King of Hart

by Violeta M. Bagia

  ‘Open your eyes!’ I heard his voice clearly now. Illarion was right there, right beside me. He had me in his arms, he was running.

  ‘What’s wrong with her?’ I recognized Aurel’s voice frantically shouting over the noise as he shot off a few rounds no doubt covering Illarion and me.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Illarion responded, and I felt him pull open a door and then climb into a car. ‘She’s in there. I can feel her trying to wake up.’

  As my head lolled to the side against his chest, I felt the car begin to move.

  ‘Hold on to her,’ Aurel shouted. ‘This will be rough.’

  God, it was rough. I felt my body moving as the car skidded around corners, careering up gutters and back down onto the street.

  Illarion pulled me against him, holding me steady.

  ‘I know you’re in there, Ace, just open your eyes.’

  I wanted to, God, I was trying. I really was.

  ‘Why would you do that?’ His voice lowered, his angst cut through me as his voice grew shaky. ‘Why would you put yourself at risk like that?’

  Aurel was manoeuvring and swerving every which way.

  ‘Is she okay?’

  Illarion tensed against me.

  ‘She’s not waking up.’

  ‘Fuck.’ Aurel swerved again, hitting something. He corrected the course we were on and accelerated. ‘What happened?’

  ‘She healed me, somehow,’ Illarion said, running his fingers through my hair.

  Aurel remained quiet for a moment. ‘I saw you go down, I didn’t think….’

  ‘I was hit,’ Illarion murmured.

  ‘Christ.’ Aurel’s voice was sharp and on edge just like the mood in the car. ‘Brother, what if…’

  ‘No.’ Illarion tightened his hold on me.

  ‘You have to think of the-’

  ‘Don’t,’ he said, firmly, his hand trembled against my face. ‘She’ll wake up.’

  I opened my mind up to Illarion’s. He was so angry with me. He was furious that I had risked my life for his. I wanted to smile. I would always, always risk everything for him. But mostly he was scared. He was terrified that I would never open my eyes and one painful thought kept circling around in his head. His mother’s sacrifice.

  That wasn’t something that even crossed my mind when I healed him. All that was going through my head was how I couldn’t live in this chaotic world without him. I couldn’t do all these crazy things or continue this crazy mission alone. I needed him. I needed him by my side even if it was just as my friend and my boss.

  He cupped my cheek.

  ‘Please, Ace, fight.’

  The mark on my back warmed and tingled every time he touched me and slowly, the heat in my palm faded in and out of focus.

  ‘Come on, Ace. Open those eyes.’

  Aurel finally slowed, and the car came to a stop.

  ‘We’ll be safe here for a few hours at least.’

  Illarion pulled me up into his arms and stepped outside, he walked through the cool air, holding my head firm against his chest.

  Once we were inside wherever we were, he set me down on what I imagined was a couch and raised my head on a cushion.

  ‘I’m going to check the perimeter,’ Aurel said, and left us.

  Illarion sat down beside me, brushing my hair behind my ear.

  ‘Ace…,’ he sighed, pressing a hand to my cheek. ‘I’ll never forgive you for this, if you don’t wake up….’

  He pressed his hand to my cheek again forcing his mind to stop showing him all the ways he’d never be happy again and all the ways he failed me. My heart ached, he carried so much guilt and so much pain rushed through him. As he pressed his forehead to mine, my mind drifted to Dalca.

  He was there; he was so close. I could have finished it had I just known how and, unfortunately, my translucent friend wasn’t so helpful in that department.

  My mind wandered over a million scenarios, there was nothing that came to mind. Nothing at all.

  Uh. This wasn’t going to be a cake walk. I had to actually think this through. There wouldn’t be a regular “Ace Special”, where I ran in, guns blazing and hoping for the best. This required a plan.

  How could I defeat him when I couldn’t kill him?

  There can only be one… an insidious voice inside me whispered.

  My mortal form would die, then I’d join them. The same would be true for him. There were the planes through different timelines; maybe he wasn’t as powerful as he was here. My head buzzed.

  Then, like a glorious, sunshine with a rainbow kind of day, it came to me. I knew how to kill him. I knew how to end this.

  Epilogue

  Ace

  As the realization found me, I shot up, waking abruptly and Illarion was beside me in a heartbeat, wrapping his arms around my tense shoulders.

  Every muscle ached, and I was hyper-aware of everything. Every noise, every movement off to the side, and every touch.

