Rain of Ash: Skydancer Book 1 (The Zyne Legacy)

by Gwen Mitchell

  The immortal’s grip sent a jolt of lightning up his arm. “Moncrieffe. Now go!”

  Kean nodded and closed his eyes. He’d never faded directly to a person across a strong ward before, but he understood it in theory. If your connection was strong enough, your focus intense enough, physical and psychic barriers — even dimensions — shouldn’t matter.

  Focusing on Bri wasn’t hard. She was everything to him. His past. His future. His life. He could feel the silk of her hair, taste the sweetness of her lips, hear the chime of her laughter. Kean put every ounce of his Khaos-charged strength behind it, picturing the tower above them in his mind. Imagining his arms and shields wrapped around her, he faded…

  The slams on either side of his body seemed to come at the same time when he pinballed off the wards at the base of the stairs and crashed into the wall on the other side of the hallway. The blood in his head sloshed. He teetered to one side, waiting for his breath and heartbeat to find pace again.

  “Son of a bitch!” He pressed the heels of his hands into his eye sockets, willing the blue and yellow spots away. “It’s not going to work. We need more Hohlwen to weaken the wards.”

  Astrid sank to her knees beside him. “What about the coven binding? Maybe if I help.” She took his hands, squeezing them fiercely. “Concentrate on your connection to her through the Conduit.”

  Kean shoved all his newfound strength into a violent mental grounding, churning the energy deep from its coils in the earth, calling it forth in a maelstrom of raw, elemental power. He wrapped it around his tie to Astrid and the energy of their coven flared and mingled, searching for the last missing piece of itself…and finding nothing.

  Kean’s heart pounded like the tolls of a great bell, chiming the final hour. “I can’t reach her. The wards are too good.”

  He’d really lost her?

  “No.” Astrid’s voice was strangled.

  “Use me.”

  They both blinked at Moncrieffe.

  Astrid recovered first. “What?”

  Moncrieffe took a step closer, his expression defiant, but not threatening. “Forge a connection to her through me.”

  Kean scowled. “How?”

  The flames in the Kinde’s eyes jumped to life again, and a bitter smile twisted his face. “She and I are bonded.”

  “That’s impossible,” Astrid said, just as Kean replied, “It’s forbidden.”

  “It is so.” Moncrieffe held out his open palms.

  Kean glanced at the offering. It would cost nothing to try — he’d already lost everything that mattered. His blood sizzled at the thought that he might still have a small chance to reach Bri, then froze into brittle ice.

  How can they be bonded?

  “If it’s true, it could work.” Astrid slid her hand into the Kinde’s.

  The earth spun in reverse under Kean’s feet, then whipped back into full forward motion. Bri was his destiny. His to love and to protect. He didn’t give a damn if this wolf thought he had some claim on her. He stared into Moncrieffe’s eyes, which sparked with a desperation and determination that probably mirrored his own.

  “If this works, it changes nothing.” Kean intertwined his and Astrid’s magic with the half-breed’s and leapt through the ether with every fiber of his being.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Bri found eternity in every second spent under the attentions of the Soul Eater. The vines of unconsciousness climbed around her, and she tried to fall willingly into their embrace — to make the pain stop — but he wouldn’t let her.

  You are mine, Skydancer, he whispered in her mind, like a loving keeper. You have always been mine.

  And then he told her how her mother died in his arms. She’d been expecting a lover at the edge of the sea that night and met a monster instead. She didn’t fight him. She didn’t scream. The breaking of her heart rendered her helpless. Danielle was the first of many to try to come between them. But they were destined to be together, he said. To be one.

  Tara and Ce-Ce’s deaths were Briana’s fault. He’d sworn, all those centuries ago, that he would ruin everything and everyone she loved, and he kept his promises. Geri had been a particular delight. He said the blood he spilled was his offering to her. He made her watch as he slowly tore up the body that was once her father’s, from the inside out.

  That was only the beginning.

  Eventually, his hateful message ceased to reach her. She wasn’t even sure if he was speaking English anymore. Words lost their meaning, but the intent behind them still infected the very air she breathed. Her body had crumpled in on itself, and she ached in places she’d never known existed.

