Page 22 of Fates of Monsters

My heart thumps in my chest, and my lips part. For once, for a second, I let myself look at his lips. The war continues around us, the devastation of so many, and I’m watching him. My hands itch for me to push a lock of his dark hair away from his eyes and to kiss the cut on his cheek. Celeria lands next to us, and I snap out of it. What the hell is wrong with me? I don’t need a mate. I don’t need him.

Lorenzo pulls his gaze from me, nodding at his flying pet. “We should—” He pauses at the same time I sense it. Something is wrong. Lorenzo throws himself over me just as the ground violently shakes, throwing us both up into the air and right back down on it. I land on his chest as he turns us, and the ground doesn’t stop shaking. It cracks under Lorenzo, dust puffing up into the air, and Celeria roars loud. I try not to scream as Lorenzo holds on to me tightly, like he can shield me from the world itself falling apart on us. The smell of thick smoke fills the air when the shaking stops. Smoke, ash, and fire. I use my magic to push the dust and smoke away from us, and Lorenzo lifts his head. From the way his entire body tenses, I can tell it’s bad. “Celeria, come here now!”

She lands with a thump at our side, and Lorenzo lifts me up, straight onto her back. I don’t fight him, just this once. He climbs on next, and she takes up into the air immediately, just before a wave of lava spreads across the ground where we were standing like the sea coming into shore.

“Volcano. It’s erupted,” I whisper, seeing what made Lorenzo go pale. What I thought was once a mountain, one of the biggest that rests near the back of the territory, is not a mountain at all. It’s a volcano, which has erupted. It’s currently spitting fire and lava straight up into the air, filling the sky with hot ash and fireballs that are smashing into the battlefield, killing everything there. The storms are still heavy and thick, but with ash that falls like a grey blanket belting across the wall, it’s becoming impossible to see the ground. The red lava is spreading in a wave, and people are running from it, the battle forgotten in the need for survival. Flocks of Wyerns charge past us, towards the cities.

“We have to stop it… someone has to,” Lorenzo whispers in horror as he goes stiff behind me.

The lava is heading downhill, right towards the cities and where most of the people are hiding. Millions of children, females, and people who cannot fight. They are going to be burnt to death. “Is there another way out of the city?”

“The back of these mountains can be flown out, but…” He pauses like he can’t believe he has to say it. Almost like it’s not real if he doesn’t say it out loud. “The tunnels are few and there are many, many people who can’t fly. We don’t have time to evacuate them.”

It’s going to kill them all. He knows it. I know it. Still, we can do everything we can. Just like in Goldway City. My voice breaks as I turn back, looking at him. There is every chance we will die in that city with them if we go to help. There was a point in my life that I believed mortals, Wyern, fae and supernaturals were never worth dying for. I thought everyone was evil until a mortal with pink hair saved my life, cared for me even when I couldn’t see through the bitter hate that consumed me. She showed me how to be a good person, how to do the right thing, even if you have a past that taught you otherwise. I will die helping them because turning away is not an option for me anymore. “We evacuate whoever we can.”

His eyes reflect the lava, red dancing within the green. “Together.”

ChapterSixteen

Desperation makes me move quickly. Makes every inch of my body tremble, but I fly up the mountain, jumping over rocks and smashing others out of my way with spheres of flames and ice. If I stop, I can’t breathe through the fear. Emerson. My mate, my king, my reason for breathing at all, is in trouble and fighting on his own. We swore to never fight alone, and yet this war has split us up again and again, this time for the last time. Sweat pours down my body as I race up the mountain at Zurine’s side, sending up prayers to the goddess to help me. To guide us all through this war and leave my mate alive at the end of it. I can’t lose him. Please, please don’t make me lose him. Zurine screams at me. “Watch out!”

I narrowly miss a rockslide, slamming my back against a wall. The mountain shakes, and the small ledge my feet are slipping off becomes hard to stay on. Zurine is holding onto a rock ledge near me, her wide eyes meeting mine as everything stabilizes once more. “Slow down. We are no use to him dead!”

My mouth is dry and there’s a tightness in my chest that I can’t get rid of. Tightness that won’t disappear until I know Emerson is okay. I can feel him and he’s weak. Weaker than I’ve ever sensed. He has used too much magic, too much darkness. Even for him, there is a limit. I look up as black shadows, pure darkness, spread out the tip of the mountain cavern windows like snakes, spreading in every direction. Emerson roars, and this time, I feel his pain like a dagger through each of my legs. I cry out, barely able to hold myself to the wall. Zurine catches up with me, pushing me back as the mountain shakes once more. She looks up before backing down at me. “We will make it through this. Let me help you.”

“I’m okay,” I pant, but we both know it’s a lie. I have to push the bond back, just to be able to stand up with her arm wrapped around my waist. Zurine half carries me up the mountain, to the pathway that has been carved and the dozens of broken stone steps that lead to the top.

