Rage fills my bloodstream. This is not happening again, I will not lose her. One minute we're all standing before Thea, guarding her from my psycho of a brother then the next the house is shaking and groaning. I whirl at Thea's yelp and watch as the floor opens up beneath her feet, like quicksand swallowing you whole. Her body tumbling through it and I don't even think. I dive for her. Our fingers brush before she slips from my grasp and I'm raging.
Calling out to her as her magic flares towards me. But then in a blink she's gone. The room has stopped shaking, the world rightens itself once more.
One second. That's all it took to take her from me.
Wrath bleeds into my vision and before I can even try to create some semblance of thought; I'm hurtling towards my brother. Crashing into him and letting my fists fly.
"You sick piece of shit. Where did you send her?!" I roar. My knuckles hit his face over and over again. Blood spewing from a split in his lip.
He only laughs. Doesn't try to stop me.
I don't give a fuck.
Blow after blow, I swing at my brother. Landing hits that break bones and tear skin. Still he does nothing to stop me. Only laughs.
"Kaz you have to stop. You'll kill him."
"Good," I seethe. I go to swing again when a strong hand grabs my wrist, stoping me from it. Snarling over my shoulder I snap, "Let me go."
"No. I can't," Ryder kneels behind me meeting my eyes as he continues, "We won't be able to find her if you kill him now." He's right but my fury has no end right now. All I want to do is make him suffer. Make him pay for everything he's done to me and my family.
Augustus spits blood onto the floor, his laughs softening. When I look at his face, I see the bruised disaster I've created. But I don't care. It's the least he deserves.
"You are going to tell me where she is right now, or else I'll beat you to death." My brother laughs.
"You won't find her until everything is done. I sent her to the Void." My skin chills at the words.
The Void is a terrible place. A sister realm to Hell. It's dark and silent, void of any kind of sense or time. I've never been there but I've heard stories of those who have and made it back. It's like being stuck between life and death.
Like where we go when our souls are judged before deciding our afterlife fate. "Bring her back then," I growl. But Augustus simply laughs, "I cannot. She is in HIS realm now. Only he can decide when it's time to let her out. All I did was prepare her for HIM."
"Who is HIM?" Raven asks. When Augustus meets my eyes, the ice that slides over my skin is worse than before. "Curseclaw. She's at his mercy now. He will bind himself to her soul and emerge from his world into ours. He needs a body to use as a vessel and I figured hers would be strong enough to handle that change."
"And if she isn't?"
"Then she dies and I just try again with someone else until I've accomplished my goal."
I want to murder him.
But Ryder's hand around my wrist is keeping me from slaying my sibling. Lucky bastard. The red from my vision slowly recedes as I take in my sibling. At the words he said.
By the gods... "How can I get her back?" The question falls uselessly between us, Augustus's face shifting into laughter again as he spits blood at me.
"You can't. Only when he's merged with Thea can she be returned to this world. You have no say in it brother. All you can do is pray and hope she's strong enough to survive that merging."
I don't even think when the fury hits me again, ripping my fist from Ryder's hand. I slam it into his face again and again until all I can hear is a dull roaring in my head.
⤗
"Kaz you need to be reasonable about this," Fin and Ryder state to me as I pace within my angry state. But there is nothing to think about. He took her from me. He took my mate from me again and I'm not letting Augustus get away with it.
"I should kill him. I should simply behead him for what he's done."
"As much as I'd love that, you need to think rationally on this. If we kill him, you may never see Thea again. You may never figure out how to separate her from Curseclaw. You need to be logical about this."
As much as I hate it, he's right. "You know Ry, you can be a royal pain in my ass sometimes." Ryder bows sarcastically saying, "At your service." But it makes me smile. His loyalty has been unwavering. Unfaltering. I admire that. Respect it.
Fin leans in the doorway, his face drawn and still. Raven stands by the window in the hall and Ryder leans against the table within the living room we all now occupy.
"Are you alright Fin?" I realized I've never asked him, checked up on him since Fawn betrayed us. Since he lost her.
Fin knows what I'm asking without the words being said. He shrugs, "I've accepted it. She made her choices and I made mine." Again I don't say what needs to be said instead conveying in a single glance, it's okay to be sad about it. Fin only nods back.
"So what are we going to do with him?" Fin asks, taking the attention off him. "We could keep him in tha barracks. I can keep an eye on him at all times, have guards stationed outside and make sure his time there is not pleasant."
