Bastian raised his own hand, and another ball of light formed, burning brighter than the one hovering above us. He regarded Shade with a smirk tugging at his lips. “Are you sure you want to do this, Raiden? You never could defeat me one on one.”
“Adelia, go!” Shade growled out, not taking his eyes off his brother. His body tensed, bracing for attack.
“I’ll see you soon,Adelia,” Bastian promised, sending another raking gaze over me, this one eliciting the familiar sensation of icy fear.
This time, I didn’t hesitate. It was clear Shade wasn’t defenseless against his brother and the demon wisps still darting around the room. I would only serve as a distraction, a way to manipulate Shade just as Eleanor had been for me.
She would want me to get out, to be safe.
I gripped Wista’s hand and pulled her to the stone steps. I searched the room for Pierce and Eleanor, but they were nowhere to be seen. He must have gotten her to safety.
Herbody,everything that made her Eleanor wasn’t there anymore.
I’d failed.
Sizzling sparks and howling wind sounded behind us while we fled. Explosions of bright light flared against the granite walls before they were snuffed out, replaced by a sea of darkness.
Dark and light, the Emyrdeis brothers fought.
Epilogue
Shade
Pain pierced my soul. An agony so intense it swarmed my entire body with vicious energy. The resounding scream that followed would play in my nightmares for eternity. It was a pain unlike any other, one I was intimately familiar with. Soldiers swarmed me, but I caught a glimpse of Adelia hunched over her sister’s prone form before my view was blocked by armed men.
Bloodlust pulsed through me in an incessant rhythm. The captain lunged first, sweeping his blade in a wide arc aimed at my chest. I twisted away, elbowing another man in the nose and stealing his sword in the same movement, then used the blade to block the captain’s next blow. I fell into a familiar rhythm, themen poorly trained in comparison to those I had once fought. I relished the opportunity to use my strength against them. Despite the bindings choking me, I was far more powerful than these so-called soldiers. This land and its people had grown weak in the absence of my familial line. No longer drawing from the magic of our surroundings, the people suffered. Weakened.
My focus was separated between fighting the six men attacking me and the sunlight to my soul. The bond connecting me to Adelia was a maelstrom of darkness and despair, the fire usually burning there hidden behind the storm.
I sensed the connection the moment I was released from the lamp. Before my confinement, I had never heard of such a thing. We were inexplicably linked, and it was more than the lamp, the magic of the Gods was separate to my own, and Adelia was tangled deep within my chest, where my magic used to settle before I became this. I wouldn’t question the connection, because she waseverything.
The agonized screaming continued, the jarring sound like a thousand blades to my heart. I called her name, aloud, and within, down the connection in my chest, begging her to break free. The wail cut off while I continued to block blows, clanging steel echoing around the tomb in the absence of her scream.
“Adelia,” I said again, praying to the Gods she would hear me.
The captain twisted, trying to get around my defenses and making a grave mistake by giving me the opening I needed to thrust my blade into his side. His pained shout was music to my ears. He worked for theking, the one who hurt her. My bloodlust fueled, I swung the sword toward his neck, ready to end his life for good. The blade bounced back, recoiling from the magical shield stopping me from making my kill. The sword flung from my hand, clattering to the stone floor far out of reach.
The corner of my lips tugged upward. It had been some time since I fought without a weapon, and I looked forward toshowing these men what could be accomplished without a blade. I became lost to the fight, finally able to release my anger on these men. Anger at my past. Anger at everything Adelia had been subjected to. Anger at the restrictions that stopped me from being able to do anything but watch from the sidelines as she was destroyed beyond repair.
I had felt it all. Every conflicted emotion. Her heartache, her happiness, her pleasure. Everything.
I could block my own emotions from her, but sometimes, they crossed the boundary I erected when they were too strong to contain. She never realized.
I let them have it all, dodging blades to meet metal-plated chests with my fists, the force strong enough to send the men stumbling. My chest heaved with exertion, my mind high on adrenaline as I punished each man for the simple role of serving their king.
Her soft words reached me like a whisper in the wind, my shouted warning far too late to stop the magic from working.
Her final wish would doom us all.
I stumbled when the Gods’ magic flooded me in a deluge of power. The soldiers stopped attacking. A sound beyond our comprehension filling the room and forcing them to cover their ears. I fell to one knee when another agonizing wave rippled under my skin. It took everything I had to block the sensation from Adelia. To not let it overflow down our connection.
My palm became a conduit for the Gods power to expel from my body. The force of it sent the soldiers to the ground, the next wave so powerful their minds shattered, eyes left wide in death. The ground shuddered, and searing pain vibrated through my flesh and bones, lighting every nerve ending on fire as magic fell into the earth and unlocked the gates located there. The floor cracked open, releasing the monsters I gave my life to lock away.
Then he rose. Shrouded in darkness despite being the light to my shadow. The moment my eyes locked on Bastian, my heart seized and my stomach hardened. The fear was all consuming. Not for myself. Not even for the lands I was once honor bound to protect.
No, it was fear for the dark-haired woman who captured me in every possible way. If my brother knew what she meant to me, she would be in the worst kind of danger imaginable. He would do anything to destroy me. Losing her would damage me beyond repair. Nothing,nothingwas more important than Adelia.My Solis.
As the Gods bindings released me, my own familiar magic flooded my veins and filled my vacant chest, dancing with the connection to her. Had she wished for something else, anything else, the prison keeping Bastian captive all these years would have sealed permanently. My life, preserved in the lamp, would have ensured it remained closed forever. It would have been a lonely eternity and one I agreed to all those years ago.
