15. Xavier

Chapter 15

Xavier

T here was no way in hell I was taking Vale anywhere near that monster. After watching her nearly get crushed, I was fighting off the urge to haul her off the continent altogether and damn the consequences.

My heart refused to slow down, the organ was nearly beating out of my chest at the memory of Idris yanking her out of the way and throwing her to me before getting captured by that beast. I’d barely shifted in time—barely caught her in time—and still, she was far too close to danger for my comfort.

Lightning cracked far too close as a squall of a storm roiled in the sky. So it wasn’t just the monster, it was all the siren queen’s power rising in the air. If Idris didn’t make it out of this, I knew he’d want her to.

I couldn’t let her die in this. I just couldn’t.

“Please. If I can't fight that thing, I can help save him another way. Selene is controlling it somehow. Let me help him. Let me stop her.”

I would give her anything—my very last breath if she needed it—but I didn't know how to give her this.

“Please, Xavier. Please don't make me watch him die when I could do something to stop it.”

There was a time not so long ago when I would have pulled her from this fight completely, when I would have hidden her away, ignoring her wishes and done what I thought was best.

Unfortunately, that time was over. Now I was so in tune with her, that my heart was breaking inside my very chest.

“I swear to all the gods, if you get hurt, I will never forgive you.”

She wilted in my clutches, relief threading through the bond as I changed course. Funny, less than half a day ago, she had been so fearful of being in the air, and now she was consumed with so much rage that she barely noticed the height.

And we were high—high enough that she should have been screaming her head off. But not my woman, not my mate. She was focused on the evil bitch who’d put our King in danger.

“I don’t care that the mage is controlling her. If I have to kill her, I will.”

That caught me by surprise, even as I sped toward the siren queen. “What do you mean the mage is controlling her?”

A bolt of light formed in her palm, quickly transforming into a sword. “Can’t you see it? The mage is made of death magic. It’s all around him, all around her. He’s manipulating Selene—likely holding her people hostage, too.”

I didn’t have the time or will to feel sorry for Selene, nor did I particularly care what happened to her people. Her people stood by while Kian and I were drugged and manipulated. Her people saw what she was capable of and turned a blind eye. They’d served us up to her without a single question.

The entire island could burn for all I cared.

Selene could burn.

Actually, that wasn’t a half-bad idea.

My jaw cracked as I opened my mouth wide, the biting burn of my flames aching to be set free. Selene was powerful enough that this would likely not work at all, but I had to try, even if it upset Vale. Clutching my mate to my chest, I unleashed my fire, breathing it into the smoldering rubble where Selene had been moments before.

The sound of her chants still echoed in my ears, but they were fainter, smaller.

I at least had the right direction, even if I hadn’t stopped her.

Banking left, I circled back, coating the rubble in my fire before landing on the destroyed beach. Selene lay pinned by the flames that consumed what was left of the tapestries, but it wouldn’t last. She’d be free of the fire soon enough.

Glamour gone, skin mottled with burns, Selene held her arms up, still chanting in that guttural language that turned my stomach. On instinct, I searched the sky for Idris and Kian, but all I saw was Rune streaking through the air, his fiery breath scorching the beast from the deep. Then golden magic exploded in the sky, the shockwave of it nearly knocking me off-kilter.

Vale took advantage of the distraction and squirmed out of my hold, racing toward the sea witch as if all our lives depended on it. In her hand was the sword made of her magic, the searingly bright blade poised to strike.

“Vale, no,” I roared and moved to follow her, but a tidal wave of scorching magic tore into my scaled flesh, the putrid stink of the grave clawing into my body.

Erupting in a roar, I unleashed my flames on the mage, burning through the rot and decay as I searched for Vale. Caught in the throes of battle, she stabbed and slashed at Selene, but she was unable to cut through her magic. But Selene was on defense, barely holding Vale back as she continued her chants, the grotesque monster of the deeps roaring its displeasure.

That just left the mage to me. Staggering in the rubble, Malvor tried to fend off my fire, his power a paltry shield as he tried to keep standing. Blackened blood ran from the wounds at his middle, soaking through his dark tunic.

If I could have smiled in that moment, I would have.