“I once had a dream about you. When I was fae, in the first couple of weeks,” Zurine tells me. I look at her, her silver hair glistening in the lightning flashing across the sky. “I used to think you were a pink-haired angel sent to guide me through the worst days of my fae life. It turns out, the goddess sent me a vision of you because I was here to guide you through yours. To be at your side, your friend, for the final steps of the last battle. I see the future in you and Emerson. I see peace, a world where what happened to me never happens again.” We get closer to the top, closer to Emerson. I smile softly at her. Maybe the goddess did send her for me. Zurine has always been my greatest defender, my friend, in this crazy world of magic. “We are so close to that world. So, so close.”

Emerson roars again, more darkness spreading out of the windows. A scream ratchets up my throat as I let go of Zurine and run up the mountain’s final steps, pushing all the pain to the back of my mind, fear replacing it. I can’t stop. He needs me. The ground is shaking violently, threatening to throw me over the edge, but I can’t see where it’s coming from as it gets worse than it was before. The rain is replaced with thick ash, mixing with the water, and the smell of fire lingers in my mouth.

Finally, I get to the top of the mountain, throwing myself through the a hall around the waves of darkness, remembering what Zurine said about this place being a old temple for the gods with passaways leading to the main room. My eyes widen when I see Emerson and Louie are battling in the center of a cavern. Emerson is hurt. There’s a dagger embedded in his shoulder and another in his thigh, and there is so much blood all over him. His leathers are ripped from magic, revealing cuts where they have torn, and he is pale. So, so pale. I can sense he is running out of magic.

But he doesn’t stop. He’s still battling against Louie’s magic continuously, nothing but darkness, swarming like a beehive against Louie’s grey sickness. Emerson looks my way first, his eyes widening, but he doesn’t lower his outstretched hands or even pause with his magic. His wings are stretched out on either side of him, his black crown glowing within his thick dark hair. We are battling with gods, but it’s my mate who looks like an avenging god of darkness sent to judge us all. Whatever magic kept us apart is gone the moment I step closer. “Emerson! I’m here, I will help.”

Emerson’s voice is groggy, broken, weak. I hate hearing him like this. “I love you, from the beginning of time when my soul was created until the end of time when my soul will rest next to yours. I love you endlessly, my mate. We are endless.”

“And we do not end today,” I say back, tears forming in my eyes as I look at my king in his monster form, his true form. “I love you too.”

I pull my sword out of my holder on my back and run at Louie. Louie turns on me with his eyes fully black, empty of anything good or kind or mortal. I tell myself that. He is not my mortal brother, Louie. Louie’s eyes flash at my sword, true fear lurching in his eyes. “NO!”

He sends magic into the walls of the cavern, and it explodes around us. I scream, calling up my magic as I look for Emerson. His dark magic wraps around my waist, tugging me to him and covering us both in a dark bubble. His body smothers mine as rocks slam into us, and I pray Zurine didn’t come in here. When the magic settles, Emerson lifts me up, only for Louie to be right in front of us. Before either of us can defend ourselves, Louie slams magic into Emerson, and he goes flying back, hitting a rock hard with a sickening crack. My heart lurches as fear rises in my throat, and I go to run to him. Louie grabs my shoulder, pulling me back, his hand heading for the sword.

I move before I’ve even realized it, before I’ve even thought out what I’m doing, as I slam my sword straight towards him, and he meets me, grabbing the end of it. It cuts through his hand. He screams in pain, jerking his hand away and jumping back from me. Black blood pours from the cut as he starts circling me. I make sure to keep checking on Emerson, who isn’t moving. “You don’t get to touch him. He’s mine, and I came here to end you. I will stop you, Louie. You’re evil, and I know there is nothing left to save.”

“He killed them all, but I will live on. I made them all weak,” Louie hisses at me. “He shouldn’t have been able to kill them.”

A secretive smile tilts my lips up. “Emerson and I melted the crown down into bracelets to be wielded. Emerson, as a Wyern, comes from the gods too. It’s why he is powerful, and he can harness the magic. It was a guess, but Emerson could pick up my sword, and it didn’t hurt him. I knew then.”

Louie shakes his head. “The old god told me—”

“Lies,” I counter. “He is a liar. Where is he?”

Louie’s eyes drift over my shoulder, and I take the risk to quickly look. There is a massive mountain in the distance, right at the back, and I swear it’s glowing red. What the fuck is wrong with that mountain? Is it the fire goddess doing that? I turn back to Louie. He has to be dealt with first. Zurine runs in, bleeding but alive. She looks at me. “Emerson.”

Zurine runs to Emerson, and I turn back to Louie. It was always going to end with him and me. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you. If there is anything left of my Louie, end this now and take off the crown. Give it to me.”

“I will die without it,” he shouts at me, black veins spreading up his face from his neck. I step closer and he steps away from me, from the sword. “I came here to rule. I won’t leave or die yet. Not without taking you with me, at least.”

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