Chapter 5

Iswept across the battling Nymphs and the Starfall Legion, my air magic keeping me high enough to avoid the call of the power-immobilising rattles while I used my Siren gifts to invoke fear in our enemies and valour in our allies.

Fae were pouring from the Court of Solaria which Lionel used as the seat of his power, racing in all directions as some of them tore into battle and others just ran for freedom. They were cowards, but none of our army would stop them from fleeing to their families and any safety they might find away from this place. We may have been here to fight, but we wouldn't claim our victory on the backs of innocent lives.

A flash of movement beyond the glass windows of the building drew my gaze towards Caleb and his mom as they shot back and forth inside it, hunting down anyone who hadn't gotten out yet – or anyone looking to spring an attack.

We had our targets, and they were clear. Gus Vulpecula: the asshole who was responsible for filling the media with bullshit accounts of Lionel's rule and smearing the name of the rebellion. Irvine McReedy: the enforcer and general who Lionel had put in charge of the Nebula Inquisition Centres. And last of all, my so-called mother, Linda, who had been heading up his government and buying into his bullshit in her quest for power which she wasn't capable of claiming for herself the way a true Fae would.

I ground my jaw, turning my head from the Court of Solaria as I focused on the fight below, throwing a spear of ice towards a Nymph who was closing in on one of our warriors while she scrambled backwards across the cobbles at its feet.

The Nymph screamed in agony as my ice pierced its chest and the warrior took her chance the moment its hold on her power broke, striking it through the heart with a stake of wood and casting it to ash on the wind.

The baying of a trio of hellhounds drew my attention east and I looked to find Geraldine tearing out of an alleyway in her Cerberus form, a young boy at her side and countless Fae racing into battle beyond her as many people in the city rose to the call of war.

I whooped in triumph, throwing my hands out towards them and sending the Nymphs closest crashing aside with a tidal wave that struck them hard, scattering them across the square.

The sound of shattering glass had me whirling around, and my eyes widened in alarm as Caleb was launched from the top floor of the skyscraper, his cry of outrage making my heart swoop in panic.

I shot for him, air magic billowing at my back before it wrapped him in its embrace and stopped his fall.

"Thanks," he said, not sparing me a glance, and flames burst to life along the lengths of his arms as his gaze fixed on the top floor of the building once more. "They're headed for the roof. General McReedy is going to fly them out of here in his Manticore form if he can manage it."

"With my stepmother?" I asked, wanting confirmation on that, and Caleb nodded.

"Ellis too."

I gritted my jaw at the sound of my sister's name, then I summoned more wind at our backs, shooting us through the air like we'd been launched from a slingshot and aiming straight for the roof.

I spotted them as they burst from the exit ahead of us, the general shredding through his clothes as he shifted into his Manticore form, a beastly lion with leathery wings and the deadly tail of a scorpion.

My boots skidded on the roof as we landed, my hand gripping Caleb's without either of us having to say a word. His power burst through my veins with all the endless force of the earth and the ruinous storm of his fire. I drew on that well of power and threw my free hand skyward, a dome of air magic sealing around us as my stepmother and half-sister raced towards the Manticore and tried to leap onto his back.

"No chance of that," I growled, drawing them all up short as they spotted us, my stepmother hissing as her iridescent green scales rippled over her skin, peeking out beneath the cuffs and collar of the stuffy business suit she wore.

"I wondered when I would be seeing my impurely-blooded stepson again," she snarled, magic crackling at her fingertips, water and fire hissing as they met and mixed. She hadn't been selected as my dad's bride without reason. Linda was from the second most powerful Siren family in the kingdom, and her magic was formidable in its own right. But she still had nothing on a Celestial Heir.

"Unlike you, I'm not afraid to be anything other than myself," I replied, releasing Caleb's hand, and leaving our shield in place, capturing the three of them here. This fight wouldn't end with anyone running scared. It would be bloodshed or nothing.

"Here, kitty, kitty," Caleb taunted as he began to move away to my left, drawing the sharp eyes of the Manticore after him, the enormous, winged lion snarling as it took the bait and prowled his way. "Wanna play cat and mouse?"

The Manticore growled as it raised its barbed tail over its back, the poisonous darts it contained able to paralyse a Fae within seconds. He could shoot the darts in the blink of an eye, but that didn't mean much when his opponent was a Vampire.