Admiring my handiwork, I felt my flames rise again. He couldn’t hold me back for long. But as I released them once more, Malvor struck. Using my confidence against me, he snuck in a hit, his fetid magic funneling into my chest, banding around my throat, slicing through my wings. Panic filled my very bones as grave magic pulled the air from my lungs, the sight from my eyes.

Brilliant light bloomed around me, searing away the darkness as a battle cry echoed through my thoughts.

“I will not lose them. Do you hear me, Orrus?” Vale screeched, cutting through the magic as if she were the sun, the moon, and the stars herself. As if she were a goddess in human form. Her skin glowed as her inky hair floated about her head. The delicate fabric of her dress was torn at her knees, her shins scraped to hell and back, her shoulder still pouring blood, but she’d never looked more magnificent.

Her sword sliced through the bonds at my throat, freeing my lungs from their deathly hold.

“I will not lose them to you. Not a single one of them, do you understand me? If you fucking want them, you’d better come here and get them yourself because I am not letting my mates go.”

Staggering to my feet, I lashed out with my battered wings, knocking the mage to the ground as he tried to staunch the flow of blackened blood from a fresh wound at his chest. Vale lifted her sword again, cutting through a stream of blackened magic curling in the air between the mage and Selene.

With a single stroke, she cut it clean through, and another wound tore through the mage. Shock stole the remainder of the smirk on his face as he scrambled backward. At the same time, Selene cried out, her guttural chants cutting off as the blackened magic clouding her eyes dissolved.

Collapsing to the sand, she sucked in a breath before reaching out toward the sea. Vale didn’t give her a chance to even think about using another spell.

Her blade was at Selene’s throat before she could say a single word. “Call your dog off, or so help me, I’ll take your fucking head right here and right now.”

Selene’s newly pale eyes regarded Vale as if she were a nuisance rather than the executioner she would likely be. “Gladly,” she croaked. “I’ll need my head to do it, though.”

Vale’s sword sizzled against Selene’s neck, the promise of death clear as day.

Officially cowed, Selene bowed her head as she began to hum a soothing tone, the melody pacifying the squall in the sky as the beast calmed its thrashing. Kian and Rune circled in the air as the giant tentacles slipped beneath the surface, and the water stilled as if there had never been a battle at all.

All that was left was the mage, and I had plans for that bastard. Pain lanced through my middle as I tried to stand, my vision blurring as I peeled myself from the beach. Calling my flames forth, I spotted the fucker dragging himself through the rubble. I was down but I wasn’t out yet. As my fire crawled up my throat, he reached the broken mural, the darkened landscape the same one he’d slithered out from, the image rippling as his magic touched it.

I didn’t wait—couldn’t.

My flames flew from my throat, coating the wreckage of the castle. But I was too late. Before my flames ever reached him, he slipped into the mural, disappearing from sight. Exhaustion had me collapsing to the sand, defeat weakening my limbs as our only lead to Arden vanished into the night.

The shift hit me like a battering ram, snapping my bones with a fresh wave of agony, the remnants of the mage’s spell lingering in my flesh. Gasping, I fisted my hands in the grainy sand as I prayed for relief.

But there was none.

Not until Vale’s cool touch graced my overheated skin.

“Xavier? Look at me. Please look at me.”

She sounded so upset, so I forced my eyes open, taking in her perfect features. Her green eyes glowed with unspent power as she cupped my jaw, worry etched in every line.

“I-I’m okay,” I croaked, forcing myself to stand, to rise, to suck in air. My lungs were on fire, my bones made of jelly, but I fucking did it.

Disappointment washed through me as all my failures hit me one by one. I’d failed to kill the mage, failed to keep her safe, failed to protect Idris. The last thing she needed was to worry over me.

“You’re bleeding,” she murmured, her gentle touch sending an ache through my chest.

I cupped her cheeks, pressing a kiss to her forehead as I took her scent into my lungs. “So are you, my love.”

A second later Idris pulled her from me, looking her over as if he were afraid she was an illusion. Kian and Rune crowded us, but Vale pulled from them to curl into my side like she was prepared to hold me up if she had to.

“He’ll be back, you know,” Selene called, drawing our attention to the fallen queen. She was bloody and broken, the burn from Vale’s magic refusing to heal. “And gods know if he’ll bring friends. You need to leave. Save yourselves before it’s too late.”

Vale tore from my arms and stalked across the beach, her rage erupting from her fingertips in streams of light. “Give me one reason I shouldn’t gut you right here.”

