The Ascended: The Eight Wings Collection

by Akeroyd, Serena

  When neither of us replied, he murmured, “She must have done it because you weren’t going to help her.”

  Riel’s head whipped around to stare at him. “So this is my fault?”

  I cringed. “No one’s allaying blame here, Riel.”

  Her mouth pursed into a tight ring. “I wouldn’t blame you. All of this, all this shit, it is my fault. All my fucking fault.” She reached up and scrubbed her hands over her face. “This is—”

  “We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for you,” Matthew stated, more collected than ever. “But how many times, Riel? We are creatures who are versed in kismet. You are our destiny. We were born to be here. By your side. Acting as your…” He sighed. “I don’t know what we’re supposed to be. Since the meteor, everything’s changed. I figured we were supposed to be your protectors. But you don’t need us for that. You don’t—”

  She rushed over to him and before he could do more than blink, her arms were around his waist and she was huddled into him. “Don’t say that.”

  He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head and closed his eyes. I watched the intimate move with no distress. I wasn’t even jealous, because there was nothing to be jealous about.

  If any woman alive needed three males to keep her on the straight and narrow, it was Riel.

  Being her Virgo was a full-time job, and Sol, even the Fae needed to sleep. I needed Seph and Matthew’s help with my Virgo. I saw that now. She wasn’t a regular female, and she would never be satisfied with a regular male.

  “He’s right,” I said softly, breaking the love-in, because Seph’s breathing was making my own chest hurt. I’d never watched anyone die, but that was a death rattle if ever there was one. “We’re not your protectors. We’re not your warriors, which, sweetheart, means we’re something else entirely.”

  Matthew caught my eye. “What?”

  “We’re to help her. Gabriella wanted Seph to touch Lars’ wind for a reason. Whatever we’re supposed to do here, she knows. What do you reckon that all three of us are vital to doing whatever the fuck it is she wants?” I bit my lip. “I think we’ve been played. I think, all along, Gabriella has known what we must do, and she’s let us think we’re in charge. Has let Riel have her way, gone to the AFata to deal with them because, let’s face it, they’re allies now. She has no reason to fear them.”

  “But if it weren’t for the vision, we’d have been with the Assembly now,” Riel rasped, twisting in Matt’s arms to look at me. “What would have been her purpose there?”

  “I don’t have all the answers,” I stated. “I just think she knows more than she let on. She knew that old witch there. She wanted you to save her. Her motives are compromised.”

  Matt rubbed her arm. “He’s right. We can’t trust her. Whether she wanted us to go to the Assembly or whether she had a vision herself about us coming here, either way, I feel like she’s using us.”

  “My tatarabuela said the first families will know what to do when I come to them,” she said quietly, her eyes distant. Gaia help me, they were so distant they were on another plane entirely. “Lars wanted to offer his magic.”

  “He looked like he was offering his life,” Matt declared. “He looked scared. I was glad when Seph wanted answers first. That wasn’t right.”

  “Gabriella could have told you that she was the head of the first family, but she didn’t. She also said that she comes here often enough to know the way, but Lars didn’t know her, did he? You could see that. So who was she visiting?” My gaze drifted over to the witch, because I had a feeling I had my answer.

  Riel sucked in a breath. “What do I do?”

  “You save Seph,” Matt and I said in unison, but I carried on, “You save him because without him, you’ll be an empty shell. You save him because he is integral to you, and for whatever reason, you’re integral to a plan that has been centuries in the making.

  “I-I applaud you, Riel, for trying to stick to your guns. And sacrificing Seph is definitely one way to stick to your principles, but what are principles if you don’t have him?”

  She clenched her eyes closed. “How am I even questioning losing him? Why didn’t I instantly save him?”

  I licked my lips, treading warily now because the last thing you did when dealing with someone on the edge was point out how close to the edge they fucking were.

  But there was no prevaricating where this was concerned. There was no soothing ruffled feathers or trying to make her feel better.

