Dark World (Book I in the Dark World Trilogy) (38 page)

He moved stealthily over the bodies,
pain shooting through his head and left leg. His sword gone, lost
in the fall, he tried to manifest a plan.

A deep grunt ahead, followed by a
snort, caused him to pause. His mother was only a few feet in front
of him. Her ragged breaths betraying her. She was dying.

A dawning realization fell over him,
understanding why his father did what he did. He had to turn the
pyramid off. He had to make the demons mortal—to make Malus mortal.
It was the only way to ensure her demise. That’s why she wanted to
scrolls. To open the fissure. To relight the pyramid. She wanted
her immortality.

Kane inched forward, he’d have to
improvise. Hope that destiny would intervene. Assist
him.

Another grunt, heavy, moist breathing,
only an arm’s width away. Whispers surrounded him. The shades. They
were conspiring. Plotting.

He had to move. Quickly.

His body protested with every movement,
but he forced himself to his feet. Kane had just come to standing
when a flash of light, bright as lit magnesium, flared in front of
him, cupped within the hands of an enemy shade. The room
enlightened. Horror filled every corner. Death. Slaughter. All his
allies—dead.

His mother stood in front of him, back
in her original form, beautiful, yet badly injured. Her breath
labored and blue eyes filled with blood and rage. What had his
magic done to her? Where did it come from?

A dozen shades surrounded him, weapons
drawn and pointed at his chest.

“
My
son
,” she spat the words, blood gurgling in
the back of her throat as she uttered a weak laugh. “I
underestimated you.”

She waggled a pale finger in Fate’s
direction, Fate stumbling forward like a puppet, still under his
mother’s command.

“
But, I still…” she coughed, her
now frail body wracking, “have
her
.”

“
Let her go,” Kane growled,
clutching his wounded arm.

The Queen laughed weakly. “I actually
might have considered it…shared the riches of the Surface with
you…if you hadn’t mortally wounded me.” Her ice-blue eyes glared
him down. “Now I need her body.”

Panic flooded him as he watched his
mother approach Fate, hand extended, reaching for her.

“
What are you doing?” Kane’s
breath caught in his throat, knowing the answer.

She ignored him, setting her palm against
Fate’s chest. White light pulsed between them, the Queen’s energy
moving from her own body into Fate’s.

“
Wait! Please!” Kane took a
step forward only to have the guards thrust their weapons at him,
snarling and threatening to pierce his chest.

“
Usus meus animus,”
his mother chanted,
her voice echoing through the ballroom.
“Usus meus animus.”

She’s going to possess her!
Right here, right now! And there’s nothing I can do!

Frantic, Kane searched the room. There
had to be something. Someone to help.

Then he saw movement. Behind the Queen.
Behind Fate.

Vale.

Within a haze of mist and shadow, Vale
appeared behind Fate, wrapping his arm around her waist and giving
the Queen a quick glare, vanished before her eyes.

“
Nooo!” the Queen shrieked, her
long silver hair drenched in blood and dress torn as she spun
around, searching for her host body. Her eyes, now crimson with
fury, locked onto Kane. “Where is she?” she roared.

He shrugged, allowing a cocky grin to
glide over his lips.

His mother screamed, her dying body
bringing her to her knees. Maxim rushed to her side, setting the
steel box on the floor beside him, tending to her. On hands and
knees, she wailed, knowing it was her end. Without Fate’s body, she
couldn’t live on. Kane had won.

“
Kill him,” she murmured
between blood-stained teeth, hatred slicing through him with her
stare. “Kill him, now.”

The shades surrounding him lunged
forward, their weapons piercing his black skin, hot blood gushing.
The prince fell to the floor, the world fading around
him.

Kane raised his eyes to ceiling, knowing
this was the end. But he felt at peace. Fate was safe. The Devil
would soon be dead. He could die with serenity in his
heart.

He closed his eyes, awaiting the dark
blanket of death to shroud him. He was ready.

Cracking.

Thunderous cracking roused him from his
deathly slumber. He forced his lids open a sliver. Surely he
couldn’t still be alive.

The ceiling overhead snapped and
popped, the lattice of bones crackling. Then gave way.

Debris rained down. An enormous shadow
descended through the gaping hole in the dome.

Kane’s dying body ran cold as his eyes
focused.

No! Ever, no!

The Power of Three

“
What was that?” Fate asked,
holding her throbbing head in her hands. The weakness in her body
was unbearable, she couldn’t even muster the energy to lift her
head.

A thunderous crash shook the building,
originating downstairs in the ballroom.

“
I don’t know, I’ll go check
it out,” Vale said, peering through a crack in Fate’s chamber room
door.

“
I’ll go with you,” Fate
offered, attempting to stand, then falling back onto the
bed.

Vale rushed to her. “I think you’d
better stay put,” he stated through a weary smile.

“
What happened?” she asked,
draping a cool, pale hand across her aching forehead.

Vale sighed. “The Queen, she almost had
you. You almost became the Devil.”

“
What?” she exclaimed, cold
fear running through her as recollection trickled in. “Where’s
Kane?”

Vale shook his head, veiled sadness
behind his eyes.

Her throat tightened. He couldn’t be.
She wouldn’t believe it.

“
We need to get down there.”
Fate forced her body upright, anger fueling newfound strength. She
had to help. Had to try.

Vale took quick strides from the door,
grabbing her by both shoulders. “You can’t, the Queen needs your
body. Don’t you understand? She’ll die without you.”

“
But…Kane.” Fate’s eyes
filled with tears. “He needs me.”

He pulled her close, her sobs echoing
off the walls.