Idris caught up with Vale—not pulling her back but backing her up. She’d fully stepped into her role as Queen, and she’d never looked more magnificent.

The smirk on Selene’s face elicited a growl from Vale—one that even rivaled Kian’s. “Because I have what you need.”

Vale grabbed the siren queen by the throat, yanking her from the beach as if she weighed nothing. Once a frail thing, Vale was stronger than ever, stepping into her power.

“And what the fuck would you know about what I need?”

Eyes wide, skin sallow, Selene tried and failed to pull Vale’s grip away. “T-the c-curse. The answers to breaking it. I know where they are.”

Vale dropped Selene but looked like she was fighting off the urge to kick her. “I’m listening, though I wouldn’t trust one word that comes from your mouth. Not after what you’ve done.”

Gasping, Selene seemed to fold into herself. “I did what I had to, to keep my people safe. You would have done the same, my Queen. Either way, my information is as reliable as I can make it. You have to go to the birthplace of the Luxa. You have to go to Bonefell. There are scrolls—or at least there are supposed to be. The Girovians have been searching for weeks, and they think they have a lock on them.”

The laugh that came out of Vale was as mirthless as it was chilling. “A wild goose chase if there ever was one. There are scrolls just floating out there in the ether, waiting to be snatched up. Sure. We’ll leave you be without consequences for some mythical scrolls with the keys to the universe on them.”

Even I thought Selene’s “information” was thin at best.

“It’s said that the scrolls were hidden decades ago by a rogue family, and no one has been able to find them since. Funny you say you know nothing about them, though, since the people who supposedly hid them share your surname—or do you not know a Rowena or Eldric Tenebris?”

If Selene had slapped her, Vale would have looked less surprised.

“What is it, my love?” I asked, but Vale shook her head.

“You’re making it up,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes as she backed away from the siren queen. “You’re lying to me.”

Selene tilted her head to the side as if she were studying her prey. “Am I? Or do you not recognize the truth just because it’s hard to swallow. Your parents took the scrolls, hid them away, and now you’re here. Two plus two still equals four, Vale. It’s not my fault you don’t want to do the math.”

Vale’s mind was buzzing with turmoil, but one thought kept bubbling to the surface.

The book. I have to find the book.

Selene seemed to know that she’d hit true, rising to her feet as she bowed her head in deference. “Now we’re even. I might not like you, but letting the guild win was never my intention. Had Malvor not imprisoned my people, I would have warned you.”

Idris’ gaze cut to Selene. “Even? You think we’re even? After what you’ve done?”

Vale put a calming hand to Idris’ chest. “She makes a good point,” she said before extending a hand to Selene. “I give you my thanks for the information. We can expect your support and an emissary once your problem is handled, then?”

Selene regarded her warily before taking Vale’s outstretched fingers. “Of course. Everhold will always back the true leader of Credour. Idris is the source of all magic, and Arden is a spoiled child with a broken toy. No one in their right mind would follow him.”

My mate nodded, let Selene’s fingers go, and then with all the strength she had, she plowed her fist into the siren queen’s jaw. The snap of bone echoed through the night air, and Selene dropped like a stone. Vale snatched her hair, hauling Selene’s head back as she made the siren look her in the eye.

“We’ll never be even, and you fucking know why. I know what you did to my mates. I might not know all the gory details, but I know enough.”

Selene’s face lost what little color it had as her pale eyes went wide. “I-I?—”

But Vale wasn’t done. “If I ever hear a whisper about shit like that going down in your domain again, I’ll gut you like the rancid fish you are in front of all your people and let the birds have you. And don’t you ever forget it.”

Vale let her go, spitting at Selene’s feet, disgust evident in every line of her body.

I couldn’t say I blamed her, though the world was getting mighty fuzzy.

“I expect your emissary in two days,” Idris rumbled, his tone brooking no argument. “If they are late to the wedding, I will take it as an insult. Do make sure they show up on time.”

Appropriately cowed, Selene dipped her head, kneeling at Idris feet. “Yes, my King.”

Kian tossed my arm over his shoulder when I started to sway, but the movement pulled at a stitch in my side. I touched the overheated flesh, and my hand came away coated in thick, red blood.

The last thing I heard was Vale’s scream as the world fell away, and darkness swallowed me whole.