A scream of rage left my lips, agony filling my soul and smoke billowing from my mouth as starlight blasted from me in a storm of sparkling light that lit the world behind my closed eyes. I’d tried to keep myself contained so my chaotic emotions wouldn’t lead to chaos. Well, chaos was fucking here anyway.
I couldn’t help the sob that left my lips then, one of rage and pain and fear. My mixed-up emotions were so powerful that I couldn’t even begin to sort them out, nor did I care to. Other Fae began to crash to their knees, their own magic weakened. But my attention was firmly on the man in front of me.
I grabbed my necklace in one hand and cupped Calix’s cheek with the other, running my fingers across that gorgeous face. I doubled over, crying into his chest as I tried to come to terms with what had happened.
Night now reigned, while the king who ruled it was fading before my eyes.
Chaos now reigned, the balance teetering too far over the line.
And I was left to reign alone,in a realm of ash and darkness.
I lifted my head and screamed at the skies once more, my soul undergoing a whole new torture as my awareness of Calix’s presence faded into mist. I swore at the Otherworld, the gods themselves—whoever might hear me, so they would know they could not take him.
I couldn’t go back to a life lived alone and empty, struggling through the days as rage ate me from the inside. Calix waslife. Light and darkness, balance and chaos. The other half of my soul. And I could feel the aching emptiness of his half like a missing limb. My screams didn’t stop, my heart tearing apart as my soul cried out for mercy.
Someone tried to pull me back, but I lashed out with sharp claws, fangs lengthening as I growled deeply. I refused to be parted from him. I curled over him completely, screaming and sobbing into his chest. All the pent-up emotions I’d tried to control overwhelming me as the grief and pain choked me from within.
How did one go on with their soul ripped in half? With their heart crushed to dust? It was unthinkable. I’d rather they leave me here to die than face a life without him. I had no interest in beinganywherewithout him, and I tugged hard on the bond, desperately hoping, praying… foranything.
The echoing emptiness I found was haunting, and I almost stopped for fear of what I’d discover. But I pulled and tugged and searched, andfinallyfound a spark of light at the end of the tunnel.
A faint feeling, like a ghost caressing my cheek, stirred within the bond.
Calix.
It wasn’t much, but it was him. He was still there. Still holding on.
And he’d never forgive me if I sat here and gave up. On him. On the world.
He’d fought and fought for this realm, for me, and I’d be damned if I let it all fade into chaos without doing anything to stop it on my watch. He deserved better than that.
I sat up, straightening and wiping my still-falling tears away. My eyes flared a sparkling silver with my resolve. I would not accept this.
I wouldnotlose Calix.
I wouldnotlose Zhu.
I wouldnotlose the magic of this world.
I wouldnotfail again.
Titan came running, fear stark on his face at the scene before him, but he stopped short with one look at my expression.
“Gather the troops and get healers for the king immediately,” I ordered, my voice hoarse from screaming and tears still tracking my cheeks. I forced myself to stand, despite how much my knees wanted to buckle.
“We have a lot of work to do,” I told him. I gathered myself for a moment, looking at Calix, the dark sky, the battlefield of a city we stood in. My expression was surely as dead as my voice as I continued.
“Welcome to a world in chaos.”
Epilogue 1
Zerlina
Wind rushed around me,my magic a tornado of air that wiped away my betrothed’s men one by one. I avoided his enemies, taking the feet out under any man wearing the nickel-plated armor of Dusk. I couldn’t tell who from Day was on whose side, nor Sunrise or Sunset, and I certainly wasn’t going to hurt any of my father’s men.
But I quite enjoyed sending my wind down the throat of every solider from Dusk I found, watching as the air that should have given them breath instead choked them of it.
I kept my wits about me, and as I spied Cyrus flying not far from my position, I observed the battle around me. My little area only had a few loyal Dusk men remaining, and they were quickly dispatched.
