting wind against my thin sweater.
“I’m not in Daelon’s mind,” he said, as if he was spelling out a simple concept for a child. “That’s a hard thing to do, given the whole shielding business.”
“You’ve done it before,” I said, trying to sound unbothered even as he made me question everything.
“Ah yes, that was quite amusing.” Lucius looked off into space, chuckling to himself like it was a pleasant childhood memory.
I had to block out the dark energy that radiated from him once more. It was too distracting—sour and reeking of death as it slithered into my perception.
“You’re going to be difficult about this, aren’t you?”
I opened my mouth and then closed it. Why was he so cavalier about finally finding me after all this time?
“You should just be happy I decided not to kill you. Because I could have. And I still could if you try my patience.” He paused, a sickly smile taking place. “Though, maybe a little fighting back before you submit wouldn’t be the worst thing. Your pain is the most delicious of all.”
I wrinkled my nose in disgust. I didn’t know what to say. My head was spinning, and my chest was weighed down with a sense of understanding I didn’t want to accept. “I’m not going anywhere with you,” I settled on, planting my feet firmly in the ground.
Lucius studied me, his eyes narrowing. “Well, yes you are. And so is Daelon once he brushes himself off.” He glanced down at his watch as if he had somewhere more interesting to be.
I backed away, beginning to channel the forces around me. They were turbulent and wild in Lucius’s presence, spitting and hissing like a host of scorned spirits. This power was angry. It recognized who he was and what he’d done, and they recoiled against the sheer unnaturalness of his power.
I flashed back to what Daelon had said about the magick that my body rejected—how he suspected that it had to do with my very existence. I wondered what that meant about Lucius’s existence, and how he had access to so much destructive, corrupted power.
“I think it takes a special kind of weakness to be so insecure about your own strength,” I said. “We will not be going with you.” My power seemed to agree with me, even as Lucius bared his teeth, and his eyes turned deadly.
“I don’t t
hink Daelon did an adequate job teaching you of your place,” he said, looking me over like I was something to be assessed and judged. “But I’m more than willing to fill in the gaps.”
I bristled. My power began to take over like it had when I fought the energy vampires or Nathaniel. I started to feel the familiar head high, like I was walking on air—not tied to my body or bound to the earth any longer. The strength I borrowed from the people who came before me yearned to see Lucius fall.
When Lucius made his first strike it was in a burst of black fire, leaping out at me through the snowy air as it crackled and hissed. It was a spell that sought to cause excruciating pain.
I countered it with a force of my own, a natural reflection of the connection I could feel but could not see, and as I watched my magick neutralize the spitting black curse I realized yet again that I was not the one who was alone.
The fire dissipated into cloudy mist, but Lucius snarled and came back harder, sending another cruel blast through the space between us. I held his gaze as I let the magick nearly reach me before countering it at the last moment. It dissipated up into the air in charcoal smoke, screaming like the cries of fallen innocents and gruesome torture. I grimaced, barely holding back a gag.
Lucius paused, his anger melting. “Sorry, hold on a moment. What is that face you keep making?” Lucius asked, bemused as he raised his brows. “You made it in the astral realm, too.”
I faltered, incredulous. We were literally in the middle of a battle in which I fully intended to kill him, and he was asking about my facial expressions?
“Your energy,” I hissed. “It’s putrid.”
He cocked his head, the corners of his mouth turning up in amusement as he narrowed his gaze. “You’re an energy reader,” he said. “Bet that doesn’t work on Daelon. Or else I don’t think we’d have made it this far.”
We? Who was we? I felt so far out of the loop that he might as well have been speaking a different language. In my confusion I let my protection slip, and Lucius took his opportunity to force my body forward, my feet dragging in the snow as I struggled against the pull toward him.
The Discovered Page 23
