Chapter Eleven

 

 

 

   Jonas helplessly stared at the chaos in the castle around him, not sure what to do. He was having a hard time standing, his battle with the Netharat having taken its toll. Grief at Remir’s betrayal ate at him, as did the guilt that he hadn’t seen the truth and helped his friend sooner. The knowledge that Ellie might still need his aid had him struggling to teleport to her side. He closed his eyes and locked in on the feel of her Dark energy. In more time than it normally took to move through the between, Jonas found her.

   He stayed to the shadows as he watched the sombre group before him, wondering how the Djinn in the northlands fared. During their skirmish with the Netharat, Alor, at least, had managed to break away, working through a gap in the Netharat shield containing them. Sadly, he’d escaped too late to do Ravyn any good.

   As Jonas stood in the western kingdom’s central keep, he watched the Storm Lords and their affai circle around the dead body of Queen Ravyn, overqueen of Tanselm no more. Ellie, thankfully, stood protected in the strong arms of her husband. Relief filled him that at least she remained safe.

   Alor would need to take control of the Djinn in the North to explain the precarious situation they now faced. Jonas knew it was up to him to explain what he knew to the Storm Lords. He had to make them believe the underlying danger to them all. But he wasn’t sure how to cut through the thick layer of grief covering everyone in the tomb-like expanse of the queen’s chambers.

   Another wave of dizziness hit him, and he cursed under his breath when he realised he was bleeding even though he remained in shadow form. A small pool of blood was steadily growing on the floor, drawing the attention of Darius. The Prince of Fire raised a hand filled with orange flame, and Jonas quickly showed himself before he suffered an attack he might not recover from.

   “I didn’t mean to intrude,” Jonas said hoarsely as he drew apart from his shadow on the wall and coalesced into a man’s form. “If it could wait I wouldn’t have bothered.”

   A frown replacing the anger in Darius’s eyes. He, Aerolus and the others soon surrounded Jonas.

   “What happened?” Aerolus asked quietly, the Dark, decadent aura of grief clinging to him like a second skin.

   “You look like shit,” Darius growled, his eyes wet with unshed tears.

   “They attacked us in the north. I tried to send Alor to warn you…” Jonas slumped and would have fallen to his knees if Darius hadn’t caught him.

   “Sit down, Jonas.” Aerolus turned. “Ellie, he needs you.”

   She knelt beside him. The look on her face tore Jonas in half.

   “I’m so sorry, Ellie. That bastard has been one step ahead of us all along.” Rage burned, that his best friend had been a pawn of an enemy Dark Lord for so long and Jonas hadn’t known. He’d sensed something amiss in Remir, had even conferred with Lexa about Remir once or twice, but he’d never been able to solidify Remir’s guilt. Until today. Until it was too late.

   “It’s not your fault, Jonas.” Ellie rested her hands on his shoulders, tensing only slightly when Cadmus added his strength by placing a hand on her arm. She pushed Dark energy through Jonas, and Jonas absorbed it like a starving man.

   The Wraith’s Kiss—a spell that caused blue flame to burn its victim from the inside out—lingered like a disease after his battle with those ice wraiths. Blessed Night, but Jonas truly hated the wraiths. His pain eased as Ellie poured her energy into him.  Cadmus’s touch aided greatly, as tied as the Earth Lord was to Tanselm, his healing was immense.

   In no time, Jonas felt himself, and he hastened to warn them against what he feared was coming next. “One of my men was compromised and barely managed to warn me of ‘Sin Garu’s intentions before dying. The Dark Lord is responsible for Ravyn, and I’m afraid it gets worse.”

   “We know.” Marcus spoke in a voice devoid of emotion, the intensity of his rage shining in eyes that turned from blue to black. “A Djinn killed our mother, a Darkling in league with several Aellei.”

   “That’s what you’re supposed to believe.” Jonas shook his head, aware the kingdoms were in serious trouble if he couldn’t get the Storm Lords to listen to him. Would they trust his word over the Church of Illumination’s?

   “Why wouldn’t we believe it?” Cadmus asked. “I want to think that this is all a plot to make us turn on each other. That’s easier to stomach than that our own citizens, Darklings we’ve taken into our hearts and lives, would turn on us, betraying our hope for peace between our kind.”

   “Exactly,” Jonas agreed. “With Darklings and Shadow Dwellers blamed for all this, the Light Bringers will turn on their new neighbours. Strife and discord will grow. The potential unity and strength we need to defeat ‘Sin Garu and the Netharat will be gone as if it had never been.”

