I could go feral at this moment and possibly slaughter the guards. But then—I’d never remember what I was doing here in the first place, and there’d be no point.
Adonis! I mentally screamed at him. I found them. If you can hear me, I need your help.
As I glided away from the scorpions, a pale, pearly light in the night sky pulled my attention. My heart slammed hard against my ribs. Focusing my keen fae vision, I made out the outline of powerful, feathery wings. I stared, my pulse racing, as ten gleaming archangels loomed brighter above us. And at their forefront, a scrawny, gray-winged angel. The horseman of famine.
My heart stopped.
The Heavenly Host were coming for me now—and Johnny was leading the charge.
Panic sank its talons into my heart, and I clamped my eyes shut. Adonis! I screamed through the mental link. They’re coming. The Heavenly Host are coming for us—now.
Where the hell was he?
My gaze flicked back to the line of scorpion men. I didn’t have any more time to waste. I had to kill them now, and I had to get my hands on the stones.
My hand twitched at my thigh, and I sank back into the shadows again to let my glamour fade.
I’d have to go just a little feral, and I’d have to catch the guards unaware.
Under the boughs of a sycamore, I let myself fade just a bit—a little of my primal side to give me extra strength.
My canines began to grow in my mouth, my body buzzing with wild energy. I breathed in the scent of Aereus’s violent power all around me, and it electrified my wild fae body even more. Keep a leash on it, Ruby. Stay in control.
In the shadows, I yanked my knife from its holster, breathing fast. Scanning the guards, I made a quick calculation—kill the small one on the right, steal his sword, use it to slaughter the rest. Do it all as quickly as I could, without letting too much of the primal side take over.
A small swarm of cherubs moved along the mosaic path toward me, their murmuring growing louder. They’d noticed something amiss here—that I wasn’t one of them.
And they were about to notice something very amiss when I dropped my glamour. My gaze flicked to the skies.
It didn’t matter. I had no more time to waste.
With a primal growl, I launched myself at the first of the scorpions. I lunged through the air, slashing my blade across his throat before he had a chance to react. Blood sprayed over me before my feet hit the ground. When I landed, I yanked the guard’s sword off his fallen body.
Whirling, my blade crashed into the next guard’s, the metal sparking in the shadows.
The scorpion roared, his tail pressing closer to me, and I lunged away from him.
Rip apart the enemy. Put him in the dirt.
As my sword clashed against his in a violent waltz, I wanted to taste his blood, to feel his veins and tendons ripping in my teeth. My sword arced through the air, an extension of my body, and the glory of battle fury trembled along my bones. I was made for this.
I drove my blade into his neck, then drew it out to kill again.
Dimly, I was dimly aware of another presence nearby—one forged of night and ancient power. One that I needed like plants needed water.
I couldn’t remember his name—the beautiful one with the wings. For just a moment, my gaze flicked to him and I watched as he sliced his fingertips through the air in a brutal gesture.
The three remaining scorpions split down the middle, their severed bodies slumping to the dark earth.
I snarled. They’d been mine.
I moved toward the angel—the arrogance of him—didn’t belong on earth—an abomination. His icy, alluring eyes designed to seduce, to confuse... Growling, I gripped my sword, ready to swing it into this abomination.
But he was speaking to me—pulling me out of my feral rage.
“Ruby,” he said, his voice calming as a blanket of night.
A calm, soothing magic washed over me, relaxing the tension in my muscles. I lowered my sword. Slowly, my canines began to recede, and my gaze flicked to the sky again.
The Heavenly Host were pressing down on us, bodies blazing with light. “They’re here.” My voice trembled.
“Get the stones,” Adonis said gravely. “This is our last chance.”
Right. I rushed over the bodies of the scorpion guards, snatching the blue gemstones. Dirt covered their glittering surfaces from their burial underground. They wanted me to have them, to possess them. But what, exactly, was I supposed to do with them?
