Chapter 54

Islammed into the turret of my castle, my claws gouging great rifts within the jade rooftop as my weight yanked me downward, my shadow claws pulsing to a beat of rancid agony, flickering before my eyes, unable to hold me in place.

Vard's monsters were baying and shrieking within my army, the unmistakable sound of bloodshed filling the air.

I couldn't hold on.

Rage escaped me in a tremendous roar as I fell, my weight pitching backwards so my wings could do little to help. I shifted, my naked Fae body assaulted by the frigid and biting wind as I tumbled towards the ground, flipping over and over while I fought to take hold of the air surrounding me. But the fingers of my shadow hand were wracked with spasms of pain, the cold air seeming to rip right through the appendage Lavinia had crafted for me.

I cursed as I made myself focus, using my hand of flesh and blood to cast magic, forcing the wind to wrap around me and hurl me towards the castle again. Fire blasted from me in a wild explosion, shattering the window of my throne room just before I was hurled through the opening.

I hit the ground hard, rolling across broken glass and earning myself a myriad of cuts and scratches across my flesh.

A Dragon's roar escaped my lips as I came to a halt, naked, prone and shaking on the cold floor of my own castle.

But I wasn't the only one crying out within these walls of green.

A snarl curled my lip as the bloodcurdling wails of my wife echoed throughout the hallways, finding their way into every room and parlour, infecting each nook and cranny.

"What is this?!" I screamed. "What is happening?"

Many hands clasped my arms, hauling me back to my feet, shrouding me in a cloak to maintain my dignity. My loyal Bonded had grouped close to me, more of them sweeping through the sky outside the shattered window, hunting for the rebel army which had never even been there at all.

It made no sense.

Smoke rose beyond the broken glass, my forces clashing within themselves as panic and mayhem took root.

Glass crunched beneath my bare feet as I made for the opening, ignoring the murmurs of concern that spilled from the lips of my followers, my gaze seeking out the source of this commotion.

The view beyond my window set my blood blazing like a freshly lit fuse. Vard's monstrous creations still tore through my ranks, spilling from the caverns where they had been caged in a rush of bloodthirsty fury.

"Where is he?" I hissed, my voice a cold and brutal thing.

"Who, my Ki-"

"Vard," I spat his name like the curse it had fast become, and my Dragons rushed to locate the cretinous creature.

Hurried footsteps clacked across the stone floor, racing closer to me while I took in the destruction below, trying to process the source of this chaos. I'd seen my discarded Heirs atop that mountain alongside those mixed-blooded whores who dared to try and claim a stake in my crown. They'd been here, and they'd forged an illusion which had mobilised my army. But why?

Yes, they'd released some monsters from their place within the dank caverns below my castle, but even now the foul beasts were being herded back inside thanks to the manacles they wore. Some had been slaughtered, a trail of broken bodies littering the ground where they had torn a path through my ranks, and yet it was hardly a blow at all now that I took count of it. Infuriating? Yes. But I doubted the casualties ran much higher than a few hundred, barely a scratch in the might of my army. There was something of real threat that had been attempted here, a greater reason my enemies had come to my door, but what was it?

My gaze caught on a crash of movement further out in my army, the huge body of Vard's biggest and most bloodthirsty creation colliding with Nymphs in their shifted forms, their movements harsh and brutal.

"Vard!" I bellowed, my fury beyond measure, but it wasn't he who answered me.

"My King," Linda Rigel's voice scraped across my ears, bringing a sneer to my lips.

I could hardly stand to look at the ruined bitch these days, the crippling destruction of her hold over her magic clear to see in everything from the look of powerlessness in her eyes to the pathetic way she tried to cling to her role in my court. Time wasn't on my side and I needed the power of her daughter, plus the weight of her political connections and family name, so she hadn't been dismissed yet, but her fall was written in the stars.

"What?" I growled, gripping the window frame and relishing the bite of broken glass as it was crushed within my shadow hand. The agony in those fingers still pulsed and thrummed, alive with some whisper of truth which had to be aligned with Lavinia's ongoing screams.

