Page 5 of Eclipse of Fate
The devastation we created in our fight adding to my ever-growing list of failures.
Fuming, I don't even see where I'm going when I make my way through the halls. Again, I’m not sure where I'm going, but I know I need to get far from where I am. I hear Raelle talking to Ambriel around the corner and curse to myself. Changing my direction, I steer myself away from my mate. A hum in my chest nearly takes my breath away, forcing the decision to avoid her, as I can't face her. Not like this. Not when I still have yet to calm down. I refuse to cause more pain to someone else tied to me, more than I already have. At least not tonight, if I can help it. So for now, I will avoid everyone. It’s nothing new. I’ve avoided people for years. What's one more night?
Chapter four
Laying in the remnantsof what’s left of my father’s desk, I groan, wiping blood away from my mouth and nose with the back of my hand. I know I went too far, but Dax pushed me. If I'm being honest, I know that it’s no one’s fault but Cano’s that Mel was killed. If it were not for that sorry bastard, none of what’s happened the last couple of months would be plaguing us. Rolling to my hands and knees, the wood cracks and creaks in protest as I push off the jagged, broken surface. When I shift to my feet, my boot hits a drawer, and it pops open.
My swollen eyes widen with interest when I see it. We were never allowed to be in Pop’s office, but there were many times when I was sneaking around and saw him sitting behind it. Tilting my head, my curiosity peaks when I notice a portrait in the drawer.I drop my brows as I crouch down and pluck it from the stack of papers there. A woman is sitting in the garden back in Ravendene, with my uncle Declan standing behind her. He’s looking down at a baby who’s bundled into a blanket and wrapped snugly in her arms. Rolling my lips as I examine the portrait, I try to analyze its importance. He’s in full regime uniform, but he is clearly younger in this photo than when he died. Having died when I was eleven, I didn’t get a whole lot of time with him, but I knew him well enough. He was a quiet guy, kept to his forge most of the time when he wasn't training or in battle. He and Dax were closer, though; they were a lot the same in that way. They don't like people getting too close. I think Dax looked up to him more than he did our own father—Uncle Declan seemed to pay more attention tohiminstead of pushing him for his power, his need to be training, and advancing his studies to take over leadership of the territory like Pop did.
I don’t know who the female is though… Her hair is stark black and tied into a pleat that hangs over one shoulder. There is nothing telling about her. She’s wearing typical training gear. I’m only saying she was possibly part of the regime, but it's hard to say for certain when most Fae enter training at the age of eighteen, but the baby—the baby is wrapped in a blue blanket, and both the woman and my uncle have a wistful look on their faces as he holds his hand on her shoulder and she's resting hers atop his.
Bizarre as it is, I brush off the odd finding and pull the other papers from the drawer. One is a letter, the parchment is old and unopened. My brows pinch as I read what's on the front. I can tell that the messy scrawl isn’t my father’s as I make out the name on the front with much effort, and my eyes widen.
“To Raelle? What the hell?” My swollen lips move stiffly as I whisper the words aloud to the empty room, and I turn the letter over in my hands. I pocket the portrait and the letter, sifting through the other items in the drawer, nothing else seems important. When I stand upright my head swims from the run-in with Dax. I knew my asshole brother was strong, but I’ve never been on the receiving end of his fists with anger behind his punches, and I sure as hell will try to never be again.
My feet stumble on each other as I leave the confines of the treasury. I shake my head and try to dispel the dizziness as I make my way out down the hallway. I groan as a sense of nausea washes over me. I may need to go see that vampire healer for her elixirs that help with the stars that are beginning to bloom in my vision. Pressing my fingers to my temple, I shuffle through the halls of the castle—with each step I take, the hall feels darker, more narrow, and I grow more concerned. I’m a lot closer to the infirmary than I thought, and I trip over my own feet walking through the antechamber leading to the main doors.
“Woah, you okay there, buddy?” A husky female voice cuts into my focus, and when I swing my head in the direction the voice came from, my body moves with it. The motion, along with my unsteadiness, makes me throw my hands out. I press my palms into the cold, stone wall next to the entrance to keep myself from falling, but it does nothing to steady the spinning of the room.
“Fucking—hell.” I reach up and scrape my hand down my face. Instantly regretting it because of the pain that radiates from my head, swollen lips, and face.
