The Secret Trinity: Reign (Fae-Witch Trilogy, Book 3) (24 page)

“
Noooo
!
  Stay with me, Father, stay with me!”  Clay screamed, shaking him in his arms.
Tears streamed down my face.  So t
hat was the role my Mother had given Bryan from her vision. 
She had made him promise to hold on, to not return to her in heaven until he saved his son.  The pain Clay was feeling washed over me.  I had to fight the urge to be sick as a founta
in of water fell from my eyes.

“Oh, how touching, but unless you have any more body shields, I’m afraid your time is up,” Liam said coldly, standing over Clay
still holding his limp Father
while his minions waited for the order to pounce again.  All I could hear were the guttural cries coming from Aileen and other Court member
s behind me.  Our King was dead.

I could feel the golden light emanating from Clay as his anger took over, and the whoosh of wind passed through my ears as dozens of metal knives were f
orcefully ripped from the
Famori
i
hands, away from our Court member’s necks.  The knives hit the ceiling above so hard they stuck in its wood
,
and everyone looked up for
just
a split second
, suddenly
realizing this was their chance.  An eruption of punching, flying g
lass, and water pipes bursting up through
the ground took over in seconds, creatin
g cha
os.  Wood spears and ice weapons whizzed past my head as the fighting ensued.  I flew upright to stand, conjuring gusts of sha
rp wind to knock over the
Famori
i
on top of Clay
,
but once he was free he ran as fast as lighting
toward
Liam.  I screamed
.  S
till sensing Liam’s Black Magic shield
,
but before I could teleport in Clay’s path
,
he connected with Liam’s shield sending him flying backward into a succession of jolted somersaults.  Liam was on a mission to finish the job
.
H
e stood there smirking wickedly with his arms crossed, uninterested in the
Fae
all around him
fighting against his men.  He had tunnel vision on my Soul Keeper and strode down the aisle
toward
Clay who was struggling to recover from the hit.  I twisted my hand in
to
my stomach, breathless from Clay’s pain.  My face turned red, my vision blurred, and before I knew what had happened, Liam and I were tumbling
, landing in his
Famorii
cave.

I
had
crashed into Liam slicing right through his protective cloak
,
and with a hard shove to his chest, I
had
tel
eported us back to his prisoner
s cavern.  My penetration of his cloak had caught him off guard, but I wasn’t surprised.  I felt like I was on fire.  My green glow lit the dark cave a
nd I shoved him again removing
t
he shield
all together, just as he once did to
me.  All of the prisoners stood
up in their cells, startled by our abrupt entrance.  He stumbled backwards and caught my wrist, pul
ling me with him.  My eyes
wide
ned frantically
as we fell into the small lake in the center of the cave. 
I knew I was in trouble.

The icy water cut through my skin.  I frantically kicked my legs, and my head barely broke the surface of the water.  I was splashing wildly, trying to fly out.  I caught the fr
ightened looks on the prisoners’
faces, wishing they could step through the cell’s shield and help me.  As my body lifted o
ut of the water, a thorny vine o
f ice wrapped up my leg pu
lling me forcefully back under
and I gurgled a scream.  The lake beneath the surface glowed from my green light.  I could see Liam’s smiling face, breathing easily under the water, happy to be in his territory.  With a swirl of his finger, another vine wrapped up my other leg.  Its thorns ripped through my jeans cutting my skin as I kicked wildly against them.  My glow began to dim, my head becomi
ng too fuzzy to teleport away.

My lungs were burning, begging me to take a breath
,
and he watched me, fascinated as I struggled, trying desperately not to give in.  I mustered all of my strength
to conjure
a tornado of wind
which
swirled around me in
the water.  The wind
created a hurricane and swirled faster as I drained my energy.  I was caught in the funnel
’s center.  U
sing what was left of my strength I thrust my hands into the air as a deep swallow of water blazed down my throat.  The wind lifted me up and out of the lake, and I flew over the edge
, as a
wall of water came crashing down around me.  I landed hard onto the stone floor, choking.  I began to cough uncontrollably trying
to free the water from my lungs, feeling so weak I could pass out.  More water droplets fell over me as Liam
’s dark shadow hovered above.

“Impressive
Aira
abilities, t
hat wind funnel was lovely.  A tenacious one you are, and that is why you will make a marvelous
Famorii
Queen.  Although you shouldn’t have wasted such precious energy, I would have pulled you out eventually.”  Liam snapped his fingers and a funnel of wind picked me up from the ground
,
spinning me around to face him.  I could feel him sucking the energy from his captive
s
, their faces draining of color as he
drew power from those with blood
of
Aira
.  The sudden spin had me even dizzier
. 
My head bobbled weakly as I attempted the me
mory-loss spell, to help them
help me.

Liam began to laugh, “There is the feisty Aria I love.  I just told you not to waste your energy, but you try anyhow.  It’s a pity
really,
once we
’
re seale
d you’ll be as obedient as them.  I’ll miss this side of you,”
Liam said
,
cocking his head to the cells full of
vacant-
eyed young women.  The whimsy left his face
and he pulled me by the hair out of the wind funnel so I would stand next to him, but the effort made me wobble. 