  “I think your magic is going to your head.”

  For a second, the silver in her eyes glinted, then she whispered, “Maybe.” She pressed her knuckles to her temples in a way that had to hurt. I wanted to reach for her hand, wanted to kiss the knuckles she was scraping across that tender cartilage, but instead, I gave her free reign to act and move as she wanted—Riel was listening to us. I didn’t want to give her leave to stop.

  “You know things you shouldn’t, Riel,” Matt inserted, his gaze drifting to mine in approval—he agreed with what I was saying. “It’s there, in your eyes.”

  “I didn’t know this, did I?” she whispered. “Didn’t envisage this.”

  “No, but somehow you knew how to catch the AFata’s wind and use it to trap the battalion. Somehow, you knew where to put them. Somehow, somehow, somehow.”

  “It’s almost like your brain knows something but your hands are working separately,” Matthew mused, his brow puckering as he thought about what he was saying. “I don’t mean that to insult you, love, it’s just… something isn’t in sync.”

  “Probably because the power inside her wasn’t meant for one small, human frame.” I cut Gabriella a look. “She was genuinely taken aback when she realized what you’d done with the meteor, Riel. Whatever you were supposed to do, it wasn’t that.”

  Matthew’s nod was slow. “He’s right. She was surprised. She was angry. I think she thought it had killed you.”

  “So, whatever she wants, she doesn’t want me dead,” Riel spat bitterly. “At least, not yet.”

  I winced, wished I could smooth over that for her, but couldn’t. “I think that’s a fair assumption.”

  Seph punctuated my remark by releasing a shaky, soughing breath. The noise was loud enough to have Riel jerking, and when I looked, I saw her eyes were a bright blue. She rushed over, skidded onto her knees at his side, and then pressed her hands to his face. As I watched, curious now, I saw her eyes flitter over to the silver glint I was coming to recognize, and watched as she healed Seph, drawing the malady the old witch had cursed him with, and shedding it from him as though he were sloughing off an old skin.

  When he started coughing, he twisted onto his side. He was the same Seph as before, but what he coughed out was, in a word, gross.

  The black smoke spewed from him like it was a dark ribbon he’d somehow ingested. It was dense and pure in its color, and he choked on it as he hacked it out. Only once he was free from it, his face a bright red, did he throw himself onto his back and try to catch his breath.

  For a second, Riel watched him, and I took note of her eye color—silver.

  Her regard was clinical. It wasn’t Riel. There was no affection as she stared at him, there was no caring, no recognition even. Then, slowly, before my eyes, the silver began to recede to be replaced with the blue, and the second the blue was in play, the recognition was there.

  “Seph!” she sobbed, hurling herself at him, wrapping him up in her until he got enough strength back to lift his arms and curve them around her.

  I got to my feet, wanting to give them a private moment, then headed over to Matt.

  “What is it?” he asked quietly, his gaze focused on them.

  “The magic… it overtakes her.”

  He nodded. “I know.” Reaching up, he rubbed his chin. “When her eyes are silver, it’s like she’s not in there.”

  I tensed. “You noticed as well?”

  “Yeah. I did. When I approached her to hug her, they were bright silver.
Shining like a new coin. They were like that all through that little speech about how she couldn’t save him.” He released a shaky sigh. “The second they were blue again, she began to show emotions.”

  “What do we do?” I asked uneasily.

  “Keep her grounded.” He bit at the inside of his cheek, pulling the skin taut until I could see the small cavern he made. “The Rut… her tatarabuela said to fight it, but I don’t think she should. I think the Rut will unite us, forge us together.”

  “You’re only saying that because you don’t trust—”

  “And do you?” he blurted out.

  “No.” The answer was easily given, but nothing about this was easy. I thought about what had just happened, then something crossed my mind that prompted me to ask, “How did you know Trude was going to attack?”

