I didn’t look back again after that. There was no need to; Wren was dead.
Finally.
That was when a dozen golden warriors broke free from the rest and lunged at us from behind. Metallic fingers scratched along my spine as Rowan grabbed my waist with one hand, a vine in his other palm, and scaled us both up a tree. We stood on an upper branch, catching our breath. I stared down at the moonlit jungle floor below us.
“Where did you learn to do that?” I asked.
“Climb trees?” He arched his brows. “I grew up in a jungle.”
The branch we stood on shook violently. I almost fell over. Looking down, I saw that the golden warriors were now tearing through the trunk with their metal fingers. We needed to get out of here.
“I need a minute to reload my magic,” said Rowan. “How about you?”
“I’m good.” While we’d been running, I had built up a reserve of magick in my soul. I now focused it into my arm until my bones shone bright blue in the dark night. I spoke one of my favorite incantations.
Another skeletal horse burst out of the jungle floor and swooped up under the branch. The entire tree was swaying from side to side now. The golden warriors were making good headway with tearing it down. Just as the horse got close enough to mount, the tree moved us in the opposite direction.
My skeletal horse came around for another pass. This time, the tree swayed in an obliging arc. Moving in sync, Rowan and I leapt off our branch and onto the horse’s back. Rowan sat behind me, I gripped the horse’s reins. The steed beat its great wings until we rose above the canopy of trees. I couldn’t help but smile. I did so love to cast spells. How could I ever return to farm life?
Rowan’s chest pressed against my back. “Well done, Elea.”
My heart swelled with pride. “Thank you. How much farther to the vale?”
Rowan pointed to a spot just ahead. “It’s just past that line of trees.”
A sense of relief eased my shoulders. We were so close to the Genesis Vale. Once we were inside that protected valley, it would be the two of us against Zoriah. The golden army couldn’t get to us there. We would be back under the protection of the same magick that prevented outsiders from breaking into our fight with Wren and Shujaa.
This time, it would be two against one. That was a fight we could win.
Rowan and I flew over the last line of trees and undergrowth. The edge of the crevasse to the Genesis Vale lay below us.
Unfortunately, Zoriah was there as well. My skin prickled over with fear as I commanded my horse. “Wait.”
Rowan and I hovered above the cliff wall that led to the Genesis Vale. Rowan’s mother stood at the top edge of the crevasse. While Rowan and I looked cut up and had half a jungle stuck in our hair, Zoriah’s black Seer robes still fell in perfect folds from her shoulders. Moonlight shone from behind her, outlining her slim frame with a pale blue halo. Simply put, the woman looked like a goddess. Beside her, hundreds of golden warriors stood in neat formation around the lip of the crevasse. And before them all stood Kade, Jicho, Veronique, and Amelia, all frozen in metal. Their faces were trapped in silent cries of pain and fear.
We were in deep trouble.
“Land now.” Zoriah pointed to a spot before her. “Or I’ll keep them encased until they suffocate.”
I’d thought we had a chance to win this fight. But now, the idea of living through this battle seemed far off indeed.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Down,” I said to my horse. Moments later, Rowan and I stood before Zoriah, right where she wished us to be. All around the edge of the crevasse, hundreds of faceless warriors watched our every move.
Escape would not be easy.
Rowan glared at Zoriah. “We had a bargain. You said you’d set all my people free…And Seers always keep their word.”
“I said people,” countered Zoriah. “Not family.” She stared at Amelia and Veronique with distaste. “And certainly not a pair of nobodies from the Necromancer lands.”
“Free them.” Rowan’s eyes darkened. “Now.”
Kade, Amelia, Veronique, and Jicho stood in their frozen poses of terror. My mind spun through any spell that could help them.
Sun surge.
Bone knives.
Cutter hawks.
Death melter.
Zoriah held up her hands, palms forward. “I can see the two of you planning to cast. You’ve convinced me. I’ll save you the trouble and free these four right now.”
“So, you’re letting them go,” repeated Rowan. The tone of his voice said he didn’t believe her at all. I didn’t either, for that matter.
