He shook his head. “I’m not leaving you alone.”
“Please.” His lips flattened into a tight line. “Olwen can’t see you here, or he’ll turn on me.”
“I’m not leaving you alone,” he repeated.
I stepped closer. “Thorsten, if you stay, I won’t be able to focus fully on Vulthus. I need to face him myself and not worry about Olwen’s men attacking you.”
A muscle feathered in Thorsten’s jaw, and I took his hands. “Plus, it would really mean a lot to me if you could get the fae out. Revenge is not the only thing I care about. We need to do what it is right.”
Thorsten nodded slowly. “I’ll return as soon as they’re safe.” He opened his mouth to say more, but I cut him off, pressing my lips against his. We kissed, and I heard a gasp behind me. Right, Blair and the other fae must be super confused about me kissing a vamp.
“I love you too, Thorsten,” I whispered. “I’ll see you after all of this is over.”
His face softened before determination took over his features. He motioned at the fae, who had huddled in a silent group. “If you want your freedom back, follow me.”
Nobody moved.
“You can trust him. You have my word.” I stood tall and let my voice boom, mimicking Olwen. “I am Onyx Vinter, princess of the Winter Court. I came here to free you. You’ve seen my magic. Now go!”
My shouts woke the fae from their deathly state. Murmuring, they moved toward the tunnel exit Thorsten had found, though some looked back at me. I exhaled with relief, glad that they didn’t know that as a halfblood, I could lie and was only bound by proper oaths. I followed them, holding Blair’s hand, and waited for Thorsten to open the secret tunnel. Still no guards came down the stairway. We were lucky.
Thorsten led the way through the tunnels, getting us all back to the main floor. I squeezed past the fae with Blair, who pressed themselves to the walls for us. At the final door, he gripped my hand. “Are you sure about this?”
“Yes.” I gave him another quick peck, committing the feel of his lips against mine to memory before shoving the door open.
Crashes, shouts, and shattering sounded from the right, echoing down the hallway. That’s where Blair and I would go while Thorsten headed away. The three of us looked at each other. I nodded and pulled Blair toward the cacophony somewhere around the corner. Behind me, I knew, Thorsten was leading the fae out. As the battle grew louder and louder, I realized there was one crucial fact Blair still didn’t know. I grabbed her hand and whispered, “If you see a tall, blonde fae from the Summer Court, don’t trust her. She’s evil. And she has crazy plant magic, so stay out of her way.”
Blair’s forehead wrinkled and her eyes sparkled with questions I couldn’t answer right now. “Are you talking about Petra Kallan?”
I nodded. “How did you know?”
“I overheard at one of the parties Vulthus took me to that they were searching for her after her escape.”
I gritted my teeth at the word parties, thinking of Blair in a cage. But now was not the time to get emotional. “Can you fight?” I studied her body for visible injuries.
She shook her head. “I just have a few scabs and bruises.” I knew it was more since she had trouble standing completely upright but didn’t push her.
Empathy gathered in my heart, but it wasn’t the emotion I needed right now, so I focused on the rage that should get both of our powers flowing. “Vulthus will pay for what he did to you.”
Blair glanced behind me, uncertainty on her face. “How will we get past his guards?”
I flashed her a wicked grin. “They’re fighting the Winter fae, who will have our backs.”
Blair still didn’t seem convinced, so I took both of her hands and squeezed them. “We’re no longer at Nocturnal Academy. We both have wild, untamed magic. Together, we will destroy him.”
Fierceness entered her green eyes. Finally, here was the Blair I knew. “Let’s fry Vulthus’s sorry ass.”
We rounded the corner to Vulthus’s throne room. The doors were still open. As predicted, the guards were fighting near the front of the chamber. The bone throne was empty. Vamps attacked fae while dodging ice stakes. There was about a dozen fighters on each side.
Two of the vamp guards turned at the new fae scent as Blair and I ran down the corridor. Two Winter fae guards swung at the vamps, and a fae man with a scar across his face nodded to me. The distraction worked, and the vamps charged him, opening a space for us to enter. Blair and I slipped through the doors and into the chamber.
