Chapter Thirteen
Arianna, the great winter.
I never expected fire could destroy the stone, or regular fire at least, as it did not destroy mecca, and the energy of this stone was similar. But I’d already noticed that there was something different about this dark lake of flames, this elven fire. Which hopefully meant the stone was gone. Forever. The defeated-looking fae was certainly acting like it was.
Kade, who was no longer limping, leaned down and snatched up the second dark staff, the one he had been training with. He returned with it in his grasp, face devoid of any emotion, almost as if he were a robot, and stared down at the fae still crumpled on the ground, oily blood seeping out of his face wounds.
A small, whimper-like noise escaped from me, and Kade turned in my direction. I almost screamed when I saw his eyes. Gone was that shimmery bronze that I loved, and in its place, pure darkness.
Oh shit.
When my mate turned back to his enemy, I lurched forward, halting myself. I didn’t know what to do. Should I be stopping Kade from touching any more darkness? Or would the death of the Dark Fae Lord return him to me?
Before I could make a decision, Kade swung the staff around so that the stone was facing the fae. He then lifted the weapon high, shifting into his half-bear form at the same time. I had no idea why, until he slammed the staff — dark crystal side down — into the fae’s chest. He must have needed the extra strength to make sure he could smash it all the way through, to make sure he killed the evil fae once and for all.
As the Dark Fae Lord fell backwards, Kade ripped the staff free, pulling out half or more of the fae’s chest. Everything in the clearing stilled, it seemed as if noise ceased, and then the fae grinned, blood stained teeth on display. “Darkness has … you …now,” he choked out, before coughing twice, and then with one last breath, he stilled.
The air charged with electricity, and then, in an instant, the thunder stopped and the sky shone a perfect, cloudless blue.
The Dark Fae Lord was dead.
I approached Kade slowly. “You need to throw the staff into the lake,” I told him. Already I could see the fire across that expanse was dying down. The evil was dispersing from this land, and when it was gone, so too would be the fire able to remove the crystal from this world. Or at least take it somewhere that was untouchable to any more fae.
Kade snarled in my direction, spinning, and running for his brother.
I was turning to follow him when a line of tall entities stepped into view. All breath choked out of me, and I stood dumfounded for a beat.
The … trees.
While Kade had been fighting the Dark Fae Lord, the trees had been amassing an army. There was a long line now, all of them walking over the ground; a true sense of life filled them, despite their blackened limbs. The darkness leaving had returned some of their power. I watched in awed silence as they started to toss the dark creatures into the lake—creatures who had fallen with their lord—cleaning the land.
I moved quickly toward one of them; it halted, waiting for my touch.Can you please place theDark Fae Lord’s body in the fiery lake?I asked, when my hand was pressed to its middle.
With pleasure, it responded.
Thank you!
I turned then and ran, still a little awkwardly, toward Kian. As I dropped down at his side, on the opposite side to where Kade knelt, my mate lifted his face to meet my gaze. “He’s dead.”
Those words came out quietly, before he dropped his head back and the deepest, most grief-stricken bellow emerged from him. I heard an echoing cry, louder than before. Shelley was coming for her mate; she was going to see his lifeless body lying here.
“Kade…” I didn’t know what to say. I was terrified at the darkness in his eyes, and absolutely devastated about his brother.
Kade sat there for two seconds, frozen. Then his grip on the staff tightened. “Violet,” he breathed.
Violet?Violet couldn’t get here in time to help, and she definitely couldn’t bring people back from the dead.
“Kade…” I repeated slowly, hoping to jolt him out of whatever weird place he was in. Grief had obviously affected his mind, which was to be expected, but with so much darkness within him I was worried about his next actions.
The crystal on the end of the staff pulsed then, the black blood of the Dark Fae Lord sliding away; the veins in Kade’s arm that held it turned black. I could see rivers of ink throbbing up and down his arms.
“Violet showed me the way. She foresaw this,” he said in a voice I didn’t recognize.
“Kade, you’re scaring me. You need to let go of the staff now. It is changing you. Kade!” I moved closer, reaching for him, my energy already surging forward in preparation of siphoning the darkness from him.
“I can save him,” he said as the black ink in his veins continued to expand, surging up to his throat and down in under his shirt.
“At what cost?” I shouted, losing my cool as I dove forward, ready to rip the staff away from him. Kade anticipated this move, though, and while he didn’t push me away, he did angle himself so that I tumbled past him.
