What the hell were we going to do?
We kill Sintarrak, we kill Marian.Bayne’s eyes softened as he seemed to come to the same conclusion, and for the first time since his soulbinding, I saw a glimpse of the captain of theEvecta, not the king of Lotrennia, as he calculated the damning fate of one of his own.
I inched closer to him when I froze. Where had Queen Antares gone?
Bayne’s head whipped around. A sick, twisting sensation swarmed my gut, and my eyes cut to Tiberius. The caeluma had slowly backed away from the two gods, still beyond the rubelline trap we had set.
Sintarrak turned Marian’s eyes on Tiberius and cocked her head. Shadows twitched beyond the entrance of Pyracantha, and I prayed Lyvia had dealt with Renova… That she was now waiting just beyond, ready to intervene. Marian took one step closer to the trap when Queen Antares’s piercing voice called across the valley.
“Sintarrak!”
Silver flashed, and acrackripped through the small clearing. Marian’s body disappeared and reappeared several feet away, her hands now gripping the queen’s slim, ivory throat.
Bayne moved, but I snatched his arm.
Queen Antares’s petal pink lips tilted into a small smile as Sintarrak gazed at her. Silver eyes swept over the queen’s strong form. Sintarrak pinched Marian’s brown brows as he examined her.
“Welcome to Vael, my god,” the queen rasped through Sintarrak’s tight grip.
My blood stilled as rage and shock collided. Sintarrak lightened his grip on her throat, and Marian’s hand snatched the queen’s wrist, gazing at her fisted hand.
Marian’s head turned jerkily to the side as the silver eyes examined the múritinne ring on the queen’s finger. Sintarrak curled Marian’s lips up in a slippery snarl.
“A gift for the god of gods,” Queen Antares crooned, her grin widening as she opened her closed fist.
The refracting colors of a second, thick múritinne ring shimmered as it dropped from her palm and onto the ground. Sintarrak watched it fall and pulled Marian’s lips into a sinister smile before he snapped her face in our direction.
My mind spun in slow motion as I worked out which ring the queen had presented. The answer came too slowly for my limbs to move in time to reach for my brother, to urge him to run…
He’d spent the last seventeen months amassing more and more power after his vision at the Waters of Ascendiel. He’d been soulbound to a mystic, a sacrifice to amplify his power. He was a Bellator, and he was now the strongest, most powerful he’d ever been.
Marian blinked once, and when her eyes opened, they were brown. Her brows pinched in confusion as she looked around in shock. Acrackripped through the clearing, and a dry wind brushed against my cheek as Drystan appeared next to me. His hands gripped my arm, just as a tremor racked through Bayne’s body.
Drystan’s grip tightened, and my stomach threatened to bottom out as my brother turned toward me. Menacing flames of silver replaced the calm, confident Ravindra green of his eyes. A sickening squeezing sensation tightened the air around me, and the world spun out from under my feet as Drystan pulled me through time and space.
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
NERISSA
Dangerous spells have been lost. Something evil is underway.
– Unopened correspondence from Khato to Carina.
Nerissa – Airborne over Lotrennia
Tunnel vision encroached as my gasps came too quickly. Numbness stretched through my limbs. We landed on Aquila’s back, and seconds later, Drystan was gone again. Aquila rose quickly into the night sky as we fled over the trees surrounding Pyracantha.
You must slow your breathing, Nerissa!Aquila’s normally calm voice came in a frantic rush as he eclipsed the trees.
My mind registered the words too slowly, and my lips began to tingle. My grip loosened in his feathers, and I felt my body tip.
I will not let you fall!
Cool autumn air whipped small buds of liquid from the corners of my eyes. Bayne… He was… Bayne was…
Bayne is not lost!Aquila cut in, his voice harsh.Your brother is still in there.
Sintarrak has him…I countered, my head shaking and my vision blurry.The queen… Antares took his ring off so Sintarrak could take him… could use his body… his power…