"It's the Nebula Inquisition Centres," she said, her voice a broken quiver which had me bracing for the truth she held. "They've been destroyed, the lesser Fae within them were released and taken to join the ranks of the rebel forces-"

"Which ones?" I demanded, still not turning to look at her.

The violence raging within my own army took up my focus, and Lavinia's shrieks were cutting through the air like a knife, impossible to ignore.

"A-all of them," Linda breathed.

My pulse stuttered at her words, my mind clinging to them then discarding them, their meaning utterly impossible.

My grip on the broken glass tightened, the beast caged within my flesh roaring so loud that its sound escaped my lips. The shift came rushing up on me so abruptly that I knew I wouldn't be able to stop it, that I was going to lose control entirely in front of every person in this room and-

I fell forward so suddenly that it seemed as though my heart had lurched straight up into my throat. One of my Bonded Dragons lunged for me, catching hold of the cloak which was fastened around my neck and yanking me back from the drop so violently that I was both choked by the fabric and hurled to the floor once again.

I crashed down on my back, the cloak falling open to reveal my nudity. Hands reached for me while wept apologies spilled from the lips of the fucking fool who had both saved me from that fall and thrown me to the floor.

I thrashed against them, slapping them aside and spitting Dragon fire at them so I could hold my arm up before me, the pain in my stump so blinding that I could only blink at the place where my shadow hand had been while fighting against the urge to cry out at the agony.

My lips opened and closed, my mind whirling and jamming.

"Lavinia," I ground out eventually, scrambling to get up with only one hand to assist me.

My Bonded were closing in again, reaching for me, petting me, weeping for me but I threw them all back with a blast of wind which spilled erratically from my remaining hand.

"Where is my wife?"

I didn't wait for an answer because her screams were still filling the castle, guiding me to her location. I broke into a run, panting against the pain where my shadow hand had been, scrambling up coiling staircases and along pristine corridors, hurrying towards her tower.

I passed through the ballroom, my eyes meeting those of my Heir, though Tharix made no reaction whatsoever to the chaos unfurling around him, just watching as I passed him by with my retinue of Bonded chasing along in my footsteps.

I flung the door open and found her there, her body coated in shadows which thrashed like a tempestuous sea, her eyes wild with panic, her beauty marred with terror.

"What is it?" I demanded. "What has happened?"

"The shadows have broken free of my leash," she rasped, clutching at her arms, her fingernails raising bloody scratches across her skin. "I can't hear them whispering anymore."

"Who?!" I bellowed.

"The souls caught in my web, the ones who grant me power over the shadows beyond my own." Her gaze turned to the thin window which lay to the right of her bed and I stalked over to it, hurling it wide and looking out again.

My lips parted as I took in the continuing fights. The monsters were all being herded back to their cells now, leaving a bloody mess of bodies and excrement in their wake, but still carnage reigned. Several of the Nymphs were thrashing about wildly, stampeding between my ranks and crushing any who got in their way. With a few attempts, I managed to cast an amplification spell to see them better and found them shrieking, clutching at their skulls and fighting against whisps of shadow which were fluttering around them before fading into nothing.

"You have lost control over the Nymphs," I accused.

"No," she bit out on a sob, but I had no care for her emotions, only the truth of this revelation. "They remain loyal to me. But the shadows have been…purged of my touch. They used to whisper to me, and they whispered to my loyal soldiers as well. The loss of the voices is like fingernails scoring lines through my skull. They are feeling it too."

My gaze scoured the army and I took in the ranks of Nymphs who remained in control of themselves, seeing the truth of her words in their confused and grief-stricken expressions, yet they were managing to hold their nerve.

"Hunt down those who have fallen into madness. Kill any who cannot be brought back to heel before they tear through my ranks of Fae and damage any more of my forces," I hissed, knowing my Bonded were still clustered in the hallway, sure my word would be carried out.

"Who did this?" Lavinia demanded, moving to me, clutching my robe and looking up at me as if I might hold the answers.

"Can you fix this?" I demanded in turn, raising the stump of my hand to her, threat lacing my words.

