Marissa Bane. She was here for me.
But it was Ayden and Ariyon who held her attention currently.
“Madden royal spawn,” my birth mother hissed and made a fist, raising it into the air and causing both Ayden and Ariyon to be lifted off of their feet by an unseen force.
They coughed and sputtered as if they’d run out of air, grasping at their necks and kicking their feet.
I screamed, rushing forward. “Stop! I love them!” I cried to her in panic. If she had any care for me, then surely she wouldn’t hurt those I loved.
Marissa snapped her head in my direction, eyes as black as night. “Lovethem? The Maddens?” She clicked her tongue. “They are poison. Just like their mother and father were.”
It was clear she was evil. She’d gone fully dark, and that’s what this looked like. No empathy whatsoever.
I looked up at the princes to see that they were turning purple, suspended in midair as they clawed at their throats, and I knew I had to do something. Without thinking, I pulled for my magic and thrust my axe-free hand outward. A shockwave of power slammed into Marissa, and she was thrown backward with a yelp.
Ayden and Ariyon collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, free of her hold.
Yanric flew over my head and then dove down from the ceiling, tearing into her snake familiar as I advanced with the axe in my hand. If Marissa thought she was going to hurt any of the people I cared about, she had another thing coming.
I felt Eden rush to my side. “Stay back!” I growled at her and used my newfound power to push her behind me.
“No!” she yelled, but she was helpless against the strength of this force field or whatever it was. It was like I could throw out an invisible shield and move people out of the way or lift them up or put them down.
Right now, I wanted to put Marissa down, six feet under.
But she’d turned to shadow again, swirling around me like smoke curling off a fire.
“Come find me. There is much you need to learn,” she whispered as she passed by. She solidified for a second before me, dropping a folded piece of paper at my feet beforepoofingback into black shadows.
I screamed in rage, swiping the axe out blindly at the shadows passing before me.
“Lesson one,” she said through the shadows as I continued to try to cut her with the weapon. “Don’tfall in love.”
The shadows suddenly disappeared and then the axe was ripped from my hands by an unseen force. Eden’s blood-curdling scream tore through the ballroom, causing the hairs to stand up on my arms.
I spun, and it felt like my soul left my body for a second.
Ariyon stared at me, mouth open, as he grasped at the axe embedded in his chest. Right where his heart was.
The sound of Ayden’s wail when he caught his brother on the way to the floor would haunt my dreams forever. That was a death blow, there was no healing an axe embedded up to the hilt in the heart.
A surge of raw fury pulsated through my veins, igniting an inferno within me. My vision blurred with a haze of red and my heart pounded like a war drum, each beat fueling my rage. My nails bit into my palms as I balled my fists, seeking release from the pent-up anger.
I bellowed in a fit of fury, and purple fire leapt from my palms, igniting every Nightling in the vicinity. I didn’t need to be looking at them, my magic knew where they were and that they were the intended recipient of my wrath. Shrieks of pain filled the space as the Nightlings burned and then I ran to fall before Ariyon. I collapsed to my knees, screaming and crying as Eden shouted in vain for a healer.
“Ayden, I’m so sorry,” I sobbed, looking at his twin brother. This felt like my fault, Marissa and her actions felt like my responsibility.
He was in shock, stroking Ariyon’s hair as his brother’s head hung in his lap. Crawling forward on my hands and knees, I pulled Ariyon’s face to mine and kissed his mouth.
His lips were cold, but they puckered and when I pulled back, he had enough strength to reach out and stroke my cheek.
“Don’t be…like her,” he breathed.
“I’m not!” I shouted, sobbing uncontrollably. I couldn’t handle this, this wasn’t happening.
He looked behind me and I followed his gaze.
Oh fae.The ballroom was on fire. Many Nightlings were burnt to a crisp, but the wood floors and the drapes had caught ablaze too. I hoped I’d killed her. I hoped to the Light that Marissa was vaporized.
