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Glancing around the area, I consider positioning myself behind a boulder. I definitely can’t be seen by the others—even my appearance could wreak havoc on the future. But Ariman didn’t need to hide. He stayed in one dimension while looking into another and then stopped all time. Froze everything to make a quick move before restarting it again. I don’t need much time for what I’m going to do so I decide to stand my ground. I’m close to where Lucien went into the Crimson River and I only need him to be in my line of sight to help him.
Taking a deep breath, I give myself a quick pep talk. “You’ve got this. You destroyed the Blood Stone and stopped Rune. You can do anything you want.”
Without knowing how Ariman traveled through time, I can only envision it. I know where it happened and I’m in the right place. I know roughly the date it happened, but that’s still a guess, so I first have to find that place in time when Micah and Lucien battled.
I take another breath, release it slowly, and then command time to turn backward for me and only me. At first, nothing changes much except the ebb and flow of the river, which now moves in reverse, a slight lightening and darkening of the sky and gusts of wind that pull my hair free of my braid.
Then I hear noise… weapons clashing and demons screaming. I turn and look up to the mouth of the mountain cave where we were not that long ago fighting Ariman and Rune. That must be going on right now.
Amazing.
Those sounds eventually fade away and again, nothing much happens within the landscape before me. If Ariman and Rune were checking this realm prior to my capture, they did so not from this riverbank but somewhere else.
I push time to speed faster and the river rushes toward the horizon, not the mountain, so quickly it looks like streaks of light.
And then there are people moving backward from the horizon along the riverbank toward me.
I slow time and my jaw drops. It’s not just any people reversing in time but my sister Finley, Carrick, the Dark Fae Boral—who I only knew briefly before he died the same evening I did—and Maddox.
My heart skitters looking at Maddox as he says something to the group, which causes Finley to laugh. I’d forgotten they traveled this realm after the battle with Micah. This was the day they tried to sneak into the Underworld to rescue me and they chose to enter through the veil that separated the source of the Crimson River from Micah’s land.
In order to test my abilities and ensure I can actually pull this off, I command time to stop. Not for too long, but long enough that I allow myself to study Maddox. Handsome as sin but with that easygoing smile on his face. The demigod who is always quick to laugh and even quicker to have your back.
Gods, I miss him, but I don’t dally. I allow time to reverse again so as to not cause any disturbance to Finley and her crew, satisfied with the knowledge that I have everything it takes to help Lucien.
More rewinding of time with nothing of interest happening until I catch a glimpse of Lucien flying backward out of the Crimson River and coming to land near the bank. Carrick stands there, holding the chalice with the Blood Stone attached to it and Micah staggers to his feet.
He was a Dark Fae at one time, allegedly quite handsome, but an eternity of bitterness and evil magic turned him into a monster. An enormous creature with fur covering every bit of his muscular body, his lower half resembling a goat with reversed knee joints and cloven feet. He has a whiplike tail above his buttocks that flicks back and forth, but it’s his face that’s truly monstrous. Black matted fur covers most of it with bits of skin showing around his eyes and nose. His lower jaw juts forward with sharp fangs curving upward at the corners. Horns sprout from Micah’s head behind his temple, flaring out before curving downward toward his jaw.
I command time to stop and then fast-forward it again minutely. I can’t change anything about Lucien that might alert Micah or Carrick that I’m here. It’s Micah who last touched Lucien, so any protection I put on him has to come after last contact.
I let time tick forward at a snail’s pace, watching in slow motion as Micah lands a powerful uppercut to Lucien’s jaw that carries so much force he’s lifted off his feet. He flies up and toward the river and as I watch the expression on his face, I’m shocked to see acceptance.
Maybe even relief.
Is that because his one true love died only minutes before? Was he unable to bear to live with her dead?
I stop time and hold it there as my mind races.
Maybe he was ready to die and that makes me hesitate.
Am I in any way doing a disservice to Lucien? Maddox was always bothered by his brother’s death in that it shouldn’t have happened. While Micah was powerful, Lucien was a demigod.
Maybe his fate was to die in that river and it might even be because he wanted it.
But no… he would not have wanted to suffer for eternity. No one could want that, and I don’t hesitate further lest I make Micah or Carrick suspicious. I concentrate on Lucien’s body poised just above the frothing waves of the turbulent lava river.
I cast my power toward him, letting it wrap around his whole body in a clear barrier of protection that will keep the Crimson River from touching him. I gift part of my essence as not only a god but the one who commands the Underworld. I assert my will and dominance within the blanket of safety I’ve just bestowed and I seal it up tight.
Lucien should be able to withstand the destructive nature of the river, but where he’ll go and how he’ll get out, I do not know.
I only know I’ve done all I can.
I speed time back up and only hang around long enough to see him disappear into the lava flow, which moves toward the mountain and up its craggy surface. I spare a short glance to see the devastation on Carrick’s face and then I return to the present.
Appearing on Carrick and Finley’s doorstep, I ring the doorbell and wait for them to answer. I want to let them know what I’ve done so they can search for Lucien.
CHAPTER 24