The venom in Ryder's voice is thick. His hatred for Augustus palpable. Nothing compared to the warth I feel when I think of my sibling. Bloodlines be damned, if I could I'd have killed him eons ago.
"He can rot in the cell we've kept him in." I snark. We've got a holding cell within my city, for people who need it. Usually major crimes like murder and rebellion; but I haven't had to use them in ages. He's the only prisoner occupying those cells. Good. Let him rot in there and go mad from the silence.
When no one objects, I swiftly turn and exit the room feeling too emotional to be standing around. I need to run or exercise. Something to get this pent up frustration out. Aiming for the barracks on the far end of my property, I change from my formal wear and into fighting gear.
Adorning leathers and silk shirts made to repel arrows and bullets. Thin armor that's mightier than anything anyone has ever seen.
When I enter the ring I reach for several small daggers sitting within their holsters on the wall and without looking fling them at the target at the other end of the ring. Each dagger hitting bullseye. I don't stop until I've run out of daggers, turning to the arrows next then the swords, until finally I reach for the guns we have packed away.
Fae warrirors rarely use guns. We tend to rely on knives and magic but sometimes, metal is necessary. Sometimes guns are more powerful than magic.
Loading up a heavy assault rifle, I fill the chamber and fire off as many rounds as I can get until I need to reload. Doing that over and over again. Feeling the kick.
Smelling the gun powder. Letting it slide over my senses as I fall into that dark pit within myself.
Calm, calm, calm.
Thea is gone. Thea was taken. Thea, Thea, Thea. Her name clangs through me like a bolt. Shot after shot I take until the gun runs out of ammo.
Until my breathing is tight and I'm filled with aching restlessness again.
"Need a sparing partner?" Ryder asks. Not questioning the holes that pepper the target, or the number of daggers protruding from it. He says nothing as he steps into the arena and faces me. His hand hanging loosely by his sides as his eyes meet mine and grins, "Let's see it High Lord. Hit me with your best shot."
⤗
Minutes, hours. I don't know how much time has passed but I don't care. I've become enveloped within the deep clam that's seated itself within me. At the precision I feel blooming in my blood.
It's not until Ryder taps out that I blink. Breathe.
Realizing that I'd been holding it for longer than necessary. My muscles ache, they protest when I lean down to grab his hand and haul Ryder to his feet. Our faces coated in sweat, skin glistening in the late evening sun. "Feel better?"
I blink, "A little. But no matter how much we spar it won't help me figure out how to stop that merging. To stop that demon from being brought into our world."
"I know Kaz. We'll figure it out. Maybe one of the other High Lords know something? Perhaps we could ask for assistance?" The thought makes me sick, but we have allied with them. There was a majority vote.
Perhaps, for now, I could use that friendship to help Thea. To figure out a way to stop the merging before it happens or to at the very least, figure out how to undo it should I get to her too late.
"As much as I hate the idea of that, it can't hurt to reach out." Ryder nods, wiping sweat off his brow and blood from his lip. "Maybe Anil would know? Also you hit me pretty hard."
I chuckle, "Well if you didn't keep dropping your left shoulder I wouldn't have been able to. As for Anil, I think I'm the last person he'd want to see. I'll ask Flare first. He'll probably know."
Ryder grumbles about how he doesn't drop his left shoulder, but grabs a towel and heads for the barracks showers. I follow wondering if the Kingdom of Light will have answers for such a dark problem.
Stepping into the warm water, I let it beat at my skin; soothing the wrathful ache within my soul but doing nothing for my aching muscles.
Calm. Calm. Calm. I need to fall into the well of endless clam within me before I lose my shit again.
I don't know how long I've been in the shower for, not moving, not cleaning just staring. Staring at the wall. But I know it's been long enough for the water to go from scalding to luke warm to cold.
When that blast of cold sends a chill down my spine, that's when I blink. Shampoo my hair and step out.
Drying off, getting dressed; it's all second nature to me. Then I ask Ryder as he's leaving the shower to send word to Flare for me that I'd like to meet with him immediately. It's urgent.
Nodding, Ryder strides for the palace. I stay behind, still lost in my thoughts. Feeling lost and unsettled.
Thea, Angel Heart? Are you alive? I whisper to her through the bridge between our minds. But her end is still. No mist covering it this time. Just eternal shadows and silence.
