Chapter 3

Chapter

Three

SELENE

R agnar, our God of the Earth, had once ruled over the Fons Court within Atrium for over a millennium. His Divine power surrounded the Court of Spring for years with nothing but lush grasses, fruit-filled trees, and fields of endless florals before the Gods were cast out by the High King and Radha.

Ric had shown me small paintings kept in a book he had stowed away from his time in the Umbran Court, but the vast land brimming with shriveled-up leafless trees and muddied fields was such a contrast compared to the colorful portrayal.

Fons was destroyed, just like I had destroyed Umbra, but it wasn't by my hands this time. The land dying was years in the making by the High King and his use of Medies . That darkness spread throughout all of Atrium after the Gods were cast out, but upon their return, the land didn't blossom once more like in Ladon.

All the High King did was destroy and murder and corrupt. There was no balance between the dark and the light with him. He was pure gloom and the absence of light. My brain couldn't even fathom what Emrys was going through at the hands of that monster. Every second he was apart from me, another cruel act was being bestowed on his scarred skin and I didn't know how much he could take. My Mate was strong and resilient but every person had their breaking point, and I needed him to be whole.

I needed to find him before he was lost forever.

"Emrys," my voice cracked at the use of his name. "Emrys, please. Give me a sign," I begged the skies, the Fates themselves, once more but no answer came. I would've taken anything at that point. Just a small glimpse to let me know that he was okay, or so I could tell him that I was coming for him.

Teardrops hit the muddy ground, the earth absorbing my pain and heartbreak with its heady thirst. Nature was about give and take but there was no give within the continent of Atrium since the High King had taken control. All he did was take and consume from the land, leaving it barren. He betrayed the earth with his need for power and it was time that the earth took its power back.

But I knew I was acting hypocritical.

My reasonings and actions were never purely selfless. I wasn't here for the land, the people, or the good of the world. I was here for him and if giving a piece of myself to the soil could bring me closer to Emrys, could give me any sign of where he might be, then I would do it. I would do anything—even ruin myself, sacrifice my magic—to bring him back.

The moment Emrys had been taken by the High King in Jindera, Keva had tried to use her foliage magic to track him and any trace of where he might've gone. Our realm's land was connected, between the roots of trees, the ever-changing soil, and depthless waters. Our trees, plants, and all manners of foliage were watchful.

They could see our pain, our despair. Gods, I bet they could feel it with how potent our torment perfumed the air. They knew who walked this earth in peace and who destroyed it. We could hear the names of those who betrayed our earth within the whispers in the wind.

And the Queen of Gambriel understood those Laws of the Divine. She knew to respect the earth, to give, and not just to take like so many others. Because of that understanding, she had successfully performed that tracing spell with her magic time and time again. Usually, she would be able to trace the exact location where that person had last touched the earth itself. But when Keva connected with the soil in Jindera, no answer came.

It was as if he dropped off the face of the earth. Like he had left our realm completely, but I knew that wasn't right.

He was alive and there wasn't a second where I would entertain any other possibility.

Emrys had to still be within the realm of the living because I hadn't felt the loss of our Bond. It was silent within my chest—almost hollow from the loss of connection—but still had a slight lingering presence, so I knew he was still here too.

He had to be.

Our options were wearing thin and there was only so much ground that we could physically cover in our search for him. But as I stood within the Court of Spring and studied its lifeless remains, I remembered the lesson Keva had taught me about balance. About the give and take, just like the land; that was exactly what I was going to do.

The sun was sinking, turning the murky skies into a soft shade of pink as I dug my hands beneath the terrain. Closing my eyes, I centered myself and took a moment to feel the cool soil and how the earth vibrated with power and every intake of breath. My elemental magic writhed beneath my skin, crackling in my veins and begging to be let out.

Communing with the earth, I took one final inhale into my lungs and released a brilliant surge of power across Atrium. The ground shook on impact but I didn't stop there, not when that swirling shadowy green tendril of power burned brighter with each passing second. Sweat beaded across my brow as more tears fell from my eyes.

"Emrys. Emrys. Emrys ," I chanted his name on repeat, telling the earth what I needed to see as I imagined his black wavy hair, those twin pools of honey, and his deep umber skin. The scars I spent hours tracing in our bed and his dimples that gave him a boyish grin. My skin heated at the memory of his touch, how he could be gentle but firm and demanding at the same time.

I'd never stretched my magic this far in distance before and I could feel the well within my being draining the more I pushed and pulled it out into the universe. But if I pushed hard enough, maybe I'd be able to locate him in this cursed realm. My skin started to prickle as more scales shifted across my exposed skin. This magic given to me by our God of the Earth was exhilarating and terrifying and intoxicating at the same time.

I wanted more.

Needed more.

With every pulsating release of that power, I could feel the earth absorbing it hastily like an emaciated man would at the first drop of water. Pushing and pushing Ragnar's magic back into the land, the soil became softer, more pliant between my fingertips. The Fons Court was responding to my powers, taking as much magic as I would give but still not even a wink of Emrys' presence had been revealed.

The Mating Bond was one of the strongest magical bonds in existence. Two souls, chosen by the Fates to come together and live out eternity in pure divinity as one. Emrys and I were one and the same, our souls connected at the highest level, but there was no glowing light within my being that led me to him.

