Chapter 73

Icouldn't stop shaking as I stepped out of the darkness into the cave bathed in silvery light.

Corvus was huge.

Two, maybe three times as big as the last time I was here, and like before, the sight paralyzed me.

I could hardly breathe.

Could barely think.

He had no face, but somewhere deep within that black rotting carcass, he watched with ancient, amused cruelty, as if he knew we didn't have a fucking clue what I was doing.

Oh, we'd spent months gathering all the right pieces—magic, the weapon, that stupid poem—but had no idea how anything worked.

We were a bunch of children stumbling around in the darkness, and this hideous creature knew it.

He peered out at me from his twisted, wrecked body. "I've been looking for you, Princess. Chasing you from one end of this realm to the other. Yet you came straight to me like a dog to a bone."

Move, Anaria. Raz's voice echoed in my head, breaking through the chaos of doubts. Walk to your symbol and draw the weapon. Throw the sword if you have to, two-handed, like we practiced.

The tree glowed in the center of the floor, my upper arm burning with a phantom echo of pain when I took that first step, my boots firm on the floor even though my legs felt like water.

Those handful of steps felt like a gallows march, my footsteps too slow yet too fast, Corvus looming over me like a wave of death about to slam down and crush me. I kept my eyes pinned on that silver tree glinting like the branches were filled with stars.

A fire can be snuffed out just as easily by too much fuel as by not enough.The Oracle's worthless clue echoed inside my head as I took another step, dragging my eyes up Corvus's twisted shell.

Power pulsed through me from the floor, gentle enough I barely noticed as I reached behind me and dragged the weapon out of the scabbard, my breath guttering in my lungs as I frantically recited the quote from Bexley's book.

"No flame will halt the heartless fight, draped in eternal, starless night

No weapon forged by mortal hands will cleanse these blighted, ruined lands

Where time and ancient memory meet, the lines of gold lead to defeat

To end the dark, the world to cure, a broken heart, intentions pure."

None of that helped—especially not the bit about the weapon—and if I failed, I'd led the men I loved to their deaths, and nothing, not even a hundred more lifetimes, would atone for my failure.

"The slave who wanted to free the realm. Did you keep your promises, Anaria? Or did you fail everyone you promised to save?" His voice echoed from somewhere deep inside that hulking body, and like before, Corvus's smooth, cajoling voice made me want to fall to my knees, made me want to vomit.

I did no such thing.

My darklings flowed out and wound around my ankles, writhing in a gleaming mass at my feet. The delicate web from the keystones was keeping Corvus contained, those flares of darkness expanding but shrinking back before they touched the light.

But out of the corner of my eye, Raziel's arms shook, sweat glistening on his face, his hair matted to his forehead. Hurry, Anaria.

Fear shivered down my spine, that deep well inside me stirring to life, but I smoothed over the choppy surface. Not yet. Not quite yet. I needed to get much, much closer.

"Why have you returned?" Apparently not one to be ignored, Corvus tried again. "Did you decide to take me up on my offer?"

I kept moving, forcing myself closer, forcing my frozen lips into a smile. "I gave your sister back the magic. Every last drop except for what is wild in the world. Let me guess, she didn't share with you?"

Finally, I stepped onto that glowing silver mark.

The floor rumbled, then a burst of light shot along the golden rings, igniting each symbol beneath our feet. Corvus didn't notice, focused wholly on me, the stench of rot growing stronger, his shadows curling outward as he crept closer, frighteningly close to that web of light.

I gripped the weapon tighter—the star in the center igniting—trying to see where to stab him.

But there was no target. No heart, no face, nothing but writhing black.

"You lie." His anger clanged through the cave, enough fury to bring this mountain down around us. "She did no such thing."

"Why would I lie? I don't have a single drop of Fae magic inside me," I told him honestly, my darklings clinging to me like glue as he halted a few feet away, those dark shadows constantly spearing, testing the strength of his fragile prison.

He's too powerful. We're running out of strength,Raz said. We'll drop the cage and feed everything we have into you, Anaria. Into the weapon. You'll have to move quickly.

The light from the keystones flickered. Tristan's head hung low, his body glossed with sweat. Zorander's arms shook, a faint mist rising from his shoulders.

Remember me.Help us.

I sent out a frantic plea to the universe as I fell into a crouch, settling my weight onto my haunches, the golden symbols pulsing with power like stars glowing in the sky. I know I promised to save you. I know I've failed. But I'm still fighting, we're all still fighting. Will you fight with us?

No answer.

Help me rid this world of Corvus and Gelvira. Help me build a better world where there are no more wars. No more senseless death.

"If you are calling to the wild magic, it will not answer. Not if you gave everything back to my sister. You were a fool to come here and think you could kill me with…that."

