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CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE

T he heavy pounding of my footfalls echoed through my bones as I ran for Cascada. I felt like a coward when I should have felt like a saviour of my people. I was making the choice that would aid my homeland. I was choosing them over everything and everyone.

One glance back.

The Sky Witch was no longer in sight.

Battle waged, death and blood and the hellish cries of the almost dead were the only things in my wake. But ahead of me Cascada was a gleaming light, the Flamebringers dwindling around them, this fight an easy win.

But a gutless win it would be.

Cascada had allied with the enemy. They’d snuck up on Pyros unawares when they weren’t able to defend themselves.

It was Castelorain all over again. The same pattern repeating. The cycle would never end.

My feet tracked to a halt.

I was following the ridge that curved around the basin where Cinder Vale sat in a watery grave beneath me.

It was carnage down there just as it was up here.

I could just make out the wall of the citadel and hear the echoing ring of magic as my people tried to crack through it.

It wouldn’t be long now and the palace would be overrun.

The civilians hiding in there would die.

Children, the elderly. Would Cascada show mercy? I already knew the answer to that.

My gaze moved back to the fleet of warships and indecision tore me apart. A piece of me wanted to turn and run back to Vesper, regret inching into me at the decision I’d made. But it hadn’t really felt like my decision. War was war. I was a Raincarver, she was a Skyforger. The lines were drawn.

“I belong to Cascada,” I breathed then frowned at what I’d said. “I belong in Cascada.” Or perhaps it was the same thing.

Mavus may have been a traitorous asshole, but he had been right about one thing. We were all raised to die. These warriors swung their swords for their lands, and they would likely receive a bloody end in payment for it. But what was all this death for if not peace? What was its true purpose?

“Everest!” a desperate cry made me look up and of all the people I expected to find here, it would never have been him.

Harlon raced out from the Cascadian warriors, his gold cloak catching the moonlight as he sprinted straight for me.

I started running too, following the line of the ridge to meet him, overjoyed at seeing my best friend in this darkest of moments.

We collided so hard we nearly went crashing to the ground.

He hugged me to his chest, his lips pressing to my forehead and a heavy sigh of relief falling from his chest.

“I’ve been hunting for you. I went down one of those damn Flamebringer tunnels to check the city, but the flood forced me to come back,” he growled, holding me even tighter.

“I kept searching up here, asking the stars to guide me to you, but there were times I feared the worst. I can’t believe I’ve found you. ”

“But what are you doing here?” I pulled back from him, our fingers remaining on each other’s arms.

“I’ve come for you,” he said urgently. “I know you’re the Void. Solomon does too. He has offered you sanctuary. A place away from war. You’ll be safe. Just come with me.”

“Safe?” I scoffed hollowly, my hands dropping from his arms. “Harl, I’m not asking to be saved. Don’t you understand what I am? What it means?”

“Yes, and that is why you must leave with me.” He grabbed for my arm again but I stepped back, frowning at him in confusion.

“What makes you think Solomon doesn’t want to use me for himself?” I demanded.

“He’s the Cardinal Reaper,” Harlon said firmly, shooting a concerned glance at a host of Skyforgers who were swooping close by and picking off Flamebringers below them.

“And you think that means he doesn’t covet power?

” I sneered. “Look at them, at what they do – they choose only the strongest Fae for their ranks, those with multiple elements, the Seers – anyone who might have a gift that places them above the masses. Of course he wants to claim me too, all they ever claim is power!”

Harlon looked as though I had slapped him with those words, my own vitriol surprising me too because I hadn’t ever let myself think such things about the Reapers so clearly before that moment, but it felt so fucking obvious now.

“You’re in shock. The carnage of war-” Harlon began but I spoke over him.

“I’m not losing my mind, Harlon. I think I’m finally starting to see things clearly, that’s all.

They keep the secrets of the stars for themselves, they can heal but hardly ever offer that gift out to the Fae who need it most. Can’t you see the corruption in their ranks?

