24. Lexa

Chapter 24

Lexa

I really didn't want to follow Arim into the castle, but I relished staying outside with ignorant Light Bringers and Church kin even less. Joining Sava and Jonas as they trailed Arim, I couldn't help feeling a bit of solidarity surrounded by a Darkling and an Aellei.

Arim kept glancing over his shoulder, making sure I remained with him, until he sighed loudly and yanked me to his side. I did my best to ignore Sava and Jonas's snickering and tried to free my arm from the great Guardian of Storm.

He only tightened his grip and drew me apart from the others. He waved his hand to shield us from our friends.

"No, Blue. You're staying right with me. It's you and me together. Period."

I couldn't help the warmth stealing through me at his firm declaration. Still, a Dark Lord had a certain reputation to uphold. I yanked again. "Fine. I'm with you, damn it. But let go of my arm." I cursed. "I'm not your prisoner."

Slowly, reluctantly, he let me go. "Sorry. It seems to be a habit, my running after you. I just don't have the strength right now."

I pressed my hand into his, giving him a squeeze. "I know. This is hard, and it's going to get harder." I swallowed, emotion choking me as I fought my own fears and tried to do the right thing. A burst of warmth lit me from within, and I started as I recognized Tanselm's vibrant welcome. Somehow, that made it easier to share what I truly felt. "I'm here for you, Arim. Remember that."

He searched my gaze and gave a strained smile when he found what he'd apparently been looking for. "Good. No matter what happens, no matter what anyone says, you're mine ." His tone and dark expression brooked no argument.

The blasted man waved away the shield, turned, and stalked toward the main staircase, still dragging me by the hand.

"What was that about?" Sava asked in a low voice as he and Jonas rejoined us. "The privacy shield. What did you two talk about, hmm?"

"Butt out, Sava," Arim muttered. "You've done enough already."

"Don't worry. I'm not forgetting my part in all this. You owe me, big."

"Ahem," Jonas said with a slight cough as he hurried after them. "I was there too. As a matter of fact, I drugged Lexa at the threat to my life." He clutched his throat dramatically and stared at me in horror.

"Please." I rolled my eyes, trying not to smile and failing to sum up the fury I'd once felt at his supposed defection. "You were nowhere near death's door then, Jonas. Now , on the other hand…"

"You wouldn't have killed him before? Going soft, Lexa?" Sava sounded smug. "Or is it that before, you were too weak to harm a fly? What you're really saying is that you're much more powerful now than you were then. Thanks in great part, I'm sure, to a certain Light Bringer sorcerer we know."

"I'm not saying that at all. I felt perfectly fine then." A lie. "I feel fine now." I did, in fact, feel wonderful. Ever since making love with Arim, I'd felt restored, as if the part of me withering away in the demon plane hadn't been taken.

Was my new strength the result of Arim's power, my own revitalizing energy, or Tanselm's magic? I wanted to look deeper into myself but couldn't concentrate and keep up with Arim's leggy strides at the same time. I resolved to investigate the matter later, falling on Tanselm's welcome as the source of my newfound strength as the most likely answer to my question. That made sense as much as anything I'd experienced. And I knew the land had missed me.

Ignoring the startled, frightened, and angry glares of the Light Bringer warriors swarming the keep, we arrived at the royal hallway leading toward Ravyn's quarters. Arim faltered once before he squeezed my hand and continued. Waves of sadness radiated from him with growing intensity.

I heard Jonas's hiss and glanced over my shoulder. He nodded toward Arim in sympathy.

Arim neared Ravyn's door, and I dreaded the coming confrontation. I knew at least one, if not more, of Arim's nephews surrounded Ravyn's body. I'd never gone out of my way to make friends with the Storm Lords outside of Ellie, now a Storm Lord affai.

Nodding to the guards protecting the entrance, Arim pushed the door open and strode through with me, still hand in hand, Jonas and Sava a step behind. He froze when his gaze landed on the bed, and I wasn't surprised by the pain leeching through our physical contact.

Ignoring the startled occupants of the room, I focused on Arim. "I'll wait here." I prodded him to move forward without me. He gave a final squeeze before stepping away, slowly approaching his deceased sister lying on my bed.