Corvus might not have eyes, but I felt his mocking gaze settle on the weapon I held in front of me. The one we'd pinned all our faith on, the one that was supposed to save us.

Now, Raziel ordered. The weblike prison faded then fell, the star in the center of the blade igniting bright enough to turn the entire cave into a relief of stark shadow and light.

I lunged forward, feet braced on the floor, eyes half closed against that brilliance.

"Anaria." Zorander's scream was amplified a hundred times over as Corvus lashed out, a whip of pure power cutting toward me like a battle-axe. I swore the air groaned around me as I ducked, that dark wind lifting my hair as shadows hissed overhead.

He'd missed me.

But the knife…

Light flashed like a dying star as his darkness cleaved the blood-forged blade in half.

Forged by the most powerful witch to ever exist.

But no match for a god.

Get out, Anaria,Raz ordered. Go back through the hole. We'll hold him off long enough for Zor or Tristan to find you and get you off this mountain.

Fucking run, Anaria. That was Tavion, screaming inside my head.

The aura around Corvus flared to life, burning like a demon's crown. The web came back to life, barely an echo of what it had been before.

They'd never contain him.

I tossed the worthless, broken blade away, the metal clattering across the floor, then pivoted when another one of those burning shadows shot through the dying threads of the keystones, straight toward Tavion.

Toward my mate.

Who, instead of breaking the chain of light, kept his feet firmly planted so I had my chance to escape.

Because he knew, without wings, he never would.

Corvus's darkness didn't hesitate.

His shadowy power speared through Tavion with all the brute force of an immortal god, punching out through his back in a shower of blood.

"No." The guttural scream ripped from my body and the world stopped.

"No, no, no. Get up, Tavion. Get out of here."

But my mate crashed face down to the floor, white hair covering his face, one arm reaching toward me, his keystone lying dark on the floor. My chest was shredding like something vital had snapped.

"I always forget. You mortals break so easily."

My magic exploded out of that deep, silent pool, the floor beneath my feet ignited, and in that instant, I became a conduit for pure power as cold as if it had been yanked from the very center of this world.

I was still screaming when I hit Corvus with a blast of magic that should have erased him from existence.

But when my vision cleared, he was still there.

Blacker than before, that crown of dark fire burning even brighter.

The moment Tavion fell, the containment web vanished. Now, black shadows viciously speared out in all directions, deadly power that would kill on contact. Everyone else scattered, Raziel vanishing only to reappear back on his symbol, his stone glowing in his hand.

Anaria, he begged. You have to leave. Get to the ledge. Zor will take you back to Darkspire. Please don't make me watch you die.

"Run, little rats. Run and hide."

"We're not fucking hiding. Not from you." My soles heated against the glowing symbol, arms aching from channeling this magic flesh and bone weren't ever meant to channel.

I would deplete myself, use every last drop, if I could end this monster here.

More and more and more, I spooled up magic, unleashing everything I had, feeding it into him. Too much fuel is as bad as not enough. Well, we'd see if that was true. A fissure formed in Corvus's black shell, then another, light blazing out through the cracks.

Hang on, princess, Tristan growled. I've got you.

My body torqued like I'd been punched, I tasted ash and embers, then a burst of red-tinged magic streamed out of me, as bright as the edges of the sun.

Take all my magic, Anaria.Tristan's fury skated up my spine. Take everything I have and use it to kill that bastard.

Another punch, then another, then a third, magic flowing into me in bursts, my blood turning to steam from the sheer amount of magic rushing through me. More and more and more, a stream of hot-cold dark power flooded the cave until I choked, deflecting Corvus's spears of darkness with bursts of cold light.

So far, everyone else was untouched.

But Tavion…I sucked in a sobbing breath and parried. Again, my arms so sore I could barely hold them up. Again. I was nearly burned out, those intermittent punches of power fading until they finally stopped.

We were almost out.

Which meant even if we did manage to kill Corvus, we'd never get off this mountain alive.

Anaria.Listen to me. Raz's voice was steady. A commander's stern order, not a lover's request. The crevice is ten steps to your right. You can make it.

Light flared when Raz stepped off his symbol, and Corvus turned as Raz spread his arms wide. "She's going to end you. Even if I'm not around to see it, she's going to fucking bury you, and your sister too."

"No, Raziel. No." Light spluttered at my fingertips, the barest spark, then fizzled out.

Run, Anaria. While he's focused on me, you run.

Corvus rose up, shadows spearing as he slithered toward Raz. Who retreated. One step. Two. Drawing him further away from me, toward the mouth of the cave.

Everything happened too fast for me to see, or maybe that was the shock, because one minute, Raziel was standing there, powerful and defiant and raging.

The next, Corvus rose over him like a black, devouring wave.

Then Raz was gone.