I came to a standstill. The two vamp guards from before were gone. Atticus and the other fae guards were lying in a puddle of blood. The fae warrior was unmoving, while Atticus’s breathing labored, his eyes glassy. He was on death’s threshold.
Vulthus and Olwen were standing, facing one another. Judging by the meltwater around Vulthus’s legs and the blood staining his suit, Olwen had gotten in a few hits. But so had Vulthus. The ground around Olwen was littered with thrown daggers. Lacerations crisscrossed his face.
“Onyx,” Vulthus breathed while keeping my father in his sight. “I knew you’d return.” He pressed a finger against his cufflink, the gesture tiny, yet noticeable, and I knew we were in trouble. He had called for reinforcements.
“Let’s finish this.” I summoned a thick ice dagger and shot it at his heart, but Vulthus brought up his arm. My dagger struck his sleeve...and shot back at me. I ducked, realizing why Olwen hadn’t finished Vulthus yet. The dagger struck the wall behind me. Blair threw a fireball, but the same happened, and the ball sailed between us.
His suit was deflecting our attacks.
Panic threatened to rise into my chest. He was powerful, more powerful than I thought. Olwen threw another pair of ice daggers at him, aiming at his head, but Vulthus dodged them.
“Watch out!” Blair shouted.
“Onyx, I was wondering when you’d rejoin us.” The tinkling voice behind me could only belong to Petra.
Separating them hadn’t worked for long. I couldn’t fight her and Vulthus at the same time. Olwen whipped around, cobalt eyes shining with hatred, and he shot three ice daggers at Petra.
“Finish him,” he rasped at me, his forehead glistening with sweat. The fight with Vulthus had weakened him, but he could still take out Petra.
I stepped toward Vulthus, Blair by my side.
“Have you come to grovel? Maybe I’ll let you live if you ask nicely.” Vulthus grinned.
“Never!”
“Onyx,” Blair shouted, but it was too late.
Vulthus flashed across the room. His hands wound around my neck, and he squeezed tight. I tried to pull away, but his grip was like steel. I was breathing through a straw, then nothing. My ice died.
“Do you like my suit? It was a gift from Petra in exchange for helping her escape. It repels magic like yours.”
Spots danced in my vision. The fighting around me faded into gray. Disgust flooded through me. That was how Petra had escaped. Vulthus had worked with her all along, betraying the other vamps for selfish gains.
Spots danced around my vision. I needed to get away from Vulthus before I passed out. Suddenly, he released me. Heat singed me, and I jumped away to find that a half-burned book had fallen by his feet.
“The suit might protect you directly from magic, but not the objects around you.” Blair’s green eyes shone with challenge. Fire danced around her hands. She was ready for this.
“I should’ve killed you a long time ago,” Vulthus snarled, slowly turning to her as I gasped for breath.
Steely, she moved her hands and a circle of fire exploded around him. Heat whooshed against my skin. “I’m glad you bought me. Your dungeons allowed me to focus on developing my fire skills.”
He laughed. “You foolish girl.” But then he choked. He was on a parquet floor. The smoke wrapped around him. He stepped through the original circle, but Blair held him in her stare. The ring of fire moved with him, leaving scars on the floor.
> “You little bitch!” A predatory gleam filled Vulthus’s eyes as he prepared to pounce and break her neck.
I had to act now. I dodged around two guards, who were holding back the vamps, and picked up six of the daggers that lay on the ground where Olwen had stood. They were stained with blood. I focused, coating them with ice. Behind me Olwen and Petra fought, white and green magic reflecting off the walls. She had the advantage, having no wounds. I had to finish this quickly.
And I had to be creative. Magic couldn’t reach Vulthus, but ordinary weapons could. Using my powers, I guided my blades up, pulling on the ice coating, and shot them for Vulthus as he pounced on Blair, knocking her onto the ground with a loud thump. His body landed on hers as my daggers embedded themselves into his back with sickening thuds.
“Dumb girl.” With a snort, he pulled out the dagger and revealed a rip in his suit, playing right into my hands.
