by Gwynn White
She glanced back at her brother, her eyes catching on Prince Eryon’s face.
He watched her, his face stern.
Oh, she thought, realization filling her. He has feelings for me.
She swallowed, unsettled by that notion.
It didn’t matter at that time, Prince Aric was back. That was all that mattered. She’d smooth things over with Eryon at another time.
“You kept your promise,” Aric said, giving her hand a squeeze.
She beamed up at him. “I told you I would.”
“That you did.”
“So, why were you so cold at the docks?”
Her question lingered in the air, but she didn’t want to take it back. She wanted answers.
“I wanted to apologize for that. It was a long journey,” Prince Aric said, looking ahead.
“Tell me about it. How was your trip around the world? I want to know every detail.”
Prince Aric led her inside the banquet hall and up to the balcony. Inside servers handed them goblets of wine.
Raina peered into her cup, seeing the red liquid ripple with each step they took further into the hall. The strong aroma made her raise her eyebrows. She’d never had wine before. Allan warned her against it.
Excitement to try it filled her, making her grin as she took her first sip. It was strong but had a pleasant flavor of blueberries and cherries.
She took another long sip before looking back up at Aric.
“Not as exciting as this moment with you,” he said.
Raina blushed. He was even more charming than she remembered. Three years hadn’t changed him too much. Perhaps there was hope for something to develop between them.
“You’re too kind. But you aren’t getting out of telling me about your travels. Even I can see that you’re different…that you’ve seen things. I want to know what those things are.”
When he turned to her, he cupped her face in his hands.
She didn’t care who saw.
“Okay. I’ll tell you everything.”
Raina stood on the golden-crested balcony and gawked at the amount of food being set in the banquet hall. She was excited. Tonight she could dance, laugh, and drink wine.
Raina only wanted to be an ordinary girl. Just for one night.
“But you’ll need to tell me everything as well.”
“What do you mean?”
“I simply want to know all about you.”
Nodding, Raina glanced toward the entryway. She gripped the gold railing and her jaw tensed when she saw the man from that day on the street outside Olia’s shop. He entered the room, walking slowly, his arms held out at his sides.
Her stomach dropped. She nudged Aric in the forearm.
“Have you seen that man before?”
She glanced at Aric and noticed a how his face went ashen at the sight of the man.
“Yes,” he sputtered, leaning forward to get a better look. When he looked back at Raina, his eyes were widened with terror.
“What is it?” Raina was almost too afraid to find out what could make Aric look that afraid.
“That’s the man I killed.”
Raina searched his eyes. He was serious. She swallowed, a shiver running up her spine.
A loud explosion gave Raina a start. One of the walls of the banquet hall was blasted through by a large stone. Smoke and ash filled the air, making them cough.
Aric pulled Raina to him, shielding her from the debris.
She tensed when two servers tried to run from whatever caused the damage. They were being chased.
By magic.
Raina’s face paled as she saw the magic coming from the stranger.
It was him.
The female servers were lifted from the ground and thrown into the air by an unseen force. She shrieked, her body turning upside down, making her dress fall to reveal her undergarments.
“I have to help her,” Raina said, thinking of ways she could save the woman without revealing her identity.
The people of the party would tear her apart if they learned that she was the escaped prisoner the Goddess of Law sought out.
Aric drew his sword, the ring of metal was music to ears.
“Stay back,” he shouted to her. “It has to be magic. I killed that man!”
Raina heard the servers crash to the ground, their screams cut off the instant their bodies made impact. The blood drained from her face.
Her own scream was caught in her throat when she saw the stranger from earlier that evening fly pass the opening of the banquet hall.
It’s him. Desi! What do I do?
Silence.
“I have to do something,” Raina said.
Aric put an arm out, stopping her.
“No,” he said, drawing his sword with a ring of steel. “This is my fight.”
The black blade was covered in silver symbols, the language of the gods. He glanced at her, his green eyes glowing.
“Stay here,” he said.
Before Raina could protest, Aric vanished.
Chapter Thirty-One
Aric crept through the broken hole in the wall, sword ready, eyes glowing with the god’s power of his father’s bloodline.
Completely unseen, he peered into the courtyard of panicking people hurrying to escape the attack. Now he could use his abilities for something other than fighting for sport in the coliseum.
If one looked closely, they’d see the ripple in the air around Aric as he stood there. His adrenaline rushed as he sought out the man that had caused such a commotion.
Was this another assassination attempt?
Aric was anything but an easy target.
He stood up straight when he saw the same man fly across the courtyard, his long hair flying behind him like a thick cloak.
Magic.
Odd, Aric thought. Who was that man?
He made sure to keep the man in his sight as he held onto his sword, trying to figure out a way to strike the man from that high above him. The chill in the air seemed to cling to his flesh, eating it like insects.
He clenched his jaw, feeling his hand grow colder and colder. It was difficult harnessing his power in more than one place at a time.
