His voice rang loud in his ears, but the clashing of steel and snapping teeth made it impossible to warn anyone. Vairik lifted his hand. The world shifted, magic expanding to engulf the entire battlefield.
The sky grew darker, the monsters larger. Thunder rumbled overhead and lightning streaked across the dark sky, momentarily blinding him. More winged creatures appeared from above, but Rion couldn’t tell if they were real or illusions.
Their warriors reacted exactly how Vairik wanted. They balked from the shift. Fear engulfed their hearts, and many who had been fighting relentlessly stumbled and fell never to rise again.
Rion turned back to Vairik, steeling himself. He had to kill him now. If he didn’t, all would be lost. Nàdair would be overrun. Arianna would die.
He wouldn’t let that happen.
Rion lunged for the male again, hoping to catch him off guard, but Vairik lifted an arm and Rion froze mid-stride, his muscles locked against his will. Rion struggled to draw breath. He fought, shoving against whatever held him in place.
Vairik eyed the masses once again and smiled. Rion blinked, then Vairik was before him. His long fingers snaked out and grabbed Rion’s throat before lifting Rion’s body from the ground. Rion still couldn’t move.
Disappointment covered Vairik’s face.
So many years of boredom and I’m left with this. Perhaps I should have allowed your predecessor to live in chains. Distort his world instead.
Vairik threw him to the side and Rion skidded across the ground. Rocks and debris bit into his flesh. He caught himself and flipped back to his feet, rising to bare his fangs at Vairik again.
“I said to get out of my head.”
Vairik laughed.I’ve been in your head so many times, it’s practically a second home. No need to kick me out now.Rion’s body seized up again, going entirely rigid.Perhaps I should let you be the one to end your friends; wouldn’t that make for the most tragic of ends?
Rion lifted his sword against his will, turning to face Talon and the rest of their warriors.Would that be what finally breaks you?He could feel Vairik’s breath against his ear. Or would your sanity hold out until you lifted the blade against your mate?
Rion clenched his teeth.I wonder what she’d believe in the end? That I was the one controlling you, or that you finally gave into your old nature?
“I only did those things because of you.”
Because of me?Vairik allowed Rion to turn enough that he could see the male’s face. His brows were raised.You relished the bloodshed. You bathed your soul in it. Don’t you remember the exhilaration of it all?Vairik chuckled. You find a female and now you’re so quick to pass the blame to another. Does that make you feel better about all the carnage?
The world around Rion shifted. Instead of a battlefield, he saw a burning village. Fae were lined up on the street, all on their knees. Some cried, others whispered prayers to the gods. Rion walked the line, looking down on them with disgust.
One male, barely more than a youngling, dared to meet his gaze in a silent challenge.Do you remember him?Vairik’s voice floated through the memory. Rion eyed the male, then his magic lashed out. He grabbed the young male by the throat, lifting him from the ground. A female cried out, begging.Listen to that poor mother. You most certainly didn’t care about her pain back then.
Rion clenched his jaw, then watched as the young male’s neck snapped.
The vision shifted again. This time he was on a battlefield, fighting those who could barely defend themselves. He hadn’t even bothered to draw his weapon.
And them. They were nothing more than civilians, each willing to die to protect their homes and honor.Rion felt his magic tear through their bodies. He had not possessed an ounce of sympathy. He remembered a youngling standing in the middle of that village, staring at the carnage, wetting herself upon seeing him. He’d walked away and left her there alone.
Though I suppose there were lines even I couldn’t make you cross. All aside from one.
The world shifted again and Rion thought he might be sick as the image focused on a mother and her infant. The youngling screamed as he stood over them, his weapon already bloody from the countless lives he’d stolen.
Rion stepped forward. Lifted the blade.
No.
No, that wasn’t how it went.
You killed them.
“I didn’t,” Rion whispered, hopelessness flooding him. He hadn’t. He’d killed the others sure, but not them. Never children. He couldn’t—
Rion’s weapon came down and he screamed, rage and grief tearing through him anew.
The world spun again, throwing him back onto the battlefield.
