Chapter 11

11

"Mother," Bridger croaked, coming to a dead stop when she appeared in front of him out of thin air, billows of black smoke drifting to the high ceilings above. He reached out to grab her shoulders in his hands, bending at his knees to meet her dark, cold gaze. "Are you alright? Are you hurt? Where is Vega?"

"She's dead. The sooner you allow yourself to come to terms with it, the better off you'll be." Katrin reached for Bridger's cheek, but he was too fast, recoiling from her touch.

Bridger's already deep voice was racked with anguish, causing a fervid rattle to exit his mouth as he stood back to his full height. "No. No, she's not dead. She can't be dead."

His mother's gaze hardened. "If she's not dead already, she will be, Bridger. It's time to stop playing house and stand beside your family where you belong. We've let this thing between you and Vega go on for too long, but it was a good distraction for a while."

The sound of an explosion shook the outside of the Aeris home, screams following the second blast. Bridger's nature was to protect. His instinct told him to run towards the sound of destruction, but his heart was begging him to find Vega—to make sure she was alive, to prove his mother the liar he knew her to be.

"You were behind this attack." The realization struck him like a blow, knocking the wind from his lungs. "You knew Marlena was going to kill her mother tonight, didn't you? You knew innocent people were going to lose their lives…"

Katrin's face showed no remorse, giving her away before she even had to admit it. "What do you think you've been training for your entire life? Marlena's betrayal to her family was just a nice little surprise—one that we needed to bring down her family and the rest of their loyalists."

Bridger's stomach rolled with nausea. This was planned under his nose, and he'd been too distracted with Vega to notice. "You evil bitch," he swore, taking another step back.

"This is your destiny. You were born to lead, to rule. You're no regular warrior." Katrin continued to talk, but Bridger heard none of it over the sound of footsteps looming in the distance.

He interrupted her. "I was born to protect my people, to help them rid the world of vile people like you." Bridger raised his sword, ready to strike, until a familiar voice cut through the anger.

"Dad? Dad! Where are you?" Vega was alive.

Bridger let out a breath, relief flooding his senses.

Katrin's head jerked toward the open door, but before she could move an inch, the tip of Bridger's sword dug into her throat. "If you so much as lay a finger on her, I will make you long for the mercy I'm showing you now. I'll gut you from the inside out and leave you on display as an example of what happens when you hurt the people I love."

She gasped. "How dare you threaten me?"

His laugh contained no humor, only hatred. "That's not a threat. It's a promise." Bridger stepped back and made a mistake he'd come to regret for the rest of his life: he let his mother go .

"Vega!" Bridger called, sprinting down the hall while slipping his sword into the scabbard on his back.

His eyes landed on Vega, her hair a tangled mess and the gorgeous gown she wore frayed and tattered from fighting. They'd been separated after Marlena's announcement, after she'd displayed her mother's decapitated head in front of the entire ballroom, and gave them the ultimatum of a lifetime: surrender or die.

"Bridger!" Her heels were in her hand, bare feet pattering across the marble floors until she was in his arms.

He wrapped her tightly against his chest, lifting her feet off the ground. "Are you okay?"

Vega didn't have to lie to Bridger. He didn't expect her to be strong all the time. "No. No, I'm not okay."

He set her down, keeping her close as he inhaled the scent of battle in her hair—the salt of her sweat and the smell of sulfur from her lightning mixed with the sweet scent of what was left of her perfume. "I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry, but we need to find Arlet and Khort and get out of here." He was already stepping away, pulling her by the hand in the direction from which she'd come.

"No. We have to find my dad." She pulled away from his grasp. "We can't leave him."

"Vega." Bridger's eyes widened with panic. "He might be dead too. We have to accept that and get ourselves out of here. Marlena isn't going to stop until she gets her hands on you." He said, trying to reverse the decision he knew she'd already made.

"I'm not leaving him." Vega darted off down the hall, running with speed Bridger had never seen from her.

"Vega!" Jonan.

Vega picked up her pace, Bridger a beat behind as they raced to her father's aid.

"Vega, Vega, help!" The voice was no longer the crying voice of her father, but the harsh voice of her sister—she didn't even sound the same, her tone haunted .

Vega and Bridger rounded the corner and there she sat, cross legged in a chair with their dad suspended in the air above her.

"Marlena," Vega said on a breath. She raced towards her sister, ready to shake her until the crazed look in her eyes disappeared. Flame licked up Marlena's arms. Vega's gasp reverberated off the walls of the grand meeting hall, and she was stunned into complete stillness. "Are you doing this? Oh my gods. Let him down."

