by Hayley Todd
One of the council members, Lord Valencia came running from the dust alongside Lady Stark. She had her hands twisted in front of her in the direction the wave had gone.
Lord Valencia stepped up and twisted a fist. The room erupted with the cacophony of freezing water as the wave and its occupants froze solid.
It had just occurred to be that I’d spent too much time watching when a lance of purple energy stabbed into my wounded shoulder.
I bellowed in rage and agony and forced myself to stay on my feet. Valeria came thundering across the floor, slamming her fist into my belly before I could react.
The air lurched from my lips as it was knocked out of me. I stumbled but forced my concentration as she rounded on me again. Pain was for after surviving the battle.
She dove towards me again, but this time I was ready. Just before she made contact, I let the magick explode down my left arm in that silvery blue sword.
I lunged into her, catching her across the torso with my sword but taking her fist aimed for my chest high. It crashed into my jaw sending yet more skittering colors across my vision.
I turned back to find Valeria on her knees, clutching at the line of red along her side. I didn’t wait. I didn’t think.
I hurled myself forward, slamming my shin into her belly. She crashed against me and clutched my leg but I’d been going so fast it sent us both airborne.
In the air, I used the momentum to flip myself—and therefore Valeria—in a full circle. I swept my leg farther out and she lost her grip, soaring through the air before crashing into the floor so hard the wood splintered and collapsed.
I managed to land with my feet beneath me, dragging my useless arm along.
“Kyra!” Came Anton’s thoughts, faster than words. I threw myself to the side in time to mostly miss a storming Carson. He didn’t entirely miss though as he crashed into my side, sending me the other direction in a sprawl.
He was astride me before I opened my eyes. His fist cracked down at me harder than I thought possible. I lost myself for a few seconds after that. My head spun with what I knew had to be multiple impacts.
“Bastard!” Anton roared and the weight on my chest vanished. I heard the sound of impact. “She would’ve done anything for you! What the hell is wrong with you?!” Crack. Crack.
I blinked hard and fortunately, my vision finally cleared. Anton was sitting on Carson, his fists flailing in bloodied frenzy as they cracked into Carson’s broken face again.
I forced myself to my feet, wobbling when my head spun again. I stumbled forward, not reaching them before Anton struck him again. I tripped in my daze and landed on my knees beside them.
My arms wrapped around Anton’s raised one. He stopped with rigid tension. Carson didn’t move beneath him. Anton took a deep breath before climbing off of him, pulling me up with him.
He gazed down at me and the fire in his eyes only drew me in more. His expression softened after looking me over and he stroked my hair with one tender hand.
“Hey,” he said softly.
“Hey,” I barely whispered back.
The remains of my heart broke as purple-white energy lanced through his chest so hard it staked him against the outer wall.
“No!” I shrieked, turning. Where the bolt had began stood a ruffled Valeria and a girl, smaller than Valeria, looking to be maybe sixteen. If not for the difference in age and physique I would’ve mistaken them for one another.
I almost hesitated at the presence of a child on the battlefield but then she smiled sweetly at me and I knew I could bare no risk.
I hurled a blazing whip of electricity down the arena floor, realizing how much more I felt the draw of power. I didn’t have much left in me.
My whip caught Valeria around the ankle and pulled, sending her soaring into a wall. Dust and other materials rained down from the impact.
The girl grimaced and twisted her tiny fist in the air. She shouted nonsense words and the entire room flickered into purple blackness.
A cloud of black filtered up from the floor, stacking upon itself until it stood something like ten feet tall. As the smoke faded off of its form, a blackened body emerged. It was shaped like a man but it’s face held no features.
It did have two eyes though, and they glowed deep violet, as did the tiny girl beside it. She grinned over at me, though with no pupils, I wasn’t sure she saw me.
She held a hand forward and the being lumbered toward me. I lifted my usable hand and gathered energy into my fist. As it took two more gigantic steps, I hurled my hand forward, then close to my chest, calling on the lightning within me. A bolt the size of my waist speared down from the dome, scattering glass below, into the thing’s back.
The bolt seared through the being’s side, tearing its arm completely off and scoring deeply into its leg. It bellowed in irritation, glaring down at the injury.
The girl laughed and dragged her hands up from the ground, hurling another mass of darkness at the being. The material morphed into the thing’s side, reforming its arm and remainder of leg once more.
My eyes were wide as it carried toward me again. I was hyper aware of Carson’s unconscious body beside me and Anton’s impaled one farther back.
I had to get the thing away from them and keep Valeria and the girl’s attention. I hurled myself to the side without giving it another thought. I could at least give them a flashy moving target.
Valeria had crawled back to the fight yet again. She was like a cockroach, always staying alive.
I launched electricity at Valeria, trying to maintain my reserves. I was going to need blood soon.
She hadn’t seen the blow coming and took it square in the chest, knocking her aside again. I hadn’t realized the golem had gotten within reach though. It’s gigantic fist swept down at me and crashed into my injured shoulder. I would’ve cried out but it’s form melded round me, snuffing the sound.
It started to lift again, pulling me with it when a lance of liquid shot through its wrist, melting its material into mud and slicing its fist clean off. As I tumbled to the ground, a spray of dirt and debris rained on me.
