Page 126 of Sidhe
“You think you’re so clever, don’t you?” Malak’s voice rumbled with inherent power. “You think you’ve won something today. Do not be mistaken, Nathan, you stillchose me. Without you my power is lesser, but still greater than before we made ourdeal. I will come for you yet, and you will fall willingly, no tricks, no bargains; you will bow at myfeetto have my power back when you feel its true absence. I am still coming with my army, mark my words, and when we take your little stronghold, I will slaughter my way through everyone you hold precious. Starting…”
Walter felt panic rake through him as Malak turned to look athim.
“…with the most insignificant.”
“No!” Nathan called out, even before Malak’s hand rose and Walter felt the most awful pain flow through him, throwing his head back with a keen. Malak was going to kill him, there,now, as punishment for Nathan tricking him. Walter didn’t know what death, a second time, would mean.
Nathan tried to rush Malak, thrown only too easily and helplessly back like the rest of them. There was only one thing Walter could think to do as he was filled with terrible anguish. He didn’t know if it would be enough, but he looked across the room at Nathan. He spoke silently to him with all that space between them, pleading for Nathan to help in this small but important task. Nathan nodded, understanding, a quiet desperation in his eyes.
Then Walter turned his eyes up, knowing Nathan would do the same, and prayed.
Help us.
Heat and light and a calming balm to ease the pain rushed through every part of Walter, so very much the opposite of how it had felt when Nathan, tainted by Malak, had stripped him of his status. Soon he was his true self once more now that Nathan was free.
Walter fell from the wall on steady feet. “You overstep your bounds, Malak,” he said confidently, boldly as the others fell from their pinned positions as well. Even a mere Spirit Guidewas more powerful than the king of dark fae with Nathan having chosenthem. “You will leave,” he said as he walked up to Malak unwaveringly.
Fierce red on black eyes glared at him. “I can kill whoever I like in the throng of battle. Even you,Spirit Guide. I promised you that, remember?”
“And yet you could not do so here and now because Nathan would not allow you to.” Walter raised a single eyebrow at Malak. “You will leave. We will face you when the true battle comes, and only then. You will not come to Nathan again until that time. I forbid it.”
Malak’s eyes flashed. “You—!Youforbid it, do you?” He laughed bitterly then turned swiftly to Nathan. “Rest assured, I will take everyone you care about away from you.”
“Solrin—” Nathan tried.
“Solrin,” Malak took Nathan’s words away, “is mine.” A final look of fierce promise was sent back to Walter before Malak faded like so much smoke and was gone.
“Nathan, forgive me,” Walter said immediately, rushing to him. “I did not trust you. I did not have enough faith. While it was foolish and brash, as you always are,” he allowed a small smile, “it was the right decision. I am so very proud of you for resisting temptation so great.”
“Hey, I…I was just doing what Dave told me. Having faith in my boys there,” Nathan said, gesturing to Sasha and Jim. “They’re the ones who saved the day. They’re the ones who resisted.”
“Yes.” Walter smiled wider, looking around to see that they were tightly surrounded by the others—even Puck. “Yes, they too were remarkable. But, Nathan, your task is not yet complete. You have done something we could not predict. Choosing Malak while not choosing him at the same time…I do not know how the battle will end with this turn of events. The world is in darknessstill, but the shield Malak used to keep this place for his own is gone. Your army awaits you outside. You must prepare for Malak’s return.”
Chapter 45
Nathanhadbeenfreeof Malak for all of fifteen minutes. He was caught somewhere between being so ecstatic that his plan had actually worked that he was literally on cloud nine, and being so torn up inside from the aftermath of it all that it felt like Malak had been a double-edged sword wrenched brutally from his body.
He tried to focus on the ecstatic part, smiling despite his fatigue from the whole ordeal so that he wouldn’t worry the others, but it wasn’t easy. It was a cavernous absence to be without Malak after being one with him, like nothing Nathan had ever felt, likened only to the loss of his parents—and Jim. And Sasha. Nathan didn’t want to admit that hemissedwhat Malak made of him, but it wasn’t something he could completely deny either.
It had felt amazing—being one with Malak. The security of knowing that the only thing that could ever hurt the people he loved again was him, along with the belief, of course, that hewould never hurt them himself. He had honestly enjoyed being able to show Jim and Sasha what he wanted for the world, filling them with power and assurance, all that he thought he wanted while Malak was poisoning him from within.
So many of the things he had said and done during his possession had been 100% him, at least he thought it was, but how could he be sure of that when Malak had been so much a part of him? It was an awful paradox, and looking around him as he led the others beneath a once again black sky toward Oberon and Gwen outside the Gatehouse, seeing that none of the great gathered mass with them was looking at him with anything but reverence, he did not feel righteous or better. Someone must have told them all that he had defeated Malak for the time being and had returned to lead, but part of Nathan didn’t feel like he deserved the honor anymore.
Part of him thought it would be easier to simply call Malak back to him.
That thought caught in Nathan’s throat like tar, and he forced a smile when he felt Jim take his wrist and squeeze. Sasha was on Nathan’s other side, fingers lacing with his and holding firm.Thiswas what Nathan wanted, his ideal—Jim and Sasha beside him,withhim, purely as themselves. He didn’t need Malak. He was better than Malak. They were going to win, god damn it.
“So, seeing as how no one’s moved to strike me down yet,” Nathan said as he came to stand before Oberon and Gwen at the center of the hodgepodge encampment around the Gatehouse, “I guess that means the troops know what happened. I’m still supposed to lead this mess?”
Oberon looked very different now, wearing some kind of armor, light and thin, well-worn, too, like this was not the first battle it had seen. It was also a bit skimpy considering the armor was really all Oberon was covered with, aside from a small bit of cloth.
Gwen looked different as well in that she was thankfully much more refreshed than she had seemed that night when she appeared on the Gatehouse roof to steal Nathan’s wine. Her hair was down, a mass of gorgeous red curls, though she was wearing layers of near see-through fabric again, all violet and green and gold.
“The burden is not yours alone, Nathan,” Oberon said. “Leadyourtroops. We will lead ours.”
Everyone had taken note of Nathan and the others’ arrival by now—everyone—meaning dozens upon dozens of eyes were watching Nathan with fierce attention. It amazed Nathan that so many beings could exist together in what he thought weren’t that large of fields, but then the land wasn’t completely normal anymore.
There were no great drop-offs or cliffs like before, meaning Malak’s army was not yet back through the Veil. But there was vast space, as if the Gatehouse was the only non-natural thing for miles and miles.
