Chapter 15

Chapter

Fifteen

I came to with Liana hovering over me and half a dozen soldiers beside her with swords and bows drawn. Their various creatures were scattered across the field, looking all around for a threat.

‘Are you okay?’ Liana asked.

I had a splitting headache but nodded as all the memories came rushing back to me.

Kohen killed my father!

I stood, swaying a little. ‘How long have I been out?’

There was a siren going off on base and people running around in every direction. The circle of soldiers around me looked ready to fight off a threat.

‘Maybe twenty minutes,’ she guessed.

I slipped my leg over her back just as Commander Ledger ran up with half a dozen soldiers behind him.

“All the Imbrians have fled the base.” He looked at me wide-eyed. “What the hell is going on?”

Of course they did. Anika, Meera, Dev, Kian, they’d all go with him. The traitor . The traitor that I almost just said I love you to. The traitor who kissed me and told me I’d one day be his wife! What a fool I’d been to fall for that nonsense.

I sat erect on Liana and held my chin up. “Kohen Badshah confessed to killing my father.”

I paused for the gasps of the surrounding soldiers.

“I want to lead the fleet into Imbria to get him back and hang him for treason!” I barked.

Commander Ledger’s jaw was clenched, his face holding on to barely contained rage.

“Yes, Empress. I’ll rally the troops. We will go by train and through the Wilds. He will pay for what he’s done.”

I nodded. “I’ll fly ahead and try to catch him.”

“Lieutenant Colt is out on the field, but I’ll send him after you when he returns,” Ledger offered.

Colt was the only other soldier who could ride on their flying creature.

The crowd of soldiers parted, and then Alek was there, face filled with concern as Iniki flew circles around me, seemingly probing me for wounds.

“Empress, permission to send Iniki with you?” Alek asked, back erect, eyes forward, but I saw emotion stirring there.

Alek, sweet and loyal Alek. Maybe I should have been looking his way all along—not at the charming poison dripping from Kohen’s foul mouth.

“Granted,” I said and kicked off the ground, taking for the sky.

Iniki wouldn’t be able to keep up with Liana at full speed, but she’d at least be able to trail behind and send word back through Alek. It was helpful.

Liana flew super fast. The wind ripped past me, and I pinched my eyes shut.

‘Onyx lied to me,’ she said, and there was a jumble of anger mixed with hurt coming off of her. ‘I didn’t tell you this, but I suspected Kohen right after your father died. I grilled Onyx about it, and he swore Kohen had nothing to do with it.’

I bristled at that. ‘You suspected Kohen?’

‘He’s protective of you,’ she said.

‘Okay, and he was my father. I don’t need protection from my own father.’

I sensed something stirring within her, like she wanted to say something to me but then thought better of it. ‘Doesn’t matter. Kohen shouldn’t have killed him. He could have subdued him, locked him away, a hundred other things, and then he lied about it. Kissed you as your heart grieved for the loss of the last parent you had left.’

Her frank and sympathetic assessment of the situation shook me. Tears bit at the backs of my closed eyes. My throat pinched with emotion as I fought down the sob.

‘You can show your feelings to me, Aisling. I won’t judge you as weak just because you are human.’

I shook my head . ‘Feeling is what got me into this mess in the first place.’ First Jace, then Kohen. I couldn’t believe I’d been so na?ve.

A deep sadness fell over Liana, filtering through our bond.

‘Why are you sad?’

‘I’m grieving the loss of a son. Onyx will perish when we kill Kohen.’

I had wondered if she would be okay with that. My killing Kohen, knowing it would hurt Onyx.

Onyx lied to her, but he didn’t have a hand in killing my father. Kohen blew the dart into his neck. Kohen planned the whole thing. Onyx was a creature protecting his bonded.

‘I’ll try to do it in the Wilds if we can catch up with them there before they cross the border. That way, when Kohen dies, Onyx will still be able to breathe.’

‘You would do that?’ She sounded surprised.

‘I don’t fault Onyx, not fully.’ He had an immature teenager vibe to him. I wasn’t even sure how old he was, but I’d avoid killing him if I could.

‘Thank you.’ I could hear the respect in her voice.

Part of me couldn’t believe I was casually thinking about killing Kohen, a man I had just been going to say I love you to. But the other part of me, the part that was raised to be ruthless and not taken advantage of, was ready to cleave his head from his shoulders and light him on fire.

How dare he console me after my father’s death and tell me I’d be his wife and kiss me like I was the only woman alive—meanwhile, he harbored this lie.

How fucking dare he!