Her lips parted, her fingers moving to clasp my stump. "I think if I…bond my own shadows to you. Then perhaps I could weave you a new hand from the fabric of those which reside within me," she murmured, the uncertainty of her words lighting a concern deep within my core.

Her brow furrowed then her grip on my stump tightened painfully. "Tharix," she gasped, whirling for the door but I caught her by the hair, yanking her back violently.

"He was in the ballroom, looking wholly unconcerned with the ruin taking place between our walls," I snarled, and she sagged against me, turning her gaze back to my stump.

"I need to see him."

"No," I barked, catching her by the throat as she made to pass me and holding her there, her nose almost touching mine. "You will fix my hand first."

Shadows coiled about her, wrapping themselves around me, twisting through my fingers which gripped her in place and yet there was something different about them now. The air didn't tremor with the force of them, darkness didn't diminish the light surrounding us. Her power wasn't what it had been and, in that moment, with my gaze pinned upon hers, we both felt it, the shift, the truth. She was no longer more powerful than me.

Lavinia's dark eyes blazed with grief and fury before she smothered both and withdrew the touch of her shadows from my flesh. Her hands moved to my bare chest beneath the cloak, her fingers scoring down the firm muscles of my abs and dropping lower still as she opted for seduction over force.

"I will need time to research a bond powerful enough to link my own magic to yours," she said softly. "It will likely require a sacrifice, perhaps we could use some of the Fae you have placed in your Nebula Inquisition Centres to-"

"The centres have all been destroyed and the foul beasts within them liberated to join the Vega army," I spat. "Besides, I can think of no greater bond than that which I have already asked you to make with me."

She smothered her look of fury fast, but I still caught it. We both knew that there was nothing else which would suffice and she had finally played all of her cards, finding me with the winning hand.

"I had hoped for us to create that bond in celebration of us winning the war," she tried, her hand finding my cock, her teeth biting down on her bottom lip. She was a damn good seductress, but it wasn't the mere thought of getting her on her hands and knees for me that had my dick so hard in her grasp; it was the knowledge of doing so while knowing she was bonded to me and my triumph over her was complete.

"A pretty sentiment but the stars have collided to bring the date forward. So, my Queen, do you submit to their desires?"

A thousand nos raced through her eyes and yet those lips, so fit for pretty lies, so good at wielding wickedness, had no more room to run.

"Yes, Daddy," she purred, her hand pumping my cock harder and the knowledge that she was trying to win back some measure of power with that act almost brought a laugh to my lips.

I shoved her backwards using my grip on her throat and began to speak the words of the Guardian Bond, so beautifully familiar to me after so many uses of its power.

I pushed her down onto the bed as the magic of the words burned through my throat, her hand falling off of me as she felt the weight of the bond coming for her like a rush of wings.

She stared up at me as I knelt over her, her gaze unblinking as she took in the sheer power of her king and finally submitted to me in the way she always should have. Once this bond was in place, she would be unable to act against me, unable to deny me the position of ultimate power which she was finally accepting belonged to me alone.

A tear spilled from her eye as the power of the bond took hold of her and she gasped as my star sign was burned into the flesh of her arm.

My pulse thundered wildly as I felt her sign brand itself onto my flesh too and when I looked down at my arm, I found not a reddened mark like the rest, but the sign for Capricorn scored into my skin in deepest black, shadow coiling through it like a stain of her power.

The rush of the bond snapping into place hit me as the final word fell from my lips and Lavinia released a shuddering breath.

"My mark is greater than all the rest," she murmured, taking in the way her mark on my skin stood out more clearly than all the others.

"As it should be, my Queen," I growled, knowing how to soothe her, keeping her on side.

She smiled and I let her sit up beneath me, accepting the kiss she gave me and grinning into her mouth as I tasted the salt of her tear upon her lips, her defeat tasting so very sweet.

"Now fix my hand," I snarled against her lips.

Lavinia flinched back, blinking in surprise at the savage tone I had used with her, but I merely presented the stump to her, demanding her focus.

