Chapter 43

CHAPTER FORTY THREE

O ur blades clashed time and again, Kaiser parrying each of my blows and pushing me onto the back foot. He was unyielding, tireless and worst of all, I suspected he was calling upon just a fraction of his energy to keep up this tirade. Calcifiend grunted at us, fluttering around Kaiser's head, but he batted him away and the sayer dragon flew to sit on one of the stone pillars, watching us and clicking his tongue.

My arms were aching from countering the powerful strikes of Kaiser's sword, and his deflections of my dagger always sent me stumbling from the ferocity he used.

"If you came to kill me, why don't you engage me properly?" I snapped. "Why keep pushing me back?"

"Because I did not come here to kill you," Kaiser stated, swinging his blade so hard that it connected with mine and nearly tore it from my grip. He swung for me with his free hand, trying to get hold of me, but I slipped away, attacking from the side and driving my dagger at his kidney. I hit his armour, the reverberation resounding up my arms and making me curse as I jolted back from the impact.

"Why did you come then?" I snarled, throwing a brief glance at Harlon and wondering how I would ever be able to get him out of here.

"I came to see if my suspicions were true and it seems they are," he said, the threat in his words dripping over me.

"What are your suspicions?" I demanded, swinging a punch at his head, magic glittering in my right hand as I coated it in ice, driving my dagger up beneath his jaw. His red eyes snared me, our gazes meeting and I faltered, his possession slamming into my mental shields.

So much power, so much terrible, terrible power lived in this beast, and I felt my shields cracking, giving in to all that potent magic. I fought to keep him out with everything I had, my shields stronger than before, and a surge of triumph spilled through my chest when they held. But he only tipped his head a little and his eyes flashed brighter red, the resulting explosion of strength that met with my mind like the violent collision of an anvil against my skull.

" No ," I gritted out, wincing at the almighty power he threw against me.

I was helpless to stop him getting through. My mental shields cracked then fell, and I gasped as he claimed my mind, shuddering as I was forced to stand motionless before him, my dagger lowering to hang uselessly between my fingertips.

He took the blade from me, making my chest crush with a furious loathing. I realised I still had control over my tongue, so nothing stopped me speaking my mind. "You're a blight to me. A plague of rot in my bones," I spat.

"Do I truly effect you so deeply?" he mused, examining my dagger and taking in his name on the hilt before looking to me, assessing, perhaps a little stumped by me.

"You killed my mother!" I screamed, the pain of her loss breaking free inside me, spilling into every part of my being and making me hurt so fucking bad.

Never rest, Everest.

Her parting words and my promise to keep them scraped through my mind like jagged fingernails. I was failing her, just as I had failed Harlon, just as I had failed myself. This soulless Fae had disarmed me with hardly any effort at all and my vow to destroy him might have continued to hack at my heart, but what use were petty words?

Maybe it was right that I was scoffed at for this desire, maybe I would never be strong enough to kill him, maybe I was lying to myself so deeply that I couldn't see the starkness of the truth right in front of me. But even in the face of it, I cringed back, refusing to accept it, not allowing it to permeate my skin like a toxin. If I fell into those beliefs, my mama would never be avenged, Harlon would never be saved. They needed me, even if they deserved better than I could offer. I would throw everything I had into trying to be enough, into keeping my promises.

I fought against Kaiser's unholy power, desperate to move, to strike, to kill .

"Give me that back," I hissed venomously.

He held the dagger's tip under my chin, almost pricking my skin. "You cannot wield that power in you. You do not know how."

"What power? What do you know about it?" I growled, trying to force that dark, twisted magic in me to the surface once more, but it was not so easily guided. Like it had a mind of its own.

"You are not a threat, but when you figure it out…" He regarded me. "You will be."

Those words breathed life into my flesh, the promise of them weaving a beautiful craving inside me that I needed to sate. I would be powerful, he believed that. He knew something of this power in me that told him to beware, and there was nothing I needed to hear more than that right now.

"Then I will learn it well and turn it upon you," I swore. "I will make you fear me before I let you die."