“
I didn’t…get a chance to
tell him how I felt,” she cried, remembering the last words they’d
shared before the ball. “I wouldn’t forgive him.”

Vale smoothed her hair with his
hand.

How could she leave him to die? How
could she hide out upstairs while he faced his mother alone? Was he
already dead?

Fate pushed Vale away. “I’m going,” she
said, moving towards the door.

“
You can’t! Please!” he
pleaded, following her.

“
I have to try. Stay here if
you want, but I can’t sit here…not knowing what’s happened to
someone I love.”

His face hardened, understanding
crossing his eyes. “I’ll come with you.”

Arcanum roared as he burst through the
ceiling, wings scraping against the walls of the ballroom as he
descended, Ever clinging to his back.

The Queen stood, chin aloft, a terrible
grin carved on her face.

“
Ever,” Kane choked on her
name, horror twisting like a poisonous serpent around his
soul.

The dragon landed in the center of the
room, his copper and gold scales gleaming against the light of the
magnesium orb still held within the royal shade’s hand.

Ever’s eyes swept the carnage, her brow
furled with worry. Her gaze stopped dead when she saw Kane. With a
gasp, she slid from Arcanum’s back and ran to him, kneeling beside
him.

“
Daddy!” her voice quavered
as she ran her hands over him, trying to assess his wounds. Tears
spilled from her eyes when she realized the extent of his
injuries.

“
Daddy! Oh no,” she
whimpered. “I’m so sorry I didn’t come sooner. I saw her army
coming…and I know you told me to go to Legion to get help…but there
was no time and…” she rambled through sobs.

“
Ever…” Kane struggled to
speak, blood pooling in the back of his throat. “My baby, you…have
to…” His head lolled back, the world edging into
blackness.

“
What? Daddy, please! Don’t
leave me alone!” She stroked his face. “What do I have to
do?”

Forcing his lips, eyes wide, he
uttered, “Get away!”

The Queen stood behind her, drenched in
her own blood, eyes swirling black and red. Her form unstable, face
contorting from that of a graceful ivory demon to a variation of
hideous beasts.

“
Ever,” she hissed her
granddaughter’s name. “Come to me.”

Ever stood, though did not leave Kane’s
side.

Get away, Ever!
Kane reeled
inside.
Run!

Kane heard Arcanum’s rage, charging the
Queen, dark smoke escaping his nostrils as fire smoldered behind
his teeth. The world spun around him, his spent blood cooling
beneath him.

It wasn’t going to be long.

“
Hold him off!” Kane heard
impatience in his mother’s voice as she ordered her shades to
subdue the raging dragon.

Shifting her focus back to Ever, the Queen
asked of her, “Are you afraid, little one?”

His eyelids struggling to remain open,
he saw Ever raise her chin defiantly and shake her head
no.

The Queen stroked Ever’s cheek, then held
her face with both hands and whispered, “You should be.”

With one last beat of his heart, Kane’s
eyes closed.

She descended the staircase four at a
time, Vale’s wisp too weak to take even one of them back to the
ballroom.

“
Hurry!” Fate called to
him.

A flight behind her, he retorted, “I
am!”

After the crash in the ballroom,
followed by a few roars, there was silence. That bothered Fate more
than anything. What was going on in there? What was the crash? What
creature was bellowing?

She couldn’t get there fast enough. A
vision of Kane, bleeding, dying, stayed clear in her mind. What
would she do without him?

She loved him.

Hope coalesced with fear, a sickened
combination of emotions rose and fell inside of her. She bounded
down the stairs with renewed fervor.

At the end of the staircase, she raced
towards the French doors, ignoring Vale’s anguished cries for her
to wait.

Fate flung the doors wide open, a gruesome
scene unfolding before her: necromancer bodies lay strewn about the
floor, silver blood streaming from them. Arcanum, his massive body
crawling with shades, lay muzzled and tied amidst the heap of
slaughter. Ever stood in the center of the room, her chest
pulsating with silver light as the Devil muttered an
incantation.

And Kane.

Fate gasped, the world moving in
slow-motion as she ran to him. Traversing the field of death, she
fell to her knees at his side.

In her peripheral, she saw Vale grasp a
sword from a fallen fighter and attack the Queen, plunging the
blade into her chest. The link between her and Ever severed, but
both fell lifelessly to the floor.

“
Kane,” she sobbed. Her
hands ran over his chest. Cold. No heartbeat.

Fate rested her cheek on his cold
chest. No breath. No life.

Why now? Why when they both realized
their feelings for one another?

Why?

Lying there, wishing that she too would
die, just to be with him, she remembered. A sudden, sharp
memory.

I’ve healed him
before.

Setting both her hands on him, she
closed her eyes and searched for the power that had served her once
before.

Please! Please bring him
back!

A slight tingling warmed her
fingertips. Then, nothing.

Please, goddammit!
Please!

She tried again, squeezing her eyes
shut, searching her soul for some unknown force.

Fate opened her eyes, gazing at her
prince, waiting. But nothing happened.

I’m not strong enough. I was
too late. I can’t bring him back.

Hot, salty tears careened her cheeks.
He was gone. Her eyes worshipped every angle of his gentle face.
One last look.

Fate leaned over, taking his face into
her hands, his skin cold on her palms. Bringing her lips to his,
brushing them softly, she whispered, “I love you.”

A stir of energy sparked in her core.
Heat.

She set her hands upon his chest,
allowing the spark to flow through her. Letting the power move
through her. Move into Kane.

It pulsated. Flowed. Shared.

But it still wasn’t strong
enough.