The sound of their fight breaking out drew my attention, but I forced myself to block it off, keeping my focus trained on my opponent and trusting Caleb to win his own battle.

Linda snatched Ellis's hand into her own, her hateful gaze fixed on me while she summoned more power, and I looked to my sister as her uncertain eyes met mine.

"Do you believe in all of this, Ellis?" I asked her, reaching out with my gifts to try and get a sense of her emotions. We hadn't ever been close. The bitch who was gripping her hand had ensured that from the moment of her birth. I could remember that day, me rushing in to see the tiny sister who had just been born, excitement spiralling through me at the thought of having someone to play with and love like no other.

"Don't touch her," my mom snapped as I reached over the edge of the crib, wanting to say hello to my new sister. "She is far greater than you in every way, and I won't have you trying to corrupt her."

The words hadn't meant much to me then, I hadn't really understood them, but I'd never forgotten them either, especially because of the venomous way they'd been spat at me. My dad had entered the room a moment later, and Linda had been all smiles for him, but from that moment on, she had never allowed Ellis and I to be anything other than rivals.

"Are you loyal to the False King?" I pushed, my attention still on my sister even as Linda threw a spear of ice straight for my heart. It shattered against my shield like it was little more than a glass falling against stone. "Do you believe that you're superior just because you're a Siren? Do you believe that Lionel is superior to you because he's a Dragon?"

Ellis pursed her lips, but at a hissed word from her serpent of a mother, her gaze shuttered and she nodded, the flare of magic passing between their hands letting me know that they were sharing.

"Two against one?" I goaded, not even surprised at the un-Fae behaviour. "I guess you really are afraid of me then, hey Linda?"

"Afraid?" my stepmother scoffed, magic crackling between her fingers. "I'm just ready to cast the cuckoo from my nest at last. For years, I had to endure the sight of that whore's child taking the place of my legitimate, pure-blooded daughter for the sake of my own reputation, but I won't allow you to tarnish my name any longer. You are a traitor to the crown, a mixed-blood half-breed born of a whore and an unworthy candidate for the position you sought to steal from my star-born child. And now the whole of Solaria knows it too."

She didn't give me a moment to reply before her water magic slammed into my shield, the force of it enough to shatter my defences now that Ellis's magic was combined with her own.

I let my shield fall, already running for her as I dodged the attack, casting air to blast her water away before coiling it around her and wrenching her off the ground.

Ellis cried out as she was hurled from her feet too, both of them spilling across the rooftop with their fancy pant suits tearing and their coiffed hair breaking from their perfect styles.

There was ice fusing their hands together, keeping them locked as one while Linda lived up to the parasitic title of our kind and sucked the magic clean out of Ellis to use for her own. That was precisely what she was. A leech. One who had suckered herself onto my father in her desperate desire for power greater than what she'd been born with, and now she planned on using Ellis to elevate her position instead.

But I was done playing nice with the bitch who had made me feel unwelcome in my own home, done smiling and faking and pretending to be what I wasn't. I wasn't ashamed of having Minotaur blood in me. They were powerful Fae, determined and strong, and I was more than happy to wield the strength of a bull if that was what it took to bring her down.

Linda screamed as she threw her free hand out, a fireball exploding into the space between us, tearing straight for me, but I snapped my fist shut and stole the oxygen from it, not slowing my pace as I sprinted for her.

Spears of ice burst from the rooftop at my feet, and I cursed as one of them slammed straight into my side, blood splattering thick and hot before I could wrestle control of the magic and melt the sharp points.

I threw a sphere of solid ice around myself, then slapped a hand to the wound and healed it, losing precious seconds while unable to see her next move.

Dark blue scales spilled across my flesh as I shifted, a Dread Song rising in my throat as the agony of the wound set my pulse hammering against my ribcage until I had it healed.

The sphere broke apart, shattering around me, and twin blades of ice formed in my fists as the song poured from my lips, its first haunting note making a scream of terror burst from Linda's throat.

But it wasn't her I saw as my power built around us like an oncoming storm; it was my sister. Ellis's eyes were wide with fear, her lips parted on some word she hadn't yet uttered and her arm tense where she was trying to pull free of Linda's hold. She saw me then, the darkest, foulest parts of me, the unforgiving, ruthless creature which I had been trained to become whenever the need arose, and I didn't like the reflection I found painted in her eyes.

