How could I have let her down? How could I have treated her for so long like she was nothing, like she wasn’t my cousin,my sobraen? A soul-ripping swell of regret and pain slammed into me.
Kresida’s cry ripped through the air again, and I flinched, the sound of her pain amplifying my own.
“I’m so sorry,” Selvina said softly from behind.
I waited for the touch of her emotions, for her to try to reach a tendril of feeling down our Bellator bond, but none came. I swallowed in relief, certain I couldn’t handle anyone else’s emotions while mine spun out of control. I blinked through a tear as I looked up at her.
Her gaze dipped, and she turned toward her caeluma.
Aquila’s arrival scattered the lingering dust and smoke. Carina’s dusty brown hair flitted up from the sides as he landed. I gripped Kresida’s shoulders as I pulled her upright and coaxed her onto Aquila’s back before I climbed up behind.
Aquila gently unfurled his long talons and wrapped them around Carina’s small form. He lifted us into the sky, and we flew back to the Onyx Tower, leaving the Vael Lacrima unguarded, carrying the limp body of the Princess of Lotrennia.
Deep shadows stretchedbelow my eyes as I stared into the ornate mirror hanging in the private room I occupied in the Onyx Tower. I didn’t often look at myself. There was too much truth in my eyes, too many scars, too many regrets. Wrinkles set between my narrowed brows. Only a couple of them disappeared when I forced my face to relax.
What was I doing here? What was the point in guarding the gate if the Embodied that used it to enter our world could wipeout an entire company of highly trained elven soldiers? Wipe out amystic…
Emotions surged, the hot arrival of tears threatening to form. A wet sheen coated my eyes, the small bud of liquid blurring the view of my face…blurring the truth that I was not strong enough to stop them—that every single person I’d come to love would fall at the hands of the gods.
The weakness escaped in a large tear that drew a dark line down my dirty cheek.
Rage twisted in my chest, and I screamed as I slammed my fist into the mirror, the sharp bite of glass digging into the edge of my hand. My face contorted as the mirror shattered, shards of glass spiderwebbing across the ornate wall piece. I crashed my fist into it again, and again, until I forced every damning piece of reflective glass from the mirror and no longer gazed at the failure looking back at me.
Breath heaved from my lungs, and I let my fist fall. Warm blood dripped from the gashes in the side of my hand and plopped onto the cold stone floor, the sound loud in my mind. Dark, twisting designs crept along the black walls.
I fucking hated this place.
White flames blazed in my chest as I imagined burning the entire Onyx Tower to the ground. I’d never forget Lyvia’s state when we came for her here… Her torn dress, the ripped bodice, the wild fear in her face. Cyril’s attack before she killed him…
My Soleia burned as I hurried up the stairs, needing an outlet for the emotions that spilled forward from the last few hours…the last months…the lastyears…
I sprinted up the tower, checking room after room and passing startled servants and ex-slaves until I finally found the door open to Cyril’s old chambers. My boot met the fresh wood of the new door, and it slammed against the wall.
I paused as I stepped inside. My flames licked a line of angry vengeance up my core. I gazed at the torture chamber that had masqueraded as a royal’s chambers for too long. Collars still hung above Cyril’s bed.That fucking monster.
Pressure built, and the Soleia rushed from my core and pushed against my skin. Flames erupted from my hands, the sun itself setting fire to the interior of his room as I released the pent-up emotions. I sent the controlled flames running along the edge of the room, engulfing the dead animal heads leering from the walls and incinerating the bed and furniture.
Smoke filled my nostrils as they raced up to the ceiling, cutting through the boards holding the chained collars in place, too many of them clanking to the ground as my fire burned.
Flames danced behind my eyes as I cut off my power, the controlled blaze eventually fizzling into smoldering embers as I destroyed every single piece of evidence that Cyril ever existed.
Selvina’slong arms crossed in front of her chest as we stared at the orb in the center of the room, waiting for the connection to form with its twin in Lotrennia. Soot joined the dust and debris still covering my body from the attack of the Embodied at the arch, and I could feel Selvina tracking the line of blood still dripping from the edge of my hand. She had cleaned up, of course, and donned a dark red gown that matched the smear of blood stretching across my ripped tunic.
Ursa stepped quietly into the room, her short, golden hair bobbing as she looked around.
“Where’s Kresida?” she asked as she scanned the near-empty room.
My jaw clenched, and I shook my head. “Kresida…” I paused, my voice heavy as guilt stabbed me. Kresida’s allegiance had always been to Carina. She’d guarded her with a fierceness I should have. “She’s having a difficult time.”
I expected my fellow War Slayer to rage, to take to the training fields, to funnel her grief into violence, but Kresida’s nature had frozen. Her eyes were glassy when I checked on her, as if a numb shock had choked the life from her.
Selvina tucked a loose strand of blonde-white hair behind her ear before moving to her wife’s side. Her hand brushed against Ursa’s elbow as the two of them turned to the orb. The smoky glow in the center of the magical object began to twist, the swirls of white and silver merging into gold before they disappeared entirely, and Bayne’s face appeared in the center. I reined in the twisting of my stomach as I prepared to tell my brother what had happened… To tell Queen Antares her daughter was dead.
Bayne’s features were sharp, his cheekbones heightened. Two creases ran down the sides of his lips as he gazed at the three of us. The golden light of Lotrennia filtered in from the chamber he stood in, gilding the outline of his dark hair. His eyes softened as they landed on me, and I reined in the grief.
“What’s happened?” he asked, his brows pinching as he scanned my face.
I schooled my features and opened my mouth, but the words lodged in my throat as Queen Antares appeared by his side. The queen’s hair glowed golden against the evening sun, and her bare shoulders brushed against my brother’s arm. Bayne’s brows furrowed as she mouthed something in his ear. Her petal pink lips twitched as her sky-blue eyes landed on me, and she plastered a look of quiet benevolence on her face.