   “A logical conclusion,” Aerolus said. “But if the Djinn and Aellei aren’t at fault, how then do you explain Sarqua involvement in Mother’s death? How do you know your people haven’t actually turned against the Light Bringers? They’ve been dealing with Church and Light Bringer animosity since they arrived. What’s to say ‘Sin Garu didn’t make them a better offer?”

   Frustrated, Jonas stood, not knowing how best to answer. He wanted to tell them he was sure it was the Church at fault, that the Sarqua Djinn were innocent. But what if he’d missed another Darkling like Remir, one enspelled by ‘Sin Garu? For that matter, he didn’t know exactly how Ravyn had died, only that Remir had whispered that the Church had something to do with this mess. Perhaps the Storm Lords had the right of it. Yet his gut told him this was all a part of ‘Sin Garu’s plan to weaken the Light Bringers’ hold on Tanselm.

   “We want to believe you, Jonas,” Cadmus said tiredly. He glanced back at his mother, his body tense, his aura impossibly bleak. “But I don’t think we can afford to trust in supposition any longer.”

   “Then what do you propose to do?” Jonas asked.

   “We send the Aellei back to Aelle and the Djinn back to Foreia,” Darius said bluntly. “We gather our sorcerers and warriors and tighten down like we should have from the beginning. Martial law enforced.”

   “Yes.” Marcus looked unhappy about the decision. “I sense what Jonas says may be true, yet keeping Darklings and Shadren here will only exacerbate the Light Bringers’ distrust in their leaders. Already there is talk of removing the Storm Lords from power. While I’d gratefully leave the throne to anyone more capable to defend us, quite frankly, there aren’t any. Without us here to marshal our people, the magic in Tanselm is doomed to ‘Sin Garu.”

   Jonas could see that Marcus was trying to do what was right, but the Storm Lords needed all the help they could get. “You don’t understand. Remir told me something before he died. It’s the Church. I think they conspired to kill the queen.”

   Marcus shook his head. “As much as I dislike the Church, I can’t believe that. They’re extremely bigoted, and I admit their antiquated ideas on Light and Dark need a lot of help, but they would never kill Tanselm’s overqueen. Our mother was the heart and soul of Tanselm.”

   Darius added his thoughts. “Much as I can’t stand the Congregation of Idiots, I agree with Marcus.”

   “But it’s possible,” Jonas tried, but was cut off by the Storm Lords and their affai beginning to argue amongst themselves. To his surprise, all the affai bonded against the Church, but the Royal Four weren’t so sure. Shit. This was getting them nowhere. Though they tried, no one in the room besides Jonas was thinking with a clear head. The loss of Queen Ravyn had deeply affected them all, especially Tanselm. Jonas could feel the land weeping, her magic surging in fits and starts, no doubt screwing with the Storm Lords’ ability to reason. Even their affai were affected, Alandra more than the others as she wept inconsolably while raging against narrow-minded zealots.

   Hastening to divert the pain growing in the room, Jonas carefully siphoned some of their negative energy and tried again. “Listen, I didn’t tell you this before, but Sava and I have been doing some digging.”

   “Does Arim know? About Ravyn, I mean,” Samantha asked softly, her arms around Darius’s middle, as if holding onto him like a lifeline. Like her husband, red glints of anger shone in her tear-filled gaze.

   “Where the hell is he?” Darius growled while trying to soothe his affai.

   “He must know,” Aerolus answered. “The minute Mother fell, we all felt it.” He rubbed his chest, and Jonas felt the ache as if it were his own. Involuntarily, his Darkness latched onto Aerolus’s pain, consuming the seething intensity. “Jonas, whatever you’re doing is helping, so keep doing it. I’m able to think more clearly with you and Ellie near me.”

   Cadmus hugged Ellie to him. “I felt as if I would die when I saw Mother, but Ellie’s Darkness saps much of the pain of this loss, making it more bearable, if that makes sense.”

   “I’m glad something good can come out of this,” Darius muttered, running his hands through his inky hair. “We don’t have time to grieve, nor would Mother want us to, not now. You remember what Arim told us. We have to preserve Tanselm, not just for our good, but for the balance of worlds everywhere. If ‘Sin Garu takes our world, others with less magic may be next.” He held his affai’s hand. “To include the mundane planes, like Earth.”