My vows of his death did little to perturb him, and I continued to battle his mental control, desperate to fight it off. I cursed his name as he regarded me without any fear in his eyes at all, but one day, that would change. His words had brought on a wild resilience in me, because he saw what I could become. He knew I could claim his life given time. But if that was true, why hadn't he killed me yet? He had me at his mercy. He could strike at me with my own blade but still, he left me breathing, and I couldn't fathom why.

"Death would save us all from you," he murmured and fear raced through me, and I felt him feeding on it, drawing my magic away into his veins. "But that would mean your gifts would be wasted."

"Get away from me," I hissed.

"Would Mirelle see you dead or have you chained?" he mused to himself. Mirelle. As in Mirelle Brimtheon, The Matriarch. That woman's name set a chime of dread echoing though my soul and Kaiser fed on that note of terror, drawing more of my power into his reserves.

I wasn't going to allow either of those things to happen to me, and as his possession dug deeper into my mind, rage splintered through my body.

I hated this man. I hated him with all the fires in all the burning stars of this universe and I would not let him decide my fate this day. It was mine for the taking. My moment in the sun.

That dark, twisting power rose its head inside me and I snatched it into my grasp with a jolt of fervour, forcing it out of me, out and out towards the hellion who had his claws in my mind.

It slammed into him, making him stumble back a step, my dagger falling from his fingers as his hand flew to his chest in shock.

His head bowed, his breaths coming heavily and that beautiful red armour began to recede like the tide across his upper body. It spilled away from his skin, rippling then lost, revealing his bare chest beneath, the line of the scar I had left on him from hip to shoulder and the other scars that marked him.

"Void," Kaiser growled, that word like the voice of fate calling my name as the words of the Elysium Prophecy tumbled through my mind. Seek the Void, for it shall guide the victor to their glorious path, a weapon of purity, and the gift of null.

"That is what you are," he swore. "That is the power you possess."

I stared at him, unable to believe that absurd accusation because it was purely impossible. The Elysium Prophecy was the greatest prophecy of the four lands; it was written in a thousand books, etched onto the sacred walls of the Astral Sanctuaries, hailed from the holiest and most revered tongues of the greatest Fae to ever walk in our world.

The weapon of the Void had been sought for centuries, it was fabled, little more than legend that was weighted with a million hopes of our people. All people. It was nothing more than ridiculous to claim I was that weapon, that I possessed a power so venerable it was practically a myth.

"You're wrong. That thing, that monstrous being they keep in this place is the Void. I heard that Reaper say it himself." I glanced up at the ceiling, that strange, writhing liquid still rippling there but holding no sign of the terrifying presence within it now. Though as I looked back at Kaiser, he was still bowed forward, struggling with whatever my magic had done to him and I wasn't sure he was listening.

He groaned then took his hand from his chest, his face twisting into rage, confusion and most of all, violence. I willed my dark power to take him, having some semblance of control over it now and able to drive it deeper into his body. He shook his head, horrors flashing in his eyes as their red glow dimmed to coldest black.

"Stop!" he bellowed, a vortex of rage spewing from his gaze.

I strode towards him, watching him struggle with this unknown force inside him, but then my grip over the power slipped from my grasp. It tumbled away from me as surely as the night gave way to day, irreversible until it decided upon its return. I was left with a furious-looking Kaiser, and the loss of strength in my blood made me feel all too exposed in front of his hellish state. If I'd thought he was indifferent to me, it didn't seem so now. There was true hostility aimed at me, a desire to punish me for whatever I'd done to him.

Fire flared hot in his hands, brightest red then changing and darkening until the flames were as black as his soul. He lashed out with the great chains of the ebony fire, snaring me in it and dragging me towards him. Despite the heat of the flames, they didn't burn, they bound, tethering my limbs to his and coiling around me like a serpent.

"Let go!" I screamed, sending ice out to fight off the shackles, but the flames were unmoved by my power.

"Nightfire is a gift of Furies," Kaiser said darkly, lifting his hand to grip my chin and make me look into those eyes of blazing crimson. His possession rocked through my mind before I could do anything to stop it and I took a shuddering breath as his will took hold of mine. "It's not a weapon. It has a single purpose. One sole use. And it is not something my kind wield lightly, for we can only do so once."