The sound of a door creaking open pulled my attention away. I had only a moment to register Aereus’s presence before a brutal force knocked me into the air—a magic that burned my skin and smelled of arid desert winds. My body slammed down hard on the bony path, and I dropped the plant from my hands.
“Why have you killed my guards?” Aereus roared. “I told you the Heavenly Host would arrive!”
Another horseman—Adonis couldn’t kill him. He could only try to slow him down—although given how he’d withstood the poison, that wouldn’t be an easy task.
Adonis had drawn his sword, ready to fight Aereus.
The pale light burned brighter above us, washing over my skin—so pure and perfect I didn’t want to fight them. No, I wanted to bathe in their glory….
The sound of steel against steel pulled my attention back to the earth, my gaze landing on the two horsemen battling each other. Adonis’s dark magic whirled around his body.
“You’re after the Stones of Zahar,” Aereus seethed, his sword cutting sharp arcs through the air. “I buried them deeply, but they rose in the presence of a Light Bringer. Why would you bring her here? You know what she can do to us.”
Adonis grunted, meeting Aereus’s blows.
I scrambled over the path, searching for the fallen plant, its leaves encrusted with gemstones.
“You know what they’ll do to us!” Aereus bellowed.
There—among the bloodied soil—a glimmer of blue, the azure of the skies above Afeka. I reached for it, when another blast of hot, arid magic slammed into me with the force of a train.
My body shattered against a stone wall, ribs cracking. Pain splintered my entire body, and I groaned.
Adonis’s roar sent a lick of fear racing up my neck. He viciously swung his sword through the air. He pressed in on Aereus with an increased ferocity—looking more feral than angelic.
The agony of my broken bones clouded my mind. I was on my knees, fingers on the mosaic path of teeth, blood streaming from my mouth. I rasped for breath, pain ravaging my body.
Gritting my teeth, crawling over the bony path, my mind so gripped by agony that my thoughts were no longer making sense... I could only stare at the teeth beneath my fingers, and wonder who they’d come from, if they’d died in this garden. Would I join them?
I shuffled along the ground, now only dimly aware of the angels moving closer.
If I died here, what sort of a disturbing design would they form with my teeth?
Blood dripped from my mouth onto the path. Adonis’s magic rippled over me, soothing the pain just a little. I have to get to the stones.
I glanced up to see him carving his sword through one of Aereus’s red-tipped wings, and the howl Aereus unleashed pierced me to the bone.
Another inch forward over the teeth, crawling toward the glittering blue gems, and pain ripped through my chest, my legs.
Tentatively, I looked up to the skies, at the gleaming angelic horde, now only a hundred feet in the air, and my heart skipped a beat.
They’re almost upon us.
I pulled myself a little farther along the path, still staring at the sky—staring, in fact, as a golden dragon soared through the air just below the angelic horde. I blinked at the sight of a female form riding on top of the dragon’s neck, her black hair trailing behind her in the night sky.
Hazel?
Uthyr carved a sharp arc below the angels, then arched his back to breathe a hot stream of fire at the oncoming horde.
/> Idiot—what was she doing? They’d kill her. She was buying me time, and I couldn’t waste it.
I grabbed the stones, and my body surged with warmth and light. My forehead tingled, and I fought the bizarre urge to press the stones against it.
I felt powerful arms around me—Adonis’s arms cradling me, his magic soothing my body. Already, he was healing my bones with his power, numbing the pain. I inhaled deeply, able to breathe a little easier now. Adonis closed his fist around mine, enclosing the stones.
“Now,” he whispered. “Use their power now.”
I clutched them tightly, closing my eyes. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with them—but considering I couldn’t move my body, I didn’t have many options right now anyway.
They tingled in my fist, then a cold, soothing magic whispered over my skin. Light seemed to ignite me from the inside, blazing through my blood, ancient and pure. The power of the Old Gods flowed through me, my back arching with the intensity. The stones wanted something from me, as if they had their own consciousness.
