I’m going to throw up, she thought as she glanced at
Sunny's deathly white face.
"We are gathered here today to witness the joining of two people who are meant for each other in sight of the gods. King Azmodeous and Queen Eleyna thank you for being here to celebrate their love for each other." She turned to the king, forcing herself to look him in the eye. "Azmodeous Moreau, if you could please take up the dagger and speak your vows."
The king picked up the knife, a sharp, wicked, ornate little thing, and held it against his palm. "With this knife, I draw my blood. As your Match, I vow to stand by your side. Your happiness is my happiness. Your sorrow is my sorrow. Your strength is my strength. Your weakness is my weakness. Your future is my future."
He sliced the knife across his palm, scarlet blood welling along the cut. He continued, turning and holding his fist over the bowl, letting his blood drip into it. "With this blood, I bind myself to you, now and forever. You are my Match, my wife, my soul-bonded."
He wrapped a handkerchief around his hand.
Jo turned to her sister. Sunny's eyes were huge as she gazed back at Jo. "Eleyna Ambarsan, if you could now please take up the dagger and repeat your vows."
Sunny's hand shook only slightly as she took the dagger and held it to her palm. Her chin trembled a bit as she spoke. "With this knife, I draw my blood. As your Match, I vow to stand by your side. Your happiness is my happiness. Your sorrow is my sorrow. Your strength is my strength. Your weakness is my weakness. Your future is my future."
She sliced her palm and held it over the bowl. As her sister's blood mixed with Azmodeous', Jo felt as if their fate was sealed.
Where was the signal Leo had promise?
Sunny continued her vows. "With this blood, I bind myself to you, now and forever. You are my Match, my husband, my soul-bonded."
Jo commanded her tears to stop and forced her voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "You may now seal the bond."
Azmodeous picked up the bowl and sipped. When he lowered it and handed it to Sunny, his lips were stained red.
Sunny took the bowl. Stared at it.
Drink it, Eleyna, Azmodeous commanded. Closing her eyes, she brought it to her lips. And drank.
The king's eyes gleamed as she sat the bowl back on the altar, lingering on the red now staining her lips as it stained his.
He then took Sunny's face in his hands and leaned down, pressing a hard kiss against her lips.
She stood absolutely still until he pulled back.
Though he was smiling, Jo could see his displeasure that
Sunny hadn't kissed him back.
The crowd began to clap and cheer, the cameras that were there to broadcast the royal wedding zooming in, but a guard called for silence. They fell quiet with a hush, heads swiveling as they looked at each other in confusion. The first half of the ceremony, what they had done so far, was typical of a Match ceremony. Jo knew they were confused as to why anything should be added.
The king picked the dagger back up from the altar and took Sunny's arm in his hand. She tried to pull it away, but he held on tightly. Her eyes flew around the room, landing on the guards that stood nearby, their hands on their swords.
Jo looked to Leo, her eyes searching him out in the crowd, but his seat was empty. He was gone.
Had he run? Left them there to whatever fate Azmodeous chose for them?
Heat coursed through Jo as she contemplated the all-too real possibility.
The king pressed the tip of the knife into Sunny's arm, the crowd echoing her gasp as he began to carve.
Their murmuring rose, filling the room. Wondering what their king was doing.
Azmodeous glanced their way, and they all fell silent.
When he was finished carving into Sunny's arm, a symbol now lay there. Sharp, angular lines, intersecting harshly with each other.
Azmodeous grinned at Sunny, his teeth stained red with blood, before turning to the crowd of guests.
"And now we are wed!" The crowd clapped and cheered politely, their eyes still full of questions.
He turned to Sunny, "And now to seal our love."
He grabbed her hand and began dragging her from the room. Sunny shouted and dug her heels into the floor, but Azmodeous clamped down on her mind, forcing her to follow.
Jo made to move, took a step forward after them, but a hand clamped around her upper arm.
She whirled to find no one there. "Come with me," Leo whispered. "But Sunny-"
"I'm getting her out too, trust me, but I need you to come with me. Now."
Jo hesitated, wishing she could see him, the expression on his face. It would be easier to trust him if she could see him.
"We have to go now, Seph."
Jo threw one last glance in her sister's direction to see Azmodeous pulling her through the door.
Then she nodded, tears welling in her eyes.
Leo's Gift enveloped her, turning her invisible, and he led her through the crowd.
Jo prayed to whoever or whatever was listening that they made it out of there alive. That the Dark King wasn't able to fulfill his dark plans.
Then, a high-pitched whine filled the palace, causing the guests to clamp their hands over their ears.
And all hell broke loose.
Chapter 7
Sunny
Writhia, 5220
Ettria
Sunny was dizzy with terror.
The king held her throbbing arm, dragging her along to their bedroom. No, not their bedroom. The place he had forced her to sleep.
Sunny tried to stay calm. She believed in Jo. Believed she would get them out of this horrid place.
She didn't know if she could trust Leo.
What she did know was that she and Azmodeous had reached the bedroom and that she would have to stall him for as long as possible.