He didn't let me speak in reply, my body belonging to him in every way. He could make me do anything he pleased and it awoke a true kind of terror in me. This total dominion over my body was an invasion I couldn't bear, and whatever this Nightfire was, I feared it to my core.

"I can select one Fae in this forsaken world to be mine. Wholly mine. To the very root of your soul, you will belong to me," Kaiser announced, those words rattling me as I fought to escape his mind control, but there was no way out. "And I have chosen you."

My soul thrashed at that terrifying assertion. I couldn't let this happen. Inside my head I was screaming, but outside, I could only stand and watch this monster cast this merciless fate upon me.

"Everest Arcadia, I claim you as my Fearsire," he stated, magic snapping through the air as those words fell upon my soul. I didn't know what that declaration meant, but I felt it crawling beneath my skin, whispering of sins and sorrows.

"You will serve me in all the ways my Order demands. You will feed me your most haunting fears, you will suffer so that I might thrive, and you will offer me your nightmares in any form I require," he stated as the black Nightfire coiled tighter around us both, sinking into our flesh with a flicker and hiss of spitting flames until there was no sign of it anymore. It writhed through my blood, but no pain found me. All I felt was the heavy, heated weight of those fiery tethers snaking into my skin and settling there irrevocably. "And know this. You cannot ever kill me; this soul-tie will not allow it."

Of all the things this power could do to me, that was the worst. He was taking away my free will, and I felt him feeding on the fear that stoked in me.

"The darkest pieces of our souls will unite as one, silka la vin." He moved his face close to mine, his cruelty palpable, toxic. "There is no fighting it. No reneging on this power. It is as old as the stars and as binding as destiny. You will not be able to fight my possession again. If I will you to do something, you will do it. I can summon you with a single desire, and if you refuse my call or go against this soul-tie in any way, you will face the burn of the Nightfire."

His grip on my arms became bruising as he forced me to submit to the magic woven into existence by his Order. It rushed into me, and I would have buckled to my knees had he not been holding me there, the pressure of the soul-tie setting the air alight and blinding me with its unwavering strength.

"There is only one way to seal this magic," Kaiser hissed, that anger in him still there, no longer hidden behind a veil, and it was entirely aimed at me now. "With a kiss."

I couldn't move, my feet rooted in place as he pressed his despicable mouth to mine, his lips a furnace against my own. He stole that kiss from me, soaked in his depravity, but it was laced with my own hatred too, marking him as he marked me in return.

There were whispers in the air for a moment, as if the stars were leaning close to witness the carnage we were forging between us, shocking me that they cared for the fates of two simple Fae. But perhaps it was because two enemies being bound like this would rock the foundations of what the four lands stood for. We were meant to stand on opposite sides of the war, our souls should never have been tangled in this way. And my fate reeked of bad omens because of it.

As he withdrew, the hard press of my enemy's mouth finally relinquishing mine, the Nightfire blazed inside me, heating me through and making me burn. I could feel him tugging on the darkness in me, the most haunted parts of my soul rising to the surface of my skin. The need to give them to him racked my being, leaving me tainted. But even as the magic pulsed through me, forging some deep, unbreakable connection between us, I knew that desire wasn't really mine. I could feel my truth clashing with the soul-tie and screaming to be released, but there was no power in this universe that would listen to my pleas. I didn't know what this tether to him would truly lead to, what demands it would make of me, but I knew it was nothing good.

He released me from his possession, allowing me to move and I realised hot tears were slowly rolling down my cheeks. My soul was no longer my own. It belonged to my nemesis.

"There are requirements to this soul-tie," Kaiser said darkly, his eyes speaking of the horrors I was yet to face. "I will tell you of them soon, but now, we must leave this place."

"No," I breathed, shrinking from him, the Nightfire burning hotter beneath my skin and demanding I listen to his commands instead. The commands of mother's killer, the man I had vowed upon all the celestial beings that I would destroy. It was as if my full focus had been shifted onto him, like he was my north star, guiding me across a dark ocean and following him was the only path to salvation. But that was a filthy lie, sewn into my essence by the magic of his Order.

"You cannot chain me!" I roared, dropping to the floor to grab my dagger then bringing it up with a determination that rocked the foundations of my being and yanked on the soul-tie that Kaiser Brimtheon had stitched between us.