  The demon would never quit, and she could not hold him out forever. He would find any safe place she carved out in her mind, and drag her into the darkness with him. Or, her shields would crack. Her heart would break. Her soul would shatter. It was only a matter of time.

  But for now, she tried to summon the stone cliff from her visions. She recalled the glow of light bathing her in liquid happiness, warmth, and peace. She thought of Kean. The stubborn press of his mouth, and the way his eyes sparkled in firelight. She must have finally passed out. Or died. Because her vision of Kean was perfectly vivid, down to the last detail… except that he was holding hands with Lucas.

  She shoved herself up to a sitting position and rubbed her eyes.

  The demon turned to follow her gaze.

  Lightning split the sky.

  Kean flew at her and smothered her to the ground. They rolled, and she ended up in the corner of the floor and wall, with his body covering hers and his arms coiled around her.

  “Thank the Stars,” he said into her hair.

  The realness of the situation had yet to settle in. She wasn’t hallucinating? Kean was alive! She squeezed his arm, and it flexed under her fingers as he tightened his grip on her waist. He was real. Which meant Lucas was real. And really grappling with the Soul Eater.

  The shadows seemed to obey the demon’s command. They tore at Lucas, trying to rip him away from Aldric’s hunched body as he stabbed his sword through it again and again.

  Her father’s blood spattered Bri’s cheeks, but her eyes were pasted open.

  The wounds sizzled and steamed, but the demon didn’t lose ground, or release the thick black claws sunk into Lucas’s shoulder. They snarled at each other. Lucas lifted his sword high over his head with both hands, preparing a blow that would cleave her father in half.

  Bri choked on a scream, and in the next heartbeat, Lucas sailed through the wall of windows. He hung in the darkness for a beat, and then fell into the misty treetops. The storm whipped inside with a vengeance, lashing them with stinging rain. The wind howled around them in a maelstrom.

  The demon turned. Nothing human remained in that mass of animated flesh. Bones jutted at odd angles. His eyes had sunken to black holes, lit with crimson flames. A carpet of blood spread out beneath him, and spongy, glistening masses protruded from multiple gashes.

  “The wards are down. Go. Now!” Kean breathed in her ear, and the next moment she was on her feet. Kean barreled past the grabbing shadows, pulling her behind him.

  “No!” the demon shrieked.

  Thunder shook the stones beneath their feet. Kean tossed the piano bench to the side, threw Bri behind him, and whirled to face the monster. A sheet of blue lightning flared around them. The wind stopped. The shadows slunk away, and they stood in a protective bubble.

  Bri clung to Kean’s arm, her ribcage ready to burst with the next thud of her heart.

  The demon began tearing at Kean’s shields. Scratches appeared in the air, burning with purple flames. Kean winced and shuffled her further back. The tear in his wards got bigger, and the demon’s roar of rage turned the air in Bri’s lungs into blocks of ice.

  Somewhere from the ruined husk of his throat, a voice like her father’s gurgled, “Run, Briana.”

  “Get to the door!” Kean echoed. A yellow glow grew in his palm to the size of a dinner pl
ate. He thrust it at the widening gap in his crackling blue shields.

  Bri dove into the pile of rubble in front of the door. If the wards were down, then help had to be on the way. They only had to escape the room. They didn’t have to kill the demon, just survive. She put everything she had into clearing away the books and bed covers. The rug was too heavy to lift; she rolled it to one side. Only the piano was left. She heaved with all her might, but it didn’t budge.

  “Kean!” She braced her feet against the wall and shoved again.

  “Get out of the way.” Kean twisted her to the side and threw an energy blast at the door, which left a hole just big enough for them to climb through.

  Bri scurried over the piano top. The demon gave a hideous shriek, broken up with sharp gasps as Kean hit him with repeated magical blows. She dropped to the floor in the stained-glass hallway. Kean fell practically on top of her, but was already shoving at her again.