   Tessa and Samantha looked at one another, their faces drawn. Alandra, however, burst out into a new flow of violent tears so unexpectedly that everyone was taken aback.

   “Purie, what—” Aerolus tried to console his affai, but Alandra glowed, her aura changing from one of Shadow to one of Darkness impossibly fast.

   Jonas felt the magic within her turn as well, and he grew concerned. The Aellei were more than magic users. They were magic itself. Alandra’s power rivalled anyone’s in this room, to include the conspicuously absent Arim.

   “They killed her. Our mother. A loving, giving woman who never hurt anyone. She was so good, so pure. She accepted me. Truly loved me, and now she’s gone.” Alandra made a shriek that sounded inhuman, and Jonas was reminded that she was Shadren, a cousin to those awful Nocumat he hated.

   “Alandra, try to relax,” Aerolus said with a deep, cleansing calm. “We all love and miss her, purie. But there is nothing we can do to bring her back. We can only serve her people now, as she’d want us to.”

   He drew her into his arms and let her weep, and the other women cried a torrent of tears. The Storm Lords weren’t unaffected, far from it, though each battled the pain growing in the room.

   Though he tried not to overindulge, Jonas began feeling the effects from so much negative emotion. Whereas before he’d been unsteady due to a lack of blood, now he felt woozy from imbibing too much power. Magically weakened from his altercation with the Netharat, he was having a hard time shielding himself from absorbing the Light Bringers’ pain.

   “I’m sorry. I have to get out of here for a minute. Too much energy…”

   Jonas flashed out of the room and into the courtyard outside the walls of the western keep. A mistake he immediately recognised. A throng of angry and grief-stricken Light Bringers mustered around several Church brethren spitting Light Bringer doctrine. The large group was intent on their holy gathering—a gathering he’d interrupted.

   Silence reigned for a long minute while everyone’s eyes narrowed on him.

   “There, see?” One of the Light Bringers sneered and pointed a finger at Jonas. The thin, gangly older man wore a long brown robe and sported a staff affixed with a large milky-white stone. The stone began glowing, protesting Jonas’ presence, and he inwardly cursed Light Bringer opal.

   The churchman continued. “It is as Ordinary Nohjen proclaims. ‘The Light shall ferret the evil Darkness from our world and send it back where it belongs. Holy is the soul that cleanses the impure from its pores.’” He pointed at Jonas. “His kind killed our queen. It is our bound duty as Light Bringers to send this spawn back to hell from whence he came.

   “Death to the Darklings and Shadren of our world. Death to all who would welcome them. Down with the Storm Lords. The time has come for a new regime to lead us back into the Light.”

   All they needed were pitchforks and torches, Jonas thought with amused dismay. He knew he shouldn’t have thought of this rebellion as humorous, but the overindulgence of energy he’d consumed couldn’t stop his shit-eating grin.

   Mistake number two.

   The Light Bringers found nothing funny about him and roared their disapproval as they tore past the churchmen towards him. Brother Pain In the Ass turned the orb on Jonas full blast, and he was unable to teleport to safety.

   Sharp nails and bony fingers prodded his already tender flesh, newly healed courtesy of Ellie, while Jonas fought for sobriety and escape.

   “What, by the Light’s Mark, is going on here?” Arim’s voice sounded heaven-sent as Jonas fought the press of bodies suffocatingly close. “Brother Forde?”

   The lead churchman pointed to Jonas. “This creature lives and breathes while our overqueen is dead,” he spat, his silent companions nodding like thoughtless drones. Brother Forde’s eyes widened, and he sneered with a savagery that reminded Jonas of ‘Sin Garu. “And you, oh great Guardian of Storm, bring with you a king of Shadow and a Dark Lord spawn. Our enemy stands freely by your side. What incredible hypocrisy! Your friends are the reason Tanselm is no longer safe. They kill our children, feasting on innocent flesh. Yet they walk beside you as equals.” Forde’s face turned beet-red and spittle flew from his mouth as he screamed, “Did you conspire to kill our beloved queen? Are you in league with ‘Sin Garu, as surely as you are with this Dark slut?” Forde glared at Lexa.
      The crowd quieted, in shock. As the silence settled, Brother Forde darted furtive looks around him. Probably looking for an escape route, thought Jonas with contempt. Even Forde must have sensed he’d gone too far. Jonas squirmed to be let loose and fought to see Arim and the others. What he finally saw made him shiver. The fury brewing in Arim stirred his Djinn soul to respond.