Their desire whispered through my blood. They wanted me to protect the earth—then to return them home.
Pure strength infused my bones and muscles, and my eyes snapped open. I looked up into Adonis’s eyes, and the voice of the Old Gods whispered to me.
He doesn’t belong here. They don’t belong here. Rid the earth of their presence, and bring the stones home.
Another part of me rebelled at the thought, wanted him here, but the gleaming light burned out those protests.
Still cradling me, Adonis pushed my hair out of my eyes. “Now,” he whispered. “They’re here. You can’t stop—no matter what happens.”
At his words, a spark of dread flickered through me. He knew something that he wasn’t telling me.
“If what happens?” I asked firmly.
His eyes flashed. “Now.”
My gaze flicked to the skies, where the eleven archangels raced for us—for this garden.
Power snaked and rippled along my spine, and I flung out my arms. Light beamed from my ribs, burning with a white-hot intensity.
The angels froze in midair, and a dome of blue light arced over the earth. I closed my eyes, my skull whirling with images of caves and rivers, of oaks overgrown with ivy, sunlight burning through the leaves.
The power snapped and buzzed through my lungs, and lower, through my belly. I gave in to it. Among the blazing sunlight, something darker lurked in the power of the Old Gods, too. The wolf taking down the stag, the plants growing from corpse-enriched soil.
My body a vessel for their power. And the stones were calling to me, too, urging me on. The Old Gods wanted them back, needed them returned to their original home.
It was always meant to be this way.
My body trembled, stones gripped tightly in my fist, until I felt as if my ribs might explode with a pure, wild ecstasy.
A crash pulled me from my reverie.
When I opened my eyes again, I stared up at the sky, my breath clouding around my head in the chilly air.
Beyond the dome of blue light, a horde of angels raced away from the earth. Fleeing—from my power. The glow around them seemed to weaken. Clouds began to roll along the horizon. But where was Johnny? He wasn’t among them. Almost as if he’d just fallen from the sky.
It took me a moment to realize that I’d ended up hovering in midair, that my feet hung a meter above the ground.
When I looked down, my heart leapt into my throat.
Adonis lay on the path, his body completely still.
I dropped the stones, falling back to earth. The power of the gems had completely healed my body, but it seemed to have the opposite effect on Adonis.
Fat drops of icy rain began falling from the sky, chilling my skin.
I pressed my hand over his chest, feeling for a heartbeat. For a moment, I felt nothing. Then—a faint pulse, just below his scars.
His pale eyes opened, and I slid my arm under his neck, cradling his head. “Adonis?”
The rain picked up, hammering us harder now.
Adonis met my gaze, his eyes flaming with intensity for just a moment. “You made me want to stay here longer. I need to know the real Ruby. But angels don’t belong on earth.”
My throat had gone dry, heart slamming hard. This didn’t feel right. “What’s happening? Are you going to be okay?”
He shook his head, almost imperceptibly, and his eyes began to close. Even close to death, he looked perfect—a god of beauty.
“The stones will carry me to the underworld.” He spoke in a whisper. “It’s where the horsemen belong. But I want to see you…” His words died out on his tongue.
He’d known.
All this time, he’d known what the stones would do to him—and he’d wanted me to use them anyway.
Sacrifice the few to save the many.
Sadness and a rising panic washed over me.
I’d freed the earth from the scourge of the horsemen, but when I looked at Adonis, grief pressed down on me all the same, suffocating me like heavy dirt. I pressed my hand over his heart again, desperate to feel a beat pulsing beneath my palm.
This time, I felt only the stillness of a grave.
Chapter 35
I tried to calm my panicked thoughts, to think of a solution.
My hand shook on Adonis’s still chest, and I scanned the garden. Aereus lay on the mosaic path—not far from me. His torn wing had stopped pumping blood, and his heart no longer beat.
