87. Crash

87

Crash

R ilitar is close. I can almost smell his fear as I raze the palace to the ground.

I'm so fucking done with bullshit. Oz dying, Kami in danger, Algraas playing with us just so some stupid god can try to control a world not his own.

I'm done with everyone telling me what to do.

Sadness and loss have no place in my life anymore. I have mates, a new beginning.

And I'm not letting anyone fuck with it.

I gradually sense Malkar join me as we destroy everyone in the place. As far as I'm concerned, anyone in this palace wants genocide.

Since children are often relegated to the nurseries in town, I'm not worried about maybe killing a true innocent. And I do spare a few animals caught inside. The dogs and horses and a few battle cats are free to go.

But everyone with a sword is crispy by the time I walk through.

Until Malkar and I come face to face with Daleyne and a cadre of Nyte Guard in the central courtyard. And there, with them, are Rilitar and Enwiss, who looks terrible, I'm glad to see.

Algraas descends from the sky above, gliding down until he stands with the orc and elves.

"Our time has come," Rilitar says.

I hate the bastard. He's everything Arlen would have fought against. He's bigoted, cruel, a bully, and he hurt Kami.

We have to kill Enwiss before he lets Beyrthnel walk the earth, Malkar says.

Agreed. I'll fry him. You get the others.

Easier said than done. They have Oz's mom and her two-headed axe, an archdemon, and the Nyte Guard—elite assassins.

Go. Now. Malkar shifts to his half-form and draws everyone's attention, so I start burning them.

Since the Nyte-Guard regenerated before, I have no idea how long they'll stay down, even if I fry them.

But Malkar is using cold magic and his lethal tail and claws to end several of them.

I come face to face with Daleyne, who has used her ax to deflect my fire.

Impressive.

"Time to die, bitch," I tell her with pleasure.

"Please. You're a half-baked fae who's nothing. I'm favored by the gods themselves. I carry?—"

Before she can say more to annoy me, I lash out with whips of fire and detonate a few bombs made of pure magic.

One of them knocks her on her ass.

Then a Nyte Guard smacks me from behind, ringing my bell.

I'm a little dizzy but coming back when he raises a sword to run me through .

Before it can descend, Oz catches it with the flat of his hand.

My boy is huge and hard-skinned, the ogre fleshing through the orc. I swear he's got to have some giant in him somewhere, because he keeps getter bigger each time I see him turning all gray.

Not too long ago, I could have sworn he was dying.

His eye are blood-red, and he looks as angry as I feel.

"Kami brought me back," he announces as he punches through the Nyte Guard's face.

"Right." Seeing the guard's blood and brains is a little gross, so I turn back to fighting the others.

Eventually, I spot Ries as well, so I assume Kami is better.

It's actually kind of nice to have a mate who can't die. I'll never have to face the pain of losing her until I cross the Veil myself.

That perks me up, and I continue to fight, laughing at the chaos and mayhem, so pleased to see Rilitar's fuckery coming to an end.

Until there's just the four of us against the four of them—Enwiss, Rilitar, Daleyne, and Algraas.

All the others have been killed, though I'm not sure for how long.

Kami enters, and as soon as Algraas spots her, he rushes for her.

"Kami," Oz roars.

But he's too late to intervene.

Algraas stands before her, his smile obscene. "Ah, little dryad, I've been waiting…" His expression turns to one of horror, and he flies away, out of the courtyard.

Kami glances at us with eyes as black as pitch. Not Kami.

Someone else?

Kami? I try to send her but hit a blank wall .

Malkar approaches her, seeming not alarmed. He cocks his head, studying, then bows. "After you, Lady."

She nods, and as Kami walks toward us, she grows, becoming larger. Greener, then tinged with blue. Her face turns skeletal; the bones move. She's soon covered in flowing glyphs, and her clothing becomes a hooded robe.

Caethybdue, in the flesh.

She stops in front of me, Ries, and Oz. "The mates. I approve."

Before I can say something sarcastic, Malkar is in my head. Not a word. Not now, Crash.

I refrain, but I see the goddess smirk at me.

And that makes me like her a little more. Sure, she could have intervened a while ago and saved us all some hassle. Saved Kami's eye.

But she's here's now. That has to be good news, right?

With all the attention on the goddess, Rilitar has disappeared.

That fucking coward, stealing the debt he owes me, Oz, Malkar, Ries, and especially Kami.

"No," Oz bellows.

"Coward," Malkar calls out.

Enwiss doesn't react, except to smile and pick up a thick chain that suddenly appears on the ground.

Caethybdue just waits, and we take our lead from her.

Enwiss slowly, hand over hand, pulls the chain toward him. Until Rilitar reappears, the chain linked to a pike that has pierced his sternum.

Enwiss's smile grows as he grows, and he laughs as he yanks his father to him.

"Please, no." The horror in Rilitar's voice is shocking, but not as much as his son holding a hand over his body as he absorbs the elf's blood into himself.

Then the flesh strips off the bone, and Enwiss eats the pieces in a rush.

I feel nauseous, vindicated at Rilitar's punishment, and freaked out. Enwiss isn't…Enwiss.

Oh shit.

Like Caethybdue, he becomes something more than fae. His skin turns darker, smoother, his features evening out to appear immortally beautiful, his eyes cruel, all black with pinpricks of gold pupils.

And he's not done there, his body assuming armor, the hilts of twin blades visible over his thickening shoulders.

"Uh, guys, look." Oz nods behind me.

I turn to see the Nyte Guard getting up from the ground. All of them. Even the ones I'd burned to ash are becoming substantial once more.

It's a hell of a thing to watch, mesmerizing almost.

Malkar swears, and I turn around once more to see Enwiss gone, a god standing in his place.

"Sister, it's time we settled this." His voice is powerful and throbs deep inside me. Impossible to ignore.

"Dear, Brother," Kami— Caethybdue —says, "I feel exactly the same."

She raises a hand to stymie the blade aimed at her face.

The shock as they strike each other is an explosion of power that sends us back several feet.

Into a new mouth of battle as the Nyte Guard descend on us.

Twelve against four.

And then Algraas returns.

We're so fucked.