   Unfathomable Darkness in one so full of Light.

   Jonas watched the spectacle unfold before him in awe, aware he was most likely watching Light Bringer history in the making. Sava, he noted absently, looked none the worse for wear. While Jonas had been fighting Netharat and teleporting into Dark strongholds all over the known worlds looking for signs of ‘Sin Garu, Sava looked as if he’d been frequenting the most expensive salons.

   The Aellein king’s long, white-blond hair lay perfectly straight and shiny over his shoulders. His pristine—again white—overtunic and trousers had not a smudge or wrinkle to mar their silken perfection, and his skin glowed with vigour as he stared at Arim, waiting with everyone else to see the sorcerer’s reaction.

   The sight of Lexa, however, shocked the hell out of Jonas. She looked like Arim’s other half in similar Light Bringer battle garb. Her skin glowed, a pale cream that shone under the moon’s ambient light, and the inky swell of her hair framed a face too beautiful to be real. Her light blue eyes whitened with anger as she stared at the masses glaring back at her, and Jonas could feel her readying to blow them all to hell.

   Arim, however, focused on the churchman, his black eyes turning a rainbow of colour that, Jonas had learned, promised nothing remotely pleasant. With a flick of his wrist, Arim lifted Brother Forde from his small platform in the courtyard several feet above the crowd. The man clutched his throat and gasped, his face red and his eyes bulging from his sockets as he struggled to breathe.

   “You dare malign me to our people when we are at our most vulnerable? You would attack me, chosen protector of the Light Bringers, chosen by Tanselm herself?” Arim snarled, his eyes inhumanly bright. The crowd cowered yet remained transfixed, like Jonas, at the wreck sure to follow. “My sister, your queen, lies dead. And you rally our people to war with themselves?”

   “Arim—” Sava tried to interrupt, but Lexa shook her head.

   “No, Sava. Let him. These fools think to ally with the force that probably took the queen from them in the first place.”

   All eyes fixed to Lexa, who stared with seething hatred at Brother Forde and his brethren.

   “What? Cursing the Djinn and Aellei here isn’t enough?” She glared at the crowd. “None of you, even those sorcerers in the back, can feel the Dark taint of ‘Sin Garu in these ‘stalwart’ Light Bringer churchmen?”

   Arim growled and threw the floating churchman fifty feet through the air into a towering rilk tree. The man hit the thick trunk with a solid slam and slid bonelessly to the ground, blood streaming from his ears. But Arim wasn’t through. He turned on the crowd and began expanding, literally growing into a giant as he addressed them, his size lending his voice an immense broadcast.   

   “You will not support any stance on insurrection and live, not in my presence. After all King Faustus and Queen Ravyn have done for you, after all their sons have sacrificed and worked to protect this land and her people—you miserable Light Bringers—none of you will do anything to jeopardise our fight against ‘Sin Garu, do you hear me?”

   Jonas wondered how any of them might not hear him, as loud as Arim shouted. The bodies pressing Jonas close scattered like the wind as the giant sorcerer stomped towards him and lifted him to his feet with the tip of his forefinger. Arim continued towards the castle, gradually diminishing in size until he regained his natural bearing. Several feet from the castle wall he stopped.

   He turned around and glared at Lexa, Sava and Jonas. “Well?”
            Sava and Jonas quickly joined him, but Lexa stared at Arim as if seeing him for the first time.

   “Come on, Blue, I don’t have all day,” Arim muttered, sounding much more like himself. The rough tenderness in his tone completely floored Jonas, who was finally coming down off his power-high.

   Jonas glanced from Lexa to Arim and back again and grinned like an idiot. “It worked. Hot damn.”

   Arim glowered at him. “You’re not out of the fire yet, Darkling.”

   Lexa added her displeasure with a blast of cold that had his teeth chattering before she turned on her heel to follow Arim.

   Whatever. So long as she and Arim were together, Jonas and Sava had done their job on that score. Now to settle the Storm Lords before they wiped the land of all creatures Dark and Shadow, and to finally find out what Sava might have learned about their enemy’s whereabouts.

  

   Lexa really didn’t want to follow Arim into the damned castle, but she relished staying outside with ignorant Light Bringers and Church brethren even less. Joining Sava and Jonas as they trailed Arim, she couldn’t help feeling a bit of solidarity surrounded by a Darkling and an Aellei.