The king pulled Sunny into his room and slammed the door behind them, pushing her against it. The door shook as her back bashed against the hardwood, knocking the breath from her lungs.
Azmodeous towered over her, looming. The hunger in his eyes had Sunny looking everywhere but directly at him. There was desperation there, a greed darker than anything she had seen before.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time, my love," he whispered in her ear.
Chills spread across her skin at his words.
A smile crossed his face as he watched them, his eyes lighting with anticipation.
And then he was kissing her, his lips cold against hers. They trailed down her neck as his hands reached around her, pulling at the ties of her dress.
Jo, where are you? she thought desperately. She needed to distract him, slow him down.
Sunny put her hand against his chest, his fingers stilling against her back.
"No, you first," she told him, her voice a hoarse whisper.
Azmodeous chuckled darkly, "Impatient, are we?"
Sunny tried for a flirtatious laugh, but a strangled croak came out instead.
The king's eyebrows furrowed but smoothed over when her shaking hands began to slowly remove his jacket. His pale serpent's eyes watched her every move as her trembling fingers began to unbutton his shirt.
Bit by bit, his pale chest was exposed to her. Sunny frowned at the unexpected sight of the brutal scars that marred the skin there. Dozens of stab wounds crisscrossed his torso.
The king flushed a bit as her eyes roved over his skin. "I never stopped searching for you, Eleyna. Even when I thought you were dead, I kept looking."
Sunny looked up at him in alarm as his shirt dropped to the floor.
What does that mean?
She opened her mouth to say something, she wasn't sure what, when a loud, high-pitched alarm rose throughout the palace.
Cursing, Azmodeous whirled away from her. And Sunny gasped.
His entire back was covered in scar tissue. It was as if a slab of meat, pink and puckered, had been placed over his back. On closer inspection, Sunny saw the faint,
faded black remains of symbols similar to Jo's Mark.
Her eyes widened as she realized his entire Mark had been sliced from his skin.
Azmodeous bent and retrieved his shirt, putting it back on and quickly doing up the buttons.
Pushing her aside, Azmodeous opened the door, stepping outside to see what was wrong. At the last second, he turned back, grabbing Sunny's arm once more and dragging her along behind him.
Azmodeous' eyes scanned the hall as he pulled her along, looking for any signs of nearby guards.
There were none.
Sunny, Jo's mind whispered against hers, we're behind you.
Sunny kept her gaze straight ahead, ignoring the urge to look behind her.
And then she felt it.
A strange tingling at the edge of her mind. Her Gift rose, searching it out. It was. . . familiar somehow.
And then she recognized it.
Does either of you have a knife or something? she asked Jo.
She held her hand behind her back and a moment later she felt cool metal press against her palm.
She had one shot at this.
She whirled on him, her knife arcing through the air, aimed directly for Azmodeous' heart.
But he must have sensed her somehow, because he flinched at the last moment and she missed, the dagger plunging into his shoulder instead.
He released her arm to grab at the knife now embedded in his skin. Fury and betrayal burned in his pale eyes as he bellowed in pain. Blood spurted from the wound.
RUN! She sent the thought to Jo and Leo.
She dashed down the hall, her sister and the Shadow following close behind.
Azmodeous roared and lunged after them, using the wall to hold himself up. His mind grabbed at theirs, trying to slow them down. Sunny felt her limbs grow heavy as she struggled against his silent command.
She heard a silent giggle in her mind, the sound of a child's laughter, and she knew she had to fight it.
Veering sharply to the side, she threw open the door of the nearest room and charged in, heading straight for the balcony. She threw those doors open as well and stopped at the edge.
Jo and Leo appeared next to her.
"Do you trust me?" Sunny asked them. "Yes," said Jo, resolute.
"Uh, not really," Leo told her, eyeing the steep drop below them.
"Good enough," she said, grabbing each of their hands.
They jumped.
The frigid winter air pulled and whipped her hair as she fell, stinging her eyes.
They didn't fall for long. The babies appeared.
Sunny's heart was pounding as she looked at the Sprites that had once poisoned Jo, but, at the moment, she'd never been happier to see them.
She grabbed one of the little heathens and felt that flight within her bones. She knew if she tried, she'd be able to fly herself.
Azmodeous reached the balcony, weakened but seething.
He screamed at the sight of them flying away, one Sprite holding Jo and Sunny while the other held a shouting Leo.
The king's Gift reached for her once again, tugging at her mind, demanding control.
Desperation clawed up her spine, and she tightened her hold on the Sprite.
They started to dip a bit, the king's Murmur making
Sunny lose some control.
Jo started to feel extra heavy in her hands. "Sunny! Your shield, put up your shield!" Jo screeched, the wind snatching her voice.
Sunny thought of everything the king had put them through and watched him watching her with cold calculation in his eyes.
I have to get us out of here, she thought, this is our only chance.
She felt rage deep within her, and the sound that left her mouth could be described as nothing short of ferocious.
She heard the king cry out, her shield slamming shut with such force that it knocked him down.
When she looked down at Jo, she realized she couldn't see her and started to panic before she felt her weight in her hands. Her gaze shot to where she could sense Leo and realized that she, not Leo, had made them all invisible.