“Please.” Zoriah fluttered her lashes. “I give you my sacred word.” The veins in her neck turned black as she spoke. “That’s a bond I cannot break. Once these four are free, then we’ll all go down to the vale and kill each other like family. Agreed?”
Rowan folded his arms over his chest. “Go on and cast your spell.”
“Thank you, my son.” Zoriah’s eyes instantly turned all black. Flashes of red lightning appeared in her pupils while more dark veins crawled up her neck. Black smoke encircled her hands and then poured off her palms. The dark cloud flickered with red lightning as it slowly surrounded Jicho, Amelia, Veronique, and Kade.
A second later, the metal that encased them transformed into golden beetles. A strange whooshing noise filled the air.
I stared at Zoriah, dumbfounded. “You freed them?”
“Of course.” Zoriah snapped her fingers again. With a flash of red lightning, Amelia, Kade, Veronique and Jicho were bound and gagged inside a large bamboo cage. “And now they’re trapped.” She blinked to excess. “What? I didn’t say that they’d stay free. I merely wanted to distract my son.”
Her word sent chills up my back. “Distract my son.” That strange whooshing noise? Zoriah had done something to Rowan.
Little by little, I turned to examine Rowan. He hadn’t looked fit before. Now, long shards of bamboo had impaled him like so many knives. Long cuts sliced across his body. All his leathers were soaked with blood. I gasped as the realization set in.
Unless he got help and fast, Rowan was going to die.
As I stood in shock, Zoriah waved her arms. Another dark haze of magick appeared. Wind roared as the black cloud transformed into a cyclone of power that slammed into Rowan, knocking him over the edge of the crevasse and into vale below.
I gasped.
Zoriah rounded on me. “Be thankful that Petra insisted that I spare you. Otherwise, you’d be as dead as Rowan.”
Her words echoed through my mind.
Rowan was dead.
It couldn’t be true. Sobbing, I stumbled up to the edge of the crevasse and stared down. In the moonlight, I could clearly see Rowan’s body at the base of the cliff side. He wasn’t moving.
Black mist surrounded my legs. In the back of my mind, I knew Zoriah was casting a spell. I turned to her and pumped fresh power into my arm. Blue light brightened my bones as I shot a raw bolt of Necromancer energy into Zoriah’s stomach. There wasn’t any form to my spell. I’d spoken no incantation. It was merely a thrust of light and power that slammed Zoriah back against the ground with a thud.
Zoriah didn’t move.
It wasn’t in me to care.
I didn’t remember casting the spell, but I must have created a bone rope because the next thing I knew, I was using it to rappel down the cliff. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I closed in on the jungle floor.
“Rowan!”
He didn’t answer.
Once I reached the lower ground, I sped over to kneel at Rowan’s side. He looked so still and peaceful, he might have been sleeping. I pressed my hands against his bloody chest. There was no heartbeat. My eyes stung with fresh tears.
I pulled out every bit of bamboo from his body while casting one healing spell after another. I even tried an incantation to raise him from the dead like I had all those Necromancers.
Nothing worked.
/> At some point, I became aware of high-pitched moaning from the top of the crevasse. Zoriah was waking up.
In my mind, I knew I should avenge Rowan. I could cast another skeletal horse, fly up the cliff, and strike Zoriah down for good. But that would mean leaving Rowan’s side. Whether he was alive or dead, I couldn’t bring myself to move away from him.
Not yet.
My hand still rested at the center of Rowan’s chest. My palm was sticky with what was now cool blood. How long had I been here, trying to heal Rowan? It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes.
Still, Rowan was gone.
With that realization, something deep inside me snapped. Memories of Rowan flashed through my mind. I recalled how he found me in the desert…The moment we shared our mating bands…The battles against Viktor…And always, how he waited so patiently for me to learn to trust him. After what happened with Tristan, it wasn’t easy to have faith in anyone again. But in this moment, I knew the truth.