He was no doubt going back to Imbria to claim his title as king and lead a rebellion against Amersea. I’d been so stupid to entertain the fact that he actually cared for me! I fell right into his trap!

‘Stay calm, young one, or you’ll explode before we even get there,’ Liana advised.

I peered down to see that I was smoking, sending a plume of gray streaking across the sky.

‘They are up ahead. I am shielding myself from Onyx. I’ll stay back until they hit the Wilds, and then I’ll pounce on Onyx from above. He is carrying Anika, Dev, Kian, and Meera as well. I smell them all.’

Of course he was. The bastard. They were all traitors, and if they tried to intervene in justice for my father, I’d kill every single one of them.

‘You keep Onyx out of the way, and I’ll take care of Kohen,’ I told her.

She nodded as she slowed, staying high in the sky, almost in the clouds. The Wilds came into view at the same time the large black dragon did. As Liana gained on them, increasing her speed, my ears popped as she began to descend.

They were lowering, landing in the Wilds!

‘What are they doing? They should fly over it and into Imbria,’ I said.

Liana was silent for a moment, as if thinking.

‘Kohen must have seen this moment. He will be ready. You should be, too.’

She was right. I couldn’t discount his gift. I pulled my blade, scanning the trees as Liana lowered over the place they had just been.

When she sank to the ground, I leaped off of her.

‘I’m going for Onyx. I smell him near. They split up,’ she said.

I nodded, scanning the purple-hued trees. It was ironic that Kohen and I would end where we began. In these very woods, I killed a soldier of my father’s Fleet just to save his life. Had I not done that, had I let them end his life, my father would still be here.

A twig snapped behind me, and I spun. Kohen was there, hands out in a gesture of peace, carrying no weapon.

Bad idea.

Kneel , I thought and lashed out with my mind control power before he could try anything.

The silver cord flew towards him, but it bounced off of his chest and hit the ground.

He kept walking towards me, and I backed up in shock. It didn’t work . My power didn’t work on him.

“I have another power I’ve kept secret from you,” he confessed. “Something I only recently discovered.”

My heart hammered in my chest. My skin smoked as I built the fire in my chest.

“I am not only impervious to flame, but if I concentrate really hard, I can block other’s powers so they don’t work on me. Such as Admiral Caruso’s.”

My mouth dropped open. That was how he’d been able to lie to her.

“And I’m guessing yours, too?” he asked.

I threw my knife quickly, aiming right for his heart, but he dodged it easily, shaking his head. “I’ve seen this, Aisling.” He tapped the side of his skull. “I can’t let you hurt my friends because of my actions.”

I frowned, pulling my backup blade out. Hurt his friends? My mind wrestled with how to kill him. If I exploded, he was impervious to fire. My mind control didn’t work on him. It was going to have to be hand-to-hand combat.

Why was he looking at me like that? Like he adored me? Sick freak .

“I’m going to enjoy killing you,” I snarled.

He stopped walking, looking crestfallen. “I love you, Aisling. I want you to remember that. I forgive you for what you are about to do to my people.”

He was brainwashing me. He had been all along. “Your words mean nothing to me.” I brandished my dagger.

“I just hope you can forgive me for what I have to do now,” he said, and I tensed, my gaze flicking left and right as if expecting an ambush from Anika and the rest of them. “I’ve seen you survive this. Otherwise, I wouldn’t do it.”

My heart raced. I scanned his outstretched hands again, looking for a weapon, for how he was going to kill me.

Then I felt it, at the back of my neck, a prick of pain. I gasped, spinning to see a rustle of leaves behind me before turning back to Kohen. I reached up and yanked the dart out of my neck, but it was already too late. I felt my legs go weak.

I fell to the ground. Kohen lunged forward to catch me, slowly lowering me, and I felt Liana’s energy rip through our bond.

‘Run, Aisling. It’s a trap—’ Then she was no more. Her energy was just… gone.

No. No. No.

How had I been so na?ve?

But as I looked up into Kohen’s beautiful face, I knew. Those piercing blue eyes. The bronzed skin. Full lips. Chiseled jaw. I’d been enamored by his beauty and accepted his poison from the second he first opened his mouth to me.

He smoothed my hair. “I would have just put you to sleep, but I need the three days it takes you to rebirth in order to warn my people and get them to safety before you attack.”

The bastard actually had tears welling in his eyes. “You have to search for the truth, Aisling. No one can give it to you, or you won’t believe it. You need to know what kind of man your father truly was. Then you will know what I protected you from. When you do, I’ll be waiting. I’ll always be waiting for you. No matter how long it takes, no matter how many bombs you drop on my people, I will always be waiting for you to come back to me.” He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. I tried to scream, but only a mumble came out. I couldn’t move, and in the center of my chest, a sharp stabbing pain had begun.