As the mess cleared, I could see Evelyn’s hard eyes on the creature. She lifted her hands and hurled another wave, this one like the blade of a machete, and hacked it down. It sunk into the thing’s pseudo neck and it’s head rolled back, barely attached.
The creature twisted toward Evelyn in unison with the girl’s twisted fists. The girl slammed her hand down and the creature did the same, catching Evelyn in its hand.
It then twisted with the girl’s movement and swung its fist, opening thick muddy fingers and letting Evelyn loose.
The woman soared through the air, crashing into one of the rafters at a horrible angle. That snap would haunt me for a long time.
Evelyn fell, crashing through rubble on her way down. A swirl of sickening dread filled my belly.
As the dust surrounding Evelyn dissipated, so did her assailant. The creature collapsed into a heaping mess of mud and dirt.
The girl harrumphed and stomped her little foot in a way that would of been comical in other circumstances. She snapped her fingers high over her head and pointed at me. She shouted something I couldn’t hear over the din of battle.
From behind her, two women and a man stepped forward. They moved stiffly as if gears and motors operated their flesh and blood. They didn’t wait for further command and launched at me. I whipped my hand to the side and two bolts of electricity entered the women, sending them in unconscious bundles onto the floor.
At least my magick seemed to work on something.
The man collided with me, however, sending further agony through my addled body. I kicked out, hurling him off of me and ignited magick down my arm again. I lifted the sword as I rolled to my feet and launched forward, slicing its blade through his chest. He fell aside, lifeless.
Will stepped up beside me then, Anton lifted carefully onto one shoulder. He was conscious but only just.
“
Your dad’s calling this a loss. We’re pulling out,” Will said, holding his arm out to me.
I shook my head, so rattled that it was becoming hard to think. “Evelyn,” I whispered and pointed to where she had fallen. “Not good.”
Will grimaced and gestured to Anton. I nodded and he helped shift Anton’s weight onto me instead. He was still bleeding. Badly.
“Get out of here. Alexei has a portal opened just outside of the arena. Get there,” Will commanded before taking off in the direction of Evelyn’s descent. He only briefly glanced at Carson’s broken body where it still hadn’t moved.
But no, I couldn’t focus on that right then.
I shuffled with Anton toward the benches he’d started this spectacle in, then slowly made my way down the hall behind them.
What Magick guards remained lined the halls as we went. “I need help!” I gasped, and two men shuffled forward, shifting weapons to their backs. One took Anton’s weight from me, the other tried to take my uninjured arm but without the adrenaline, my body began to finally cry out, and I collapsed to the ground.
He scooped his arms around me and headed further into the hall.
“Wait,” I gasped, the words hard and painful. “Tell Damien...to get Kellic...out.” The words didn’t come easily.
The soldier nodded and handed me off to another man who stood before a flickering disk in midair. It was dark and shimmering with silver energy. Lord Alexei Romanoff stood there, his face twisted in conversation.
“My princess,” he said roughly, nodding his head in my direction.
I returned the gesture in the medic’s arms before we slipped into the portal and the world shimmered into black and dark violet colors for a few seconds.
We emerged into a place I hadn’t been in two years. A place I hadn’t seen in far too long. A place that held a million memories that threatened to crush me beneath their weight.
We appeared, at Santina Manor.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
My father had the mansion turned into Magick HQ within hours. I would later realize that the transition had gone too smoothly to be a new thing.
I was shuffled off into the makeshift infirmary now taking up the day room at the front of the house. The room was crammed with as many gurneys as possible.
Anton was unconscious one bed down from me and I lay on my uninjured side, watching him. His breathing was still labored, his body badly beaten. I’d never seen him so battered.
Anton was something of a pretty boy. He prided himself on his appearance and how others perceived him. He typically stayed out of the fighting though if Henrick’s power was any indication, his magick was expansive. He used his abilities for aiding outside of battle but rarely entered it. It made me feel guilty that he’d subjected himself to that beating for me.
My father had arranged with the medics to draw some of Anton’s blood for me. They had him hooked up to some standard human blood to compensate while they’d inserted an IV into my arm and had me hooked up to a bag of his blood. It made me feel awful to use him without his permission but I wouldn’t be beginning to heal without it.
My necrotic arm had nearly been beyond repair. After plenty of Anton’s blood, it was starting to knit back together and regrow healthy skin. The necrotic flesh got pushed to the outside until it crumbled off of me. The inner workings of the arm’s muscle and bone structure would take longer to heal though. I felt gross as well as weak and pathetic.
Evelyn had been brought in after us but she hadn’t returned from surgery. Blood hadn’t been enough to reform her shattered spinal cord so they’d taken her in as a last-ditch effort to save her life. Her prognosis wasn’t good.
Last time Will had checked in with me, he’d told me they’d had to re-break her back multiple times already due to her rapid healing. He’d also explained how she was alive at all.
It turned out that one Aeronyx had remained, Asher Flynn, and he had seen thrown into the rafters and had flown to her rescue, catching her before she’d hit the ground. It hadn’t helped the break in her back at all but the fall hadn’t killed her either. Evidently, he hadn’t left her side since except to move out of the doctor’s way.
