“Can you hear me?”
“Please, stop,” I pleaded. I was crying, but I couldn’t feel the tears.
“Soon. We must close the doors,” he said. He sounded so patient, as if he wasn’t growing tired from the amazing amount of energy he was expending. He slowly slid his hands up my sides until they rested on my shoulders. His warmth was wrapping around me in a protective cocoon, and I clung to that small comfort.
“Can’t. Too many.”
“Can you close just one?” he asked. With amazing care, he slid his hands along my arms and threaded his fingers through mine, tightly clasping my hands. “Just close one door.” His lips brushed lightly against my ear as he spoke.
Mentally pushing aside all the others, I chose one door and pulled the two seams together. A sob lodged in my throat when the door closed, and I felt Danaus give my hands a reassuring squeeze. We moved slowly from one door to the next, pulling them together like stitching together bits of fabric. We were on the last door when the power in my body sharply dropped. While my initial reaction was relief, I knew something was wrong. I could no longer sense Sadira. It was as if she had completely disappeared. The void was deeper than if she had just cut off the connection, but I couldn’t hold onto the thought. It flitted away like a bit of stray paper caught up in a breeze, and my focus returned to the blinding pain that still beat through my entire body.
“Close the door,” Danaus prompted me when I paused.
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. You are stronger than Sadira. You always have been. Close the door.” His voice had taken on a new urgency. We were running out of time. I reached out with the last of the strength I could muster and pulled the door closed.
The white light disappeared and my vision slowly cleared. I saw Aurora standing there for the first time in more than five centuries. She looked like a sun goddess, with her long golden hair and perfectly tanned skin, regal in flowing white robes that danced about her in the wind. Staring at me, a malicious smile grew on her perfect face. She knew me; knew who I was and what I had done.
Still charged with the powers of Danaus and Jabari, I could sense the anger and fear of the naturi as they crowded around their queen. There were only a couple dozen of them, far fewer than they had hoped for. They outnumbered us. But we had closed their doors and defeated more than a score of them. I refused to believe that the entire naturi race had been able to run to freedom in the time it took me to close the doors. Most still had to be trapped on the other side. But then, I doubted that Aurora cared about those that had gotten left behind.
She was free.
Twenty-Eight
Conscious thought slowly leaked back into my sluggish brain, followed by the pain. My body hurt beyond belief, forcing a whimper between my clenched teeth. I reluctantly opened my eyes, somewhat surprised to find I was still here. I lay on the ground with a collection of rocks digging into my back. Around me, white-gray stone rose up, indicating that I was still in the Main Plaza. The sky was beginning to lighten from its endless black velvet to a murky slate gray. Dawn was coming.
Slowly, I turned my head, my eyes falling first on Sadira’s lifeless body. She lay staring blindly up at the sky, an arrow protruding from her chest. Someone had gotten in a lucky shot, piercing her heart. She had died quickly.
As I turned my head back in the opposite direction, I felt an extremely sharp point dig into my cheek. My eyes continued in the same direction to find Rowe standing over me, with my sword pointing at me, the tip having prodded my skin. Not surprisingly, a wide grin was spread across Rowe’s face. And why not? He thought he had won. But I wasn’t ready to give up just yet. Not so long as I still had the power to move.
“Long time no see,” I said in a low gravelly voice. My throat was still raw from the screaming I’d done earlier. As I spoke, hoping to keep Rowe distracted, I reached out with my powers. Danaus was close by—still alive. Jabari was also close, to my surprise. The Ancient nightwalker could have disappeared and reappeared in the relative safety of Venice and the Coven the moment the tide turned against us. He had stayed, but it didn’t guarantee that he would be around for long.
“Yes, it has been too long, little princess,” Rowe purred. “Sorry I couldn’t make it to your little domain, but I had more pressing matters that needed my attention. But it doesn’t matter any longer. I have you now.”