   Arim kept glancing over his shoulder, making sure she was still with him, until he sighed loudly and yanked her to his side. She did her best to ignore Sava and Jonas’ smothered laughter and tried to free her arm from the great Guardian of Storm.

   He only tightened his grip and drew her apart from Sava and Jonas. He waved his hand to shield them from everyone.

   “No, Blue. You’re staying right with me. It’s you and me together. Period.”
            She couldn’t help the warmth stealing through her at his firm declaration. Still, a Dark Lord had a certain reputation to uphold. She yanked again. “Fine. I’m with you, dammit. But let go of my arm.” She cursed. “I’m not your prisoner.”

   He stared down at his grasp on her. Slowly, reluctantly, he let her go. “Sorry. It seems to be a habit, my running after you. I just don’t have the strength right now.”

   Lexa pressed her hand into his, giving him a tight squeeze. “I know. This is hard, and it’s going to get harder.” She swallowed, emotion choking her as she fought her own fears and tried to do the right thing. A burst of warmth lit her from within, and she started as she recognised Tanselm’s vibrant welcome. Somehow, that made it easier to share what she truly felt. “I’m here for you, Arim. Remember that.”

   He searched her gaze and gave a strained smile when he found what he’d apparently been looking for. “Good. No matter what happens, no matter what anyone says, you’re mine.” His tone and dark expression brooked no argument. The blasted man waved away the shield as he turned and stalked to the main staircase, still dragging her by the hand.

   “What was that about?” Sava asked in a low voice as he and Jonas rejoined them. “The privacy shield. What did you two talk about, hmm?”

   “Butt out, Sava,” Arim muttered. “You’ve done enough already.”

   “Don’t worry. I’m not forgetting my part in all this. You owe me, big.”

   “Ahem,” Jonas said with a slight cough as he hurried after them. “I was there too. As a matter of fact, I drugged Lexa at the cost of my very life.” He clutched his throat dramatically and stared at her in horror.

   “Please.” Lexa rolled her eyes, trying not to smile and failing to sum up the fury she’d once felt at his supposed defection. “You were nowhere near death’s door then, Jonas. Now, on the other hand… ”

   “You wouldn’t have killed him before? Going soft, Lexa?” Sava sounded smug. “Or is it that you were too weak before to harm a fly? What you’re really saying is that you’re much more powerful now than you were then. Thanks in great part, I’m sure, to a certain Light Bringer sorcerer we know.”

    “I’m not saying that at all. I felt perfectly fine then.” A lie. “I feel fine now.” Lexa  did in fact feel wonderful. Ever since making love with Arim, she’d felt restored, as if the part of her withering away in the demon plane hadn’t been taken.

   Was her new strength the result of Arim’s power, her own revitalising energy, or Tanselm’s magic? Lexa wanted to look deeper into herself but couldn’t concentrate and keep up with Arim’s leggy strides at the same time. She resolved to investigate the matter later, falling on Tanselm’s welcome as the source of her newfound strength as the most likely answer to her question. That made sense as much as anything she’d experienced. And she knew the land had missed her.

   Ignoring the startled, frightened and angry glares of the Light Bringer warriors swarming the keep, they arrived at the royal hallway leading to Ravyn’s quarters. Arim faltered once before he squeezed Lexa’s hand and continued. Waves of sadness radiated from him with growing intensity. Lexa heard Jonas’ hiss and knew he was aware of the feelings as well. A glance over her shoulder told her as much when he nodded towards Arim in sympathy.

   Arim neared Ravyn’s door and Lexa dreaded the coming confrontation. She had no doubt at least one if not more of Arim’s nephews were near Ravyn’s body. She’d never gone out of her way to make friends with the Storm Lords outside of Ellie, now a Storm Lord affai.

   Nodding to the guards protecting the entrance, Arim pushed the door open and strode through with Lexa, Jonas and Sava close behind. He froze when his gaze landed on the bed, and Lexa wasn’t surprised by the pain leeching through the physical contact of their hands.

   Ignoring the startled occupants of the room, Lexa focused on Arim. “I’ll wait here,” she whispered and prodded him to move forward without her. He didn’t spare her a glance as he approached the body of his sister lying on her bed.