  “Go. Run.” The command in his voice put her body instinctively into action. She lunged to her feet and started a half-limp, half-gallop to the door at the opposite end of the hall. Kean’s hand was a solid force on her shoulder, urging her on, even as the scream of wood and metal sounded behind them. The door banged open and the wind and shadows swept in.

  Lightning flashed outside, painting the stone floor in a rainbow of colors. As they ran past, the glass along the hallway burst, peppering them with shards. Bri stumbled and ducked her head. Kean kept pushing her forward.

  “She. Is. Mine!” the demon commanded.

  Bri turned to look over her shoulder. The demon’s hands were raised to the ceiling, conjuring a funnel of darkness laced with red lightning.

  Kean saw it too.

  She skidded to a halt. “Kean!”

  Kean wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her close. The door at the other end of the hallway burst open, and a cadre of Synod guards poured into the corridor.

  The demon hurled his spell, and it enveloped her and Kean. It knocked them over, and they rolled across the floor, but Kean’s shields held. The red lightning bounced off of them and danced along the flagstones in a viperous movement. Before he could react, it struck the Soul Eater squarely in the chest. Less than half a breath later, he burst into a cloud of dust.

  Poof! Gone.

  She and Kean stared at each other as more guards filtered in, surrounding them.

  Thunder sounded far off in the distance.

  Crouched on the glass-littered floor, the two of them shared an anguished smile and pulled each other close.

  We made it. We actually made it!

  Kean’s shields were still sizzling purple, reverberating from the shock of the demon’s magic. The sparks slowly fizzled out and faded as Bri willed her heart not to burst out of her chest. She felt a warm buzz against her skin and looked down to see Geri’s amulet glowing against Kean’s chest. She pressed her hand over it, sending a silent thank you into the Universe. He covered her hand with his, one side of his mouth curving wistfully.

  Then Kean’s shields faded and turned to ash. It rained down around them. His smile mutated into a grimace of pain. He fell back onto his shoulders gripping the amulet tight in one fist. “Bri…”

  “No. Kean. No!” She took his other hand with both of hers. Tears ran down her cheeks in wide streams she couldn’t blink back. They spattered on his cheek as she leaned over him. “You can’t leave me. We’re supposed to be together, remember?”

  “I’ll find my way back.” He closed his eyes, and his hand in hers went cold. “Promise.”

  Bri couldn’t utter another word — even if her brain could form a coherent thought. She was stuck on a loop of no-no-no-no! This wasn’t right. They’d won. They’d killed the demon. She choked on a sob and a scream at the same time. She fell forward onto Kean’s chest. Underneath her, he turned cold and rigid. Slowly, the colors drained away from his skin and hair and clothes. They froze in place and hardened. Every detail, down to the last eyelash was preserved, only… in stone.

  The statue darkened until it became a swirl of black marble with veins of red. Bri was still holding his hand. The clouds outside shifted, allowing a solitary beam of sunlight inside. It shone off the glass-smooth surface of Kean’s figure, giving it an otherworldly halo. Someone shifted forward on her left, and his shadow filled the beam, in the shape man in a wide-brimmed hat.

  Bri’s heart fluttered and ached with the rush of completed foreknowledge. Her final vision had come to pass.

  You cannot change Fate.

  They’d never had a chance. It was all for nothing. She slid her fingers away from Kean’s and let Gawain drag her to her feet. Kean lay there, in a bed of ashes and stained glass, cold and lifeless, just as the mirror had foretold…

  This too, was her fault. He died saving her life.

  He’s gone. Her mind kept repeating the words, but some invisible wall inside would not let them penetrate.

  The floor under her feet rumbled, and the group of Synod guards eased back a step. The flagstones shuddered, and then dozens of thorny vines burst through the cracks and crept over Kean’s statue with a soft hiss. When he was sufficiently covered, they tightened their coils and hundreds of pink and white rosebuds broke free and bloomed right before their eyes.

  A gasp sounded behind her, and Bri turned to see Astrid swaying in the doorway, her hand clapped over her mouth. Her eyes were full of horror. All of this horror was Bri’s fault, yet Astrid closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around Bri. She cried enough tears for both of them. Bri feared her eyes had run dry, dammed up behind the landslide of all the other feelings she couldn’t discern.

