by Jaymin Eve
In his place stood a … creature – ten feet tall, four feet wide, with roughly-textured skin that was brown and barky. Hybrid. Okay, now I knew what they meant by hybrid.
I stared and stared as his arms whipped out, turning into a long vine that cracked into nearby Daelighters, knocking them down. His legs did the same, shifting into ropey roots that tripped and tied up the resistance members.
“Leave now,” he roared, nothing like the calm warrior he had been five minutes earlier, his voice deep and sinister, echoing through my body and into the metal sheet I stood upon. It was scary. I found myself staring into his tree face, which no longer resembled anything human. It was golden brown; his eyes were the same color. A barky nose, slash of mouth, and terrifying eyes. It was singularly the coolest, and also scariest, thing I had ever seen.
Marsil joined him again. I hovered near the back, kicking out and hitting anyone who got too close. I knew I had my fire power to draw on, if needed, but I wasn’t sure I could handle more deaths on my conscience. Not unless there was absolutely no other option.
“Why would Laous send you all here?” Marsil was trying to shake answers out of a Darken member. “None of you are of overlord blood. Your energy is nothing to ours. What was the purpose?”
I caught a glimpse then of a familiar face, but before I could see if it was who I thought, the figure disappeared off the side of the platform. In my distraction, I missed the next attack, turning back in time to see one of the Royales flinging something at Marsil. The object moved faster than I could track, like a bullet. One minute it was in the blond female’s hand, the next it was in Marsil’s chest.
A scream ripped from my throat as I dived forward and caught Marsil just before he hit the ground. He was too heavy for me to hold up, but I managed to keep his head from smashing into the metal. Chase went crazy behind me, his vine-arms and root-like legs snapping back and forth in a rapid succession.
Resistance members tumbled down across the platform, and I saw more weapons appear in their hands. “Chase!” My voice was hoarse from shouting, but I tried again. “They have more weapons,” I told him, my hand on Marsil’s chest as I tried to stop the bleeding.
Just as I turned away, I saw Chase sweep out with his vines, and throw the remaining resistance members into the trees of house of Leights. The Galinta wrapped their branches around them, holding them in place.
Focusing on Marsil, I tried to figure out how to save the Daelighter bleeding to death right in front of me. My hand dropped to the long cylindrical, silver object that had pierced deep into his chest. I wrapped my fingers around the part still sticking out of him, but it felt so fragile as I tried to tug it out that I had to stop, afraid I would break it off.
“Legreto …” Marsil choked out.
I flung my head up from the object to meet his eyes. “Water? How will water help?” I asked frantically. I didn’t understand what he was saying.
A body dropped down at my side and I swung a fist without thought, cracking it into the side of his face. “Ommph,” Chase growled, knocked back onto his butt.
He rubbed his face and worked his jaw for a minute, while I profusely apologized. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize it was you.”
He just shook his head, already at my side again, his eyes on Marsil. There was so much more blood now, it seeped out of the wound, pooling around his body. I reached out to grasp the weapon again, but it was now no more than a small nub above his shirt. “What’s happening?” I cried, my voice breaking as more color faded from Marsil’s cheeks.
He was still conscious, but there was a glassiness to his eyes that worried me.
“Do you know how to save him?” I asked Chase, who had both hands clenched at his sides, gaze locked on the man before him. “He said ‘legreto,’” I tried again. “Help him!”
Chase shook his head. “I can’t…” He sounded devastated. “This is a weapon we have no defense against. It’s water weaponized using starslight stone. It forms a crystal, and if you don’t remove it immediately, it burrows into the chest and shatters, sending shards throughout your entire body, tearing you to pieces internally. It’s a practice that has been outlawed for hundreds of years. The knowledge of how to make this was lost. I don’t understand how...”
Emma’s necklace. That one piece of stone was giving Laous an entirely new arsenal to attack us with – the very reason I’d taken the risk to try and get it off him when he lured me from the school.
It was too late now, though. Too late for Marsil. The need to scream and cry rose in my chest. Pain was building within me, choking me. I reached forward to take Marsil’s hand. “It’s going to be okay,” I whispered to him, holding on as tight as I could.
I felt him squeeze one last time, and then his body bucked, straining as he opened his mouth and bellowed. My hand was being crushed, but I didn’t care. I held on, sending whatever comfort into him that I could. Marsil’s struggles and suffering lasted for far too long, until eventually his eyes closed, and he went limp. Blood slowly leaked from his nose and the corner of his mouth, and I cried out, my chest feeling like it had been crushed as tears tracked down my cheeks.
Chase let out a roar. Animals rose from the trees in the Leights’ land, looking like a mix of bird and fluffy bunnies. Whatever they were, they responded to his pain, and I started to cry harder, snot and tears running down my face, choking me. I didn’t care, though.
This couldn’t be happening.
He couldn’t be dead.
Needing to confirm it, I placed two fingers against his neck. The second person I’d had to feel for a pulse in the last twenty minutes. Nothing. I pressed harder, moving my hand around. Still nothing.
“Do you have a pulse like humans?” I choked out to Chase, who had finally fallen silent, his head lowered.