  ‘Talk to me, Ace.’ His voice was low and calm, his fingers gently circled around my wrist.

  ‘Is she alright?’ Aurel asked, quietly kneeling beside us. ‘She’s not… she’s not gone, is she?’

  Illarion shook his head, returning his attention to me. ‘She’s alright, she’s just getting her bearings back.’

  ‘I know how to defeat him,’ I whispered, finally, keeping my eyes focused on his.

  Illarion entwined his fingers with mine.

  Focusing on grounding myself, I tried to hold on to how his skin felt. I couldn’t put my finger on the feeling. I felt… torn. Like I wasn’t completely here. Like I was still in the other plane, with Aaryon, but here also, because I still felt his static charge coursing under my skin, electrifying my blood with every motion.

  ‘Ace?’ he encouraged, ‘Are you alright?’

  ‘I was with Aaryon.’

  A questioning gaze from Aurel met me.

  ‘He’s the Moon Being, the one who saved me,’ I clarified, looking across at him.

  Wow. His eyes were so blue, and his aura matched them perfectly. Huh, I’d never noticed that before. I looked across at Illarion, his aura was so white it blinded me and there was a strong, while pulsating light around us both, I finally saw it, it was our connection.

  It flowed in and out, between our hands and entwined fingers.

  ‘What did he say, Ace? What did Aaryon say?’

  Silence fell over the three of us. Aurel sat down and leaned against the couch that I was now sitting cross-legged on.

  ‘He said that I need to be the one to defeat him.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘He didn’t know.’

  Illarion shook his head, letting out a breath.

  ‘What are we supposed to do with that?’

  Shaking my head, I pressed a hand across his.

  ‘Not we, Ila, me. This is something I have to do.’

  ‘No,’ he said, quicker than I could respond. ‘Not a chance. He can’t ask that of you, there’s no way, not after everything you’ve been through.’

  ‘It’s because of what I’ve been through that it has to be me.’

  Illarion’s face grew grim.

  ‘You know I’m right.’ I smiled, weakly. ‘You know I have this power inside me, this power was given to me for a reason. I have to do this.’

  ‘How do you defeat him?’ he asked, instead.

  ‘He transcends planes, I have to get him where he’s not as strong as he is here, this world, this time gives him strength.’

  Illarion ran his hand across his jaw. Standing, he shook his head.

  ‘How is he able to do that? No one can do that.’

  ‘I can,’ I whispered, and I looked at them both knowingly.

  Illarion’s eyes widened.

  ‘I’m a part of them, Ila. I always have been and now, now I can do what they can….’ And when neither of them spoke, I continued. ‘He’s my equal; we always knew there were two of us.’

  ‘Well, fuck,’ Aurel muttered.
>
  Illarion knelt in front of me and ran his hand through his hair while his other was gently pressed to my thigh.

  ‘He’s much stronger than I am…,’ I sighed. ‘But if I can do this on neutral ground, I can beat him.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘Solaris fuels him just like Aaryon fuels me.’

  ‘The Darkness should always trump the Light though, right?’ Aurel asked, with a desperate edge to his voice.

  ‘Not always.’

  His lip twitched into a taut line, and to my side Illarion’s body tensed.

  ‘The Darkness is powerful and I still don’t have full control of it, but if I can do it, if I can harness it, I should be able to take him out. Especially in a plane where he doesn’t hold that much power. He won’t have the same advantage.’

  ‘Neither would you,’ Illarion countered, and I nodded.

  ‘His body is just a vessel, as is mine.’ The understanding in Illarion’s eyes broke me. But I pressed on. ‘I have to get him to a place where we’re both equal.’

  ‘What’s the catch, Ace?’ Illarion didn’t miss a beat.

  ‘I don’t know how much this sort of thing takes from me.’

  ‘Explain,’ he said, his jaw set in a hard line.

  ‘Every time I’d managed to transcend, it took a lot out of me. I don’t know how long I can stay there…. or if I can come back.’

  Illarion got up again and an angry, violent ripple of Darkness spread through him.

  He paced back and forth trying his hardest to work around the solution he knew I’d present, the only solution.

  ‘We’ll figure out another way.’

  ‘You know the stories better than I do, Ila. You know that they don’t get them wrong.’

  ‘There’s always another way.’

  ‘Is there?’ I asked, quietly looking away and up at Aurel. ‘We didn’t listen to the prophecy before—we thought there was another way then too.’