Dread slammed into my chest like a fist. I’d just killed them all. I’d killed the horsemen, and as insane as it was—I wanted to take it back. At least for this one.
I’d been so focused on Adonis, I hadn’t even noticed that Hazel had landed nearby until I began frantically searching the garden, desperate for some answers. Desperate for a way to undo this.
Hazel’s dragon had flattened half the garden, crushing trees beneath it. Rain battered Hazel as she slid off the creature.
Bursts of white streamed from the castle windows, racing for the sky, and it took me a moment to realize the cherubs were fleeing, soaring for the heavens in a mass exodus. The burst of power from the Old Gods had sent them racing away from us.
I pulled Adonis’s body in close, embracing his head and his chest as though I could revive him with my body heat. A wave of sorrow washed over me.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to end.
“What happened?” Hazel shouted.
I held him close to my heart. “I don’t know! I used the stones.” I heaved a sob. “They made a shield, just like they were supposed to. They wanted something from me. To be returned home, I think. The Heavenly Host took off, just like they were supposed to.” Sorrow slammed into me. “But it killed the horsemen.”
Hazel stared down at Adonis, her brow furrowed. “I think you’re right.”
His body felt cold as ice in my arms.
The shock was a fist in my throat. “I didn’t know this would happen.”
Deep in my chest, I felt something breaking, and I leaned over Adonis’s body, grasping for the stones again, my hand shaking. He looked still and perfect as a god carved of marble.
Maybe I could fix this; maybe the Old Gods would revive him. The Old Gods provided, right?
I gripped the stones tightly in my hands, holding them over his chest—his scarred heart where he’d stabbed himself again and again, stopping his own seal from breaking. It was only now that I was beginning to understand the fuller picture of him, a man who viewed his role as one of sacrifice.
As I held the Stones of Zahar, light flowed through me—a dazzling summer light that tinged the air with honey. I put my hand on Adonis’s chest, trying to channel the light into him, to stream it right into his heart…
A thin ray of blue light flowed into his ribs, and for just a moment, his back arched. But all I could feel through the stone’s magic was a deep yearning to return home. The light dulled again, and Adonis’s body went still.
Above me, the sound of rhythmic wings beat the air. Tanit and Kur were diving for the earth, rain hammering their bodies.
“What the hell happened?” Tanit shrieked.
Grief wrapped around me. The stones hadn’t revived him—Adonis’s body lay still in my lap, and my mind raced. He’d known, hadn’t he? This had been his plan all along. He’d been talking about a sacrifice—all gods demand sacrifices. Maybe a part of him had wanted out of this endless cycle of euphoria and pain. Reliving the same self-inflicted wounds over and over.
Kur kneeled next to me, placing his hand over Adonis’s heart. Inky magic coiled from his body, winding around Adonis.
I tuned out the driving rain and the wind, tuned out Tanit’s frantic screaming and the painful thoughts hammering at the back of my skull.
I gripped the stones in my hands, closing my eyes. Their power ignited my blood with the pure, buttery light of spring rays filtering through oak leaves, illuminating dust motes in the air with their brilliance. I held Adonis’s head, trying to channel that power into him.
I had to look up at the sky—couldn’t bring myself to look at the ground. Teeth ripping apart an arm, a woman screaming. Whose teeth were they? I couldn’t look at the blood staining the pavement...
The light called to me, the piercing light from above.
“Ruby!” Tanit screamed, ripping me from the vision. Her face wore a haunted, ravaged expression, rain pouring down her features in rivulets. “It’s no use. That’s not doing anything. He didn’t tell us this would happen, but obviously this was his plan. This was his sacrifice. The Great Nightmare is over, and Adonis thought he had to go with it.”
“I know. He said he was going to the underworld or something…” I mumbled. I clutched tighter to the stones. No. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end. The good guys were supposed to win in the end, not die in the soil of a torture garden.
Black Ops Fae Page 20