   The minute he her hand go, Lexa braced for the hostility sure to swing her way. Jonas and Sava moved closer to her, proving she wasn’t the only one with such thoughts. Four mourning Storm Lords and their weeping affai stared at her in befuddlement that quickly turned to anger. The Prince of Fire placed himself in front of his affai and conjured a ball of flame. Marcus’s glare cooled to an icy blue, and Lexa could feel his telekinetic power shimmering as water crystals formed around him and his brothers like a shield. Soon those crystals would form sharp, lethal daggers of ice, and she gave him credit for manipulating his talents to their fullest.

   Had Lexa the full use of her power, she would have waved them all into stillness to give Arim time to deal with the sight of his sister. He didn’t need his attention split right now, and Lexa certainly didn’t want to be the cause of his distraction. But they’d both known this would happen.

   Her anger grew when Cadmus and Aerolus, two of the Storm Lords she considered fairer than the others, especially as they’d wed women with Dark natures, assumed offensive, rather than defensive, stances. Shit. Did they really want to play right now? She understood grief, but she was tired of taking the blame for ‘Sin Garu’s doings.

   “Come to see what havoc your kind has reaped?” Marcus snarled, the usually cool River Prince as fiery as the hot-tempered Darius.

   “Marcus—” Aerolus inserted in a quiet voice.

   “No, Aerolus. Let him speak,” Darius demanded. “She needs to know that we’re not going to let them win no matter what they do.”

   “She didn’t do this.” Lexa scowled. Arim knelt by his sister’s body, his forehead pressed against her side as he held one of her cold, lifeless hands. “’Sin Garu did. And if you care at all for your uncle or your affai, you might tamp down your rage to prepare for the Netharat’s return. The final battle is coming. Tell them, Cadmus.”

   Cadmus shook his head, his brown eyes black with tension. “The visions I’ve seen aren’t worth sharing.”
            The others looked to him, all except Darius, who kept a furious eye on Lexa.

   “You’ve seen our defeat then,” Aerolus stated, his voice calm.

   “Bullshit.” Darius sneered, his wife’s arms tightening around his waist.

   “Darius, easy,” Samantha said.

   “What you’ve seen is only a possibility.” Lexa told them.

   “It bodes well for no one. My mother is dead and our line very well may end with us,” Cadmus admitted, startling exclamations of disbelief and fury from his family.

   “Why didn’t you tell me?” his affai asked.

   “Ellie, I didn’t want to worry you. Besides, I thought it was all just a bad dream. Some of my nightmares are just that. This particular dream didn’t feel like a vision. I wasn’t dazed and didn’t black out.”

   “Perhaps it wasn’t a vision at that. ‘Sin Garu has ways of infiltrating even the strongest of minds.” Lexa had a feeling the Dark Lord had been tampering with Cadmus’s clairvoyance. He’d done the same to her a time or two. While she pondered ‘Sin Garu’s next move, she kept her attention on the Storm Lords and on Arim by the bed.

   When her lover tottered and fell to the floor, she immediately moved to his aid. The Storm Lords took her sudden action as a threat. Darius and Samantha shot fire. Marcus created and released a volley of icy daggers while Tessa shielded them all with a wall of water. Aerolus let loose his winds, and Cadmus pushed the many plants in Ravyn’s room to grow and lengthen like attacking vines. Only Alandra and Ellie remained unmoving as they watched the chaos erupting around them.

   As if in slow motion, Jonas deflected Marcus’s attack with a band of Dark energy. Sava whispered under his breath and absorbed fire into Shadow. Lexa could do nothing but get to Arim. Without conscious thought, she waved her hand at her attackers and raced to Arim’s unmoving form.

   Everyone around her froze.

   Despite the aid Tanselm was giving her magic, with the demons feasting on her soul she shouldn’t have been able to amass that much power. Suspicion took root, that her strength had come from another source, one that even now lay helpless and unconscious before her.

   “Damn you, Arim.” She glowered as she reached him and took him into her arms. Closing her eyes, she searched deep within his mind but could see nothing through the safeguards there even in his subconscious. She did the next best thing and plunged a hand directly into his body, her physical flesh melding with his and seeking the source of his Light.

   It hurt terribly, this invasion. But it showed her how very weak Arim had become. The selfless bastard had given her a chunk of his energy; the Darkness that normally dwelled within him now sat heavily in her. Much of his Light had also shifted. The familiar pulse beat within her own heart to drive away the demon decay, now that she’d taken the time to truly hear it.

   Arim, what have you done? Lexa screamed at him in her mind, angry and afraid all at once. When they finally seemed to be mending the breach between them, he had to go all sacrificial on her, diminishing their chances to find out where this ‘togetherness’ might lead.

