Page 65 of From Frost to Flame

Silas turned and squinted into the foggy darkness as if suddenly broken from a trance.

“That’s it! I’m here. Get away from her!”Lex tried to press his thoughts louder. To his absolute joy, Silas took a hesitant step toward the endless fog.

“Lex?” he said under his breath. “Where? How?”

“You don’t walk away when I’m speaking to you!” his mother screeched. A loud crackle of electricity filled the air, and Silas's body tensed before collapsing to his hands and knees with a grunt. “How dare you?”

A small flare of blue flames erupted behind her and steadily began to grow.

“Don’t hurt him!” Lex sprinted full speed ahead, then was choked as a hand gripped his hood and ripped him back.

He was face to face with Arden.

“Get off me!” Lex tried to twist away but was quickly wrestled into the inky water. A searing pain in his shoulder made him cry out. He blinked a few times as he realized Arden had buried the blade of a dagger so deep in his shoulder that only the ornate black handle was visible. The pain was so terrible he saw stars.

Arden held it in place as he leaned in close. “Be quiet and listen to me. We need to work together.”

“I said get off.” Lex scowled, trying to kick him away with weak legs. Arden twisted the blade and sent shock waves of agony through him. Silas grunted somewhere in the distance. “You’ve been trying to hand me over to her this whole time. Why would I ever help you?”

“They can’t perceive us right now. The Ravenous One has locked Silas in some type of prism, but we don’t know how long that will last. We need to kill them.”

“What are you talking about? I would never kill him.” Lex worried the compass had drained him so excessively he was becoming delirious. That was the only explanation for Arden’s ludicrous suggestion.

“Hate me or not, you know this has to be done,” Arden said coldly. “I’m going to kill her eventually, but that thing can’t go back to Orion. You either help me kill them both, or one of them will kill you later.”

“Silas wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

“I get you were his little plaything for a while, but don’t be stupid. He is the end walking among us. The Ravenous One is bad enough with her random appearances. The fact that she can’t stay on our plane is the only mercy the stars gave any of us. A Death Walker hybrid, or whatever he is, hidden in plain sight with the power he wields is dangerous. You heard her. He’ll change. When that happens, he’ll start another endless war; he’ll free her from Tartarus, or worse. No nonhuman has ever defeated Silas in battle while he lived as a werewolf. Do you want all of Vela to fall when he changes into a beast?”

Lex lifted his head out of the water so he was close to Arden’s snarling face. “I’d let the realms turn to dust before I hurt him.”

“If that’s the case, you’re in my way.” Arden ripped the dagger out of Lex’s shoulder, its blade a radiant purple, and drove it straight for his heart.

Every muscle burned as Lex fought with only human strength against the fae prince. They rolled around the black water, both struggling for what they believed in.Let me save him. Please. Let me be strong enough for him this one time.

Unsure if it would work, Lex pushed to tap into his charm. “Arden,” he said in a saccharine tone. “Drop the knife for me. You don’t want to hurt me.”

Every word made his body grow tired.

Confusion danced over Arden’s features, then he loosened his grip. The knife tumbled into the ink. Before the charm faded away, Lex snatched it. Not a fighter, he swung it without strategy or thought. Then the slick sound of metal slicing through flesh made him freeze.

Arden reared back, clutching his throat with trembling hands. The sharp scent of fae blood filled the void.

His wide-eyed horror mirrored Michael’s all those years ago. Blue blood spilled down his chest and coated his hands.

I killed him.

“I’m sorry,” Lex choked out as he got to his feet and ran for Silas.

When he got close enough, he could see the edges of the translucent prism in which Silas was locked with his mother. He pounded on the barrier, but the sound of his fists was muted on impact.

“Silas!” he called, but Silas couldn’t hear him as she coiled her countless tentacles tighter and tighter. The sizzle of electricity hummed in the air as she shocked him relentlessly.

“Silas, you need to get up!”

“I don’t take pleasure in hurting you,” she cooed. “But you insist on defiance where it is not needed—where it cannot stand.” The blue flames behind her erupted into a vortex now. “Tartarus is calling. You know, I think it’s about time you came home for a visit.”

“No!” Silas screamed through gritted teeth. In a frenzied panic, he crawled away toward the fog, but his mother dragged him along.

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