“Have you not seen the healer since the battle? I thought they worked their way through everyone already?” She places her hand on my shoulder, and her voice echoes through the room so loudlythat it makes me wince. “Do you need help?” She says, just as loud, and I move to brush her off, but miss and look like I’m shooing pesky fly instead. My head is throbbing. She notices the cause of my pain and drops her voice to a whisper. Her questions turn into a lullaby as I close my eyes, and my head spins further causing me to sway on my feet. “Whoa…okay—easy, big guy.” Her hands press into me, one at my back and the other on my shoulder, as if she can keep my large body from falling. If I do go down, I’ll likely take her down with me, and then we will both be screwed.
“M’fine.” I grunt, shrugging out of her grip. I look down at the handle, and my brows drop and eyes narrow when I realize there are three handles on the door. “Well—thatsnot…thas sno… thasnotright.” I slur, fumbling my words. I try to blink darkness from my vision. When I look over my shoulder at the female who is trying to help me, she quirks her eyebrow up.
“Um, yea… I’m going to need you to sit down and stop acting like you’re not about to fall over like a godsdamned tree—that just got cut the fuck down.” She smiles, but I see multiple sets of teeth on her, and it makes my frown deepen. Who is this Fae, and how does she shift her face like that?Scary as shit.My vision flickers. Closing my eyes as the room goes black, I fall, but my body doesn’t hit the ground. Cool air envelops me and eases me down like a feather on a breeze until I’m lying on the cold stone floor. Another groan escapes me as my head lulls back and forth, the gray ceiling and walls blurring, so I don’t know which is which.
“What’s the meaning of this?’ Another female voice interjects. I recognize the tone and know it’s Ginny.Please fix my head Ginny.
“Hell if I know. He just stumbled in here talking all slurred, with his face bashed to shit.” The Fae with the voice of a goddess, speaks.My head falls to one side, where a female stands with her arms crossed, still surveying me.
“You’re pretty when you don’t have so many teeth.” I gnash my teeth at the raven-haired beauty as her honey eyes flick over me and her brows pinch, but she scoffs, looking back to Ginny.
“I think he’s got some damage going on in that head. What’s your name, big guy?” She asks as she drops into a crouch beside me, but I don’t answer. There is nothing left in my head right now to put words together. All I hear is a torrent of waves crashing and lulling between my ears. I blink slowly as I look between the two Fae before me.
“I know who this is. This is Trent Fornax-Ravendene. You have air magic, do you not?” Ginny asks, and the angel nods.
“Use it; get him up and into a bed so I can get a look at him.”
“Oh, n—no… I’m uh, not int-you like thaaat Ginn.” I make a show of winking at the vampire, the movement slow and awkward, and she scoffs, rolling her eyes.
“He’s definitely got some brain damage going on… Let’s get you all healed up, boy—before you embarrass yourself any more than you already have.” When the angel laughs, it sends tingles down to my dick, and I quirk my brow up at her.
“I wouldn’t do that again.”
“Do what?” She asks incredulously.
“Make my dick twitch.”Did I say that out loud?The pink rising in her warm golden skin tells me that I may have. My gaze shifts to Ginny, her hand covering her mouth and her eyes like saucers staring at me, confirming that in fact, I said it out loud.Shit. “I think somethingisgoing on with my head…” She laughs again, and my dick swells at the sound. I groan, rollingto my side to hide the ever-growing tent of my breeches. What in the actual hell is happening to me? Fucking Dax, the bastard.
Ginny clears her throat. “Right, like I said, let’s get you checked out.”
Chapter five
My stomach churns asa sick feeling begins to sink into the pit of my gut. Step by step, I trek through the trees surrounding the castle in Loema. Dread washes over me with each squelching footfall through the moist forest floor. The rain started just after the battle ceased but hasn’t let up even as the day continues; the cloud cover almost constant. The same thought has been coursing through my mind since the moment it happened. I wish there was more that I could have done to save the girl. She was blasted in the chest with an intense magic that I have never seen used before, but Ihaveheard of the magic. I just didn't think I would see it wielded in my lifetime. I threw up a shield a moment too late, and her body crumbled to the ground within a split second. There was no saving her from the devastation of that blast.
By the time my brain regained any sort of momentum of thought from the shock of it—to go after her attacker—I found myself pummeling through a thick cloud of smoke with the taste of sulfur on my tongue. I was able to at least lay eyes on Raelle. Her stark white blonde hair is hard to miss surrounded by the dark remnants of battle. She is like a beacon of light. However, when my gaze drifted over the group of Fae facing Cano and his evil regime, I did not expect to see one face among them.
My baby sister is standing tall at the side of our queen. Even now, pride warms my very soul thinking about her standing on that side of the line, one of my onyx blades in her hand, still dripping with blood.
