I plunged the dagger forcefully into the ground, unleashing a devastating scream.
The earth rippled, almost tearing me away from the dagger, but I held on tight, not breaking the connection. Kade wrapped his body around mine, holding on to me with everything he had as light overpowered our world, blasting out in a brilliant, blinding white.
It was all there. For this moment in time, the world existed only in a white nothingness.
As quickly as it flashed into existence it retreated, back into the dagger itself, and I yanked it from the ground. I grabbed Kade and cut a deep gash along his arm, aiming true to rid the darkness from him and Atheria completely. He flinched but remained strong as a faint line of black oozed out of the wound.
I cried out as pure joy radiated from the bond, outward.
It worked. We’d done it.
There was no time to continue watching what we’d both hoped for so long as the glittering protection encasing us crumbled.
I jumped up, turning and staring in horrified awe as Fae stumbled to their knees around us. Intertwined with our army, the dark ones fell. Some vomiting, some sobbing. Shouting and pained wails momentarily replaced the sounds of combat.
Some Fae appeared furious, looking around with frustration before they charged our soldiers to continue the fight. They lashed out at our army, determined to finish what Thames had started.
Fates, Vivienne had been right. Eliminating the darkness didn’t end the battle. It merely took out all of Thames’s ties to this world.
While we’d succeeded, it wasn’t the end. We’d made Thames vulnerable, and now we needed to end him.
A thunderousthudsounded, shaking the earth itself. My eyes widened as I looked up, seeing the strox screech victoriously at the voidlings falling from the sky. Their bodies scattered, dead and unmoving on the ground, strewn about the battlefield. My light had destroyed the evil creatures along with the darkness.
“Kade,” I said frantically, resheathing Apollo at my thigh and grabbing my sword. “It’s not over yet.”
I faced him, ready to run to Thames with him by my side. Our gazes collided, and he gave me a small sympathetic smile. “Now it’s just a fight among regular Fae. You took their darkness.”
“We did it.” I grinned. “We need to help the others.” I glanced down at his arm and nodded toward it. “How do you feel? It must be so freeing to finally be rid of that evil living inside of you after so long.”
I reached for his arm, but he pulled it back.
Dread snaked around my heart, building in me so quickly, it almost knocked me to my knees. “Kade?”
The sky turned grey and storm clouds rolled in from Mysthaven’s side of the border. The tides were turning, but now I wasn’t quite sure in whose favor.
He shook his head just once. “No, Little Rebel. You purged the darkness from our world, it just didn’t work on me.”
Chapter 41
Lana
The wind whipped through the mayhem, angry, as the sky morphed from grey to black.
Lightning flashed briefly, illuminating the sky. Nature fought just as fiercely as we did, furious at the way the battle unfolded.
Thunder boomed again, rattling my blood-soaked armor.
A loud, eerie cackle carried above the storm. “You think you can destroy the darkness?” Thames’s voice shouted, as lightning flashed across the sky once more. I looked across the field at the man who was the reason for all of this. His eyes gleamed with the mania of a madman as he stood on the edge of the void, watching Kade and me with malevolent glee. He clasped his hands in front of his chest. “The darkest of them all still stands beside you. My prized possession.”
After draining my magic, my mind moved slowly, processing what Thames said.
No.No, I wouldn’t accept this outcome.
“It doesn’t matter.” I stumbled forward, gripping my sword. “If I can rid the darkness from an entire army, I can save him too.” Running my fingers over Apollo at the sheath on mythigh to reassure me of its presence, I glanced around me. “You underestimate the lengths I would go to protect my mate.”
Some of the dark ones who were turned against their will, now free, fled the battlefield. Yet others in Thames’s army fought back against the torment they’d endured, switching sides.
Those still loyal to Thames, however, didn’t back down. They continued their fight on the bloodied battlegrounds.