“Yes…” His tone was flat. “We are compatible with your species. We don’t have the exact same internal structure, but it is similar.”
The slightest vibration of fury shook in those last words.
“Can you get a message to Daniel and the others?” I asked, not ready to give up yet.
Chase’s chest heaved as he stood, lifting his face, which was back to its normal model-beauty. He stared out toward the glowing light ball. “As soon as I realized this was an ambush, I sent word. But they’re on Earth and have to get to a transporter. I expect they will be back any moment.”
A moment too late, were his unspoken words. I knew we were both thinking it. Marsil might not have been as close to Daniel and Chase as Lexen was, but he was still someone they obviously knew and respected. He was the brother of their best friend, and they would grieve for Lexen.
My eyes settled on what was left of the resistance. I hadn’t realized that Chase had killed a few; their bodies lay sprawled in tangled limbs and pools of blood, close to where the others were still secured to the trees. Fire rose in my blood and veins; I only just managed to stop myself from blasting out and incinerating the entire lot.
“We need to interrogate them,” Chase said, steel in his voice. “Learn everything we can about Laous, his plan, and who else is in this resistance. We have traitors in our houses, and if we don’t ferret them out soon, Marsil’s will not be the only death.”
His message was clear: Don’t burn them yet.
I dropped back to my knees and picked up Marsil’s hand. I wanted him to know he was not alone, that we were here with him. I had never been religious, but I was spiritual. I believed in fate. I believed there was more to this life than what we could see. So even if his heart was no longer beating, his spirit might still be around. And I would be with him. I would not leave him alone.
Closing my eyes, I held on, ignoring every ache and pain in my body. This moment was about a man who had protected me, who had held all of the Daelighters back when I had my little breakdown. He was a true hero, and I would honor him as such.
Chapter 16
The next thing I registered was my name being called by a voice
that had my heart twisting and stomach turning. Through my grief, there was a spark of hope, a spark of life again. Sitting with Marsil, my eyes closed as I held his limp hand, I had been in darkness. Not the same as when I was stuck in that tank of goo, but another sort, a sorrow and depression that pressed into my chest and sucked everything good from the world. I couldn’t feel hope, I couldn’t feel happiness.
If today had taught me anything, it was that true darkness was not the absence of light. It was the absence of hope. Hope that things could get better one day. Hope that the light would return.
I opened my eyes to find Chase across from me, Marsil’s other hand in his. He had sat with me the entire time, the two of us staying with Marsil until the very end.
“You honored him well,” he told me, voice rough.
With a shake of my head, I turned to where Daniel was storming across the platform toward us.
“We failed him,” I murmured.
Before another word could be said, Daniel was standing in front of me. Literal fire burned in his eyes, and the sight of that chased away more of the darkness inside. Sorrow held me still, but I was clawing my way back. Piece by piece.
“Are you okay?” His worry was palpable, slamming into me. He hadn’t touched me yet, but his hands were hovering at his sides like he was stopping himself from doing so.
“I’m fine,” I said, my voice breaking. “Marsil is the one who has paid the price for everything this day.” My heart squeezed, and I willed back the tears.
Daniel lost his battle with his hands, reaching out and sweeping me against his body. His chest shook as he held me, and I realized just how close he was to losing control. “Every time I turn my back,” he said, “someone is trying to kill you.”
It was true. Daniel had only known me for a short time, and already he’d saved my life, had me abducted out from under him, found me almost without memory in a pool of goo, and now I was sitting next to the corpse of one of his friends. It could have been me, we all knew that. Even if Laous wanted me alive, there were no guarantees in war. Accidents happened.
Lexen’s guttural roar ripped through the air and the platform did that shaky thing again. His energy rocked the huge metal disc on its foundation.
“Emma?” He was not looking at me, but I answered.
“She was hurt, but she’s okay. Star took her back to House of Darken.”
Scales appeared across his forehead and cheeks and everyone took a step back.
Lexen dropped down at his brother’s side, absolute devastation creasing his features, a pain so deep there was permanence to it. Lexen would never be the same again. From this day on, his very being would be altered.
He reached out with both hands, pressing them to Marsil’s chest.
“What happened?” Daniel asked, voice short and hard. I wondered if this was bringing back memories of losing his own brother.
“They hit him with a legreto weapon,” I choked out. “Some water crystal made from starslight stone. It embedded itself deeper and deeper into his chest, before it shattered.”
More Daelighters joined us now, lots I didn’t recognize, and a few I did. Daddy Darken was there, his face creased in grief as he dropped down next to his son. “Marsil, no … my son…”
Jero joined them, kneeling at his fallen brother’s head. The three of them placed their hands on Marsil and lowered their heads. I couldn’t look at them any longer. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I stared out into the distance.
Chase broke the silence: “Callie tried to save him. She held his hand until you arrived. He was never alone.”
No one said anything until the overlord major lifted his head. He had the same symbols as Lexen etched into the side of his hair, and his face was a mix of his three sons. “Thank you for honoring Marsil,” he told me, voice hoarse. “We will not forget this.”
Even more tears streamed down my cheeks. I couldn’t speak. I just nodded. Daniel lifted me into his arms, and for once, I didn’t fight him. I had no fight left. I was exhausted and in pain and … my heart was breaking a little.