It's madness.
I try once more, Thea? Can you hear me? Nothing. Sighing I step out of the bathroom, out into the late sun and head for home. I've just reached the kitchen within the house when Ryder finds me, "Flare is on his way here." I blink, "That was fast. Why here though?"
Ryder seems slightly agitated, "I'm not sure. I just know when I asked him to meet with you, he'd said that he was already on his way over. That it was urgent too."
Something bottoms out in my gut. Something is very wrong.
"Alright. When he's here please direct him to my office."
With that, I stride for it and wait patiently behind my desk. My desk that I fucked Thea on. This desk that her laying across it, her skin glistening and mouth open with my name passing her lips.
This desk that we- the thoughts are cut off to a pounding on the door. "Enter," I call out. Flare sweeps in, his Light Kingdom regalia a brot spot in my darkness.
"Kaz," He bows deeply before taking a seat across from me. "Welcome, how may I help you?"
Flare's golden eyes glitter, but there's something else twinkling beyond them. Something akin to fear.
"Have you heard anything about your brother?" I blink, "Yes. He's in a cell within a prison here in my city. Why?"
Flare seems uncertain. "Are you sure?" Anxiety now creeps up my throat.
"Yes. I'm sure. I put him there a few hours ago."
Flare sighs, the male running dark fingers through his golden hair. "Where is your mate?"
THe words crash through me. I lean back in my chair, my breath loosening from within, "That is why I summoned you here, Flare. Thea has been taken to the Void. She's now at the mercy of a Blood demon called Curseclaw. The one we mentioned during the meeting. My brother sent her there, so that he could bind the demon to Thea's body. Merging them as one. I sent for you, to see if you know of anyway that I could stop that from happening, or break it should it become too late."
Flare meets my eyes. The gold within them sharpening.
"She's where?"
"In the Void. Our bond doesn't work there. I cannot reach her, I cannot sense her. Nothing. Not until she's back in our realm." Flare frowns, "I... I have never heard of such a thing. I'm sure with some research we can figure it out but Kaz..." The way he trails off sends the hairs on my neck standing.
"Yes?"
"There was an attack on my city. The SunLight City has fallen."
⤗
Silence has entered my mind. Rage, rage, rage. Wind whooshes past my ears, enters my brain.
The SunLight City has fallen. How is that possible? I blink at Flare, at the anguish in his eyes. "When?" Is all I can mangage to say. By the look on his face, it was recently.
"A few hours ago. Earlier today. The attack came out of nowhere and my troops weren't ready. My people were not protected. That City was the beating heart of my kingdom and now it has fallen."
The next words that slip from his mouth are full of venom when he hisses, "Take me to your prison. I wish to speak with your insufferable brother."
I nod. My own wrath simmering within me. "Yes, of course. We'll go right now."
Flare and I stand, I summon Ryder and Fin and Raven as escorts to the prison. When we are all prepped, I Fold everyone to the prison within the depths of my city. Not the hidden one I kept from the world, but the main one.
This city is called: Purgatory. It's the nightmare capital of my Kingdom and why the outside world thinks of me as the villain. I have to play two different roles here. The true version of myself at my palace and within the City of Dreams, then the dark High Lord that's bloodthristy in this one.
I hate coming here. But it's needed every once in a while to keep the people here in check.
Flare shivers as soon as he takes in the city, the dark streets and reek of blood. The streets are littered with trash and you can tell chaos reigns free here.
"I hate this place," he mutters. "So do I. And I have to oversee it on occasion." Shivers creep along my spine, "This City is the worst version of myself. I hate it," I can feel Flare and the others staring at me. No one says a word.
I don't care.
Breathe, breathe, breathe. Striding for the large metal doors of the prison, I wrench them open and step inside. Everyone else follows.
The cells are empty. Except for one.
Augustus leans against the bars of his cell, his lips quirking into a smirk as he see's me and the entourage behind me.
"Wow I've never had so many visitors at one time," His voice is sarcastic. Dripping with annoyance. If could cut his tongue out, I would.
We pause before he cell and Flare steps forward, his golden eyes now dark a dark ember as he spits, "My city has fallen. It happened this morning. I know you had something to do with it. Why?"
"What makes you think I did it? I've been here all morning." He points to the cell doors he's still trapped behind. "I know you did it Augustus. The SunLight City has fallen and now my people are dead or suffering. I need answers."