I braced for the hostility sure to swing my way. Jonas and Sava moved closer to me, proving I wasn't the only one with such thoughts. Four mourning Storm Lords and their weeping affai stared at me in befuddlement. Then a few of those glances turned to anger.

Darius placed himself in front of his affai and conjured a ball of flame. Marcus's glare cooled to an icy blue, and I could feel his telekinetic power shimmering as water crystals formed around him and his brothers like a shield. Soon those crystals would form sharp, lethal daggers of ice.

Full credit for manipulating his talents to the fullest.

Had I the entire use of my power, I would have waved them all into stillness to give Arim time to grieve in private. He didn't need his attention split right now, and I certainly didn't want to be the cause of his distraction.

My anger grew when Cadmus and Aerolus, two of the Storm Lords I considered fairer than the others — especially as they'd wed women with Dark natures — assumed offensive rather than defensive stances.

Seriously? Did they really want to play right now? I understood grief, but I was tired of taking the blame for Sin Garu's doings.

"Come to see what havoc your kind has reaped?" Marcus snarled, the usually cool River Prince as fiery as the hot-tempered Darius.

"Marcus," Aerolus interrupted.

"No, Aerolus. Let him speak," Darius growled. "This Dark Lord needs to know we're not going to let them win, no matter what they do."

" I didn't do this." I scowled. Arim kneeled by Ravyn, his forehead pressed against her side as he held one of her cold, lifeless hands. "Sin Garu killed your mother. And if you care at all for your uncle or your affai, you might tamp down your rage and focus on the Netharat's return. The final battle is coming. Tell them, Cadmus."

Cadmus shook his head, his brown eyes black with tension. "The visions I've seen aren't worth sharing."

The others looked at him, all except Darius, who kept his furious gaze on me.

"You've seen our defeat then," Aerolus stated, his voice calm.

"Bullshit." Darius scowled.

Samantha, his affai, tightened her arm around his waist. "Darius, ease up."

"What you've seen is only a possibility," I told Cadmus.

"It bodes well for no one," he replied bluntly. "My mother is dead, and our line very well may end with us."

Cadmus admission earned startling exclamations of disbelief and fury from his family.

"Why didn't you tell me?" his affai asked.

"Ellie, I didn't want to worry you. Besides, I thought it was all just a bad dream. Some of my nightmares are just that. And this particular dream didn't feel like a vision. I wasn't dazed and didn't black out."

"Perhaps it wasn't a vision at all," I speculated. "Sin Garu has ways of infiltrating even the strongest of minds." I had a feeling the Dark Lord had been tampering with Cadmus's clairvoyance.

He'd done the same to me a time or two. While I pondered our enemy's next move, I kept my attention on the Storm Lords and on Arim by the bed.

When my lover tottered and fell to the floor, I immediately moved to his aid. The Storm Lords took my sudden action as a threat. Darius and Samantha shot fire. Marcus created and released a volley of icy daggers while Tessa shielded them all with a wall of water. Aerolus let loose his winds, and Cadmus pushed the many plants in Ravyn's room to grow and lengthen like attacking vines.

Only Alandra and Ellie remained unmoving as they watched the chaos erupting around them.

As if in slow motion, Jonas deflected Marcus's attack with a band of Dark energy. Sava whispered under his breath and absorbed fire into Shadow. I could do nothing but get to Arim. Without conscious thought, I waved my hand at my attackers and raced to Arim's unmoving form.

Everyone around us froze.

Despite Tanselm's aid, with the demons feasting on my soul, I shouldn't have been able to amass that much power. Suspicion took root, that my strength had come from another source, one that lay helpless and unconscious on the stone floor.

"Damn you, Arim." I glowered as I reached him and took him into my arms. Closing my eyes, I searched deep within his mind but could see nothing through the safeguards there, even in his subconscious. I did the next best thing and plunged a hand directly into his body, my physical flesh melding with his and seeking the source of his Light.

It hurt terribly, this invasion. But it showed me how weak Arim had become. Fear struck deep as I realized the selfless bastard had given me a chunk of his energy; the Darkness that normally dwelled within him now sat heavily inside me. Much of his Light had also shifted. The familiar pulse beat within my own heart to drive away the demon decay, now that I'd taken the time to truly hear it.