My teeth snapped shut and my song cut off with that single note, the torture of it too ruinous to inflict upon that innocent little baby who I had so longed to hold in my arms. That was who I saw as I looked into Ellis's eyes. Not the spiteful, jealous creature Linda had moulded her into but the bright-eyed little girl who I'd once snuck candy to during a thunderstorm.

I'd almost forgotten that night. It had seemed so like a dream, but she'd been afraid of thunder as a child and though Linda had always coddled her through her fears, there had been one night when she wasn't there, out at an event or something of the like. I'd heard Ellis whimpering in fright as the thunder cracked overhead and had snuck into her room with a bag of candy Seth had given me. We'd made a fort beneath the sheets and eaten the sugary treats until we felt sick from them and were laughing every time the thunder boomed beyond the walls of our safe haven.

That was it. The entirety of the good memories I could recall sharing with my sister. One stolen night in the dark where she hadn't been pitted against me, working to best me and outdo me at the command of the woman who was supposed to have been my mother too. But as I looked into my sister's eyes, I was sure she was remembering it as well.

My moment of hesitation cost me as Linda threw a vortex of fire careening straight at me, my retaliation not fast enough to steal the oxygen from the flames before they collided with me.

I was blasted back, my skin shredding as I skidded across the rooftop which she'd lined with razorblades cast from ice, a path of my blood left shining between us as I bellowed in pain.

Caleb and the Manticore, Irvine McReedy, were gone, and I had no idea what had happened to them. I didn't have the time to worry about my friend. I trusted in his power and his strength, so I had no choice but to focus on my own fight and let him do the same.

I slammed my hand flat against the sharp ice, cracks ricocheting through the magic as I forced my will over it, dominating it, devouring it.

Linda attacked again, both ice and fire spearing for me as she yanked on Ellis's power and threw all they had straight for me.

A shield tore through the air between us just before it could hit me, the power of the strike resonating through my core as I fought to hold it in place.

The air vibrated as I pushed all I had into holding the shield up and Linda bared her too-white teeth at me as she continued to pummel it with all she had.

I flicked my wrist, snapping her hold on the ice which mapped the rooftop and tossing all of it into my shield, reinforcing it and blocking her view of me in a single move.

Ignoring the thousand bleeding cuts along my back, I leapt up, rocketing skyward on a plume of air magic, throwing my hand out to summon my bow and arrows from where they had fallen.

Linda spotted me, a curse breaking from her, and she launched a javelin of fire straight at me, but I didn't waste any effort on trying to block it. My bow slammed into my open palm and in the next breath, I had two arrows nocked and flying straight for her.

The first she destroyed with an explosion of fire like I'd expected, but as I dropped from the sky like a stone, her fire javelin sailing harmlessly over my head, I focused all of my power on the second arrow. The one which had spun away from the first, circling behind her in the dark of the night and was now speeding straight for her back.

Linda threw a shield up between us and I pummelled the front of it with ice daggers as I sped back down to Earth at a frightening speed.

Her eyes lit with triumph as my daggers exploded harmlessly against her shield, but with so much energy expended on stopping them, she'd lost focus on maintaining the strength of it at her back.

The Phoenix fire arrow ignited as it shot for her, propelled with the full force of my air magic, punching a hole straight through the back of her shield and slamming into her spine in the next heartbeat.

Linda screamed in agony as I caught myself mere inches from the rooftop, air magic yanking me to a halt and setting me on my feet before I could collide with the concrete at top speed.

I ran for them, Ellis sobbing as she fought to break the ice which chained her to her mother, and it splintered just as I reached them.

Linda was on her knees, trying to pull out the arrow which now protruded from her stomach, wailing as the flames burned her from the inside out.

My upper lip curled back at the scent of searing flesh, and I banished the flames from existence before they could roast her alive.

I slapped my palm to the top of her head, my scales glistening as my Order form purred with pleasure, and I exerted the full force of my gifts on her mental shields.

They crumbled to ash beneath the force of my will, the pain in her body more than enough to throw off her concentration and give me full access to the depravity of her mind.