"Again, it wasn't me." I snarl at him, "You could have still had your goons do it. Communicating with them from here since I've trapped you behind these bars."
Augustus smiles, "Ah yes, that sounds more like me. You're probably right. I might have sent word to my people about where I am and they may have been angry and possibly took it out on others. Ooops, my bad. Sorry."
Flare lunges at the bars, his fingers curling into the fabric of Augustus's shirt. His teeth snapping in his face as Flare hisses, "You sick bastard. You murdered innocent people. You murdered babies for god sake. Over what? Nothing. You are going to pay for your insufferable actions Morningsong. You and all your cronies behind you. Mark my words, you've just become the number one enemy to the Light Kingdom."
My brother chuckles, his face showing no remorse. "You do realize that more deaths are on the way. No kingdom will be spared. None. And when every street is running with blood and the skies are dark with the screams of the suffering, then you will all bow to me. Then I will become the sole High Lord of this world."
I don't know what to think, what to say. There's roaring in my ears again. The door to the prison bursting open has us all whirling, weapons drawn and ready.
But it's not an army of Augustus's men pouring in. It's Arrow. Her eyes wide and distraught.
"Kaz," she gasps. Her hands on her knees as if she sprinted the whole way here. "Arrow what is it?" She huffs a deep breath before standing again. "There's been a development."
"What kind of development?"
"Movement in the North." I whirl to my sibling who's only smiling like a happy cat. I'm about to ask more when sharp searing pain rips through my insides. I double over with a roar of pain.
My eyes flash, chest heaving as unrelenting pain tears through my soul, my heart. "What. The. Fuck?" I growl, hissing through gritted teeth.
Flare is upon me in seconds, his hands roaming over my skin seeking any sort of anomaly. "I don't get it, how are you in this much pain but there's nothing inside your body to cause it."
Augustus is laughing.
"It's begun." "What has?" Ryder hisses. "The merging. He's taking Thea's body and merging with her. That pain you feel is their battle. It's their two souls raging against the other."
Panic hits me and Flare's eyes meet mine. We're too late. More pain lashes through me and I let out another groan of pain.
Arrow is kneeling before me her eyes wide, "Kaz are you alright?" I try to breathe, breathe, breathe. But it's useless. I can't even blink.
I'm paralzyed by so much pain. So much anger and suffering. Fight Thea. I need her to fight.
Long minutes pass as this pain continues to press into me, shocking my system. Agony like I've never felt before rips into me and screaming.
There's screaming in my head.
My forehead presses into the ground, beads of sweat now trickling down my brow. "It's almost complete. Soon HE will be here and then I can begin." My brother's voice is far away. I cannot focus on anything.
Just when I think I'll break from the torment it stops. The screaming stops, the pain stops. Everything vanishes. Breath slips into my lungs, my body feels light again.
Flare's warm hands on my back bring me back to reality.
"It stopped," I whisper. Too afraid to guess what that means. Arrow places a hand to her ear, as if listening to someone speak on the other end. It's then that I realize she has a headphone in. Someone IS speaking to her from far away.
"Oh by the gods..." She whispers.
"What is it?" Ryder asks. We all crowd closer, waiting to see what's made her face go so ashen. "Our spies tell me that they've made it to the base of Nefaris. That they found a large battle tent at the ready and within it... Thea."
My breath pauses in my throat.
"Is she alive?"
She places her finger against the headphone again. Listening more. "So it's happened. HE's here. Finally. I must go to greet HIM. Kaz let me out at once." But no one pays Augustus any attention.
"Yes apparently she's fine. Or seems fine. She's just vomited into a bucket and is now striding for the sink. According to them she looks like death though."
More pausing, more updates and then: "Fuck." Arrow swears her eyes widening. "What?"
"What is it?" So many voices. Too many questions.
Ba-doom. Ba-doom. Ba-doom. My heart is all I can hear.
Ba-doom. Ba-doom. Ba-doom.
Again and again. Over and over. "Arrow?" I rasp. Desperation claws at me. "Her eyes... her eyes are pure black."
Every feeling within my gutters out. Draining from my system and falling to the ground.
Augustus is laughing. "Yes, he did it. They both survived and now Curseclaw is here. As much as I enjoyed my time in these walls, it's time for me to go."
I can't move, can't think, can't breathe.
All I can do is kneel there in frozen rage and watch as the prison around us explodes.