Hesitantly, she curled her fingers around the aching flesh, shadows rising from her to coil across my skin. The burn intensified, a grunt escaping me as her shadows dug in deeper. A hand formed slowly, though I couldn't feel it as I had before, my teeth gritting as I tried to focus on the sensation of it, forcing the fingers to curl through pure force of will. But as the hand finally formed a fist, a stab of violent agony tore through the ruined flesh of my stump and a pulse of dark magic sent the two of us flying from the bed in opposite directions.

Once more, my Bonded ran to me, hauling me to me feet and gathering my robe about me to conceal my nudity.

"What is the meaning of this?" I hissed, glaring at Lavinia as she rose on the far side of the bed.

"The shadows are no longer slaves to my whispers," she said, her voice stricken with grief. "I can form a hand for you, but I cannot bend the shadows to any command but my own. I can't gift them to you or leave them rooted within you. I-"

"You will try again," I snarled, advancing on her, but a commotion in the hall drew my attention away.

"Vard has been located, Sire," one of my Bonded announced. "He was working to reclaim control over the foul beasts he has created, but will make his way to you with haste as soon as the last of them has been returned to its cage-"

"Did I ask for him to come at his own convenience?" I raged, whirling on the Dragon who dared bring me such disrespectful news. "Or did I command his presence now?"

The Dragon dropped to the floor, begging for my forgiveness but I ignored him, placing my foot in the centre of his back and stepping over him on my way out of the room.

"Lavinia!" I bellowed, summoning my wife to my side. "You will keep trying to fix my hand until you succeed. Understood?"

My queen hesitated as she fell into step with me, her dark eyes full of resentful realisation as she no doubt balked against the harsh delivery of my order. But she was mine now, and she felt the surge of emotion from the Guardian Bond urging her to please me in any way she could.

"I will," she agreed a beat too late, though her answer would suffice. "But the shadows did not simply purge themselves of my influence. Something has taken place which we do not understand. Where did the attacking army go? What happened out on the-"

I stopped dead so suddenly that the Bonded at my back crashed into one another and Lavinia strode on several more steps before noticing my halt.

"The Vegas were here," I breathed, the loose threads of what I knew coming together, tangling into a knot of unease which settled itself over my chest and squeezed. "The army was an illusion set to distract us. Their forces struck at the Nebula Inquisition Centres while we had our focus on the impending fight we thought had come for us. But what if there was more to their ruse…"

My mind roamed over all I knew of this day, and of that terrifying moment in which Darius had walked through my doors, resurrected from the grave. He had escaped me then but not before racing through the halls of my castle, locating the celestial creature I had captured and sending it to sleep to stop Lavinia from wielding it.

"The star," I gasped, breaking into a run, my cape billowing out behind me, bare cock bouncing uncomfortably with every step.

"Get me some proper fucking clothes and bring Vard to me at once," I roared to no one and everyone, my pace not faltering.

Down corridors of deepest green and up spiralling staircases, I ran with Lavinia at my heels and panic gilding my steps.

The Vegas had been here. They had been here and they had released Vard's monsters upon my army, meaning they had done more than wield illusions from the mountaintops. They had crept into my domain, and I had no way of knowing how deeply they had burrowed.

I ran out onto the hidden precipice behind my castle, falling still as I found Tharix there already, standing so close to the edge of the pit which housed my trapped star that the toes of his boots overhung the edge. Anyone else would have been terrified of that fall, yet he observed it as if it was as inconsequential as a summer's breeze.

"Does it speak to you?" Lavinia asked him, moving closer while I maintained my position.

It was quiet in this place. Too fucking quiet.

"It speaks to nothing but the wind and the rain now," Tharix replied.

"No," I gasped, breaking into a run again and throwing myself down onto my knees, peering into the gloom which stretched away beneath me.

With some difficulty, I cast a Faelight singlehandedly and dropped it over the edge, my pulse falling unnaturally still as it descended, revealing nothing but a lifeless, dull boulder in an empty canyon.

"They took it. They fucking stole it," I muttered but Tharix moved closer to me, his boots balanced on the edge of the cliff, his gaze on me where I still knelt on the ground.

