Cassandra softened, but only for Vivienne. “You’re right,” she whispered.
The others continued talking, thinking through ideas for destroying the volcano, but I was processing everything Cassandra revealed to Raya.
The mate bond made our magic stronger? Maybe it wasn’t only my light that drew Kade out of his darkness but the bond between us. Perhaps both of us needed to work together to purge the darkness from him. I closed my eyes, breathing in a few times, continuing to push down any emotion not helping me focus on freeing Kade. On destroying the volcano and ensuring Thames rotted away forever once I killed him.
Refocusing, I thought back to the moments when I felt most connected to my magic. Most of the times when it exploded out of me or burst out in a show of strength were when our magic entwined together, calling to each other. Kade was a part of my soul.
Those of us in this room didn’t need to destroy the volcano.
Kade and I did.
Nothing is as it appears at first glance.
“Let’s try it,” I said. The others stopped talking and stared at me. “Raya, let’s try it. We find someone in Mount Legion who can convince Thames?—”
“No,” Cassandra interrupted.
I frowned at her and noticed her hands clutching the chair in front of her, knuckles white.
She saw my stare and quickly let go, stretching her hands. One by one, she looked at each person before straightening her spine impossibly tall. “There is one way to guarantee he won’t be there.”
We stayed quiet, even as Vivienne gripped Cassandra’s shoulder as if to stop her.
“He’ll come for me if he thinks he has a chance to take me,” she said. Her hardened voice matched the cold facade she now masked herself with. “You’ll have to work quickly, but I will draw Thames out and you—” She stared at me. “You will free Kade and destroy the volcano.”
Chapter 33
Kade
After so many hours chained against the walls of the volcano, I’d lost feeling in my hands.
My head slumped forward as blood dripped down my arms from my wrists. Even though my tunic was a deep navy blue, dark stains seeped all the way down my shirt. At least, the thin parts of it remaining.
My skin stretched taut where Thames used the lava from the volcano in whip-like devices. Pain unlike anything I’d ever felt before ripped through me as each fiery lash burned into me. I’d been whipped a hundred times before, but never with lava. The stench of burning skin made me want to vomit.
My healing magic returned slower than I needed but enough so that I healed the most debilitating injuries. The poisonous drink Thames gave me still lingered in my system. The small amount of shadows that had revived inside of me were focused solely on containing the darkness Thames desperately tried to control. He hadn’t succeeded. I’d held on to the glow in my chest that was Lana and used my shadows to smother the darkness.
I wouldn’t give in, not again.
I needed to find a way to break free from this prison and return to my family. Being forced to listen to hundreds of darkones sacrifice their life to fuel this weapon sent chills down my spine. While most may have done so willingly, the screams of those fighting their deaths were even worse. So much pointless death. Hours of pain-filled cries were almost enough for me to give in and allow the darkness out, if only to keep from feeling such anguish at the senseless loss of life.
I fought the temptation though. With Lana and me accepting the mate bond, I leaned into our connection. It alone gave me the strength to hold on, minute by minute.
Can you snuff it out completely?I thought toward my shadows, knowing I didn’t need to clarify what I meant.
I felt the dread when they answered.No.
Didn’t hurt to ask.
I’d been a pawn in Thames’s game for longer than I realized. He’d used my father to create the perfect dark one. A monster greater than all the others.
Because that was what it all came down to. Thames had created me, the darkness inside of me, for almost my entire life. For so long I’d lived with this unknown evil, and the moment I’d started to feel a reprieve from his grasp, like I had an actual chance of ridding myself of his toxicity, the floor crumbled beneath me.
My hopes had soared when Lana discovered she could cut the darkness out of Fae with her dagger. After our failed attempts though, it seemed futile to keep trying. Especially given what Cassandra and the final prophecy indicated. I wasn’t ready to think yet about the consequences of this unbreakable darkness. I thought about how Evelyn and Jasper had to sacrifice everything just totrapThames, and part of me knew I wouldn’t be so lucky that I’d get to keep Lana without a sacrifice of our own.
Fates, I swore I wouldn’t leave her, but all our choices were leading us too close to that point. The one where in order for Lana to succeed, we’d need to ensure I was gone.
I looked across the room to where Thames sat in his stupidly ostentatious onyx chair, deep in thought. He leaned his head back, his fingers moving in front of him along with the sounds of the screaming. He swirled his fingers as if conducting a symphony, clearly basking in the sounds of dying dark ones. His weapon grew stronger with each passing moment, scream by scream.