  He swallowed hard and bowed his head.

  ‘I’m not letting you do this. You can’t go up against him.’

  ‘You know what you’re asking?’ I shook my head looking him dead on.

  His eyes locked onto mine, his answer was simple.

  ‘Yes.’

  Again, I shook my head. Illarion never yielded, never bowed down to what he wanted he only ever did what needed to be done, what was right. Except when it came to me.

  ‘Me, over the whole world?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What happened to the man who lived to do what’s right?’ I asked, with a hint of a smile which he didn’t return.

  ‘Losing you cannot be right.’

  ‘And losing the whole world to save me, is?’

  He lowered his lashes. Aurel got to his feet and stormed off, slamming the front door in the process.

  ‘I won’t lose you again. I can’t.’

  Another shaky sigh left my lips as his dark eyes found mine.

  As we sat in silence, I couldn’t help but let the fear begin to creep up on me.

  ‘We’ll find another way,’ Illarion said, finally breaking the silence.

  A thought dawned on me, how would he feel if he knew what I did? There can only be one.

  Putting up a brave front, I decided not to tell him. I took his hand and squeezed it, bringing his eyes to mine. ‘I don’t want to do this alone.’

  ‘You’re never alone,’ he whispered.

  A pained expression met me as he pulled me into his arms. I buried my head in his chest breathing in deeply.

  He ran his fingers through my hair, stopping on my lower back. ‘I’m by your side, Ace, ‘til the end.’

  It was the same thing Aaryon said, and a part of me suddenly wondered; how far away was the end?

  Acknowledgements

  King of Hart began as my own fanfiction for my book, Ace of Hart. I’d never actually intended to write any more than I already did but somewhere along the line, I realized that Ace and Illarion had a much bigger story that I simply had to tell.

  Then, one fine day in December in the sweltering heat of a Melbourne summer, I decided that this was going to happen, I was going to write a series! And here we are—King of Hart is alive and thriving as another journey with Ace and Illarion awaits.

  Once again, this wouldn’t have been possible without a plethora of people who formed my support team. Balancing life, work and writing and still having some semblance of a social life is tough, ask anyone who does it.

  This is a shout out to the wonderful humans who’ve not only supported me or helped me in some way; they also made me feel like what I was doing is worthwhile. I cannot express the gratitude I have for you all!

  In no particular order, thank you to my sister Vanessa and my mum and dad, my husband Sorin of course and my best friend Louise. You guys are my rock!

  And most importantly; to the fans, the loyal readers. Without you guys, there’d be no world for Ace and Ila.

  Excelsior!

  About Violeta M. Bagia

  Violeta M. Bagia is a Yugoslavian born Australian author who is represented by Solstice Publishing.

  Her writing career was launched when she received first place in a poetry contest at the age of twelve and further encouragement from literary groups. Since working on numerous publications through her teens, Violeta continued to share her love of writing by speaking at schools, community groups and her local radio stations.

  Since releasing her first novel, Ace of Hart, Violeta has been busy working on the Hart of Darkness series and several other standalone projects.

  Violeta enjoys collecting books, searching through thrift shops for discarded treasure and creating new worlds.

  When she isn’t writing, she can be found hiking through the unbeaten path, four-wheel driving in her Jeep or exploring the oceans near her home town.

  Violeta can be contacted on the below links: Website: https://www.violetambagia.com/

  Instagram: Violeta.M.Bagia_writer

  Facebook: Violeta M. Bagia

  Twitter: @vmb_author

  If you enjoyed this story, check out these other Solstice Publishing books by Violeta M. Bagia:

  Ace of Hart

  Secrets, guns, espionage and The Agency.

  Ace Hart’s no longer the Special Forces soldier she once was but a chance encounter in Central park with a mysterious man and a mugger has her kicking her four inch stilettos right into her attacker’s shin . She's faced guns and knives, bombs, and soldiers but she’s never faced a superhuman opponent like Agent Lazarev—in war or love. When Ace is invited to join Agent Lazarev in his world where Sensitives work for the Government, she discovers she's more than just a super soldier. She is a part of a superhuman race descended from an ancient line of Celestial Beings, and when the balance of power is being threatened, their only hope of keeping the scales balanced is in the hands of a prophesied warrior; a Divine Sensitive, Ace.

  Will Ace be able to fight the dark forces that beckon to her, or will she succumb to them?

  https://bookgoodies.com/a/B06XBZ429D