I shot an ice dagger at the spot. It found its mark. He let out a scream of agony, rolling off Blair, who had hand marks around her neck and was gasping for breath. Still, she grabbed one of the daggers that had missed him and sliced it through the front of his suit, revealing an undershirt and bare chest. Vulthus’s eyes widened in horror. He grabbed her wrist and twisted. There was a pop, and a yelp from Blair. He kicked her in the stomach, and she rolled to the side and collapsed into a ball, whining, too weak to get up. Vulthus rose and closed in on her.
“Leave her alone!” A tall, blond vamp crashed into him from the side, throwing him against the wall.
Thorsten.
Olwen continued his fight with Petra. Vulthus threw Thorsten to the ground. Their movements blurred until Thorsten seized one of the daggers from the floor, forcing Vulthus to retreat. This was my opening. A new ice dagger materialized in my hand. I charged Vulthus and shoved him against the wall, then I stabbed him right into his now exposed heart.
He kicked me in the gut, and I staggered back, keeling over from the sharp pain as he pulled out the dagger. But Thorsten was already upon Vulthus and stabbed him with his own dagger, missing the heart by inches.
He twisted the blade, and Vulthus’s eyes widened as he slid down the wall, too weak to fend Thorsten off. “Finish him off with your magic,” Thorsten said through gritted teeth as blood seeped out of Vulthus’s wound. I was certain he was carrying a wooden stake on him, but he was giving me the kill, knowing how much it meant to me.
Thorsten didn’t have to tell me twice. I summoned an ice stake and plunged it straight into Vulthus’s heart, pumping my magic into him. Vulthus shook and gagged. Gurgling followed. He uttered silent words as his body turned to ice. I twisted my magic, and underneath his suit, his body shattered into a thousand pieces, which turned to ash.
Thorsten and I backed away. We had done it.
“No!” Petra shouted, and something spiky whipped across my back and caught my ankle. I whirled around, barely keeping my balance, to find Petra staring me down.
Olwen followed her gaze. Sweat ran down his temples, but his eyes remained hard. “You lost, Petra. I banish you to the fae wastelands.” He brought his hands together, and shaking, he began to chant in an unknown language.
She let out a hoarse laugh as the vine around my ankle loosened. “Go ahead, old man.” She held her hand up and shot another vine at him. It lashed at and tightened around his neck, but blue magic was emanating from Olwen’s palms, growing larger by the second and gathering between them. The air shimmered, then turned into a door. A portal. Beyond it, dust and dead trees spread out.
Petra maintained her vines, but she screeched, trying and failing to resist the magical wind dragging her into the vortex. Her roar filled the room as vamps and guards scurried away.
“It’s over, Petra,” Olwen said coldly.
Her catlike eyes narrowed. “Good thing I’m not going alone, then.” As she slithered into the portal, she wrapped her vine around her hand several times, planning to drag Olwen with her.
An ice dagger materialized in Olwen’s hand and he cut through the vine around his neck, but not fast enough. With one final roar of wind, he slid to the portal.
“Onyx!” He turned to me, his face drawn for once with fear as the portal sucked them both in, then closed behind them.
24
Onyx
I let out a gasp. Olwen was gone. And I had no idea whether I felt horror or relief. Thorsten drew close to me and took my hand. All around us, fae guards and vamp guards stood in shock, staring at the now empty space that had swallowed Olwen and Petra and the ash that used to be Vulthus. Blair coughed as she pushed herself off the floor.
Thorsten continued to hold my hand in front of all the fae and vampire guards. No one made a move to kill us. Atticus lay on the floor, his breath shallow. Blair staggered to his side and leaned over him, muttering something, but I knew Atticus was too close to death to come back. He had died for me.
I darted toward him, emotion swelling into my chest. Aside from his absolute loyalty to Olwen, Atticus had almost been a friend. I crouched over him, and Blair moved out of the way as the Winter fae joined me.
“Atticus, hang on,” a guard said. “We’ll fetch a healing potion.”
Atticus focused on me with great effort. He was very pale, and his cheek underneath my palm was icy. “Onyx. We won. We fought well.” Each word was a struggle.
“Stay with us,” I said. “Please.”