There was no comparing Rowan to anyone else. Knowing that, some hidden pieces of my soul realigned. Fresh magick thrummed through my veins. I focused all my energy on Rowan, one last time.
Closing my eyes, I spoke a version of the Caster mantra that Rowan has said to me when he’d healed me after I escaped the Midnight Cloisters, six months and a million years ago.
“Hear my truth. You always gave me a choice and had faith in my judgment. And so in return, I give you all of my heart. Rowan, you are my mate, my history, my future, and my world.” I gently brushed the backs of my fingers against his cheek. “Tonight, I truly understand the meaning of faith, because I believe in you, Rowan. I trust you to come back to me. I love you, Rowan.”
Leaning forward, I gave him the gentlest of kisses.
Suddenly, my right hand warmed. Opening my eyes, I saw that my mating band now glowed with purple light. Hybrid magick. Excitement sparked in my rib cage. I pressed my palm harder against the center of Rowan’s chest.
“Live,” I pleaded. “Come back to me.”
Rivulets of violet light poured off my hand and across Rowan’s chest. Hope sparked in my soul.
It was working.
The lines of brightness soon encircled Rowan in an intricate web. His chest heaved. He took in a breath. Fresh tears streamed down my face, but not from sorrow.
Rowan gripped my wrists. He moved! I laughed and cried at the same time. Fresh lines of light whipped up his arms. These weren’t purple, though, but red. Caster red. Rowan’s power. The streams of crimson brightness crossed over from Rowan’s hands to mine.
We were sharing power, just like true mates.
Now blue light and energy poured down my arm and into Rowan. Our magick formed a circuit between our bodies. This was just what I’d seen in the fountain. Our magick was merging.
Rowan’s power slammed through my soul. His heat and strength infused every corner of my consciousness. After that, I sensed the cool strength of my Necromancer energy moving into him, combining further with his Caster powers. The lines of blue and red magick between us quickly merged into a single shade of violet.
All hybrid magick.
Next, Rowan’s body healed itself. His wounds closed up. Color returned to his skin. Every bruise disappeared. My own body grew stronger as well. My bones stretched as my magick expanded. I became physically taller. The Caster leathers I wore now pulled on me more tightly.
We’d shared power.
Grown stronger.
Truly mated our souls.
Rowan awoke, looked into my eyes, and grinned. I smiled back. He sat up and pulled me into his arms. His voice sounded low in my ear. “So worth it.”
And he was right.
For a long moment, we only embraced each other. I opened my mouth, ready to say all sorts of romantic things. You’re my life. I love you beyond compare. Instead, I could only manage a simple word. “Hello.”
But this was a greeting.
A new beginning.
It was everything.
Rowan ran his finger along my jawline. “My bonded mate.”
A loud crack of lightning sounded. Looking up, I saw a dark sphere of smoke and red lightning speeding straight for us.
It was a kill spell.
Zoriah now stood on the top edge of the crevasse, a smug grin on her pretty face. If the fact that Rowan was alive upset her, she didn’t show it. No, her only reaction was to send a lightning bomb our way.
How perfect.
My gaze locked with Rowan’s. “Reflector?” This was my way of asking if we could cast a joint reflection spell on her sphere, which would send the orb right back at her.
“Reflector,” repeated Rowan solemnly. “Our incantation is ‘stop, reverse, soar.’”
How I loved the simplicity of Caster incantations. “Understood.”
Moving together, we stood and lifted our right arms up, careful to keep our palms flat and facing toward the oncoming spell. As the sphere sped closer, I could tell it was larger than both of us.
Zoriah wasn’t holding back.
We wouldn’t either.
Rowan and I both focused our new hybrid magick into our casting hands. A spider web of violet lines glowed along our arms. One second later, Zoriah’s black spell slammed against our palms.
It didn’t get any farther than that.
Even though the spell didn’t touch me, I could still feel the power inside it. The churning energy made the bones in my entire arm vibrate. Rowan and I spoke the incantation in unison.
“Stop, reverse, soar.”
