As the Eclipse of Fate rolls into place, turning the day to night, the clouds swirl unnaturally. I brace myself for what I know is about to happen. The roaring crowd quiets, the shadows falling away as Dax and Cano notice my presence. I see Dax running toward me, screaming my name. While he’s distracted by my presence, Cano’s shadows blast into his chest just a breath before lightning strikes the center of the Colosseum, right where I stand. The sound of it echoes, and shock vibrates through my body as the moon’s magic grips me in its fist and draws me toward its ethereal essence. My back bows as I’m lifted toward the heavens by an invisible thread pulled taut.
A guttural scream erupts from my throat, as a searing pain racks me and bursts through my back. Both sides of my spine feel as though flames rage there. I can’t see anyone or hear anything other than the white-hot agony that is ripping me to shreds. My fingertips burn as magic rips from them in every direction. I’m twirling in the sky, like a fallen star, suspended by magic. A sea of white striking across my vision.
I hit the ground with a thud, my body crumbling in on itself, and that’s when I finally hear the chaos all around me. Screams and cries of panic flood into my ears as my vision flickers. I see Fae running, shifting, flying away. I cough as I scramble to my hands and knees. Tears overwhelm my vision as I call out for him.
“Dax!” My chest heaves as my scream rips my throat bloody, and I feel someone tugging at my limp body. Pulling me to feet that I can’t feel.
“You have to get up. We have to go.” I hear the deep voice, but it’s not the voice I seek.Dax. Where is Dax?He presses my head against his chest and launches into the sky. Smoke, the scent of sulfur, and evil fill the sky around us, pluming up from the Colosseum. And I’m helpless as I watch the ruins and mayhem fade away into the distance. My head lulls to the side, and I look up at the dark features of the man I don’t know but that my soul recognizes.
“I’m so sorry.” His brow furrows. That voice. Those words…
“You’re him—Alaric,” my voice breaks, and my eyes roll into the back of my head as my vision goes black and consciousness is ripped from me.
Chapter seventeen
Waking up in adaze, I peel my eyes open. The dryness makes it difficult, but it's the least of my worries. I’m not sure who made it out of the Colosseum, and for a moment, I don’t recall getting out myself. Flashes of memory surface in my mind; the evil magic clogging the air, the wretched and gut-clenching pain surges back when I remember what happened. A choked sob breaks from my throat, which is as dry as my eyes.
“Here. Drink.” A deep, raspy voice breaks through my turmoil, and I meet the dark, gold-flecked eyes of the mysterious raven-shifter from Loema. The one I now know in mybones is Ambriel’s brother. The Fae, who also wiped my memories not long ago.
“Alaric?” I grind out, then I greedily gulp down the cool water as he presses the canteen to my lips, and helps guide my head back so I can drink it.
“The one and only. How did you know?” His smile is warm as he looks down on me. Propping myself onto an elbow as I try to get a grip on the spinning in my head.
“Ambriel has told me about you. I just… had a feeling it was you.” My brows knit together as I look around. We’re not in the wastelands. I lay on a mossy patch of ground, the deep green of it and the trees around us give that much away. “Where are we?” I ask. Looking to Alaric, where he sits with his back pressed against a tree. He rests his elbows on his knees and takes a deep breath, blowing it out of his cheeks before answering.
“We’re in Lesa. Someone is meeting us here.” His eyes shift out over the forest before settling back on me.
“Dax?” I ask hesitantly after a moment of silence.
I don’t want the answer, not really, but I need to hear it. Blinking slowly, I drop my gaze to my hands as I wring them in my lap. Waiting for my world to implode.
I would feel it if Dax were no longer in this world… wouldn't I? If my mate were ripped away from me? Our souls broken apart? My thoughts go back to the moment I saw Dax running for me. Chaos all around, the screams of Fae, my name being shouted from multiple directions, and Dax’s molten copper eyes going round with pain and shock as the dark putrid shadows that Cano wielded blast at him and strike true—to his chest. Hot tears flood my eyes and burn away any dryness that was there. They sting as they run down my raw cheeks before he says the words I don’t want to hear.
“I’m sorry, Raelle.” I shake my head, my nostrils flaring as tears flow freely from my raw eyes, and the shake of my head becomes more intense as I truly take in his words. The meaning behind them.
“NO…no, no, no, this can’t be happening,” I bite down hard on my trembling lip, as though it can do anything to stop my heart from breaking. “Why did you take me out of there?!” I sit up, reaching for his hand. I need something to feel grounded. Something to feel—to just feel, other than the shattering of my heart.
This can’t be happening.
“He’s gone, isn’t he? Because of me! He’sdeadbecause of ME!” A racking sob breaks from me. It doesn’t even sound like it’s coming from my body. Like I am a third person—sitting on the outside of a conversation, looking in. Alaric pulls at the hand that’s in his. Pulling my body hard enough that I slam into his, and he wraps me in his arms. Strangely, the immediate warmth that spreads through me makes my shaking a little less violent. As though being in his embrace brings me to feel so close to someone I’ve only ever spoken with once. Someone who literally wiped my memories and could very well be another evil I need to overcome, but in this moment… Nothing else matters. The tighter his grip becomes, the more I fall apart. Grief rips through me at a soul-deep level.
After what feels like hours, I lay in his arms limply, and he just lets me cry softly without a word. I cry until my eyes run dry and the heavy brush of sleep takes me from the present and thrusts me into unconsciousness, but sleeping or awake, I can’t escape the nightmare that is my reality.
I’m alone again.
Fate is cruel in its dealings of suffering, ripping my mate from me just when I was beginning to accept that although my family died, I found those I love in Dax and the others. Now, I’m not sure I have any of them. Ice fills my chest, and I scream into the hollowness of my dream state, but no one is there to hear it.
I hear hushed voices speaking near me but don’t open my eyes. I’m not sure I could, even if I tried. They are swollen and dry from crying so hard, and for so long. I can tell that I’m no longer on the bed of moss in the forest, but I’m in an actual bed now. The hard mattress under me does nothing to aid the aching of my muscles from being held so tense in my nightmares.
“How long has she been asleep?” My awareness peaks at the sound of the female’s voice. My subconscious recognizes it before I do. For the second time since Dax’s death, I peel my eyes open to the darkened world around me. My vision is blurry, and I blink rapidly, trying to dissipate the lingering dreariness in my eyes.
The mattress dips, and she leans over me, and when her cherub-like face framed in cinnamon-brown waves comes into view, I nearly launch myself into her arms.
“Claire!” She wraps me in a tight hug, and I tremble with relief and more pain from the slight happiness that stabs at my raw, torn up heart. The only friend I ever made before my life was turned upside down. The only person who has ever known me—the me I wasbefore. Now, I’m not even sure who I am. Nothing more than a broken queen for a broken kingdom.
“Oh, Raelle. I’m sorry for everything. I’m so sorry.” She parrots. My head shakes on its own accord, not wanting to spiral once again. When I break the hug and push her out at an arm’s length, she smiles sadly, her eyes twinkling with unshed tears. That’s when I notice the hulking figure standing behind her. Alaric is stoic as he looks down on us.
“You’ve been out of it for a while. We were starting to worry…Unfortunately, you’re waking up to more bad news.” He crosses his arms over his wide chest. “My contacts in Loema just sent word that Ravendene was taken by Cano since the battle concluded with him—” He pauses, looking to Claire. The slight twitch of her chin has him looking back at me and finishing his sentence. “Winning.” He swallows as his eyes flick over my face, searching for emotions that I’m unable to give. A numbness has worked its way into my every muscle and every bone.