I snarled as I burrowed into her, flashes of memory spiralling through me as I watched all of the worst atrocities this woman had committed in her eternal quest for power. I made her watch too, made her relive each and every one of them, though I doubted it haunted her the way it should have. She had made these choices after all; betrayed, and lied and schemed her way into my father's marriage bed, onto Lionel's council. She didn't care about the lives she'd destroyed or the deaths she'd taken part in orchestrating. She felt no remorse for my mother, the sweet, beautiful woman who I watched growing sicker and sicker in those rancid memories.

She'd watched her fade and die and had enjoyed every moment of it.

I burrowed deeper, my power like a million termites delving into her mind as I took complete control of this vile creature.

She was mine. Entirely at my mercy and lost to the darkness within her. I could break her mind as easily as closing my fist around a moth. And as I endured the weight of her memories, watched the involvement she'd had in running the Nebula Inquisition Centres and organising hunts for innocent Fae, I had no regrets about doing so.

"Max?" Ellis sobbed, and something about the raw agony in her voice had me drawing back into myself just enough to turn to her, just enough to see the tears tracking down her cheeks and the pain filling her young face. Because she was young. Somehow far younger than the rest of us, sheltered by this monster and tainted with her ambition. Had she ever made a decision for herself? Had she ever done a single thing without Linda urging her to do so?

"She…I know. I know she's done awful things," Ellis choked, her hand moving to encircle my wrist where I still held Linda very much under my control. "I know you have every right to hate her, but she's…all I have. She's my mother. Sometimes I hate her too, I hate what she's made me and what she's done, but I've never had anyone else, Max. I know she deserves what you're about to do but I…I…"

I turned from her heartbroken face, trying not to see the boy who had had his own mother stolen from him. Linda had done that to me. Linda had killed her for nothing more than spite and petty jealousy because she knew that my father would never love her the way he had loved my mother.

She deserved death for it, but despite it all, despite the grip I had on her fragile mind, I hesitated.

I could feel the urge to do it roiling deep within my soul, this desperate desire for vengeance eating at me. But I knew it wouldn't change anything, wouldn't return what had been stolen from me, and perhaps in Ellis's eyes it would make me into the monster this woman had been for me.

I gritted my teeth, my gifts flaring as I dug deeper, burrowing into Linda's mind and hunting for something different.

My lips twitched cruelly as I found the first piece of it; her Awakening, ambition thrumming through her in that moment too, her narrowed eyes sweeping across her classmates as she sized up her competition and felt her magic bloom within her for the first time.

I snapped the cords of that memory, then went in hunt of the next, finding her classes, books she'd read, the feeling of magic coursing through her veins. One by one I cleaved and twisted them, ruining each and every one, taking every single moment of magic from her until I knew she would have no way of knowing how to so much as summon her power with intent.

I stole her magic in every way I could, taking the one thing in this world which made Fae capable of claiming the kind of power she was so enamoured with. When I was done, she would barely be able to conjure a drop of water or flicker of flame into existence, and I made certain to shatter any piece of her which may have been capable of relearning it too.

I was one of the most powerful Sirens alive. No one would be capable of undoing this, likely not even me, though I had no doubt that I would never wish to try.

Deeper and deeper I delved, taking all of it, destroying any prospect she may have had of rising within Lionel's regime.

Then I drew back, panting from the exertion of using so much of my gifts and ripping the arrow from her stomach for good measure.

Linda screamed as she fell back to the rooftop, blood bursting from her lips. I dropped to one knee beside her, healing the injury just enough to make sure it wouldn't kill her. Not out of mercy but out of the greatest cruelty I could conjure.

"You will live with this cost," I hissed at her. "And you will be forced to face the truth of what you are at your core without a drop of magic to hide your true self from the world and no more power than a worm writhing in the dirt."

Linda wailed as she lay there, her fingers flexing and fisting like she was trying to remember how to bring magic to them, but there was no chance of that.

"Thank you," Ellis sobbed, sagging to her knees as I stepped back.

I cast a look at my sister, hunting for that baby, the little girl who could have been so much to me but had never had the chance.

"It's time for you to decide who you want to be, little sister," I rumbled. "This is war, and there is no place for anyone to sit on the fence. Choose which side of the battlefield you wish to stand on before I see you again, and know that if you stand across from me once more, I won't hesitate."

Ellis's eyes widened in fear, but I turned from her, running to the edge of the rooftop and leaping from it without looking back, diving into battle and vowing to put Linda Rigel from my mind and never think of her ever again.