I only shook harder, Xavier’s blood coating my hands, my clothes. Xavier’s face was so pale, it was nearly as white as that damn strip in his hair.
“But you will see them again, Jaxon. Caelan left you a note.”
“Fuck his note,” I growled, snapping my gaze back to him. This wasn’t real. They couldn’t be dead. I needed to fix this, go back in time and never open that damn portal. At least then I would still have my brother.
Soren leaned forward, his pointed rat nose lifting. “Because of their sacrifice—”
“Sacrifice?!” I cut him off, a cruel laugh escaping my lips. A choking noise followed as I tried to suck in a breath. “They were murdered! By your so-called gods because they said it needed to be done. That is no sacrifice! That is slaughter!”
I lowered Xavier gently back onto the ground, my gaze fixed on Soren.
“You tell them to bring them back. Now.” My voice was lethal, deadly, and Soren blanched at my tone.
“If you would just let me show you the note,” Soren stuttered, reaching into his pocket.
I lunged.
My fist connected with Soren’s jaw as he fell back into the mud, but as I raised my fist to do it again, another roar echoed around us. I snapped my head up and found Lexion Demaris charging directly for me. I scrambled to my feet, and Theo and Dedra put themselves between us.
“No! Let him come,” I shouted and I felt something then. Understanding.
I had seen how he acted with Lana in that clearing. Saw how similar his scars matched her own. They had been mated, and Lex was looking for revenge, just like I was.
If I couldn't have mine, I at least could give him his.What did I have to live for now anyway?
Lex was now in front of me, but I didn't move or defend myself as his fist lifted. I only stared at the side of his face, at the scars peppering his skin, and closed my eyes.
The ground shook violently, and my eyes shot open. Lex’s fist swung wide as he stumbled and crashed to the ground, and I staggered and fell backward onto my back. The breath left my lungs in a rush from the sudden impact.
An explosion of blue light flashed, and the air seemed to shift. The entire sky rippled as if bursting open, and a dam blew open in my mind. Memories I hadn't previously known flooded me, and I screamed as searing pain began to bloom on my chest. The smell of burning flesh filled my nostrils and I looked down in a panic to find a mark now etched onto my chest. Raised red burns were now peeking up from my shirt, the skin bubbling. A face, one I knew like the back of my hand, flashed in my vision and understanding bloomed, but not before another wave of pressure in my skull ebbed, and I passed out.
ONE MONTH LATER
Chapter 39
Jaxon
“We are going to be late.”
Julian's voice sounded from the doorway, and I looked up from the desk to meet his enlarged black eyes as he tapped his foot impatiently. He was wearing a black silken button-up with a matching black suit, and I smirked at the familiar material.
“Trying to channel your inner Xavier?”
Julian’s cheeks heated. “I think he will appreciate the sentiment.”
I chuckled, shuffling the papers on my desk. “I’m sure he will.”
Ignoring the sharp pain of grief passing through me, I shoved aside the map that I had been viewing, stacking it with the others as I started rolling them to be put away. I had been studying them vigilantly this past week, preparing for the inevitable.
My gaze cut to the stack of letters lying open on the corner of the desk and sighed.
That curse the Fate had placed on our land was now broken. Our borders were once again opened to the rest of the world, a world that had been forgotten and one that had been made to forget about us.
Nexia was no longer the only kingdom on those maps.
We ended a war, only to be thrust into the unknown.
We knew nothing of the other kingdoms, their lands, or their cultures. Only those who lived here long before Morgana still remembered, and most of them were now dead, either from this war or the last.