Clasping a black gauntlet on his wrist, Aric breathed out with relief. The sensations faded as the gauntlet charged, turning red as his power concentrated into the jewel embedded in the steel.
One blast of searing hot power shot through the air and into the flying man.
He stopped abruptly, his eyes shooting to glare at Aric as his power shifted from the going invisible to his gauntlets. Too bad that he couldn’t use both skills at the same time.
He didn’t need both. With his hands wrapped around the hilt of his sword, he prepared himself for a battle.
With lightning speed, his target swooped down and caught a girl by her hair.
Princess Arela.
Aric swallowed, lowering his sword.
“Just put her down,” Aric shouted, his heart pounding in his chest. His voice came out strained. Nothing frightened him more than losing someone he loved.
“Put down your sword, and all of your clever gadgets, boy.”
Boy?
The level of disrespect threatened to make Aric lash out with everything he had. Seeing his sister in distress, as she hung from her hair, a dagger placed at her white throat, forced him to control his temper.
Arela’s life depended on it.
“Put it down now,” he shouted once again. “Or the princess joins the land of the dead.”
Aric nodded, lowering his sword to the ground.
What happened next mystified Aric.
Raina.
She ran out of the banquet room like a cat of the jungles of Sabourn. Her face was still beautiful, but there was something more there.
Hate.
Rage.
Power.
In a funnel of wind and glowing tendrils of gold, she swept through the courtyard, knelt on one knee, and shot into the
air.
Taken aback, Aric’s mouth parted as he watched her fly straight to the man that threatened the princess.
He blinked once. Raina had Arela and set her on the stone ground so quickly that Aric’s eyes widened.
Is this a dream?
Princess Arela was back on the ground, screaming with her shaking hands covering her mouth as she looked up at Raina, who flew back into the air.
Blood sprayed everywhere as Raina used the man’s own dagger to stab him in the throat.
Aric caught his breath. His heart thumped as he watched her.
When she landed, she was covered in blood. She looked at him, her face unapologetic for what she had just done.
She was no ordinary Seer.
Witch?
Monster?
God?
He didn’t know what she was. But what she’d just done took his level of interest to heights no other girl had ever made him feel.
Chapter Thirty-Two
The world felt much different somehow.
Raina had never killed anyone before. Covered in blood, her hands shook as she looked down at them.
All sounds faded, yet her thumping heartbeat filled her ears.
When her eyes lifted, she saw that everyone in the courtyard stared at her in awe. The panic and frenzy had ended, but the aftermath was somehow scarier.
Raina was exposed. There was no doubt that what she had just done signaled Litha to her exact location. Saving Arela’s life was worth it.
Arela stopped screaming, but her eyes held something Raina never wanted to see directed at her. Not from someone she loved.
Fear.
That terror in Arela’s eyes twisted Raina’s stomach. Raina took a step toward the girl that she had grown to love like a sister.
Arela scrambled away, her dress in tatters as she climbed to her feet.
“Don’t touch me,” Arela shouted as she ran into her brother's arms.
Eryon held onto Arela. His face said it all. He was as shocked as everyone else at the party.
“But I saved you,” Raina said, breathlessly. Tears stung her eyes. Somehow she couldn't catch her breath as she clutched her chest.
“I did it for you.”
Raina wiped the blood from her hands onto her skirt. She scanned the crowd, watching them take steps away from her. The sky started to turn white.
Raina’s hands shook. She knew exactly what that meant.
She shot a look to Allan, nodding toward the sky. He stood next to Olia, his face paling as he looked up.
This was not how things were supposed to go.
His shoulders slumped, but he nodded in return.
Raina closed her eyes.
“Here goes,” she whispered as the air began to turn cold.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Allan took off his cloak, and then his gloves, revealing the tattoos that stretched across his fingers.
His eyes fixed on his sister in the center of the courtyard. Those that remained stepped away from her, gawking at what she had just done.
The amount of blood that was splattered on the ground startled everyone.
Even the guards from the palace stood back, unsure of what to do.
Were they safe?
No.
Raina had exposed them.
Everything was falling apart, before his eyes. He put a hand out to Olia when she reached for him. Clasping her warm hand within his both frightened him and gave him hope.
Litha would show no restraint when she arrived. Wind swept through, chilling Allan.
No one was safe.
“Please stay back, Olia. This is not your fight.”
Olia nodded. She hugged his waist tightly, tears in her eyes. “Be careful, Allan. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
He kissed her.
It might be the last time.
Olia grabbed his face in between her hands. “I’m carrying your child.”
Allan froze. His face paled. Every heartbeat from that moment sped. How could such good news frighten him? The fear of losing the woman he loved and their child fueled him, somehow making him feel even stronger.
“I love you,” he said, kissing her again.
When they pulled apart, Olia’s lips turned upward at the corners, and tears streamed down her white cheeks.
“I love you.”