Was this how he killed my father?

To kill me in the same way was a double slap in the face.

I’d never hated anyone more than I hated Kohen Badshah.

He’d just provoked war between our peoples, killing the fragile peace we had, and for what? Revenge for his father, the terrorist?

The pain in my chest grew, and a tear fell from his eye and onto my cheek. “Forgive me,” he whispered, and then everything went black.

I was floating in the serene darkness again with not a care in the world. Nothing to fear and nothing to think about for a long time. I just lay there as if I were in a healing bath.

Slowly, my thoughts returned to me: Kohen’s dart in my neck, the poison, and the fact that he killed me. Bastard!

Then the golden glowing sun appeared on the horizon, and I felt movement beneath me.

Liana.

She carried me on her back the entire time. My mind grew sharper, and I stood, staring at the sun as it transformed into a beast of fire.

Flames licked across the sky like lightning, and I felt for Liana beneath me, digging into her feathers.

‘Be strong. You know what to do,’ she said.

I did?

Then she was gone, replaced by clouds, and the fire beast charged at me. I knew then that I’d have to fight the beast like I did last time. This time, I knew it was Liana, and so part of me struggled with the thought of killing it. Did Onyx kill Liana as well? Were we both lying dead in the Wilds?

It didn’t matter. It was go-time. I was on my feet as the rushing ball of fire came at me.

My heart beat frantically in my chest. I reached for my sword, only to find it wasn’t there.

Last time, I’d had a sword! I should be in battle mode, ready to fight for my life, but instead, all I could keep thinking was how I couldn’t believe Kohen killed me.

I’ve seen myself make love to you under a bed of stars, and I’ve heard you cry out my name, begging for more.

No matter how much I want to kiss you right now, this isn’t where we have our first kiss.

One day, you will beg me to protect you.

This is the last time I kiss you for a long time.

It ends with you as my wife, Aisling.

Every prediction he ever made about us swirled in my head until my heart felt like it would explode.

He lied. He fed me lies until I was putty in his hands. A sob ripped from my throat as the fireball slammed into me, knocking me back. Pain seared along my skin, and I cried out, helplessly batting the fire with my hands.

That did nothing. It consumed me, and I was suddenly trapped in the most horrific pain I’d ever experienced. My skin scorched, peeling as my heart wrestled with Kohen’s betrayal.

“Liana, no!” I cried to her. She’d told me once that the fire beast was a part of her. Maybe I could reason with it.

Then I felt her, faint and weak but all around me.

‘Use your power.’

My power?

My power!

Of course. Last time, I’d told the fire beast to stop, and it had, and Liana thought it might be because I’d used the thrall.

“Stop!” I cried out, throwing my power wildly around me.

The fire blew outward, but only for a second before consuming me again.

“Stay back!” I cried, and the fire retreated but hovered around me as if it would engulf me at any moment.

I felt the edges of my mind fray as I pushed my power into my command for it to retreat, but the beast kept pushing against me.

It wasn’t this hard last time. What was going on? Arms, feathers, and eyeballs could be seen floating in the fire, and I was horrified to recognize one of the eyes as my own.

I knew I had to focus, I knew I had to fight, but the reality was… I was heartbroken. I was barely able to keep my concentration on the beast before me because my mind was with Kohen. My heart was with Kohen.

“Why?” I asked the fire beast. “Why does everyone I love betray me?” I didn’t feel like my normal self here. I felt raw and vulnerable and… was I crying? I didn’t cry. I wouldn’t cry for Kohen!

I screamed in a wild rage and brought my arms down as if they were swords, cutting the beast in half with my mind. It gave a high-pitched shriek and lunged for me again, this time as two halves.

I snapped then. Whatever shred of my humanity remained went feral. I leaped off of the cloud I was standing on and dove for the fire monster. It sandwiched me on both sides, singeing my skin again, but I was ready.

I exploded like a firework at the summer solstice. I lit up the sky, becoming one with the fire beast. I became fire, fighting the beast with its own medicine. I burned through it, getting hotter and bigger, until the entire sky was on fire.

I was filled with so much rage that even death couldn’t hold me. I knew then that I had to live so that I could go back and kill Kohen. It was now my greatest mission to see him beg for his life and admit that everything he said to me was a lie.

The last thing I remembered before my fire consumed the beast was screaming into the sky as my heart wept.

I vowed then and there to never love again. Not for as long as I lived, even if that was forever.