The murkiness of Medies blocked out even the most powerful of bonds and there was no way to access him before or even while communing with the earth. Corrupt power that strong shouldn't exist in a world like ours. If it could prevent magic set in place by the Fates themselves, then what else could it do?

There was so much that was still unknown about that darkness but even with all the powers of the Moons of the Divine combined, I couldn't get past that foul magic. Couldn't overcome it for even a moment.

Another large bead of sweat trickled across my brow as my legs started shaking and my knees weakened. Gritting my teeth, I pushed that magic further, searching for that gleaming Bond in my never ending dusk as a map of Atrium appeared in my mind.

Nostrils flaring, I mentally dove into that topographical depiction, my eyelids fluttering with every mile I crossed across the barren plains of Umbra, where only ashes and bare trees remained. Beyond the sandy beaches of Aestas, teeming with seashells, and into the salty waters of the Southern Coast of the Circadian until his faint scent of leather and teakwood lingered.

Heart pounding in my chest, I could feel that my face was wet with tears and my molars cracked as my knees buckled and gave out on me. Blackness flooded my vision and blotted out my view of our world as the soil my hands were encased in became an uncomfortable temperature, almost too hot for me to bear.

Searing hot pain lit up my palms, into my wrists, and up my arms. I was made from blood and fire and pure moonlight, made to withstand the heat of Divine flames, but this burning agony was nothing like I'd felt before. It was like I was burning from the inside out, the magic within the soil overpowering my own and sending it back into my system tenfold.

My flesh cracked and sizzled as the dirt gave way to a boiling sludge but I ignored the excruciating pain coursing through my veins. Ignored the scent of my charred flesh as I fought against the staggering hold it had on me.

Murky coils of onyx wrapped around my inflamed arms and probed into my singed skin, their shadowy wisps more dense and somber than the magic I possessed. My entire being was shaking in agony as those barbs dug into the fresh burns and tried to slither into my flesh.

They were trying to seep inside of me, trying to overtake my magic, my soul.

And that affliction was becoming too much for me to take.

I tried to breathe through the pain, tried to withstand it for as long as possible before an overwhelming surge of power, stronger and more potent than the Medies itself, shot my arms out of the earth and broke the control I had over my elemental magic.

Sprawling across the dirt, I panted but didn't open my eyes in fear that I would lose that one connection, that one single strand of a lifeline still tying me to him. With a deep inhale, I tried to catch his intoxicating scent of mahogany again but it was no use. His essence no longer drifted in the air, the fresh stench of decay overwhelming his faint aroma.

Through bleary eyes, I could make out the blackened flesh from my fingertips up to my elbows. They were now charred nearly beyond repair and that brought on another floodgate of tears. A sharp splinter of discomfort went through my chest, straight to my heart as that Bond throbbed within. Withholding myself from pressing a hand to my chest to will that ache away, I took a deep shuddering breath and tried to breathe through it.

Horns fired off in the distance but I lay there on the heated ground, breathing and watching my twitching hands as they slowly healed from the third-degree burns.

This was all wrong.

None of this should've been possible. It was against the Laws of the Divine, of our Creators, for any magic to be stronger than that of a Gods. This is what I was made for. To be able to fight that darkness with the power of the moons and withstand anything they threw my way. But this power that counteracted my own was something far stronger and depraved, more vile than should be allowed in this realm.

More immoral than even Medies. Something this horrid could only come from within the deepest pits of Infernum.

The deafening shuffling of metallic armor approaching caused me to sit up and see another army of Atrium's finest storming my way in their black regalia. Breathing through my nose, I let that familiar numbness seep through my bones and every pore. Like a lever opening a gate, I set the monster free. My scattered thoughts dissipated as the cloying scent of dark magic carried on the winter wind along with the High King's soldiers who surrounded my fallen form.

All the pain, rage, sadness, and grief disappeared and all I could see and sense was the threat looming over me. Drawing their weapons, a group of fifty High Fae warriors held various swords, axes, and daggers in my direction. The ones that were blessed with a magical affinity let that power linger in their free palm, the threat of my demise clear.

Everything was cold. My body, my mind, my soul.

Without him, I was nothing.

It was like existing without a soul, without a purpose .

"Halt!" one of the soldiers commanded at my already unmoving form. Shifting my gaze, I zeroed in on the warrior with pale, pasty skin and hollow green eyes. Fire danced in his upturned palm, pulsating with his erratic breath as he held a short sword with his other. "By command of the High King, you are?—"

Crimson spurted from his sliced throat as my shadows unfurled and claimed their victim. No remorse came as his body crumpled to the ground and I stole another life.

Why?

Because I was not a hero; I never had been. I was the villain, and the villain did not give two shits about this realm. All the villain cared about was the end goal, and for me, that goal was Emrys—the only person who could quiet the bloodlust invading my soul. I would make every person in my path bleed and suffer until I found him.

I refused to feel anything besides rage until he was back in my arms.

Someone was screaming again as my shadows curled around their middle, slicing into their skin with ice picks fueled by Eirwen's power. I reveled in the sound again, it was like music to my ears, singing straight in my battered and eclipsing soul. Electric energy filled the air as my lightning struck, causing the earth to shake before I launched myself into a haze of blood and fury.