  Unease passed over his face, tightening his lips with his misery. “I don’t know. I think it’s just another ‘gift.’ I sensed it back in the AFata’s office when that witch was going to attack us, and I did today.” He shrugged. “What use was it though when it was too late?”

  Empathy on his behalf filled me, but because I could see he wanted to wear a hair shirt over it, I didn’t linger over it, and went back to the original conversation—that was complicated and confusing enough to take anyone’s mind off things. Sweet Sol, a limerick had more reason and rhyme than what was going on here.

  Breath billowing out of me, I asked, “Riel’s great-great-grandmother can’t lie to us, right? She’s dead. For whatever reason, Riel is having these visions, surely the intention behind them is pure.”

  He winced. “True. But Gabriella definitely can’t be trusted.”

  “Agreed.” I thought about it for a second, then murmured, “Maybe the Rut is what brings Riel back to us. Maybe that’s the link. It would make sense, Matt. We have to believe the visions are Gaia granted, free from human taint.”

  This time, he didn’t just bite the inside of his cheek, he gnawed on it. “Yeah. I think you’re right.”

  I blew out a breath. “Look, if we truly believe in kismet, then we have to believe that everything really is happening for a reason. Not like with how Riel said, where it means we do whatever the fuck we want, but because our path was set in stone long before we were born.”

  He caught my eye. “Go on.”

  I dipped my chin. “Gabriella was surprised over Riel catching the meteor, but maybe Gaia knew that all along. We’re her Virgo, and we thought we were her protectors, like you said, but maybe Riel was always supposed to catch that meteor, maybe we were always supposed to be there at her side, helping her. And now, as we act, we’re there for her, grounding her, stopping her from going nuts, keeping her tied to us through our bond because that’s the only way to stop her from going completely off the rails.”

  For endless seconds, he didn’t say a word, then he nodded. “You’re right.”

  My eyes flared wide at that. “Sol help us, I am?”

  Despite the seriousness of the situation, his lips curved and he snickered. “You’re the one who came up with the theory. Why are you so surprised?”

  I shook my head. “I was hoping I was wrong.”

  “Maybe you are, because it is only a theory, but it ticks all the boxes, and it explains why Riel thought first instead of reacting when Seph was taken down.” His lips twisted into a snarl. “What better way to sabotage her than by taking one of her Virgo out of commission? By taking away the one means she has of staying grounded?”

  I tensed. “You think you, Seph, and me are in danger?”

  He stared at Seph and Riel who were still hugging. “I do.”

  Twelve

  Riel

  The white noise was louder than ever.

  It felt like I had a beehive taking root in my skull. The worst thing was, not even Seph was helping ease the noise. Earlier, being wrapped in Matt and Dan’s arms had helped, but something was different here.

  Something was still wrong.

  I pulled away to look at him, and saw his eyes were closed. His face was young again, and his body was no longer ill, but he was still plagued somehow. That had to be the reason why that incessant buzz hadn’t dissipated.

  He sensed my attention and opened his eyes. They weren’t the usual bright blue. They were darker.

  Smokier.

  Like the crap that had spilled from him when he’d hacked up his guts.

  “What is it, Riel?” he asked softly, sounding exactly like my Seph but somehow not.

  My mouth tightened. “Nothing.” After clearing my throat, I murmured, “We need to get you onto the sofa. Somewhere more comfortable.”

  He grimaced, a flash of pain creasing his brow. “I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck.”

  I clambered off him, then leaned down and helped haul him into a sitting position. By that point, Dan and Matt were there to help him, and their presence aided with the white noise between my ears.

  With that working theory, I released some of my magic’s hold on the old witch. Although my Virgo’s attention was elsewhere, their proximity to me eased that buzz, and I felt a little more in control than maybe I was supposed to be.

  Trude’s eyes flared open the instant I relinquished the full hold I had on her. If the guys had asked me to explain that, I wouldn’t have been able to. I had no idea how I’d been able to freeze time, no idea how I could knock her out while imprisoning her, and also, how I could relinquish a part of the hold I had on her while maintaining everything else on lockdown.