“Let’s see if you have the ability to keep me,” I said, smiling back at him. Putting my empty hands on the ground on either side of me, I slowly pushed into a sitting position. My entire body screamed in protest at the movement, surrendering a whimper before I could stop it. Rowe followed my neck closely with the sword, ready to slice my head off in an instant if I moved too quickly.
“What are you going to do with her?”
It was a familiar voice, and I looked up to find Cynnia standing a few feet behind Rowe. Her beautiful white wings were once again exposed, partially stretched out from her back as if she was preparing to take flight. I think it was an anxious stance on her part. The dark horse she had bet on to win hadn’t come through, and now she found herself standing with her own kind again—her fate hanging in the balance, just as mine was.
“Her Majesty wishes to see her,” Rowe replied.
“And what will you do with me?” Cynnia asked.
“I imagine that Her Majesty will wish to speak with you as well,” Rowe bit out, refusing to remove his glare from me to the young nightwalker. I watched as Nyx silently walked over to us, a frown on her face.
“There’s nothing for you to be worried about, Nia,” Nyx calmly said, putting her hands on her sister’s wings. She applied a gentle pressure, as if forcing her to relax her stance. “We all know that the nightwalker held you captive, forced you to turn on your own kind. Aurora will understand.”
A dark smile crossed my lips as Cynnia finally looked down to meet my gaze. I knew we were both wondering the same thing: would Aurora buy such a story? Particularly when there remained some doubt in the air as to whether Aurora actually wanted her sister alive in the first place.
As we spoke, a large contingent of naturi walked over with their weapons drawn. There must have been something strange in their stance because Nyx moved Cynnia behind her as her right hand came to rest on the hilt of her sword. At the same time, Rowe’s smile slipped into a dark frown. I was willing to bet that this wasn’t the invitation they were hoping to receive from Aurora.
“The queen will see you and the nightwalkers now,” said the lead naturi, pointing his short sword at the group of us.
“You and the nightwalkers,” I chuckled under my breath around a grunt of pain as I pushed to my feet. “How does it feel to be included among the rabble?” I taunted Rowe.
The naturi said nothing as he tightened his grip on his sword and walked slowly over to the brightly lit area where Aurora had elected to hold court, at least for now.
The ruins of Machu Picchu now crawled with naturi, their crossbows and swords all held at the ready. They stood on walls and leaned against buildings, their eyes constantly watching the few nightwalkers still trapped within the city. I had no chance to take them all out, but then I didn’t need to. I just needed to kill Aurora.
Behind me, I could hear Danaus slowly rising to his feet, a grunt of pain escaping him. We were all in extremely rough shape after expending so much energy to close the doors. I wasn’t exactly sure how we were going to launch an attack against the queen of the naturi.
Danaus! I called, mentally reaching out to him as we marched across the field toward Aurora. Do you have any energy left you can push into me?
Some, maybe. But not enough to kill them all, he replied. Even his thoughts were coming through ragged and weary to me.
I turned my thoughts to Jabari and reached out to the Ancient. Do you have any energy left?
Enough to stage one last strike at Aurora, he admitted. We will get only one shot—do you have a plan?
Not yet, I regretfully ad
mitted. I wished I had. Some great scheme that would not only wipe out Aurora, but all the naturi that were standing around us with their weapons ready to end our lives. I didn’t want to just kill the leader of the naturi, I wanted to end this war for all time so I could go back to my domain and not have to look over my shoulder in search of a naturi waiting to kill me.
We finally reached Aurora, who was seated on a low wall at the edge of the Main Plaza. The remains of the humans who had been used for the sacrifice were now a massive, massacre bonfire lighting the ancient city. The flames danced in the winds, sending shadows swirling and stretching over the area like old ghosts woken from their centuries of rest.
The queen of the naturi glowed like a white beacon of energy in the night. A part of me wondered how I had ever thought I could defeat something obviously so powerful, but I crushed the thought before it could fully form within my head. I had taken on the Coven, tried to destroy three of the most powerful nightwalkers in all of existence. I could take on the queen of the naturi, especially with the help of Danaus and Jabari. I could finish this. I had to.