I hadn’t yet been well enough to see her. Hell, I hadn’t felt comfortable leaving Anton. He had nearly killed himself for me. He was an idiot. And he was amazing.
His expression was smooth in sleep, his handsome face still. His hair was a matted mess that would’ve appalled him if he saw it.
An idea struck me. Against my better judgment, I leaned up, dragging my IV along behind me. I opened the wardrobe along the wall, digging through a drawer until I found a comb nestled in it.
I knelt beside Anton. My arm had been placed in a sling for the time being so I had to work around it to reach him. I dragged the comb gently through his hair, using my fingers to unfurl knots and smooth his locks. His hair was short and soft despite the dirt and grime entrapped there.
“Oh, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” a soft feminine voice chimed from behind me. I turned to see a dark-haired Magick girl walking up with a bowl of steaming water and a washcloth.
“It’s fine,” I said, gesturing for the bowl. She was hesitant but finally handed it over to me. The basin was warm against my skin. “I’ll take care of him. I’ll call if he needs something,” I told her, turning back to Anton.
I dipped the cloth into the steaming hot water and ran it over his face and hair, cleaning everything I touched as best I could.
I took my time cleansing his skin gently. The room was busy and full. It was so chaotic that it gave us a sense of privacy despite the lack thereof. A few of the gurneys had curtains equipped to close around them. Most of them, however, had been crammed into position prematurely and were exposed to the rest of the room.
The mansion had been ready to fall back to. I needed to ask Damien about that.
I hadn’t realized his eyes had open until one of his hands grabbed my wrist. I glanced down at him, as though I’d been caught doing something wrong.
That hardness in his gaze I had seen before was entirely gone. His amber eyes were soft as he looked me over.
He ran his fingers down the side of my face, running his thumb tenderly over my skin. I knew what he saw there. I’d pleaded with a nurse to bring me a mirror so I could see what I was in for.
My face was a mess. There were purple-black blemishes around each of my eyes and across my nose. My cheek was broken, my jaw cracked. I barely resembled myself beneath the swelling and bruising.
“Hey,” he said, reminding me of the gentle greeting during the throes of battle. His lips quirked into a small grin. He had a split there, the wound nearly healed but still leaving a line of red across his mouth.
“Hey,” I replied, the word filled with emotion. My throat felt tight. I couldn’t fight the tears as they ran over my cheeks.
Anton’s brows dipped in the center of his forehead. “Hey, don’t cry,” he said, pulling me along his chest. He kept me off of his wound without a word but arranged enough room for me to lay against him.
He was warm where my skin touched his. The medics had removed what remained of his shirt and had bandaged his chest. I was careful not to touch anywhere that the bandage was wrapped.
Unfortunately, I found that I couldn’t abide by his request. The tears morphed into sobs. He held me regardless. He didn’t speak or press me, he just held me and that was exactly what I needed.
“I don’t understand,” he said, at last, the words a growl in his chest. He hadn’t stopped stroking my shoulder tenderly, those his voice had turned icy.
“Understand what?” I asked.
It took him a moment to continue. His breathing was still labored. He’d taken Valeria’s bolt through one lung and while he was healing, he was far from one hundred percent.
“What was wrong with him?” he finally said through his teeth. “How could he do that to you? I should’ve...I wanted to…” His hands balled into fists so tightly that his knuckles
turned white.
I pressed my hand gently against his chest. “Thank you,” I said, barely a whisper.
He paused. “For what?”
I thought about it. There were a million things I wanted to thank him for, a million things I wanted to say. I decided to keep it simple though. “For saving me,” I replied at last.
He huffed a laugh and groaned at the movement.
I sat up and leaned away from him, worried that the contact would hurt him. He grabbed my wrist though before I could fully slide off the gurney.
“Don’t leave,” he said.
I was reminded then of the openness of the day room. Despite the fervor of the room, there wasn’t really any privacy with these beds so close together. I hadn’t considered it when I climbed into bed with Anton. I awkwardly climbed down and gathered what little belongings we had.
“What are you doing?” he asked, seeming disappointed. I held up a finger in response and waved to the nearest orderly. He came running over without questions.
“Can we be moved to one of the bedrooms upstairs?” I asked him. He considered the thought for a moment before nodding.
“You’re both already on the mend. As long as you have healthy supplies of blood, you should have no problem moving upstairs, Princess,” he said and bowed. I hadn’t realized he had recognized me. He didn’t look familiar.
He beckoned for several other orderlies who gently helped Anton to his feet. He couldn’t walk well so they held more of his weight than they let on. I appreciated that. They spared his pride as he bit back on cries of pain.
I led the medics upstairs, to a set of French double doors on the third floor. Like at my father’s, I actually had a suite in this house. Kellic and I had often shared the room though she and Will had their own as well.
I was washed with memories as I swung the doors open with my good arm. The men helped Anton over to the bed without a command and rested him there.
The medics told me to contact them if I needed help and let me know they would have blood brought upstairs. I didn’t have the heart to explain my...situation so I just agreed. It would give Anton some sustenance at least.