Arim, what have you done? I screamed at him in my mind, angry and afraid all at once. When we finally seemed to mend the breach between us, he had to go all sacrificial on me, diminishing our chances to find out where this togetherness might lead.

Despite the full restoration of my powers, which even now topped what I'd had before — Arim's Light making me incredibly strong — I felt emptier than I had in a long time. I hadn't wanted to admit it to myself, let alone examine my feelings, but I could no longer deny what I felt for Arim.

Seeing him so weak, I imagined him wasting away and dying. The notion terrified me. Without Arim in the world of the living, I didn't know what I'd do. Raw grief tore me apart. As I sat there cradling him, I dimly realized the walls around us shook, and that in the distance I heard people screaming.

Pulling free from my terror, I toned down the Light and Dark energy in the room disturbing the castle. At once, the yelling outside abated. The occupants in the room remained frozen except for Sava, who blinked as he shrugged out of his imposed paralysis.

"By the Shadows, Lexa, don't do that." He glared at me before his face blanked, and he joined me by Arim's side, crouching low. "How is he?"

"Weak, stupid, and an idiot." I angrily wiped at the tears I hadn't realized I'd been shedding. "Apparently, Nurse Feel Good," I mimicked, remembering the nickname he'd once given me, "gave me enough magic to restore my energy while depleting his. From what I gather, he's been experiencing more and more moments of weakness because of Tanselm's fluctuations in power."

"Yes, but now that you're back, his energy should be growing." Sava closed his eyes. Shadow glided from the corners of the room to settle over him. For a minute, he sat under folds of gray, until he opened his eyes and the shadows returned to their places in the room. "It's bad. Tanselm is tapped. The land's in a state of catatonic shock, suffering from some new madness Sin Garu's created. I don't understand it, but I know we can't stop it from here. I think the demons have a hold on the land's magic and that they're building a portal to bridge worlds."

"Oh no."

"Oh, yes. In doing so, they're draining Tanselm far faster than any Light Bringers ever could. Arim was thready before, but now he's barely holding on. He gave you too much, and now he's in the same state you were headed, worse off since he immediately bonded with the land upon his return. He's too weak to fight the demons the way he is."

I wanted so badly to kill Sin Garu I could taste it.

"Lexa?" Sava's hair stood on end, reacting to the fringes of static energy surrounding me. It was a comical sight that would have made me laugh had I not been so worried about Arim and Tanselm. "Tone it down."

I gritted my teeth at the strain to harness my rage and focused instead on Arim.

"Yes, Lexa. Tone it down and turn it. Use it to help my brother."

Sava swore and rocked back on his heels.

Ravyn had once again decided to visit, this time standing next to her body. "Do as I say, and we can yet save Arim and the kingdom."

"Nice timing," I rasped and pulled in the negativity flowing into the room.

Jonas, the Storm Lords, and their affai remained frozen. Though by the avid gleam in Aerolus and Alandra's eyes, perhaps those two remained aware of what transpired around them.

I glared at Ravyn. Dead or not, she was beginning to annoy me. "Now what?"

"Now you use what's inside you to heal Arim." Ravyn kneeled next to him.

"Gee, great idea." I stared at Arim's sister, my frustration growing. I could feel his pulse growing weaker. "How the hell do I do that?"

Ravyn shook her head. "I can't tell you. I shouldn't even be here." She glanced over her shoulder, looking for what I couldn't have guessed. "But do send my daughters my heartfelt congratulations."

"Congratulations?" I growled. "Ravyn, get to the point. I'm kind of pressed for time here." I didn't have the time or patience to play guessing games with the dead. I had Arim to save before he joined Ravyn next to his body.

The overqueen winked. "Give them my sincerest blessings on their pregnancies."

A light hum filled the room. Tanselm's pleasure radiated through the doom and gloom saturating the Storm Lords. One issue solved, at least, I thought bitterly.

A possible new overking could be chosen once one of the affai birthed four identical princes. Great. A joyous occasion. Right before Sin Garu found out and began annihilating royal affai. "I'll tell them. Now about Arim —"

"Oh, and to you as well, Lexa. My humblest felicitations."

"For what?" The look on Ravyn's pale, near-transparent face made me lightheaded with anxiety.

No. No way. Ravyn couldn't possibly mean —

"On your forthcoming children, of course."