The orb stayed flush against our palms for a heartbeat or two. Its inner core of red lightning glowed more brightly. After that, it ricocheted back in Zoriah’s direction. Another thunderous boom sounded as the spell made impact. A long pause followed.
“Do you think we got her?” I asked.
“No, I believe she’s playing dead. Let’s see what she’s really up to.” Rowan reached toward my back. “May I?”
I had no idea what Rowan was planning, but I didn’t need to. I trusted him. “Go on.”
Rowan set his hand flush against my back and between my shoulder blades. Magick and warmth from his palm flared as he spoke a one-word incantation.
“Fly.”
A strange sensation unfurled along my shoulders as the bones there realigned and my muscles expanded. I glanced over my shoulder and gasped in awe. Rowan had given me a pair of black raven’s wings. I smiled and ran my fingers over the edges of the feathers. “They’re beautiful.”
“We need to return to the upper ground in order to see that Zoriah is doing. This way, we’ll be able to stay out of the reach of golden warriors.” Rowan shifted so his back now faced me. “My turn.”
There was no question what I’d cast for him. Setting my palm right between his shoulder blades, I spoke the same short incantation.
“Fly.”
Great bony wings instantly rose from Rowan’s shoulders. They reminded me of those on my skeletal horse, only these were fuller and filled with incandescent blue skin like a bat’s. Rowan looked up as his own wings unfurled. “Perfect.”
The magick knew what needed to happen, so we both let the power take on its own path. My wings began beating a steady rhythm, as did Rowan’s. We quickly rose up the side of the crevasse until we reached the upper level. What we saw made both of us gasp.
Zoriah was wearing the helm to Shujaa’s old armor, and she was using it on Kade, Veronique, Amelia, and Jicho. This wasn’t like before, when Zoriah simply commanded the golden beetles to encapsulate and suffocate them. No, Zoriah was using far stronger magick now.
Zoriah was transforming Kade, Veronique, Amelia, and Jicho into golden warriors.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The image was one I’d never forget. Zoriah standing behind the bamboo cage, her arm looped through the bars so she could grasp Kade’s throat. For his part, Kade thrashed against his bindings, but it was no use. Zoriah’s grip held firm against his neck. Tiny golden beetles
appeared on Kade’s skin. They swarmed over him, encasing his entire body. After that, they smoothed over into metal. Silver beams of moonlight glinted off the gold.
My heart cracked. Kade was now a faceless golden warrior.
“No!” Rowan howled with rage, arced his wings and swooped in toward Kade.
Zoriah gripped Amelia’s throat next. A heartbeat later, Amelia stood upright beside Kade within the same cage. She, too, had been transformed into a faceless golden statue. Cords of grief and rage tightened about my throat. I was losing too many people I cared about.
My gaze locked on Rowan. He was still speeding toward the ground. His path was headed right for Zoriah.
And she was smirking.
This was yet another trap.
Panic tightened every muscle in my body. Pumping my own wings, I changed my path so I could intersect with Rowan’s flight. Whatever Zoriah’s scheme was, Rowan and I needed to carefully think through our next steps. I swooped in closer to Rowan and grasped his hand. “Please, stop!”
Rowan paused, his wings beating a steady rhythm. “I want to kill her,” he growled.
“I do too. But we need a plan.”
By this point, Zoriah had already transformed Veronique as well. The third golden statue now stood in a row. Next Zoriah reached for Jicho. Leaning over, she wrapped her fingers around his thin throat.
Something deep in my heart broke clean in two. “No!” I cried.
“Don’t worry,” called Zoriah. “You’re next.”
At these words, an idea appeared. I turned to Rowan. “I think I know what we can do.”
“Name it.”
“She wants golden warriors? She can have us next. How about you let her grab your throat? I’ll take the helm.”
Some small part of me said this was a terrible plan. I’d just saved Rowan, how could I place him right back in harm’s way?
But all I could do was focus on was Jicho’s tear-stained face while Zoriah clasped his throat.
Cherished Page 21
