Page 32 of Eclipse of Fate
The shadow slinks further into the forest. We’ve been on his trail since the caves. Weary of the Raskin that stalked him too, we were careful to stay back a ways. Hyper aware that the beasts don’tnormally venture far from others, but we were able to get closer when it was pulled away by the howling in the distance. Even so, I don’t doubt for a moment that we are clear of their presence here.
The fact that we are in our wolf forms at all is a shock to both Kait and me. We felt the magic snap away like a giant branch falling from one of the tallest trees as we sat in a tavern within the city. The entire room went silent as we all looked around in shock. The feel of the barriers breaking away caused unease to clog the air through the entirety of the city. Fae all around chose to either run in fear or grin ear-to-ear as deviant thoughts came into their minds at what they could get away with, without the barriers restricting their magic.
Kait and I broke into a sprint for the woods, immediately shifting into our wolf forms. Our magic and our senses are stronger this way. It’s then that we began our real search.
I knew the moment Kait came to me and told me that Raelle got confirmation that Dax was indeed alive; I couldn’t wait. While they would all need to plan for a group effort, I needed to leave without hesitation. I made up the story I needed for Trent, and Kait called me out. She wanted to go out as bad as I did. We loaded up our things, strapping them to our bodies, and left Loema and the others behind without another word.
Dax has always been special to me. All of them have been really. I would do anything to save any one of them in the group, including Cano. I wish that he would see his faults and turn his dark ways around, but I’ve given that wish up to the stars and the gods who hold them. It’s in their hands now.
Kait’s low grumbling growl breaks me from my somber thoughts, the clarity of my mind snapping back into the now. The male stops just outside the tree line facing the dark horizon, andjust as I catch his scent, the hair on the back of my neck stands on end. A Raskin begins to creep toward the male I now recognize in a too-slow realization. My muscles bunch and coil as I watch as if in slow motion. The Raskin is too quick; blood blooms in raked lines down the exposed flesh of his back. His shout of pain pierces through the night sky, and the sound slams through my skull.
“DAX!”Kait’s scream rips through my mind, but her wolf snarls louder in my ear, and just as I launch from where I stand with enough speed, I leave her behind. Dax careens off the hillside. His body and magic are no doubt weakened by his capture, and he falls with no grace. When his slack body comes to a stop, the Raskin is descending on him quickly. Aiming to devour his flesh and fear, but without a second thought, I bound from the ground, taking to the air as the Raskin closes in. My massive wolf body flies over Dax’s just as I slam into the Raskin’s haunch. The creature’s rotten, ashen blood coats my tongue as I take it down in a rolling fall. My jaw clamped firmly around the nasty flesh.
Sharp teeth pierce through my hind leg, and muscle rips from bone, causing a cry of pain to come from my mouth unabated, releasing the Raskin from my bite. Twisting toward the cause of the pain, I see the blackened, leathery flesh of another one of the foul creatures ripping at my fur. Stars burst into my vision, but I open my mouth, and using what energy I have, I push myself to close the distance between me and the other Raskin. Locking my jaw around the neck of the beast, and I whip my head in the opposite direction, tearing the throat out. Gold dust plumes around me as the sulfuric stench of the monster’s death encroaches on the air around me.
Another burst of gold dust and a bitter metallic salt replace the taste of ash on my tongue as a whimper comes from beyond my lineof sight. My body is in too much pain to shift back to my Fae form. My muscles bunch and twitch from the venom of the Raskin bites that have torn through the flesh of my body and carved into the bone of my leg. Another whimper sounds, and I realize that it’s my own.
A tawny wolf with bright blue eyes slowly walks over to me, head low as she approaches. Then the whimper I hear, I know is hers. The strangled cry from her wolf makes my magic ripple and quiver. My body trying to return to its Fae form, even through the pain. Kait shifts in front of me, pulling a cloak from the sack that was ripped from my body. She covers her naked body, then pulls another out and covers mine as I shift back into the skin of a Fae. The strength I had left from my wolf is snuffed out as my body takes on its weaker alternative. The cough that racks my body sends moisture to spray my lips. That’s when I realize it's my blood that I’ve been tasting. The metal taste filling my mouth with each raspy breath I take.
“Dax?” I choke, speaking his name.
“I—I don’t know.” Kait’s head whips around anxiously in all directions. “Just… stay here!” I can’t stop the garbled laugh that comes from me next, but as she runs away from me, my vision darkens, and I close my eyes, allowing the pain to evaporate with my vision.
Crackling warmth wakes me from the pain-laced nightmare, but when my eyes slowly open and I can’t move or pull in a breath without searing pain blazing through my body, I know that it was not a nightmare at all. Blinking rapidly to clear my vision, I take in the slumped form that sits beside me near a small fire. Pines jut out from the shadows around us, and I see nothing past the massive trees. Until a tawny wolf with bright blue eyes and scars down her face enters the flickering glow of the fire light, and power ripples from her as she takes her Fae form, pulling a cloak around her. She drops to her knees at my side.