"No. It hasn't been stolen. It has been freed."

"Freed?" I shook my head in horror, knowing what he meant, knowing that it was true as I stared at that empty space. The star had been freed from Lavinia's shadows and had completed the end of its life cycle, releasing itself and all of that potent, raw energy into a million specs of nothing which had been scattered to the far ends of the earth.

"It took your whispers with it, Mother," Tharix added thoughtfully. "I don't hear your breath in my ear anymore."

"You…but you are half Nymph," Lavinia said firmly, striding to him and taking his hand. He let her, tilting his head in that disconcerting way of his as he surveyed the woman who had brought him into this world.

"I am Nymph and I am Fae," he agreed, shadows creeping across his torso as he called upon them, but there was something different about them now, something paler in their colour and softer in their movements. "But I think I am something else beyond that. Something else beyond you."

Lavinia snatched her hand from his and struck him across the face, her concern falling to fury so easily.

"You are my boy and my creation," she hissed. "You are Heir to the Dragon King. My child. My Acrux born babe. Do not ever speak to me like that again."

Power rushed from Lavinia in a sudden spill of ink, her own shadows dark and potent with her influence as they hurled Tharix across the open space and pinned him to the wall. His muscles bunched and limbs thrashed as she tortured him with them in punishment for his insolence, but he didn't cry out or beg for her to stop like most would under such strain. No, my Heir did not succumb to the weakness of the flesh.

"Enough," I spat, regaining my feet and Lavinia dropped him. "The boy knows his place, don't you?"

Tharix pushed himself onto his knees, panting against the onslaught of agony he had just survived, his dark eyes, so very like his mother's, now pinned on me.

The defiance I found in his expression hurled me back into the past for a moment, into the office in my old manor where another Heir of mine had once stared up at me from his knees after receiving a punishment. Darius had looked at me in just the same way, but I would not make the same mistakes I had with my past Heir now. I would carve the insolence out of Tharix before it got a chance to take root any further and be certain to keep him in line.

"I asked you a question," I prompted when Tharix remained silent.

"Yes, Father," he replied finally.

"Good."

Shuffling footsteps announced the arrival of another and I whirled around as Vard finally deigned to submit to my orders.

"I came as quickly as I could, Sire. Just as soon as I had contained the creations and-"

"Tell me, how did the Vegas manage to get past your men and release your beasts upon my army?" I hissed. "How did they make it past the security you claimed was infallible and creep into my fucking castle undetected?"

"With all due respect," Vard simpered. "If the Vegas made it into the castle then surely it is your guards who are at fault-"

"They entered through your caverns!" I bellowed. "They broke into this place and freed the star who should have guaranteed our victory against-"

My words cut off as the world suddenly took a deep inhale, the air itself stilling and within that utterly unnatural peace, I felt the presence of another star arriving.

Fear stirred within my soul as Clydinius swept out onto the precipice in total silence, his impassive face finally showing some flicker of emotion as he looked at the chasm where the star I had promised him dominion over for his own designs now lay empty of power.

"It was the Vegas," I hissed, feeling his fury even as his silence stretched. "Those twins who I have sworn to end. They came here and did this. They stole from the both of us."

"I need a Trinity," Clydinius said, his words slow and deliberate. "I made that clear."

"Yes." I wetted my lips, trying to remain still and not shift beneath his penetrating gaze. "And I have had Madam Monita working tirelessly to predict you the next point of collision. Just this morning she told me she thinks another star will fall soon. I will deliver on my part of our bargain, your Eminence."

Death hung in the weight of those words as Clydinius measured them and no one dared speak while we waited to see what he might do. I was the greatest Fae in all the land and yet I couldn't stop the power of a star from crushing me if he chose to do so.

Clydinius turned his gaze from the chasm to me, power making the air tremble around him as he considered his options, and I could feel my limbs quaking in time with it.

"You will show me where the star shall fall," he decided. "And this time, I will be waiting to ensure it joins with me."

"Yes," I agreed on an exhale of utter relief. "Yes, it shall be so."