"What? How?" Bridger stammered, his sword drawn.

"You want him down? Okay." Marlena beamed.

Whatever power was holding Jonan twenty feet over their heads died off, and he crashed to the floor. His body shattered, bones cracking when he hit. He didn't scream—didn't make a sound.

Vega ran to his side, hands roaming her dad's body for any sign of life. "What are you doing, Marlena? How do you have fire? What have you done?" The questions poured out of her mouth while she searched their father for a pulse.

Marlena's eyes were fixed on the new flames burning emerald at the ends of her fingertips with awe in her eyes. "I'm doing what everyone wanted me to do, what I was born to do. I'm ruling."

"This isn't ruling! You murdered our mom, their friends, our family!" Vega's tears stained her cheeks with mascara.

"Maybe you should have been paying closer attention to me, to what our beloved parents were putting me through instead of falling for my allies' son—instead of pushing me to the side like I was nothing to you. I told you you'd get hurt, but you didn't want to listen to me. The signs were all right there, but you missed every single one of them." Marlena pulled at the roots of her blood-stained hair. "Fuck, if you just would've listened to me , Vega… I wouldn't have to kill you."

Marlena moved with the speed of a Fortis-born warrior. Vega didn't see it coming, but Bridger did.

His hand tangled in Marlena's wild hair, throwing her to the ground with force strong enough to crack the marble flooring.

"You two are pathetic!" Marlena squawked. She pounced off the floor, leaping at Bridger, but he was ready again and shielded her blow for blow—she was faster than she should be, but Bridger would always be one step ahead in battle.

"Dad, please, we have to go." The broad man groaned, shifting under Vega's touch. "Please, please wake up."

Bridger's sword hissed, slicing through the air where Marlena had been. Her invisibility cloaked her, but Bridger could feel her, knew she was right behind him. Her arm wrapped around his neck, and he used that force against her, flipping her over his shoulder and sending her crashing to the ground again.

"Vega, get out of here!" Bridger heard her father screaming through labored breaths over the sound of Marlena's newfound fire soaring past his head. The flame scorched his arm before he rolled to the floor with a snarl, ducking out of Marlena's path.

"I'm not leaving you!" she yelled.

Bridger couldn't take his eyes off Marlena. He was holding her off, but it seemed that with his every move, she had a new power to surprise him with.

"Bridger!" Vega screamed, her voice pleading for help with her dad's blood-soaked body.

His forehead gleamed with sweat, and though he was stronger and lasted longer in a fight than anyone else in Tolevarre, Bridger would burn out eventually—the powers of their world weren't infinite.

This wasn't the Marlena he'd sparred with for fun, or the Marlena he'd been asked to train. She was quicker, more agile.

What had she done to herself?

"Kinda busy here, love!" He sliced at Marlena, forcing her to draw back.

Vega stood, keeping herself in front of her dad. Her lightning crackled at the base of her palm, ready to join the fight. "Marlena!" she called, distracting her long enough to steal the attention off Bridger. When her sister turned, Vega's lightning lurched forward.

Marlena moved like she'd seen the attack coming. "I've had enough!" She stomped her foot on the floor, and everything around them in the home shook. The walls cracked like spiderwebs, and the marble under them began to crumble to the level below.

Vega swayed, but she didn't stop, fighting more, pushing more. Marlena always moved just in time—no matter if the attack was from her, Bridger, or a combination of them both.

"They're in here!" Voices rang from behind, and the second Vega heard them, a force shot up around her. Bridger's shield blocked them from the outside world.

"We have to go! We have to leave!" Bridger huffed.

"Please get him. I can't leave him!" Vega begged.

Bridger groaned in frustration, gripping at the dark strands of hair that fell out of the slicked-back look he wore tonight—his vexation grew, but it wasn't malicious. There was nothing he wouldn't do for her. He would burn all the worlds down for her if she asked. "Okay, we get out fast. My dad's whole army is on her side. They will not let us go if they get their hands on us. We grab your father and we go." Vega nodded. "You and me, Kitten."

"You and me," she repeated.

Bridger's shield dropped, but before they could reach Jonan, Marlena was standing over him. His eyes were open, staring directly into his eldest daughter's brutal gaze. His lips were moving, and a prayer was heard through a whisper.

"To the gods, please guide me to my afterlife. Let me fly with the ones of the past. Let me not fret death but welcome it."