   In spite of the full restoration of her powers, which even now topped what she’d had before—Arim’s Light making her incredibly strong—Lexa felt emptier than she had in a long time. She hadn’t wanted to admit it to herself, let alone examine her feelings, but she could no longer deny what she felt for Arim.

   Seeing him so weak, she could imagine him wasting away and dying, and the notion terrified her. Without Arim in the world of the living, Lexa didn’t know what she’d do. Raw grief tore her apart. As she sat there cradling him, she dimly realised the walls around her were shaking, and that in the distance she heard people screaming.

   Pulling free from her terror, Lexa toned down the Light and Dark energy in the room disturbing the castle. At once the yelling outside abated. The occupants in the room remained frozen except for Sava, who blinked as he shrugged out of his imposed paralysis.

   “By the Shadows, Lexa, don’t do that.” He glared at her before his face blanked, and he joined her by Arim’s side with alacrity, crouching low. “How is he?”

   “Weak, stupid and an idiot.” Lexa angrily wiped at unwelcome tears. “Apparently, Nurse Feel Good,” she mimicked, remembering the nickname he’d once given her, “gave me enough juice to restore my energy while depleting his. From what I gather, he’s been experiencing more and more moments of weakness due to Tanselm’s fluctuations in power.”

   “Yes, but now that you’re back, his energy should be growing.” Sava closed his eyes. Shadow glided from the corners of the room to settle over him. For a minute he sat under folds of grey, until he opened his eyes and the shadows returned to their places in the room. “It’s bad, Lexa. Tanselm is tapped. The land’s in a state of catatonic shock, suffering from some new madness ‘Sin Garu’s created. I don’t understand it, but I know we can’t stop it from here. I think the demons have a hold on the land’s magic, and that they’re building a portal to bridge worlds.”

   “Oh no.”

   “Oh, yes. In doing so, they’re draining Tanselm far faster than any Light Bringers ever could. Arim was thready before, but now he’s barely holding on. He gave you too much, and now he’s in the same state you were headed, worse off since he immediately bonded with the land upon his return. He’s too weak to fight the demons the way he is.”

   Lexa wanted so badly to kill ‘Sin Garu she could taste it.

   “Lexa?” Sava’s hair stood on end, reacting to the fringes of static energy surrounding her. It was a comical sight that would have made her laugh had she not been so worried about Arim and Tanselm. “Tone it down.”

   She gritted her teeth at the strain to rein in her rage and focused instead on Arim.

   “Yes, Lexa. Tone it down and turn it. Use it to help my brother.”

   Sava swore and rocked back on his heels.

   Ravyn once again decided to visit, this time standing next to her deceased body.  “Do as I say and we can yet save Arim and the kingdom.”

   “Nice timing,” Lexa said on a breath as she pulled in the negativity flowing in the room. Jonas, the Storm Lords and their affai remained frozen, though Lexa thought by the avid look in Aerolus’s and Alandra’s gazes that perhaps those two were aware of what transpired around them. “Now what?”
            “Now you use what’s inside you to heal Arim.” Ravyn knelt next to them.
            “Gee, great idea.” Lexa stared at Arim’s sister, her frustration growing. She could feel his pulse growing weaker. “How the hell do I do that?”

   Ravyn shook her head. “I can’t tell you. I shouldn’t even be here.” She glanced over her shoulder, looking for what, Lexa couldn’t have guessed. “But do send my daughters my heartfelt congratulations.”
            “Congratulations? Dammit, Ravyn, get to the point. I’m kind of pressed for time here.” Lexa didn’t have time to play guessing games with the dead. She had Arim to save before he joined Ravyn next to his body.

   The overqueen winked. “Give them my sincerest blessings on their pregnancies.”

   A light hum filled the room, Tanselm’s pleasure radiating through the doom and gloom saturating the Storm Lords. One issue solved, at least, Lexa thought bitterly. A possible new overking could be chosen once one of the affai birthed four identical princes. Great. A happy occasion…right before ‘Sin Garu found out and began annihilating royal affai. “I’ll tell them. Now about Arim—”

   “Oh, and to you as well, Lexa. My humblest felicitations.”

   “For what?” The look on Ravyn’s pale, transparent face made Lexa go lightheaded with anxiety. No way. Ravyn couldn’t possibly mean—

   “On your forthcoming children, of course.”