Page 69 of Their Queen

I caught sight of Callum stepping in to help Baer, relieved that he was whole again. The damage that had been done to him only increased my hatred for my parents and threatened to bring me to my knees inside the temple. Rhowyn had held her composure a lot better than I had been able to. I had physically flinched at the sight and swore under my breath. How she had kept the emotion from her face and her voice as calm as she had was inconceivable to me.

Blocking another strike from Ellis, I noted the darkening of the sky, shadows blocking out the light. Chanting in a foreign language pulled my attention, everyone pausing at the magnitude of magic now swarming my mother, infusing with her own. Callum darted toward me, snapping Ellis from his own stupor. I struck out, turning his back to Callum, who lunged, his blade piercing all the way through Ellis’s chest. The reddened silver peeked through the armor, and I watched my father die almost as if I was no longer in my own body.

My eyes met Callum’s, sadness swamping me at the thought of me having a hand in my own father’s demise. I knew it would have to happen, but it didn’t make it any easier to accept. Though I was grateful that I hadn’t had to strike the final blow, glad that Callum had stepped in for me.

I caught sight of my mother as Callum went to help Arryn, rushing to stand beside her as my mother sent a wave of magic out toward Rhowyn. Flinching, preparing myself for the blow I knew would be devastating, I let my eyes close. However, after a few seconds of nothing happening, I snapped my eyes open again to see Rhowyn using my powers.

She stood tall, shoulders back, arms and feet spread wide as she braced against the force of the magic she was now sucking into herself. The shadows flowed toward her in an unending stream. The magic that was foreign and intent on destroying everything in its path was now being made inert. Rhowyn’s abilities never ceased to amaze me, and I couldn’t keep myself from gawking at her now.

I had felt the magnitude of the magic Mother had absorbed from the book and knew there was only so much of the magic she could suck into herself. Eventually, she would reach her capacity, and I feared what would happen when she did.

Chapter Forty Nine: Rhowyn

Titania read from the book as I searched for a way to stop her. The dagger Brannoc had thrown hadn’t pierced the shadows surrounding her. Instead, it had only fallen uselessly to the ground. Pulling on my own magic, I lashed out, the shadows parting but not harming Titania. I tilted my head at the reaction of this new magic to my own, but before I could explore more, Titania finished her chanting, absorbing the shadows and staring at me with such hatred.

“Foolish, child. Your overconfidence will be your downfall.” Her voice echoed with the same note mine did when Avalonia spoke through me. There was no doubt in my mind that the magic had allowed her to channel the Fomorians, perhaps even Balor himself.

Instead of waiting for a response from me, she pushed that foreign magic at me and my men, intent on our destruction. Instinctively, I stretched out my arms and pulled on the magic, sucking it into me. Somehow, I had accessed Lennox’s soul-sucking ability. Like an empty vessel, I pulled on the magic she was now trying to pull back on, her eyes wide with shock. I smirked. “Did you forget your own son had hidden this ability from you?”

Finally, she jerked it back into herself, anger and frustration on her face as she considered her next actions. However, what she didn’t know was that I had kept a part of the magic anchored inside me. She had slowed the flow but hadn’t cut it off completely. Now, I focused on coaxing it out of her while scrambling for a way to distract her.

“You may be able to stop me from hurting you with that magic, but you can’t stop me from hurting your consorts,” she challenged me, hoping to get a rise out of me.

“Go ahead, try. How many times today have you thought you had the upper hand only for me to prove you wrong? The moment you focus on them, I will take you down,” I threatened and taunted her, my words having the desired effect.

“You’re lying,” she hissed, her eyes narrowing at me.

“Am I?” I shrugged my shoulders and relaxed my posture. “If you’re so confident, go ahead, call my bluff.”

She glanced from me to my men. Brannoc was still watching my back as the armies swarmed around us. Like the eye of a hurricane, the fae made sure to keep the area clear around us, giving us a chance to end this. Lennox was now standing beside me as he watched his mother while Baer, Callum, and Arryn fought the only remaining consort. The Autumn Consort was putting up quite the fight, but there was no way he could succeed against the three of them.

