Page 85 of Faeheart
My mother’s body was half-absorbed into the cube now, her perfect features contorted with rage and disbelief. “This isn’t over,” she snarled, her emerald eyes finding mine one last time. “You’ll never be free of me, Wilderain.”
“Watch me,” I whispered, summoning what little strength I had left to add my chaotic energy to the teleportation spell.
Marcus looked at his son with eyes full of regret and something like pride. “I’m sorry, Elias. For everything. Tell your mother...” His voice cracked. “Tell her I was wrong and that I’m sorry.”
The cube pulsed with blinding crimson light as it absorbed both my mother and Marcus. The remaining Purity Front members scrambled toward the exits, abandoning their leaders as the artifact’s destabilization became impossible to ignore.
“Now!” Elias shouted, his magic reaching critical mass as our combined power surged through the tetrad bond.
The teleportation spell enveloped the cube in a shimmering dome of intertwined energy. Blue from Elias, amber from Caden, gold from Atlas, and emerald from me. The artifact resisted at first, its massive weight and corrupted magic fighting against our spell, but the four of us together were stronger than any individual power.
The cube began to fade, reality bending around it as our magic tore open a rift in space. Through the shimmering portal, I could see the gray emptiness of the deep Veil, far from any sanctuary or settlement.
“Keep going!” Elias gasped, blood trickling from his nose as the strain of the spell pushed him to his limits. “Just a few more seconds!”
My mother’s face appeared one last time on the cube’s surface, her features twisted with fury as she realized what we were doing. “You cannot escape your nature, Wilderain!” she shrieked. “You are chaos! You will destroy everything you touch! Fae and witches can never be bonded forever!”
“You’re wrong,” I croaked, my voice barely audible. “And I’ll love them all just to prove you wrong.”
The cube vanished with a sound like reality tearing, leaving only empty air where it had floated moments before. We all collapsed to our knees, our magic completely spent, gasping for breath in the sudden silence.
Then, a few seconds later, from somewhere deep in the Veil, came a sound like thunder. The mansion shook around us as the explosion reached across dimensions, the cube’s destructionsending shockwaves through the realm of the dead. But we were safe, protected by the sanctuary’s ancient walls and our own exhausted magic.
“Is it over?” Caden whispered, his blue eyes wide with disbelief.
Before anyone could answer, ethereal servants began materializing around us, their translucent forms more solid than I’d ever seen them. They moved with purpose, tending to our wounds and clearing away the debris left by the battle.
“The mansion says yes,” one of them reported, its voice carrying notes of profound relief. “The threat has been neutralized. The sanctuary is secure.”
Atlas pulled me into his arms, his golden eyes bright with tears as he held me close. “You’re alive,” he murmured against my hair. “We’re all alive.”
Through our bond, I felt Elias’s grief for his father mixing with overwhelming relief that we’d survived. Caden’s gentle presence wrapped around all of us, his healing magic still flowing to repair the damage we’d sustained.
“The Purity Front?” I asked weakly.
“Gone for now,” Atlas replied, glancing toward the shattered entrance. “The survivors fled when Marcus turned on your mother. Without their leaders and their artifact, they’re just frightened people running from their consequences.”
I closed my eyes, finally allowing myself to believe it was truly over. My mother was gone, trapped forever in the artifact she’d helped create. The tetrad bond that had made us so powerful had also been our salvation, our love for each other giving us strength when everything else failed.
“What happens now?” I whispered.
Elias kneeled down at my side, tears running down his face as he swept me up into his arms. “I don’t know, but don’t everleave me like that again,” he cried, his voice muffled by my shoulder.
I couldn’t help but grin, my arms wrapping around him. “I was kidnapped, Elias. I couldn’t help it.”
He pulled back, eyes red and furious. “Then don’t fucking get kidnapped again, you idiot!”
“I’ll try my best,” I laughed, wincing as pain shot through my ribs. Even with Caden’s healing magic, my body was a constellation of bruises and half-healed wounds.
“That’s not funny,” Elias muttered, but I could feel his relief flooding our bond, warm and golden like sunshine after a storm. His fingers traced my face gently, as if making sure I was real. “I thought I was going to lose you.”
“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” I said, leaning into his touch. “It’ll take more than my psychotic mother and a soul-sucking cube to separate us.”
Atlas moved closer, his protective energy wrapping around all of us like a shield. “The mansion’s sending out distress signals now that the dampening field is gone. Help should be arriving soon.”
As if summoned by his words, the air near the shattered entrance began to shimmer and distort. A portal opened, revealing several armed magicians, Councilors Ashwick and Vael, and leading the charge was Professor Blackwood.
“Always late to the party,” I called, letting my head fall against Elias’s chest. “Where the hell were you an hour ago?”
