Chapter 29

Tharix heaved me over the edge of the cliff and wrenched me back to my feet. I snatched my arm from his grip the moment I regained my balance, baring my teeth at him and summoning fire to my fists.

He grinned at me in reply, flames which were tainted with lashes of darkness enveloping his own hands as he mimicked my stance.

"Death suits you," he purred, his onyx eyes bright with what I could have sworn was amusement.

"Shouldn't you be unhappy to see me?" I gritted out, buying time in this momentary lull to our fight. My heels were still poised on the edge of the cliff, a narrow ravine of razor-sharp rocks spilling away beneath me.

Fire and water magic were a powerful combination when it came to attacking, but they were less helpful in a fall. I might be able to save myself with water if it came to it, but I didn't plan on having to find out.

"Why would I be unhappy?" Tharix asked, cocking his head slightly, his gaze dropping to the savage slashes in my side and down my left leg. I was focusing hard on blocking out the pain of them, but I could feel the steady flow of blood pulsing from each of the vicious wounds.

Tharix's injuries were already healing themselves. He hadn't even cast healing magic, but they weren't bleeding anymore, the skin stitching itself together and reforming seamlessly.

"Do you plan on standing around here butt-ass naked with me all night?" I asked, the urge to attack rising up in me fiercely, but with my back to the cliff, one powerful strike from him might see me falling again. I needed to move to higher ground. Level the playing field. And find Max.

"Perhaps." Tharix shrugged, still watching me with that unwavering intensity, waiting, though I didn't know what for.

"Maybe you'll let me heal this shit and move away from the cliff then?" I suggested, irritation lacing my tone, his apparent ease in this situation throwing me off.

Tharix stepped back obligingly, retreating up the steep rockface without so much as turning his dark gaze from me once.

I stalked after him, my body thick with tension, but after six pain-filled steps and him making no move to attack me, I risked pressing a hand to my side so I could heal away my wounds.

Tharix watched me impassively, his eyes tracing my injuries as they began to heal. I gritted my teeth as the shadows made the work more difficult, the injuries resisting my magic and taking far more power than I liked to heal over.

I banished the worst of the pain, reducing the bloody gashes to pink scars across my flesh then stopped, saving the rest of my power for the fight which had to be coming.

We made it to a flatter spot away from the cliff and I tensed as I faced off against the creature my father now called his Heir.

The wind whipped around us, carrying the sounds of the army as they reacted to my presence, the roar of Dragons taking to the sky mixing with cries of bloodlust and panic. No doubt they didn't know what to make of a single Dragon appearing to attack them, then disappearing just as fast. Not to mention that my size and colouring was unique among those of my kind currently still living, making my identity easily recognisable despite the reality of my death.

We were on borrowed time. And yet Tharix still made no move to attack, his dark eyes penetrating as he watched me expectantly.

"What is it?" I snarled, chancing a look beyond him for some sign of Max. My gaze caught on the bag of my clothes, but I saw nothing else among the pale grey rocks and scratchy tufts of grass that fought to cling to life in this barren place.

"I don't know what it is to have a brother," Tharix replied, his tone almost conversational, his expression unreadable.

"I'm no brother of yours," I spat, disgust filling me at the suggestion.

"We share a father," he countered.

"Lionel Acrux gave up the right to call me his son," I hissed, a blade of ice sliding into my palm, hidden from him by the way I held my hand. Perhaps if I could keep him talking, he'd present me an easy opening to strike. But I didn't have long to achieve it.

"His blood is yours and it's mine too," Tharix replied, like that fact meant something more to him than it did to me.

"Is that why you aren't attacking me? You think we might stand here and bond with one another?" I scoffed, a flicker of light catching the corner of my eye. I glanced towards it, seeing nothing, but my magic prickled with the feeling that someone was closing in on us.

Max.

"How did death taste?" Tharix asked curiously, ignoring my comment entirely. "Did you carve a piece of it out when you returned? Did you claim it for your own?"

I stiffened at the guess, the closeness to the truth of it unnerving me.

"I made a deal to pay for my release in death and carnage," I replied, tightening my hold on the dagger.

Tharix smiled at that, a wicked, haunting smile, like he understood me all too well. Then he turned suddenly, noticing the disturbance in the air just as I had, realising we weren't alone.

The moment his eyes were off of me, I lunged, slamming into him and driving my blade straight through his chest where his blackened heart lay.

He jerked beneath me, slackening then going rigid again, his fist crashing into my jaw and throwing my head aside, making my gaze fall on Max who was suspended beside us on a column of shadow, a hundred blades of ice and iron pressed to his flesh from all directions.

"His death or your peace," Tharix offered, coughing blood out between the words and wrapping his hand around my fist where I still held the blade which was lodged in his chest.

"Let him go," I snarled, my attention snapping back to Tharix, violence dancing in my eyes and the promise of his end in the air.

"The army is coming," he taunted.

I could hear the truth of his words, the roar of Dragons and the bellow of horns sounding from the valley below while the enormous host was roused into action, all of them preparing for an attack, all of them hunting for us.

"You may wish to choose quickly," he urged.

I glanced at Max again, my friend held entirely at the mercy of this beast, the blades pressing into his skin and drawing thin lines of blood. If Tharix struck Max with all of them at once, he wouldn't survive it.

"Your word that he goes free," I demanded, wondering what the word of a demon even counted for.

"No. Not free. I'll deliver you both to Father, bypassing the army and their wrath," Tharix said.

I considered it. But really, what choice did I have?

"Done." I ripped the blade from his chest, blood spurting from the wound and splattering over my cheek before it knitted over, even a strike to the heart not enough to rid the world of this foul creation.

I got to my feet and Tharix reached out to me, demanding I help him up too.

I gritted my teeth as I pulled him upright, but he held me there for several seconds, standing eye to eye with me, his height on par with my own, his bulk too. There was an echo of my features written into his, a disconcerting level of proof to his claim that we were kin.

"Release him," I demanded, ripping my hand from his grip.

Tharix dropped Max to the ground in a heap, the blades breaking apart into puddles of water and piles of dirt as he released his hold on the magic that had created them.

I stalked over to my bag and pulled out my clothes, putting them on swiftly, my eyes on Tharix the entire time but he didn't move an inch while he waited.

Max got to his feet and backed up until he was standing at my side, muttering a reassurance when I asked if he was alright.

When I was dressed, Tharix observed my clothes with interest, then, without seeming to do anything at all to summon the magic, clothes began to form over his body too. He clad himself in black, from his boots to his shirt, but the shape of the clothes, right down to the way I had left open the collar of my shirt mimicked mine exactly.

"What are you?" I growled, my heart pounding with distrust, my mind whirling with unease.

"Funny," Tharix replied. "I was hoping you might tell me."

I frowned at him, but he only smiled that dark, heathenistic smile, then a coil of shadows opened up between us, tearing a passage into the mountain beneath our feet and we fell into their grasp.