Page 85 of From Frost to Flame

Watching his fragileLex stand in front of him like a shield reminded Silas that, no matter how this conversation ended, he still had the man he loved. That was more than enough.

“So, this entire journey is to kill your mother for Lex? And you’re okay with that?” Mora asked. She gripped Julian’s arm tight as she spoke. Her anxiety was apparent.

“Of course. I’d do anything for him.” Silas pulled Lex into a hug from behind.

“And you don’t want to eat him, right?” Julian flicked his eyes over Silas, lingering on the tentacles that curled behind him. “You’re bonded to him, or whatever, so you should only want to protect him. We need to hear you say it.”

“Obviously he won’t eat me,” Lex snipped. “He wouldn’t hurt me. He’s just learning to control things.”

“You need to answer for yourself,” Mora insisted, keeping her eyes on Silas.

Silas stifled a growl, not enjoying being seen as an untamed beast. “Yes. I want to protect him, and no, I’ve never considered eating him.”

“You really love him?” Julian asked Lex.

“I do,” Lex said, looking back at Silas. “I adore him, and I trust him. If you can’t accept that, I understand but my feelings aren’t going to change.”

“He does seem happier,” Mora said, smiling wearily at Julian. “We’ve been there. You loved me when I turned, remember?”

“You’re both being emotionally manipulative,” Julian muttered. He closed his eyes, tilted his head back to the ceiling, and groaned. “As strange as this is, Silas has protected you the entire journey, and he doesn’t seem to want harm to come to you. Fine. I wish you would’ve just asked us to get you a puppy instead of getting back with your half Death Walker wolf ex, but fine.”

“Fine?” Lex repeated, brightening.

“Yes. Fine,” Mora agreed. “This will take getting used to, but we want you happy. If Silas is what you want, we can try to trust him, too. Eventually.”

“I love you both so much,” Lex said, pulling them both into a loving group hug. “Thank you.”

Silas was stunned as he watched Lex’s family hold each other. It was clear they weren’t fully comfortable, but they were willing to try. Unable to process his emotions, he slipped away to examine his kill.

Black blood spilled down the side of the bridge from the serpent’s open neck. His own teeth marks were strange to look at. When he shifted into this new form, he was present, but more animalistic impulses shot forward. With a shudder, he moved on to the head. The enormous eyes were still open. One eye was dim and lifeless. The other still glowed as it stared back at him.

This is it.

He touched the sticky outer layer of the snake’s eye, knowing the gem was somewhere inside. He held his breath as he pressed. There was resistance for a second, and then he punctured the surface. Black ink violently gushed forward as he reached deeper and deeper. Finally, he grazed the sharp edges of the gemstone. Silas ripped it out and stood there, holding his mother’s last protection from death.

This is really it.

Memories of her cruelty, and her love, enveloped him as he thought about killing her. The way her cold hands soothed his cheek after she had slapped him for being too defiant. The night she arrived in his suite after heascended the throne and cooed about how proud she was before warning he couldn’t be weak anymore. How she wiped out a village but offered him love in a way no one else had. Fighting to reconcile both halves of her tore at his heart.

“You okay?” Castor asked, coming over and looking concerned.

“I’ll be okay. I’m just overwhelmed right now.” The stone was heavy as he turned it over in his hands. “You always said someday we’d be free, and I believed somedayyouwould be. But never myself.”

“You ready for this? To face her?”

“I am.”

They rejoined the group, and Silas pulled his tentacles back into his body despite Lex saying he didn’t have to. “This is the last one, so we may go straight to her. If that’s the case, you three need to get as far away as possible. Let me and Castor handle it. Understand?”

“We understand,” Lex said, taking his hand. “You can still stop this, if that’s what you want. I know you still care for her.”

Silas looked at his fragile, battered Lex. Even at death’s door, he was willing to sacrifice himself for Silas's twisted relationship with his mother. “I do care for her, but I love you. I need to do this.”

Lex squeezed his hand, then took hold of Julian’s so they were all linked.

When everyone gave him a sound of affirmation, he crushed the stone in his free hand. The compass’s light consumed them and there was the familiarbangof teleportation.

Silas landed with a crash.

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