  I was well aware, from my own experiences, how far magic could travel. I knew she could get to us from here, and it wasn’t like she needed her fingers to do the pointing. Just releasing her to this extent was enough to put us all in danger, but, and call me crazy, I had a feeling of the two of us, I was the most dangerous.

  “It takes some strength to control me,” Trude grated out, her voice itching with annoyance at a thought process we were sharing.

  “If you don’t answer me, then you’ll be back right where you were,” I spat at her, feeling my Virgo tense up behind me.

  I received a cold scoff for my pains. “As far as I’m aware, you have yet to ask me anything.”

  Staring at her, just as cold as she, there was only one question to ask. “Why?”

  “That’s a loaded question. So many whys to query what I did with my life.” Her lips pursed. “Let’s start off easily. Why did I stay in this half-life for half a millennium?” When I nodded, her eyes burned with an inner fire. “That one is simple. I was waiting for you.”

  My throat closed at that.

  “Not the answer you wanted to hear?” Her lips curved. “Since the first of Sol’s gifts hit the Earth, the Fae have overtaken us. Run roughshod over our powers. Gaia and Sol seek equilibrium in all things. It was my duty to remain until someone was born who could see that through.”

  “Equilibrium?” I rasped.

  She blinked. “A world where the Fae aren’t lording it over the witches. A world where the witches take their rightful place. The Conclave have abused their position for too long by allowing the Assembly to get away with it. It is time we regained what was rightfully ours.”

  “And how can I do that?” I quizzed shakily.

  “You’re a child of three worlds. Born witch and Fae, raised human. But where the ‘angels’ are concerned, you’re one of the few who could gain access to the Assembly,” she sneered. “You think they allow witches anywhere near the hallowed halls of their government? Of course not. You have wings, and while they may think you lesser, they think more of you than they do the likes of the witches and humans.”

  “Why did you do that to Seph?” Dan snarled, his hands curved into fists as he faced the old witch. “What did injuring him have to do with any of this?”

  “Because she wasn’t going to help me, and I needed to be liberated,” she said simply.

  I turned to look at my mate. “What have you done to him?”

  Seph’s eyes drifted op
en, the move was languid, soft. He was awake but not alert. “What do you mean? I’m fine.”

  Everything inside me recognized that for the lie that it was—Good Gaia, even the white noise agreed, because it soared into a climax before settling into a deep buzz as I grumbled, “You’re the opposite.”

  “She’s right.” She caught my eye. “Consider him collateral.”

  “In what? You want me to do what you want?”

  “What I want is what Gaia wants. How do you think I survived this long? My magic is strong, always was, but enough to survive five centuries?” She sniffed. “The gods intervened. They knew you’d need help, and help I shall.”

  It was unwise to show her any weakness, so I scrubbed my hand over my face and hid my features from her for a blink of the eye.

  “How can you help me?”

  “You need guidance to craft the greatest weapon this planet has ever known.”

  Eyes flaring wide at that, I asked, “What? Why?”

  “The Fae respond only to might, so that is what we will give them.”

  “Explain,” I demanded.

  “Rude, isn’t she?” the witch said to my mates, but from their silence, I figured they weren’t going to apologize for my lack of manners.

  “If you prefer to return to the rictus I just imprisoned you in, then that can be arranged,” I warned.

  Her top lip curled in a sneer. “Think you could trap me in that once more?”

  “Oh, I know it.” And I did. I wasn’t sure how I did, granted, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t feel the power inside me.

  A breath gusted from her. “That’s the problem when you put the power of two gods into one being.” She rolled her eyes. “Arrogance.”

  “Hardly. You attacked my Virgo. You admit to using him as collateral to leverage me into doing as you bid. Which part of that should make me trust you?”

  Her lips flattened. “That was most unfortunate, but needs must.” She cut a look at my grandmother. “I see you treat all in the same manner. Friend or foe.”