Page 20 of Fates of Monsters

She holds out her hand, moving so fast with a lash of gold magic, but Emerson’s father is faster than her magic as he charges our way. For a few seconds, I believe he is going to get to us. He is going to help me. He looks at me just as Marzena throws me to the side and meets the old king with a dagger straight into his heart. A scream rips out of my throat as she wraps her hand around his neck, blood pouring from his lips. He roars in pain as she twists the dagger in his chest, gold magic spreading around them both, pushing everything and everyone away.

“FATHER!” Lorenzo’s shout echoes, filled with agony, and the old king looks back once more at his son. Whatever he sees in Lorenzo gives him strength as he turns back. He lifts his sword and pulls himself away from the dagger in his heart to swing his sword straight across the witch’s neck in such a quick move that she never saw it coming. She grabs her neck, stumbling backwards, right into Zurine, who grabs her. Ice smothers the witch from the head down, right before Zurine kicks her hard, smashing the ice into pieces. The queen of the witches is dead.

“Shut the door!” I shout at Zurine, putting the girl down and rushing to the old king. I pull his head onto my knees and cup his cheek. The rest of the witches are likely searching the castle for us and it won’t take them long to get here. I push his hair out of his face and shake my head. I can’t heal him. The wound looks bad, and there is too much blood. “Why did you do that? You knew they’d kill you.” I look over at Lorenzo, but he is out of it again. Posy is slowly waking up, and Emily is crawling into Paxton’s open arms.

Zurine moves to my side as the old king wraps his hand around mine. “Give Lorenzo my sword. Once you bond with the sword, no magic can hurt you. It will protect-t him.” I wipe some of the blood from the corner of his mouth. “Emerson. He was born for peace. Together, you’re going to find it for all the people in this world. I couldn’t fix it all, but you can be better than I was as a ruler. Better than his mother was. Keep him safe and love him, Calliophe. Tell them both that—” He pulls me down to whisper in my ear. “Tha-t-t I watched them grow into males I will forever be proud of.”

His hand falls from my mine as a sob laces up my throat, and when I lift my head, all the light has faded from his eyes. Zurine lets out a soft cry and touches my shoulder as I run my fingers down his face, closing his eyes. I gently lay him down as the throne room doors are pushing open, and Nathiel comes in with Nerelyth at his side. His eyes widen when he sees the dead old king and the state of all of us before slamming the door shut.

I hold my hand out, pulling ice up from the floor and smothering the doors with it. Zurine helps me until the door is blocked. For now. When I look back, Posy is at Lorenzo’s side, holding his hand. She looks up at me, sensing me looking at her. I walk over, picking up the old king’s sword and lying it next to Lorenzo before meeting Posy’s eyes. “We need a portal to the battle.”

“I can’t leave him.” Her hand shakes as she touches his chest, over his leather clothes, her hand laid over his heart. “And I won’t take him there.” Her eyes stay on Lorenzo, her head bowed.

Nerelyth steps to my side as the throne room doors are banged and the ice begins to crack. We don’t have long. “Go and leave the kids and Lorenzo here. I will protect them.”

“No offense, but you’re—”

“She is a powerful princess of the sirens, and the witches always feared sirens,” Nathiel interrupts Posy. “I believe we are safe here with Nerelyth.”

Nerelyth looks at me. “I’m going to sing, and they’re going to pay for coming in here. I will sing and bring in the water they’ve raised in here to drown them all. They will die and they will not take our home.” Her eyes are glowing green. She looks back at Nathiel. “Will you stay and make sure no one slips past me in here? No matter what you hear, do not come out of those doors. My singing will drive you to madness.”

“Where you stay, so do I,” he answers. It’s simple, but I can see it gives her the strength we all need.

“Are you sure?” I softly ask. “I will understand—”

“You have a battle to win for us all to have a future, and I have a castle to clean out of unwelcome guests,” she interrupts, almost sounding like my Nerry, the bossy best friend I’ve always had. Maybe giving her someone to protect has given her a reason to fight. “I’m not giving up anymore. I need to fight. Let me fight for us all.”

“Get rid of them all, Nerelyth. For the Wyern Court.” I lift my head. “Show them how fucking badass you are.”

She smiles at me for the first time in a long, long time and lifts her head high. “Yes, my queen.”

Posy has a death grip on Lorenzo’s hand when I get to her. “We need to go.”

“I’m not leaving him,” she sharply snaps at me. “If this was your mate, you wouldn’t leave.”

I know she is right. Paxton touches her shoulder, and she looks up at him. “My father is waiting for you. They all are. I can heal your mate as he is not close to death, like the old king. Some wounds I can fix like his, but I’m not powerful enough to fully heal him.” He puts the girl down, who has no injuries, I notice now that I can see. He places his hands on Lorenzo’s face, and all of Lorenzo begins to glow green. “I will keep him alive.”

Posy leans down, whispering something I can’t hear in his ear, before standing up. She looks at Nerelyth. “I’m trusting you with him.” What she doesn’t say speaks much louder. I can hear how much she cares about Lorenzo with every single word, with the way she is lightly shaking.

“I know,” she quietly responds. “I owe you my life, my bat friend. Let me repay it now.”

The ice is cracking louder, and Zurine walks away from it to us. “We have a minute. Maybe less. We leave now or not at all.”

Nerry begins to walk to the door, and Nathiel stands in front of Lorenzo and the kids to defend them. Posy holds her hand out, making two portals. One leads to Emerson, to the battle I can see on the other side, and the other portal leads to the gods.

I’m torn between my heart and the right thing to do. Zurine goes to the portal to Emerson, to the war. She looks at the other portal and back at me. “I’m beginning to understand you have somewhere to go first.” I can almost hear the war, the echo of it reaching us. I rush to the window, see the front mountains are flooded with water in places, and there is nothing but waves of blackness spreading across the ground. The skies are full of Wyerns, the ground too, and they are luring the army into the mountains. Louie hasn’t unleashed all his power yet. I don’t understand why he hasn’t. What is he waiting for?

“Make sure he doesn’t die.” My voice breaks, and I pull the sword off my back. Posy steps to the portal. “We will be back.”

Zurine jumps through the portal, and it shuts behind her. Posy looks at Lorenzo one more time and closes her eyes for a moment before setting them on me. “Time to release the gods on our world.”

ChapterFourteen

Havoc. There is nothing but pure, chaotic havoc all around me as I step out through the portal, knowing who is following after me. The deal with the gods took minutes, and it was easy. Too easy. The marks of each deal are on my back, each an element and each a heavy price to bear for us all. We need them, but I don’t trust them. Posy gives me a nervous look, and I feel the same. I just cut through the barrier to the gods’ prisons and released them on this world. The air goddess comes through the portal first, and she sucks in a deep breath. I wonder if she can smell the blood, the filth, the mud and death that fills the air. Heavy rain continues to pour, drenching me from head to toe within moments, but it’s nothing, nothing compared to how I’m feeling inside as I look around. This is war, and it’s horrible. Endless, horrible brutality and I can’t look away. Monsters rip a Wyern from the sky, tearing him in two and leaving nothing but his wings in his grasp. Another three Wyerns descend on the monster, and I have to look away. But looking away does nothing. There is nowhere to look that makes me feel better, makes me feel safe. Two monsters break out of the group of the Wyerns fighting near us and head straight our way. Before I can even prepare to destroy them, they float off the ground and are violently thrown across the battlefield by the goddess. She never even blinked.

“Stay close, daughter.”

“I belong at Calliophe’s side. She is my family,” Posy coldly responds, yet her bitter tone only makes me feel better. She isn’t leaving my side, and I don’t want to fight without her.

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