Sunny shot them into the air at a rapid pace. She used Jo's Gift to make the other baby follow suit, and they were on their merry way.
Sunny looked back and watched the castle that was her prison for the last eight months get smaller and smaller. She felt like she could finally breathe again. She was sad and overwhelmed and scared and happy and relieved and her brain couldn't even begin to process everything.
But they were free. She hung onto that with all her strength, which she felt was starting to ebb. Using the king, Leo, and Jo's Gifts all at once were starting to weigh her down.
She let the invisibility drop. She looked down to Jo, her face the mirror image of Sunny's, but what shown through most was the relief.
She began to cry, her tears freezing against her cheeks, and glanced at Leo who was studiously trying to ignore the situation. He too, though, had the same sharp relief etched onto his features, and Sunny knew, without a doubt, that he did not betray them as they had first thought.
Jo had tears streaming down her face as well and as Sunny looked at their odd motley crew of Leo, two flying babies, herself in a gothic wedding dress, and Jo dressed like some sort of bedazzled nun, she began to laugh.
Jo laughed too, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Leo smile warmly at them. The first genuine smile she had ever seen from him.
After another few minutes of flying, Sunny felt her strength begin to falter more and more.
"Do you guys think it'd be okay to get back on the ground now? I don't know how much longer I can keep a hold of this Sprite."
The Sprite giggled as if to say, "Ha-ha, I'm faster."
"I don't sense anything," Jo said.
"Yeah, should be fine," Leo said, though his eyes still wandered suspiciously.
Sunny started to gradually drop them, and they fell a little quicker than intended, and the Sprite giggled again.
They finally hit the ground, and Sunny's legs almost gave out before she steadied herself against a tree.
Jo and Leo, not quite as weak, stood staring at one another and Sunny narrowed her eyes, glancing between them. She didn't have a chance to ask what was up, though, because they had visitors.
Jo stiffened and Sunny immediately knew she had sensed other minds.
The three of them shared a look of alarm, getting into a defensive stance before they saw who it was.
Marzanna and Khione stepped out from behind a tree, Kian and some woman Sunny had never seen before stood up from behind a bush, and last, but certainly not least, Seren jumped down from a tree right in front of them.
He gave them a shy grin before saying, "I saw you coming."
Chapter 8
Westin
Writhia, 5220
The Wastes
The sound of a snapping twig had Westin jerking awake.
It was early morning, the sun just beginning to rise. His eyes snapped open and he sat perfectly still, waiting to see if he heard any similar noises. He turned his head back and forth slowly, trying to hear as much as possible with his right ear since his left was now useless.
There.
Another crack, not far from his hut. The lack of windows made it hard to tell the direction the sound was coming from, but he was pretty sure he heard it coming through the western wall.
Westin moved silently, standing up from the straw mat he slept on and creeping to the door. No, that wouldn't work. Whoever was outside was too close and would hear if he tried to move the heavy slab of wood; the scraping sound would alert them that he was up and moving.
He glanced up at the hole in the ceiling that functioned as a vent for his fires. Stepping to the center of the room, he reached up and gently unlatched the wooden shutter he used to cover the hole at night and when it rained. After lowering it, Westin bent his knees and jumped, catching the edge of the vent with his hands and hoisting himself up and through.
He remained
low, pulling himself across the clay roof with his elbows the way he had taught his soldiers. He reached the raised edge that barely came high enough to hide him while lying flat on his stomach.
He lifted his head and scanned the woods to the west with his sharp gaze, his Gift allowing him to see much further than the average human.
Crunch.
The sounds of crunching leaves had him pulling his gaze slightly to the right, and there he saw her. A woman leaned heavily against the trunk of a tree and even from a distance Westin could see that her chest was heaving. In her hands, she clutched a wooden bow, well-made but clearly handcrafted.
What Westin mostly noticed, though, was that she wasn't looking in his direction. Instead, she kept her head turned to the west, her gaze shifting as if she was watching for someone.
Or something.
The wind shifted, blowing her scent in his direction.
He smelled it then, the sharp citrus scent of adrenaline mingled with sweat.
She was running from something.
Her head snapped to the left and Westin turned his head as well, his right ear finally picking up the sound of rustling leaves that had alerted her.
Suddenly, a dark shape darted out from behind a tree and the woman drew her bow. The shape inched forward and Westin saw that it was about the size of a griffin, a small beige creature sniffing the ground, moving slowly in her direction. He let out a sigh of relief and turned back to the woman.
That’s strange, Westin thought as he noticed the woman kept her bow drawn, her hands shaking as she tracked its movements.
She took a deep breath and loosed her arrow.
The creature darted to the side as the arrow flew past, narrowly missing its flank. The creature's head whipped in her direction and the woman took off running.
To Westin's surprise, the creature let out a loud, vicious growl and gave chase, moving at a speed that shouldn't have been possible.
One moment it was in one place, and the next it was on the other side of the woman, blocking her escape. She turned to flee in another direction, but the creature moved again, cutting her off once more. They did that several more times, the woman trying to run and the creature blocking her path.
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