The prayer of death—recited by soldiers who knew they weren't going to survive. Jonan had accepted his fate.

"Gods." Bridger exhaled, changing course. He grabbed Vega by the waist and hoisted her away from the path she was on.

Marlena plunged her hand into her father's chest and ripped his heart out. His eyes went cold before he had the chance to finish their people's death prayer.

Vega's wail pierced through the room. She kicked against Bridger, screaming incoherently.

Blood splattered Marlena's body, her father's still-beating heart in her hand. She had a smile so wicked on her face, Bridger felt chills race up his spine. "You can run, Vega, but you can't hide! I will find you, and I'm going to take everyone you love from you, one by one! Your perfect little life is going to crumble like the walls of this hollowed house will, like the Curia who underestimated me did!"

She cackled, and the echo of that sound would haunt this realm until the end of times.

There was nothing left of the girl who used to giggle with Vega when they snuck out to see their friends after curfew. This laugh was manic, crazed, and no longer carefree like it had been days before. "I'm going to make you feel as alone as you let me be!"

Bridger held on tight as he ran down the hall and took a turn into an alcove of the hallway, hiding from the soldiers who ran by. Vega thrashed, fighting to get back to Marlena. "Shhh, Vega!" His voice was muffled. "He's dead. There's nothing we can do about it, but what I can do is keep you alive. We have to leave. We have to find Arlet and Khort."

Vega sobbed. "She killed our parents. Oh my gods. She killed them."

Bridger watched, gutted, as her whole world crashed down around her. "Baby, I know. I know. I'm so sorry. Look at me." His hands cupped her cheeks. Tears pooled in his eyes. "There's nothing we can do. We have to run, okay? Pull yourself together." His words weren't harsh but firm. "We're not dying today. Do you understand me? We are making it out of here alive."

Vega's lips trembled, but no words came out. She nodded, and he wiped the tears off her cheeks.

"I love you," Bridger told her. "Let's find our friends and get the fuck out of here."

A knock on the bathroom door pulled Bridger out of the dream's daze. The reflection staring back at him didn't look like himself. His dark hair was longer than it had been in years, sweeping just above his eyebrows, still damp with sweat, and the bags under his eyes were darkening every night.

Meyer's voice on the other side was muddled with sleep. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Am I okay? Bridger didn't know the answer to that question.

"Yeah, had too much to drink," Bridger lied. He opened the door, meeting Meyer's suspicious gaze. "What?" he asked, leaning against the door frame to look as nonchalant as possible.

He couldn't—wouldn't show weakness. No one could find out his dreams were starting to eat away at the person he'd made himself become.

"You look like you haven't slept since level ten graduation," Meyer commented.

"Thanks, buddy, you're handsome too." Bridger winked, stepping around the tree-stump of a man Meyer was.

He turned around to find Meyer still staring at him. "You had another dream about Vega, didn't you?"

Bridger stood tall, his arms crossed over his much leaner frame compared to his general, but his eyes fell to the ground for a split second. Meyer was his best friend, the only friend he'd ever been allowed to have, and he knew him better than Bridger wanted anyone to.

"What was it this time?" he asked.

Bridger wanted to hold his tongue, but if he couldn't tell Meyer, who could he tell? He had no one else. Bridger answered before he decided against it, his voice a shred of a whisper. "It was the night Marlena took over. The night our world changed forever." He said the last part in a sing-song way—mocking a happy tone.

"You gonna be able to do this today?" Meyer's golden eyes softened in pity.

"You ask that like I would have another choice if I wanted it." Bridger straightened his posture, reminding himself that weakness was equivalent to death. "Stop acting like I'm some broken child, Meyer."

Meyer held a hand up, shaking his head. "I was just making sure you were?—"

Bridger cut him off. "I'm getting sick of people assuming I'm one step away from running back into the arms of the woman who ruined my life." His voice deepened, mood flipping as he rammed that iron-clad shield back into place. "Vega is nothing to me. She will always be nothing to me." Though his words sounded fierce and sure of himself, something in the back of his mind whispered that he was wrong.

The dreams were making him feel things he had suppressed years ago. The pain of losing Vega, the anger of Marlena's curse taking the woman he'd once loved from him—those memories were meant to be subdued, locked away tight where the anguish couldn't reach him.

It was much easier to feel nothing at all.

Bridger turned around and started walking away. "Be ready to leave in two hours. I'm not waiting for this Halo kid if he's not here on time."