Then a crash sounded from down a corridor and dust
came spilling from its tunnel. 
I could feel Clay’s presence, and I yanked my head away to try and fly, but Liam’s fingers tangled deep
er in my hair.  I stumbled to my
knees, coughing again, my lungs burning with pain
from taking in the icy water.  A
shiver crept over me, dripping wet and
cold.  I didn’t want Clay here!  My
head
was spi
n
ning with fear.  I had to get
him
, them,
out of here.
  I knew they were all here.  Where were they
in this
labyrinth
cave?  I tried to
trace
them
, but my mind coul
dn’t focus.  Was he injured?  Were
t
he
y scared?
O
h god, I came
here to leave them out of this!

“It seems your little lap dog has invaded my home.  I’m nothing if not adaptable.”  Liam said, pulling on my hair again so I would stand.  I stumbled along trying not slip into unconsciousness as blood and oxygen fought to return to my brain.  My muscles felt drained from the exertion.  I tried to teleport to help my friends but Liam blocked it, a
nd I was too weak to fight him. 
I couldn’t even hit him with an electric shock
,
let alone a fire ball.
  He quickly raised his hand
out
and brought the stepping s
tones up from beneath the lake
leading to the standalone platform in its center where the iron cauldron sat.  He picked me up by the waist and leapt onto every other stone, reaching the platform in three strides. 

Another cloud of
dust bellowed from a tunnel.  We
could hear fighting and screaming coming from down its path, resonating so loud it overcame the
sound of the
waterfall spilling from the lake into the open night air.  A wash of panic made me queasy when I thought of what could be happening as they fought against
the
Famorii
and Ashen Witches.

Liam’s head snapped up at
the sound of the battle reverberating through the tunnel
,
and he threw me down to the ground next to the iron cauldron.  My head hit the concrete with a hard smack.  I tried to fly, to teleport, to create a tornado to carry him away from me, but I was on the verge of unconsciousness.  All I could see was the dark sapphire haze pouring from the cauldron as Liam
quickly began to
chant.  I was crippled with fear as I flashed back to my
vision
realizing, this was it, it was coming true just as I knew it would.  I sat up, but Liam kicked my elbow out from underneath me and I fell to my back, hitting my head once again.  The blue haze blurred my vision as Liam continued
to chant, circling me now.  A
thunderous clou
d hovered ominously above and then
slowly lowered
toward
me as it began to rain its black droplets over my face. 
T
hrough the transparency of the dark cloud
,
I could make out the
Famorii
creatures carved on the wall as I blinked away the black rain trying to shield it from my eyes.  Their slimy tentacles felt like they were reaching out to me through the cloud
,
as it wafted over my face until its smoke had me choking.  That is the moment it began. A thousand kniv
es stabbed my chest at once and I felt my ribcage snap.
I sucked in a sharp intake of air as the pain of it took over.  I tried to tell my body to heal
,
but the spell was useless against this power, its pain indescribable
as it cut deeper into my sides.

“
The spell has been cast Aria, a
nd once it breaks you free of him
,
you will be
my
Queen,”
Liam said
,
now
hovering over me.  I blinked slowly, staring at his coal black, soulless eyes.  I tried to reach out and zap him into dust
,
but he easily slapped my hand away
.  Another shard of ribs cut
in
to my
sides
,
and I screamed, but the sound caught in my throat, the pain so deep inside I couldn’t breathe.  I felt the spell begin to ooze through my skin, breaking each rib as it passed.  Soon it would dig deeper all the way to my heart, until it finally wrapped around my soul
and ripped my love
away from me, forever.  Even the prisoners began to yell and bang on the walls, terrified for my life, feeling the unnatu
ral Black Magic hanging over me
trying to break me with its darkness.

“Help!
  Help her please!”  A girl cried out from her cell and I turned my head weakly looking at her without fear, accepting my fate.  At least when it was done, Clay had a chance to live a long healthy life.  I
prayed my Kingdom had fled
Draí
ochta
, leaving Ireland altogether
,
and hoped feebly that Liam wouldn’t hunt them.  I whispered goodbye to her, to my family, but most of all to Clay, because the spell was taking hold.  I could feel our
sealment
begin to tear away piece-by-piece.  The black oil rain was absorbing into my pores ready to soak up my soul.  My eyes felt heavy, the pain to
o excruciating to stay awake. 
I could
n’t keep them open any longer.

“I’ll kill you!”  Clay c
ried out in a labored manner, the sound
echoing loudly down a tunnel
,
and my eyes snapped back open.  He appeared through a corridor in my peripheral vision, bounding
toward
us
,
leaping the stepping stones without
a thought.

“This should be fun.
I’ll enjoy tearing your lap dog to shreds,” Liam said
, looking down at me with twisted
pleasure.  I reached out for C
lay to stop, feeling
his pain as he neared.  He was too weak for this fight, but I couldn’t even lift my arm.  Clay knocked into Liam on th
e platform but Liam was ready.  G
rabbing his throat
,
he slammed Clay hard into t
he ground, and I cho
ked on a scratchy scream.  Adam flew up above me and scooped me up.  I tried to struggle aga
inst him, to return
to help Clay on the platform, but my body wouldn’t respond, and Adam landed us on the stone
floor setting me down gently.