He leaped from their place at the other end of the courtyard. As he soared above what remained of the crowd, he looked to the sky.
It was night, and somehow it began to turn white.
Every hair stood on end as Allan landed beside his sister. The ground cracked beneath his feet as he fell.
No use hiding who they were now.
Litha had already found them.
Chapter Thirty-Four
A woman in white floated into the center of the courtyard, and the sky turned red.
She certainly didn’t waste any time.
“She’s here,” Raina whispered. Raina knew the moment that she saw her in the sky that this might be the day that she and her brother would finally die.
Litha landed in the center of town with the sound of thunder crackling across the sky. Long lavender hair floated with the fresh breeze. With dark brown skin covered in white tattoos, she was a beautiful specimen to look upon, but Raina had seen and felt her evil.
Litha’s blue eyes regarded the guests with cool disinterest.
Humans were beneath her.
“It’s time to go,” Raina whispered to her brother.
Allan shook his head. “No,” he said. “We can’t let her win.”
Raina shook her head as she tightened her fist around the dagger.
“Listen to your sister, Vineet,” Litha said, her lips curling into a cruel smile. “You are out of time. Come with me now, and I will let these pathetic humans live.”
King Lavi approached her first. From the crowd of frightened partygoers, he stood taller than most, but even his height and stature meant nothing to Litha.
Queen Nevah tried to pull him back, terror in her eyes. The king turned to calm her.
“It will be fine,” King Lavi said.
Raina clenched her jaw.
He had no idea how wrong he was.
There was no mystery to who Litha was. There were sculptures and statues all throughout the land in her honor.
“Goddess,” he said to her, bowing to one knee.
It was odd to see King Lavi bow to anyone, but he had the right idea. If anything was going to work on Litha, it was humility and praise.
“You’ve been hiding my prisoners, King Lavi,” Litha said, gazing at the blood red sky. “I really don’t appreciate it.”
“Who do you refer to?”
She glared down at him. “Who do you think? Don’t feign ignorance with me. I want the twins with the black tattoos.”
“We didn’t know who they were. I swear it,” King Lavi said. “Please spare us, and take those whom you seek.”
Raina shook as her eyes lifted to meet Litha’s. Shock filled her body, leaving her unable to move. She glanced at Aric.
Her lips whispered goodbye to him, and panic filled his eyes.
“No,” Aric shouted.
Litha’s attention went to him and Raina felt her stomach lurch.
“Stay back, Aric,” she shouted.
“Yes,” Litha said. “Stay back,” she repeated and with a flick of her hand, Aric’s body went soaring into the stone wall that enclosed them in the banquet hall’s courtyard.
Raina cried out. She ran at Litha only to suffer her first blow.
Litha’s black lightning entered Raina’s body, seeming to rip through her insides.
She prayed that Aric was okay.
Doubling over, she tried to catch her breath. She reached out a hand, weakly, but not ready to give up.
“No,” Raina shouted when Litha turned her attention to Allan. “Stop.”
She clutched her chest, the pain threatening to elicit a scream of agony.
Raina held it in. Not in front of Aric.
“Leave him alone,” Raina shouted. “Please, kill me, and let Allan live.”
Litha’s brows rose, as did the corners of her lips.
“What is this you propose? I kill you, and let the God of Peace live?”
Raina bit her lip, her heart thumping in her chest. Everything hurt.
“Yes,” Raina said, nodding, tear streaming down her cheeks. “We can’t rule without the other. We can only rule together. Aden can be yours.”
Raina’s face drained of color when Litha let out a chuckle and sent her black lightning into Allan’s body. The jolt sent him crashing to the ground.
Eyes wide, Raina screamed as she watched her brother lay there unmoving.
Raina forgot her own pain and scrambled to reach for her brother’s hand.
They’d been foolish to think they could win again a god much stronger than the both of them.
Now, Raina could feel herself dying.
“I’m surprised you’re still breathing,” Litha said. “The reports must have been true; that you can indeed absorb any kind of blow, physical, mental, or magical. I am impressed.”
Raina rolled onto her back, her eyes staring into the white sky. She held onto Allan’s hand.
“Please, Goddess. Spare my people,” King Lavi said, his eyes fixed on Allan’s body. “We are not a part of this.”
“King Lavi,” Raina whispered, drawing his attention.
He looked at her. Everyone did.
“You brought this terror to my kingdom,” he said.
Raina felt her face heat. She turned her head to glare at him.
“You might want to get out of my way,” Raina said, her body lifting into the air.
King Lavi scrambled to his feet and backed away.
Litha watched her, her face without emotion.
Time was at a deficit. Raina had only seconds to retaliate. With the power of the wind, she cast a funnel over Allan’s body, protecting him from any further harm.
He wasn’t made for war, he was to be the peacemaker. Raina refused to let anything happen to him.
“Clever,” Litha said, her arms out to her side as she lifted herself to Raina’s level. “But you’ll pay for that with your life force.”