When Titania didn’t move, I taunted her further. “Seems like you only have one consort left. How does it feel to no longer have your lackeys? I guess they weren’t as powerful as you had thought.”

She lashed out at me with more magic on instinct, her anger and hatred pushing her to act even if it was reckless. I sucked in more of her magic, widening the channel between us and absorbing everything she was pouring into me. Again, when she realized it wasn’t working against me, she tried to pull back.

Only this time, the flow between us was steadily growing as I continued to take it in. In my mind’s eye, I could tell I was about halfway full of what I could take. Her eyes widened when she realized I now had my hooks into her and was draining her of the magic she coveted. “How’s that possible?”

I shrugged as I kept pulling, watching as the vessel slowly filled and wondering what I would do when I was full. “Does it matter? All you have to know is that I will take everything from you.”

She cried out as Arryn struck the killing blow against the Autumn Consort in my peripheral vision. I didn’t dare look away from what I was doing, afraid that if I switched my focus, I wouldn’t be able to keep this up. Without her magic, she would be mortal. In order to end this, I needed to weaken her, and this was the best way to do that.

She fell to her knees in anguish at the loss of her final consort, though she didn’t mourn long. Her eyes cut to mine, and I nearly stumbled back at the vehemence I saw in them. Ice blue eyes, so much like Lennox’s, were now black as hatred consumed her. She lunged toward me, intent on tackling me.

My men tried to intervene, but a shield snapped into place and held them back. Leaning forward, I met her physical attack, shifting my hips and staying on my feet as our bodies collided. My hold on the magic slipped and slowed to a trickle.

Her fist landed on my flank, taking advantage of my split attention. Letting go of the magic, I focused instead on the physical threat that was now before me. I punched her back, drawing an oomph as the air left her lungs and my fist met her gut. When her elbows dropped instinctively, I followed with a right overhand cross, connecting with her jaw. She stumbled back from the attack, catching herself before she fell.

She yelled and charged me again, lashing out with her magic at the same time, forcing me to choose which to meet. I hadn’t had enough time to train with the use of both and was unprepared for having to manage them simultaneously. Choosing to block the magic, I let my magic swallow hers, her body colliding with mine and driving us both to the ground.

My elbows, shoulders, and head smacked into the hard-packed ground, and my control slipped when agony speared through me. The whispers of darkness swarmed my mind, pushing me to join her, join the Fomorians in taking out the fae. It wanted me to hurt them all, to take joy in the destruction as we laughed at the crumbling ruins of their society.

I gasped at the intrusion, pushing the magic back out of instinct, but my walls were starting to crumble, no longer as strong as they had once been. Titania punched my face, the strike landing on my cheek, splitting it wide. I could feel the blood trickling from the new wound, my magic already rushing to heal the spot. If I didn’t do something soon, Avalonia’s prediction would come true. The pain of that memory, of watching my men fall one by one, fueled me. I refused to allow that to come to pass.

Gathering up my own magic, the one that had caused the shadows to retreat, I let it infuse every inch of me. I could feel myself starting to glow as if light was seeping out from every pore, pinpoint rays that pierced the shadows in my mind and reality. Titania hissed as if I was burning her, jerking back and scrambling to her feet.

I pushed up, my body aching from the impact, slower to recover than before. My magic dimmed as I let it go once I was standing again. Eyes weighed heavily on my back, telling me I was being watched. That we were being watched. Reminiscent of being inside a cage in a match, the crowd cheering and booing as two opponents squared off against each other. Only this was for much higher stakes.

As soon as my magic retreated, Titania lashed out again, the shadows pushing at me. I tugged on it; my reserve was now almost completely full. Despite absorbing so much of the dark magic, I knew she’d only used a fraction of hers. She’d top off my ability to absorb the magic with enough left to destroy us all.

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