He gave me a faint smile. “My time has come. I lived for over four hundred years. I’m ready for the afterlife.” He glanced past me. “I’m glad Thorsten survived. He seems like a good man.” Atticus took a breath, and then his eyes emptied. He was gone.
Silent tears ran down my face, and Thorsten wrapped his arm around me. I buried my head in his chest, breathing slowly, trying to calm my racing heart as I tried to make sense of everything. Atticus and Vulthus were dead. Olwen and Petra were gone. And we were kneeling in the middle of—
“The guards,” I gasped, shoving my grief to the side.
Thorsten took my arms and guided me to my feet. Why wasn’t he hiding his affection in front of all the vampires?
The remaining fae warriors backed away from the door to the throne room, some stepping in the scattering ashes of Vulthus’s body. Blair stayed by our side, eyes shining with unshed tears. The vampire guards—there must be six left, the same number as the fae warriors—bowed. More footfalls approached, and I raised my ice, ready to fight, but Thorsten tightened his grip on my arm.
“It’s okay,” he said.
The vampire guards entered the room, another dozen or so, and stopped short. The one in front, a vampire female, lowered her dagger and eyed Vulthus’s ashes and his remaining magical suit.
“Master? What do you want us to do?” She bowed her head low, then sank to her knees.
One by one, the other vamps too sank to their knees before Thorsten, turning their gazes to the floor. Typical vampires. They didn’t care about me or the fae warriors. According to them, Thorsten had slain Gregory Vulthus, and thus, was now their new master.
Since the vampire law dismissed us fae as always, Thorsten as the vamp who had killed Vulthus, inherited all of Vulthus’s estate, which in addition to the mansion and money, included his guards and servants. Vulthus’s place in the Elites also automatically went to Thorsten. Thorsten was no longer an heir, but a master vampire himself.
He explained this to me and Blair as we drove with the fae warriors back to Olwen’s mansion to bury Atticus on the grounds. The burial was solemn with each attendant stepping closer and having a private moment with Atticus before he was lowered into the earth.
After it was done, Thorsten, Blair, and I stepped aside.
“Will the vamps punish you for what you did today?” I bit my lip.
Thorsten shook his head. “There are no laws against killing. We live by the motto of survival of the strongest.”
Blair tightened her jaw, but I for once was relieved about the barbaric ways of the vampires as their law fin
ally worked in our favor.
“This also means,” Thorsten continued, “that since I inherited Vulthus’s fae servants, releasing them technically does not break vampire law. The law is only broken when you release the property of another vampire.”
“Like what your brother Jason did,” I said.
Blair shook her head. “How much did I miss?”
I smiled. “I’ll explain everything later.”
“It’s almost morning.” Thorsten eyed the pink of the horizon. “I need to return to my castle. Some fae servants are still inside since they were out, working during the attack, but I will give them the option of leaving if they wish. Any who want to stay will be paid like normal employees.”
I swallowed. “The other vamps won’t be happy about that.”
Thorsten ran his hand through his hair. “I know. I must swear all the guards to secrecy. The danger isn’t over. If the other Elites discover that I’m bucking slavery, there will be hell to pay. And if they know that I’m with you—”
I took his hand and squeezed it. “You are with me.”
A smile spread across his features, making warmth bloom in my chest. “We’ve come this far.” He kissed me, really kissed me.
Blair tsked playfully. “You really have a lot of explaining to do.”
Thorsten and I broke apart. I smiled at Blair. “You need to meet Lily, too.”
“Is this Lily my replacement?” Blair cocked an eyebrow, amusement sparkling in her eyes.
I chuckled. I’d forgotten the warmth of having friends. “Not quite. I’ll introduce you.” I glanced toward Olwen’s mansion, which I guessed was my mansion now since I was his only living heir.
“Do you mind waiting in the car while I finish up here?” I asked Thorsten, knowing his tinted car would ensure he was safe from the sun. I needed some alone time with him, yet I also needed to introduce Blair to everyone before I could leave her alone in the Winter mansion.
He nodded. “Of course.”
The Nocturnal and Fae Prison Academy Boxset [A Complete Paranormal and Fantasy Series Boxset] Page 57
