Page 67 of The Coveted
Lucius pelted the beast with energetic daggers, but they failed to breach its skin. And the creature still paid him little regard. “I don’t understand,” he whispered, watching as the wolf stalked back toward Taryn and me. Lucius suddenly stopped his assault, nodding in my direction.
It only has eyes for you. Defend yourself, little witch,he said telepathically.
It lurched at us, gnashing its teeth. It bounced back off the shield I’d constructed, crashing into it over and over again until my defensive magick began to crumble. I raised my palms and yelled out as power channeled through me, colliding with the beast just as it breached my defenses. It recoiled. Violent spasms wracked through its muscles. I leaned into my intuition, and I could feel the newfound strength from beyond myself, from all the witches who’d been touched by my gift. Taryn, just by being here, was helping me—fortifying my every move, my every channel.
I called to the great beyond for a weapon, a chant escaping my lips that was foreign to my ears but familiar to my soul, and soon a golden bow manifested in front of me. I grabbed hold of it, and an arrow of white fire manifested at the ready, waiting for my command. Just as the wolf recovered, I sent the arrow, its blaze scorching to the beast’s very core as it thrashed about in agony. It looked suddenly like it was flashing in and out of existence, caught between this world and the next.
“Áine!” I heard Taryn scream, but before I could turn, I felt a heavy weight crash into me.
I would’ve screamed if all the air hadn’t been knocked out of my body, which was now pinned beneath a second wolf-like creature. A heavy claw scratched across my chest as it bared its teeth, cutting into my flesh. Only then did I let out a blood-curdling scream.
Look to your right,I heard Taryn’s voice speak in my mind, and I grabbed the arrow that had fallen with me, its flaming glow rekindling as soon as I plunged it into the creature’s black hole of an eye. It released me, and I scurried out from underneath.
My blouse was torn around my shoulder, blood darkening the red fabric and dripping down to my right hand. I managed to stand, just in time to see a huge bird-like creature dive from the sky in a flash of grace and beautiful, long white feathers. Like a cross between an angel and a giant falcon, it descended upon Lucius, claws at the ready. It was not alone, as four more circled above it in a circular formation. They all had the same faint glow, this time more silvery-blue in color, just like the hue of astral bodies.
I reached up energetically, shocked to find that unlike the wolves, their energy was warm and inviting, like an extension of my own. They were protectors, but they were still in a world they didn’t belong.
A hand landed lightly on my uninjured shoulder, and I felt the cool shield of Daelon’s presence like a blanket of security and comfort. “Are you all right?”
“Yes,” I said, and he removed his touch and quickly moved to Lucius, who was fighting off the astral falcon. Nathaniel had finally joined us, glaring at me as he moved with Daelon to help the King.
Daelon chanted, building an invisible force above their heads as each bird dove and gnashed at Lucius. The two wolves had flickered out of existence, back to whatever astral hell they’d escaped from.
I limped toward the King, my knee slightly out of alignment, and Taryn rushed to my side. I could barely feel an ounce of pain in this headspace of pure power and creation.
Don’t hurt Daelon,I commanded the birds, and I could feel an unspoken understanding flow from me to them. Their claws and beaks were making short work of his defense, their whitish energy carving cracks into Lucius’s darkness.
“Nathaniel, where are you going? We need you to summon your paralysis and fire spells,” Daelon said, the strain in his voice raising the hairs on the back of my neck.
But Nathaniel teleported before me, and soon a bird had plucked Daelon from the ground and tossed him away from Lucius.
“Nathaniel,” Lucius bellowed, striking a bird from the sky and blasting it out of the realm with a bolt of black lightning.
“I told you I would prove to you their affair. They are plotting against you, my King,” Nathaniel yelled over the commotion. With a curse he sent Taryn into a state of paralysis before I could stop him, her body hitting the ground hard.
Lucius was caught between watching us and fighting off the astral creatures, and just as Daelon stood up, I understood Nathaniel’s plan. Daelon was now right in the center betweenhis Kingandme.
And in that moment between confusion and realization, Nathaniel plunged a blade into my stomach. My ears rang. A surprising burst of adrenaline coursed through my blood as it began to pool in a damp circle across my abdomen.
“What in the everlastingfuck,Nathaniel,” Lucius growled, and a bird took the opportunity to scratch deep into Lucius’s shoulder. The sound of his animalistic yelp chilled the air around us.
My vision became blurry. I sunk to my knees, trying to remember if it was good or bad to remove a knife lodged in one’s stomach. Bad, right? I cursed. Tears sprung to my eyes. My ability to feel pain was back with a vengeance, and I suddenly felt very, very human for the first time since I’d arrived in this realm.
“Help our King or help the girl. Your choice,” Nathaniel challenged, his voice distant and deafening all at once. He knelt down beside me, his eyes showing nothing but pure spite and triumph as he reveled in my bleeding out.
“I will have you killed for this, you stupid fool,” I heard Lucius answer. “Get back here this instant and help me, Daelon. I know your allegiance.”
But I heard it in his voice. He was questioning it. I looked to Daelon, who’d never looked more pained and conflicted.
Don’t you dare help me,I called out to him. It was finally my turn to put him in his place.I will be fine, but neither of us will survive if you disobey Lucius now. Don’t let Nathaniel win.
I couldn’t focus. I needed magick. I needed healing. I tried to channel but Nathaniel’s hand was suddenly over mine that clutched the dagger, and I screamed as he yanked it from my stomach just as Taryn tackled him to the ground, kneeing him decisively in the groin.
Come to me,a new voice sounded, and I couldn’t tell if it was aloud or in my mind. I just knew its pull, like a current of magnetism, a riptide of energy from the east. It beckoned me forward as I clutched my stomach, humming to me a tune I’d heard somewhere long ago. I fought my way forward, one step at a time, past the rows of red rose bushes and toward the cherry blossom tree at the edge of the gardens. Its branches turned and swished through the air, a strange iridescent field of magick extending out in a circle, beckoning to me. I sensed it spelled safety.
I couldn’t look back. I couldn’t see if Daelon had made the right choice or if Taryn had subdued Nathaniel or if Lucius had shot those feathered angels from the sky. I looked forward to the cherry blossom tree, the Queen’s tree. I walked until I couldn’t any longer, and then I crawled. When I could crawl no longer, I dragged myself, one fistful of grass after the next, leaving a trail of oozing crimson in my wake.
But the shimmering circle opened up and swallowed me, the branches of pink blooms shaking out in welcome. I reached out a slick hand, and as my skin and blood met the pale base of tree bark, the humming rose louder.