Before me, Cynnia, Rowe, and Nyx all bent to one knee before their queen, while I simply smirked. Not surprisingly, one of the armed naturi hit me in the back of the head with the flat of his sword and then in the back, knocking me to my knees. He then kept the edge of the sword pressed to my neck, holding me down in a kneeling position. I wasn’t about to willingly kneel before Aurora, not when I wouldn’t even do so before the rulers of my own kind.
“Where is Rowe?” Aurora immediately demanded. Her voice was soft and yet firm, the voice of a creature long used to getting her way.
Next to me, Rowe sheathed his sword and smoothly rose to his feet. “Here my lady,” he said. He opened his arms to her and took a step forward, awaiting his hero’s welcome.
“No!” Aurora cried, recoiling where she sat. She held up one hand as if to hold him away if he tried to take another step toward her. “It can’t be. My love is a handsome man of blond hair and clear green eyes.”
“I am Rowe,” he firmly said. His open hands curled into fists and fell stiffly to his sides. “I am the one who has dedicated the past five centuries to securing your freedom.”
“What has happened to you? Did the nightwalkers destroy you?” she demanded. Her face was still turned to the side as if she could barely stand to look at him. Something twisted in my gut for the naturi that stood there under the horrified gaze of his wife-queen. He had dedicated his whole existence to her one wish of freedom and this was the welcome he received?
“Blood magic made me the way that I am.” The words slipped out through gritted teeth. I looked up to find the muscles in his forearms tensed in his rage. “Blood magic has scarred me and darkened my hair so it is the color of the night. It has stolen my green eyes and replaced them with black. Blood magic made me the creature that stands humbly before you, because mastering blood magic was the only way to set you free.”
“You’ve tainted yourself!” she cried, pointing one trembling finger at him. “You have turned from our ways and the embrace of the earth to learn the magic that has sustained the bori and the nightwalkers through the years. You have turned your back on our ways—”
“Never!” he shouted, taking a step toward her. At the same time, the guards on either side of Aurora took a step forward, their swords now pointed at Rowe’s chest. “Earth magic would never have been able to break the seal and open the door. The original spell was woven with blood magic, and it had to be unwoven with blood magic. I had no choice.”
“There is always a choice, and you made a poor one by aligning yourself with those that are our enemies.”
“I sacrificed all that I am for you!” he shouted, his hard voice ringing through the mountains until it reverberated in my hollow chest.
“We thank you for our freedom, but you are no longer one of us.” There was a cold chill to Aurora’s voice, an implacable tone that said nothing would move her from the course she had now set upon. “Because of your ‘sacrifice,’ I will let you live, but you are to leave here. Leave us. You are forever banished from our kind.”
Banished. Banished from his kind forever. Rowe stood, unable to move, barely breathing as he listened to this sentence imposed upon him after everything he had done for her.
“Guards, get him out of my sight this instant,” Aurora said with a wave of her hand as she moved to sit straight ahead on the wall again.
Rowe said nothing as several guards stepped forward and led him away. I watched him over my shoulder as he was led back across the plaza and toward the main entrance into Machu Picchu. I had a feeling they would lead him off the mountain itself.
A great bubble of laughter rose up inside of me and it was all I could do to swallow it back. Aurora had turned aside her greatest champion because of his scarred and dark appearance. She had turned him away because he had stepped too deeply in the dark side of magic for her. And in doing so, she had lost her staunchest defender. My main concern at killing Aurora had not been the horde of naturi that surrounded her, but getting past Rowe. She had completed that task for me in one quick swoop, and I was eager to see what else she would accomplish for me.
Maintaining the same cold voice, Aurora shifted her gaze to Cynnia and Nyx. Apparently, we poor nightwalkers were beneath her notice at the moment, and for now, I was content to keep it that way. The longer she took berating her own people, the more time I had to recover.