  Something inside of her was broken beyond repair. The dust had yet to settle, so she couldn’t be sure if it was just her heart, or something more. She held Astrid, and guided them both down the dizzying stairs. All of the guards they passed kept their eyes downcast. Several Council members awaited them at the bottom, their faces full of wonder and curiosity. Some of them even looked relieved.

  Councilor Bellini stepped forward. “A truly remarkable victory, my dear. I move for the Council to release you to go home and mourn. We can resume discussions on your future training at a later date.”

  “I second,” said someone behind him. The rest of them nodded and murmured in general agreement.

  Bri stared at them with her back gone rigid, unable to fathom how they could be congratulating her at such a moment. Her father had tried to kill her, and now he was dead. Her lover had sacrificed himself to save her. They had stood by and let it all happen. There was nothing to celebrate. And she wanted nothing to do with them. “I just want to go home. Could you arrange for a boat?”

  “Of course,” Councilor Bellini answered silkily, stepping closer. “I will be in touch about our agreement. In the meantime, we shall preserve the top of the south keep for you. Feel free to visit any time you like, and perhaps you will seek my counsel when you do.”

  Bri nodded absently and held tighter to Astrid. She couldn’t see herself coming back here any time soon. She responded on auto-pilot, thankful she’d had so many years of practice disguising her emotional state. “Thank you for being so accommodating Councilor Bellini.”

  “I am at your service. Please call me Lucio.” He gestured for her to follow, and led them through the maze of multi-leveled hallways into the main entrance hall.

  Councilor Bellini showed them all the way to the front door, where a cadre of Kinde guards escorted them to the waterfront. A sleek white speedboat was idling at the dock. Bri settled Astrid into the back seat, covered her with a thick wool blanket, and huddled close.

  “I can’t believe he’s gone.” Astrid clenched her fingers in her hair, her teeth still chattering. Dark half-moons shadowed her normally vibrant eyes.

  Gone.

  The word dropped into a hollow well inside Bri and never touched bottom. She saw in her mind, so clearly, Kean’s face overgrown with twisting thorns, a promise on his marble lips. Her breath s
hallowed, and her throat got tight. Still, no tears came.

  As the boat approached the mouth of the quiet bay, she had an impulse to glance back. A large, black-maned wolf shuffled out of the fringe of bodies at the base of the long staircase. He limped down the stone dock a few paces, staring after them, then sat back on his haunches, a lone sentry at the foot of the mountainous fortress. Now, a tomb.

  His gaze pulled on Bri’s with a physical force. Somewhere deep down she felt a twinge of relief at the sight of him. Bri turned in her seat, cursing herself for even giving a passing thought to Lucas Moncrieffe — the man who had refused to help her, and then had brought the man she loved to his death. She didn’t care that he was still alive. She shouldn’t.

  Still, she stared back, until the boat passed the lip of the cove and into the veil of fog. A mournful howl echoed behind them.

  Black figures winged far above, swooping like gulls, until the boat emerged into a soft wintry blue sky. Sunlight sparked off the gentle waves, as if the storm that had stripped her life away had never happened. North Wake island jutted from the distant horizon, and the boat accelerated, taking them back home.

  Bri’s tears started to flow.

  Gone… Kean was gone.

  Epilogue

  Bri groaned and rolled over to look at the alarm clock. “It’s only eight-thirty, Astrid.” She flung off the down comforter. Max made a snorting sound, and Maggie wiggled up between them to lick Bri’s face. She shoved the dog snout away. “Yeah, yeah.”

  Her feet hit the floor, and both German Shepherds sprang off the giant bed and bounded down the hallway. They skittered down the stairs and hit the bottom floor with a thud, barking and whining at the front door, which opened and slammed closed.

  “Hell-oo,” Astrid called up.

  Bri pulled on a robe and freshened up before joining her downstairs in the kitchen. Astrid had tea steeping and the dogs merrily chowing down outside on the deck when she descended. A fresh snow had blanketed the backyard in white.