“Miles?” My jaw pulses with the clench of my teeth as I try to control the pain I feel throughout my body, trying to gain enough strength to speak. I swallow roughly, thinking about the words I wish to say. My eyes cast over the form of the man at my side. Kait notices my attention and answers my silent question.
“He’s alive,” A tear falls, coating her warrior’s mask in liquid emotion. “No doubt due to your intervention. You saved his life, Miles.” As though he senses our one-sided conversation, Dax groans, shifting his legs just slightly, and his chin lifts from where it rests against his chest. When his darkened hazel eyes, lit by the flames in front of him, meet mine, they widen at the corners from the sight he sees. I try to pull my mouth up at the corners into atight smile, but I think it only serves as a wince—even the smallest of motions sends shooting pain through me.
Dax moves silently, though the look that his face pulls into tells me that it caused him great pain to do so. Regardless, he brings himself to my side. Dax’s wide eyes scan my broken body, and his hands tremble as he tries to find a place to lay them without causing me more pain. He won’t find one. With a grunt of effort, I lift my hand, and he brings his to mine, clasping it firmly.
“No.Fuck,this can’t be happening.” His voice is like gravel as he speaks over me in a low whisper. Kait’s eyes are red, swollen, and glistening from where she sits, trying to be stoic unsuccessfully.
“It's… Ok…” My words are thick, as though each one is stuck in my throat, and I have to use all the energy I have left to get them out. Trying to clear my throat, I let out a rib-cracking cough that splatters blood across my lips. The moist heat almost feels as though it’s burning the flesh there.
After allowing myself a moment to catch my breath, I pull Dax closer, so he is bending over my body. I want to get the words out without straining too much. I feel the life leaving my body. I hear the gods singing the call to my soul. I have only moments left on this plain, and I hope to use it for the good of the kingdom.
“I—I’m sorry.” I close my eyes as Dax shakes his head in refusal. His dark brows stitched together in both the pain of his body and the emotion of saying goodbye. “Listen, Dax. You were like a son to me.” My eyes drift to Kait, then. “And Kait, you, a daughter.” Her lip quivers, and I see Dax reach out for her hand too. We all sit there in a moment of silence as I bring slow breaths into my lungs that are quickly filling with more moisture than air.
“Dax, you are king. I couldn’t be more proud of the man you’ve become. Don’t let this— stand in your way. Go to your queen andclaim the throne before it’s too late.” The words send me into a fit of coughing, but I swallow them down hard needing to continue. “Use your shadows to your advantage. Don’t be afraid of their darkness. You must know you didn’t do it.” Shock filters over his features as I nod my head. “You know who is truly responsible, but you refuse to see it. You know whose shadows were cast that night. I should have realized that you were blaming yourself before…trust him.” A ragged breath leaves me, and my eyes widen as I look up to the moon; my body trembles as my magic slips from it.
The vision of a dying man is now at my feet as I look down on the last moments I have with a son who is not mine by birth, but, in every sense, the man I raised as my own.
“Take what is yours, Dax. Before it’s too late and someone else takes it from you.”I have to believe he heard the words, even though the lips of the man lying in front of him don’t move. Closing my eyes, I let the god’s song carry my soul away.
Chapter twenty-nine
Time seems to stopat the same moment that Miles’ heart fails to beat. The darkened fissure created in my heart when Ella died splits in half as I watch the man who has been a father figure to me for most of my life slip away and his soul cross the veil between this realm and the next. I close my eyes, gritting my teeth as my lip curls into a snarl. I slam my fist into the frozen dirt, now softened by the warmth of the fire, and a growl erupts from my throat.
Everyone around me dies.
“Dax?” I don’t know how long I sit there with my eyes closed, silently fuming after Miles’ death, but Kait’s hushed plea makes me open them. The hand that still holds hers is fisted tightly. Bothour knuckles are white with the pressure we apply, as though the harder we squeeze, the less pain we will feel.
She reaches over with her free hand, brushing her fingers over Miles’ open eyes, closing them for the last time. Tears stain her cheeks, and a choked sob breaks through her throat as she sits back on the heels of her feet. Slowly, she stands, bringing my hand with her. She gives me a light tug, and I break my gaze from the body in front of me, pulling steel into my spine, I stand too. My jaw clenched tight not to show the pain it causes me—both physical and emotional.
My chin is still dipped as I look around at the area around us, my fury burning hotter than the fire that lives within me. Realizing that Kait was just in her wolf form moments before Miles took his last breath, I look over to my long-time friend.
“How were you shifted while in Demetrey?” She shakes her head as she meets my gaze.