“Rowe is not the only one to disappoint me, from what I understand,” she slowly drawled. “Defender of our people.” Aurora pushed to her feet and took a couple steps toward where Nyx remained kneeling. “You were sent to secure our beloved sister and protect her from the nightwalkers, and yet I hear that she has spent her entire time here on earth as a prisoner of the Fire Starter.”
“I tried to find her, but I could not,” the dark-haired naturi said. “The Fire Starter must have found a way to keep her cloaked from me. I couldn’t find her as you wished,” she admitted, then reached across and took Cynnia’s hand in her own, a fragile smile teasing the corners of her red lips. “But she’s safe now. She is back home safe with us.”
I saw Cynnia squeeze her sister’s hand with both of hers as tears slid silently down her cheeks. There was relief in her expression. I knew at the end Cynnia had begun to wonder if her beloved sister Nyx was a part of the plot to kill her as well, but it appeared that Nyx was simply trying to protect her.
“You failed,” Aurora snarled. “Your job as defender of our people is to protect us, especially the royal family. First, Cynnia was taken from her home and brought to earth, and then she was held prisoner by a nightwalker. Your existence is dependent upon the simple premise of protecting us and you failed at that, child who was never meant to live!”
“I did the best I could. I don’t know how she managed to get to earth. I searched everywhere for Cynnia. I’d give my life for her,” Nyx argued, pushing to her feet.
“And so you shall,” Aurora said with a broad smile. “You failed to protect the young princess, so your punishment is death.”
“Aurora!” Cynnia cried.
“You can’t do this! I haven’t failed you,” Nyx argued, her right hand hovering near the hilt of her sword as if she was preparing to be attacked at any second. This naturi was a born fighter, and she was not about to go quietly into the night like her older sister wished.
Mira! What is going on? Danaus suddenly demanded from behind me.
Aurora is cleaning house, I replied. I don’t think she trusts those around her, and now that she plans to start a new reign of power here on earth, she wants to be surrounded by only those that she can trust.
Turning my thoughts to Jabari, I repeated my guess at the situation, and asked, Won’t this leave her vulnerable?
Possibly, he patiently replied. Only if she doesn’t have replacements already picked out. I’ve seen this done once before. A new Liege of the nightwalkers takes over and destroys the exi
sting Coven, replacing it with members only he can trust as a way of solidifying his power. Aurora has two younger sisters who can claim the throne, and she no longer wishes to worry about the line of succession.
To my surprise, Cynnia spoke up, in a cold, implacable voice that closely matched her sister’s in authority. “You can stop the charade if this is the grand scheme you have concocted to eliminate both Nyx and myself.”
Nyx twisted around to look at Cynnia, who was rising easily to her feet.
“Aurora’s most trusted weaver Harrow said that she knew I wanted to go to earth and stop the war that Aurora planned to pursue,” Cynnia said to Nyx. “She pretended to side with me and my wishes, so she was the one to take me through the barrier to earth. Once here, she tried to kill me, calling me a traitor to the crown.” Turning her head to look at Aurora, I caught the flash of a dark smile that sent a shiver down my spine. “She admitted that it had been your plan to have me killed here and blame it on the nightwalkers. She told me everything as I slowly killed her.”
Aurora said nothing as she returned to her seat on the wall, her guards closing in around her. Cynnia took a step closer to her sister. Her posture seemed straighter, her shoulders stiffer than I remembered. Looking at her now, I realized that I had been duped by the little naturi.
“Nyx couldn’t find me because I didn’t want to be found,” she sneered. “I had no idea which naturi sided with you and would brand me as a traitor, which would try to kill me on sight. Your trustworthy consort Rowe? My own beloved sister Nyx? What wouldn’t they do for you? So I hid.” Cynnia turned and flashed me a wicked grin. In truth, I had to smile back at her. I saw her plan now and it was brilliant. She’d hid in the arms of her enemy, knowing that I would keep her alive as long as she proved useful. And as the sister of the queen, how could she not prove useful?
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