A scorching burn rose in my chest and I yanked my arm back as the possibility of his death brought the Nightfire to life. It burned me from the inside and I screamed, stumbling away from him as my hand shook around the hilt of my dagger, the pain only easing when my intention to strike at him subsided.

I couldn't kill him. The Nightfire ensured it, just as he'd said.

"Why did you do this to me?" I whispered, shattered, broken and trembling as he reached out to caress my cheek, gazing at me like that ire in him had lessened in light of this barbaric connection between us.

"Because the Void has to be delivered to Pyros, silka la vin. You must belong to me. It will make it all the easier to bring you to The Matriarch once our time at Never Keep is done, and it will ensure you do not slip from my grasp in the meantime, nor tell a soul of what you are."

"I am not what you think I am," I said in disbelief. "I'm not the Void. It's insanity. How can you really believe that?"

"I know what I saw," he said firmly. "You are the weapon the Elysium Prophecy speaks of, and for now, you are my secret to keep. And you will not tell anyone that truth."

The Nightfire ignited inside me, binding me to that command. I hissed between my teeth as the heat of the flames roared within my veins, and I was sure they would devour me if I uttered those words to anyone but him.

"Start walking," he growled. "We mustn't be found here when the Reapers return."

I looked back at Harlon, desperation clawing through me as I stood before the monster who had declared me as his. Who had placed a leash upon me which I had no idea how to break.

"I'm not leaving without him." I ran for Harlon, but Kaiser somehow tugged on the Nightfire inside me and he possessed my mind and body as simply as that. There was no mental shield in this world that could keep him out. And it was a frightful truth to be faced with.

"You are leaving now and you are leaving with me alone," he commanded, and my legs moved, willed along by his possession as he turned me from Harlon and forced me to abandon him.

"I won't," I growled, my voice full of raw fear for what might happen to Harlon if I left him with the Reapers. What if that monstrous entity returned here to feast on the rest of the acolytes? What if Harlon was next to be torn to pieces by it?

Kaiser slowed, looking back at the man who was the only Fae in this wretched world I cared for. I loved him. I didn't know exactly what kind of love it was, but it was the only pure, good thing I had left. I couldn't abandon him when he needed me most.

As I resisted the demands of Kaiser's possession, the Nightfire burned hotter inside me, forcing me to bow to his whims and a groan of agony left me.

Kaiser's brows drew together as he stared at Harlon, and for a fleeting moment I could have sworn there was something akin to envy in his eyes. But it was darker than that, more volatile, something that perhaps had to do with the soul-tie.

He tore his gaze from Harlon back to me and the look he gave me made the hairs raise on the back of my neck. "His fate is set. He's destined to be a Reaper. There is no freeing him from that path, even if I were inclined to try and break his chains. Forget him."

"I could no sooner forget the beating of my own heart," I hissed, my arms shaking with exertion as I fought to go back to Harlon.

Kaiser sneered, his gaze moving across the acolytes like he would have no hesitation in gutting them all, but I was confused as to why. "It's too late for him. He's already one of them."

He turned, forcing me to walk after him and using his possession to seal my lips shut, leaving me unable to voice a word against this awful thing he was making me do. He had taken my power from me, but worse than that, so much fucking worse, he was taking Harlon from me. Making me abandon him to the heinous intentions of the Reapers. I had lost my faith in them. I'd unveiled too many of their secrets, seen beneath their lies, but I still had no idea of their dark purposes.

Kaiser set a fire in the chamber, burning the dead Reaper's body in a blaze so hot that he was reduced to ash in mere moments.

Calcifiend flew over from his perch on one of the stone pillars and landed on the Fury's shoulder, looking down at me with a soft chirrup, like he felt sorry for me, but the creature was just a traitor. Another being in this world not to be trusted.

I was forced to follow Kaiser down the passage that led to the archway, and he took a measure of that glittering grit from his pocket, ensuring we could make it back to the Keep.

A true kind of terror took hold of me as my enemy's hand slid around mine and crushed my fingers tight in his, because at his touch, I sensed the darkest pieces of his soul rising to meet with mine. They tugged on the chains of the power that tied me to this villainous Fae and told me in no uncertain terms, that I now belonged to him.