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Chapter Twenty-Seven
Erik
Lilli descends from the original faerie family? I can see the shock on Astrid’s face, and I know mine mirrors it. I want to go to her, but I’m trapped inside this goddamn magical cell Light placed around me.
“H-how do you know this?” Astrid stammers.
Darkness shrugs. “I simply had different motivations than you did. Whereas you tried to trace your daughter’s heritage through her father, I started at the opposite end… I wanted to find someone who possessed the blood of the original faerie. I traced from there until the line disappeared… or so everyone thought.”
The lady of shadows begins to pace back and forth again in front of Astrid and Lilli.
Darkness continues. “Everyone was told that Ruanna De Tathua—that’s your grandmother, dear Lilli—had lost the baby while pregnant. But she carried it in secret and abandoned him after he was born. It seems she wanted everyone to think the line ended with her. Too bad she had household staff that couldn’t keep their mouths shut. The rumors survived, even when she did not.”
Astrid is trembling, but I realize it’s not with fear. It’s with fury. “And what exactly do you think you’re going to do with my daughter?”
“Oh, I bet your boyfriend has that part figured out already.” Darkness turns and locks gazes me with me. “After all, he’s the one who raided my lab near your house.”
My dragon rages inside me. If I shift, will I be able to bust through Light’s barrier? But the room we’re in is small. If I let it out, so close to Lilli and Astrid, I could severely injure them.
I meet Astrid’s eyes, and they widen in realization. Then she looks back to Darkness. “The serum to strip supernaturals of their power. That’s your plan?”
“Armies would battle for just one ounce of that power,” Darkness says with a blade-edged smile. “No doubt the reason Ruanna tried to hide her child. She was tired of being envied, feared. Hunted.”
“You already have all the power you need,” Astrid says, seething.
“Everyone always thinks I want to keep these things for myself.” Darkness rolls her eyes. “It’s not for me personally. It’s for the sake of chaos. There are countless things I can do with that power once I have it. I still haven’t decided yet, to be perfectly honest. But whatever I choose, it will be earth-shattering, I assure you.”
And the smile she wears now could devour the whole world. The death of all things lies in that smile.
“You are not going to lay a hand on my daughter,” Astrid growls, a pulse of magic moving over her.
Darkness laughs again and rakes her fingernails over Astrid’s magical barrier. “What did I tell you about lying to children?”
She curls her hand, popping the barrier as if it were merely a bubble, and the shadows in the room hiss and rush toward Astrid and Lilli.
My dragon comes roaring out of me. I don’t have any other choice. I shift, and as I do, I can feel the magical wall around me shatter. I lunge for Darkness, who turns to me with an almost amused expression on her face.
Her shadows and her magic dive into me, every bit of her power trying to tear me apart. Agony rips through my body and my mind as her power surges into me. Shadows force their way into my mouth, my nose, my ears. I can feel blackness racing through my veins, feel my life being crushed out of me…
There’s a crackle like lightning as her brother joins her. A blinding glow as Light’s power merges with his sister’s. Both of them, one on each side, pour everything they have into me. It feels like having the entire universe wrap around me, squeezing, sucking, claiming every ounce of my life force. My eyes close as death reaches for me.
That’s when golden light explodes across the room.
My eyes flicker open. Astrid hovers in the air, her eyes glowing, wings springing out from her back. Through our link, she summons my dragon magic into her. Runes swirl in the air around her and Lilli. I can hear her murmuring the words to a spell, her voice laced with power. Then there is a flash of silver as she raises the Valkyrie dagger. Darkness turns just as the weapon arcs down, and Astrid buries it deep in her heart.
Another pulse of magic like a nuclear bomb. The building around us shakes like there’s an earthquake.
A glowing line of orange magic zips between Darkness and Light. It sparks and buzzes like electricity, shining brighter for a moment. Then, with a shower of sparks, it breaks in the center and the two severed pieces fall to floor, turning gray and dissolving to ash.
Light straightens like a puppet jerked on its strings. His eyes widen as he sees his sister fall to her knees, the dagger embedded in her chest. He shakes his head and looks around the room as if seeing everyone for the first time, panic written across his face. Then he strides out the door without a backward glance.
Astrid’s spell worked. The tie between Darkness and Light has been broken.
Darkness slumps face forward onto the floor. And that’s the last thing I see before I leave my body.
There’s a strange pop as my spirit separates from my physical form and rises above it. I’m glad I held on a few moments longer, so I can be sure that Astrid and Lilli are safe. It’s not what I ultimately wanted, of course. Because I don’t think that Darkness can be truly killed, and when she revives from her injury, she’ll be after Astrid again.
But the room is fading, and I feel a great wind sucking me away. I can’t stay.