“I need to take Callie back to Imperial,” I heard Daniel say. I couldn’t see who he was talking to because my head was buried in his neck. “She’s drained and needs the land to recharge her.”
There were murmured replies, and I heard something about a farewell ceremony, and then we were moving again. I must have drifted off, because when I woke next I was in Daniel’s bed. Memories immediately rushed in and I rubbed a hand across my burning eyes. I hadn’t cried for most of my life, but I was certainly making up for that in the last little while.
Sitting up, I stared down at my hands, trying to pull myself together. Thankfully, the darkness that had been tainting my soul, that debilitating depression, was gone again. It was becoming abundantly clear that the dark despair I sometimes felt was a side effect of not renewing my bond to Daniel and this land. When I was away from it for too long, I lost pieces of myself. My hope and happiness were the first to go. Then my mental and physical health followed. It was systematic, one thing after another until eventually it would be my life.
Luckily, I had a wonderful man at my side, one determined not to let me fade out of existence.
There were no windows in his room to determine time of day, but I sensed I had slept for a long time. Flashes of images hit me hard, one after another: the memory wiping, the Daelighters I had incinerated, Marsil dying right before me. How could so much go wrong so quickly?
“You’re awake.”
My head jerked up to find Daniel perched in the doorway, broad shoulder nudged into the side of the frame, eyes focused on me.
“How’s Emma?” I asked quickly.
He crossed his arms. “She’s fine physically, but devastated about Marsil. They’re hoping to have a farewell for him soon. But that might not be possible until we deal with Laous.”
I wasn’t sure I could handle a farewell, but at least I didn’t have to decide right now. I did want to be there for my new friends. And to honor the man who had fought beside me.
Hopefully I’d find the strength to go.
Rubbing a hand across the ache in my chest, I let my gaze linger on Daniel. I was barely stopping myself from jumping out of bed and into his arms. I could have lost him yesterday. Seeing Marsil die hit me extra hard, and not just because he was a good person and did not deserve his fate, but also because it could have been Daniel. He could have died, and I would have never had the chance to tell him I loved him, never truly showed him how much he meant to me, that despite everything shitty that had happened lately, he was the best thing to walk into my life in eighteen years.
“Do you need anything? Want me to grab you some food?”
I was dying for coffee, but for once I wanted something more. I wanted Daniel.
He moved closer. I still couldn’t manage to form words.
“Talk to me, Callie.” He sounded worried. “Fuck, I’m so sorry you had to deal with that alone. Again … I failed you. But I’m here now. I’ll help you figure it out.”
For some inexplicable reason, anger licked across my emotions. “I don’t want to talk about it. Talking won’t bring Marsil back. Talking won’t reverse time so I don’t accidentally kill a bunch of those resistance assholes. Talking won’t bring my mom back or stop Laous from everything he has done. Talking is useless.”
I was standing on the bed. I didn’t even remember jumping up. As I stepped forward to the edge, he caught my hand, gently encasing it with his own. He leaned himself forward so both of our hands were pressed to his chest. My anger died as quickly as it had arrived, and as I stared down into his face, all I felt was my soaring love for him.
“I’m sorry, Cal. I wish I could take this pain from you.” His eyes shut briefly as if he was fighting his own emotions. “And I should be sorry that I took your free will away, tying you to me. I did it at the time because it was the right thing to do, but now I’m starting to think it was the only thing I could do. Because wi
thout you, I have nothing.”
I blinked once slowly, and then again, my breathing ragged and short.
“I love you,” I said, without reserve. “I have never said that to anyone, but I’m saying it to you. The only person to own my soul … and my heart.”
I could never regret him. Even with all the pain I was experiencing, love made it all worth it. I finally understood what Emma meant when she said she would not change the now, no matter the future heartache. Daniel let my hand go, cupping my face and pressing his lips to mine. With a sigh, I sank into the kiss. He pulled back far too quickly, but at least he remained close enough for our lips to brush.
“I love you, Callie.” Those murmured words set me off again, more tears sprinkling my eyes.
Over the years, I had tried to imagine someone saying those words to me, but just like sitting in the fancy car, I had to experience it myself to truly understand.
“We share a heart and soul,” Daniel said, pressing kisses to my lips as he spoke. “I promise, you will never be alone.”
We kissed again, deeper, and I could no longer fight my need to be closer to him. My arms went around his neck and I pressed my body firmly to his. His hands dropped from my face, sliding underneath me to bring my body flush against his. I was on fire, liquid heat licking across my insides. Everything inside of me craved him.
“Not close enough,” I muttered, leaning back to try to rip his shirt off. My legs were wrapped around his waist though, holding it down.
Daniel’s eyes shifted to a burning gold and I had to shut mine to try and find some composure. He was literally the only one who could destroy me with one look. If someone could bottle the emotion and energy of love, they would make a fortune. When I lifted my lashes again, we were moving. He placed me back on the bed, crawling up to hover over me on hands and knees.
“I need to feel you,” I told him, ready to combust. Before he could answer, I had his shirt up and over his head.
