The dark fae eyed the second staff greedily, looking between it and his own dark piece over and over. So there were two staffs and two books. Seemed someone had created these weapons long ago, and left the books with the unique slivers of stone so that if the staff was ever lost, someone could find it.Evil bastard.
Was this the work of the God obsessed with fairness? Was he represented by the inverted tree carved into the book? Or was there another being from long ago who created the staffs? How had the Red Queen even gotten the book? I felt like these were questions I would never have the answers to. And in reality, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that the staffs existed, and one of them was being used to threaten my people.
I could not let him have the other one.
My fae energy had frozen the part of the river where the erchos had fallen. The Dark Fae Lord stepped on that ice, moving more rapidly as the second staff broke the surface of the water. It seemed the more of it that emerged, the harder Violet was having to work to lift it.
Violet groaned. “It’s stuck. He’s countering me.”
“We need to get that staff before he does,” I said, positioning myself in front of her. “It could be the difference in our success or failure in this war.”
Kade was still on her other side, helping direct her energy. “We won’t let him have it,” he said, and before I could stop him he chucked off his jacket and dove into the water.
“No, Kade!” I screamed. No, no, no! What the heck was he doing? If the Dark Fae Lord didn’t kill him, I might after he pulled that stunt.
The dark fae paused, hovering above the water, only a dozen or so feet from us. He seemed to be staring down into the shadowy churning water, clearly waiting for the bear shifter to appear. We were all waiting, but the water was dark and choppy, and the waves my mate had created when he had jumped had obscured the staff.
“What is he doing?” Violet sounded mildly panicked; I could see she was losing her magical control on the staff. The strain on her face was increasing, until all of a sudden she stumbled back, her hands falling to her sides.
She turned wide, unblinking eyes on me.
“What!” I asked her panicked.
“Kade has the staff.” The words had barely left her lips when Kade broke the surface of the water, staff in hand.
What in the hell?I’d said we needed the staff because I wanted everyone to be prepared for a fight. Not because I wanted my idiot mate to jump in and grab it with his bare hands.
What are you doing?I asked through our bond, receiving no answer. From what I could sense, all of his concentration was on holding that staff and trying to swim at the same time.
The dark fae grinned and held his free hand out, raising it up into the air. My mate rose up out of the water.Oh shit. Kade had no idea how to control the dark magic contained within that staff, but this fae had a lot of practice, and he currently had control over my mate.
Before I could freak out completely, Rowan leaned in and whispered, “I can create a portal behind the fae if you can get Kade to shove him in.”
I nodded, my movements jagged, before I mentally reached for my bond with Kade. Chills broke out on my arms. In the few seconds since I had checked last, there was now a dark cloying energy coating his end of our bond. It was not hugely surprising, considering he was holding a dark magical staff, but it had infiltrated ratherquickly. I pushed through the darkness, feeling it reaching out for me.
Kade, drop that thing.
No. We need it, was his short reply.
He was right, but what if he was inviting the darkness in permanently? We didn’t need it that bad that I would sacrifice any part of Kade’s goodness for it.
Rowan is opening a portal behind him. You need to push the fae into it, I said. The sooner he got rid of the dark fae, the sooner he could let that staff go.
Kade just nodded before kicking me out and closing our bond down tight. A damp heat sprang to my eyes, my throat and chest tight as I rasped in a breath. He’d never done that before, kicked me out so violently. I knew it was to protect me but … it hurt. It physically and mentally hurt.
I recovered with a few deep breaths, ignoring the lingering twinges of pain to focus on the scene in the water. The fae, who still had his power wrapped around Kade, closed his hands into tight fists, and Kade’s feet skimmed across the water, gliding towards the fae at an alarming speed.
I could have used my ability to break spells and free my mate, but he needed to get closer to the fae to knock him in. So all I could do was watch. I saw Kade’s hand slip up behind his shirt,pulling free his twelve-inch serrated hunting blade. His other hand was still grasping the staff.
Rowan was spinning her hands next to me, murmuring low words. A swirling circle was opening up just behind the dark fae’s feet, partially hidden by the choppy waters. Kade, was now mere feet from the Dark Fae Lord.
“I believe you have something that belongs to me,” the dark fae told Kade.
The bear let out a low growl, swinging his knife around and slashing out at the fae’s neck. The Dark Fae Lord must have seen the blade coming, because he ducked his head down, jerking it toward my mate, goring him in the rib cage with one of his horns. Kade’s knife sliced right through the other one of the horns; black oil spilled out of the severed end. Kade had to drop the blade as the fae grabbed for the staff, both of them struggling with it.
Kade had the advantage, physical strength far beyond the fae. But the fae had the other staff, and he was still using it to limit Kade’s movement.
I gathered as much of my winter magic as I could, feeling the slightest tendrils of fatigue kicking in. I had used a lot of energy already today, and we had barely started. I aimed for the Dark Fae Lord’s staff, letting my icy energy fly. The second it slammed into the dark crystal,breaking the spell holding Kade in place, I shouted, “Kick him in!”