Aren’t you better placed than anyone to see them for what they are? ”

Harlon stared at me in horrified silence for several seconds then shook his head. “This isn’t the time or the place for this madness. Come, Ever. We have to go. Now .” He grabbed my arm, yanking me forward so hard that I stumbled into him.

“No,” I snapped, but he didn‘t release me. “Get your hand off me.”

“I cannot,” he gritted out. “You’re not safe here. I have to protect you.”

“Stop it,” I snarled, trying to peel his fingers from my arm. “You have no right to make this decision for me.”

His amber eyes blazed with desperation. “I will take you whether you agree or not!”

My lips parted, shocked silence pressing in on me. My fingers twitched, magic tingling at the tips as I considered casting against him. Was he really going to force me to that point?

“You said you would never choose the Reapers over me,” I hissed, acid dripping from my tongue, the betrayal of his actions cutting into my heart.

“It’s not – I’m not, Ever. I’m just trying to protect you,” he implored.

“By taking me unwillingly to a man I don’t trust?” I snarled. “By going against my wishes? By forcing me to submit to the Cardinal Reaper’s demands?”

Harlon faltered, shaking his head, but his grip didn’t soften on my arm. “I know what’s best.”

“Because you’re some holier than thou prophet now?” I scoffed.

“Solomon Imai holds the ear of the stars and I am a servant to him.”

“You’re his minion,” I accused icily. “Serving him blindly, never questioning his intentions.”

“How can his intentions be bad when he was chosen by the stars?”

“Says him,” I spat. “I’d like to hear it from the stars themselves.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying.” He frowned at me and a vine slowly crept around my wrist, his fingers casting it there to bind me.

I stared at that tether in horror, looking up at Harlon and realising I was about to be forced to fight him off.

“Harl.” My voice cracked on his name, pain splintering through my chest at what he’d done.

Something shattered in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Ever. It’s for your own protection.”

“Let go of me.” Magic hummed in my hand and I cast a small ice blade, cutting through the vine on my wrist, but he quickly cast another one in its place.

“She told you to let go of her, Reaper,” Kaiser’s dark voice fell over me like a black cloud and I turned to find him walking along the rocks that lined the ridge.

His shirt was half torn off of him, his red armour on show beneath and his horns curled up from his head as he let the full force of his Order form free.

“Fury,” Harlon growled, stepping in front of me. “You cannot have her.”

“I am no one’s to keep,” I snapped, raising the ice blade, ready to fight them both if I had to.

“Come, silka la vin,” Kaiser commanded and his possession wrapped around my soul, binding me at once and forcing me to walk around Harlon towards him and drop my blade.

Harlon grabbed hold of me, keeping me from him, and Kaiser used his power to make me thrash.

“Enough!” I shouted but neither of them were listening to me, eyeing each other like two mutts about to fight over a bone.

Kaiser walked straight for Harlon with flames flickering in his palms, his eyes glinting red with his sinister intent.

“Give me the Void!” Kaiser boomed.

“The Void?” a woman called and I looked up to find a Skyforger Harpy coming to a halt on her brown wings, staring down at us in surprise. Her eyes narrowed on me, a hungry flare in her gaze but I could do nothing to subdue her while bound by Kaiser’s power.

She touched her throat to amplify the sound of her voice, crying out to a group of Skyforgers higher up in the air.

“The Void is here!” she bellowed and a cry of excitement went up from some Cascadian warriors who overheard her.

Kaiser’s possession dug into me and he forced me to drive my elbow into Harlon’s gut, making him curse and release me.

I ran to Kaiser against my will and his arm banded around me just as the group of Skyforgers collided with us from above, knocking us both to the ground.

Hands grabbed me, pulling and tugging me from Kaiser’s grip while he blasted fire at the warriors trying to take me. But they never stopped coming.

Panic seared through me. I froze every hand that touched me with magic, crying out as their nails raked at my skin, the frantic desperation in their eyes telling of how much they wanted to be the one who claimed me.

I was a scrap of meat being fought over by wolves and I couldn’t escape. There was no way out.

Air magic wrapped around my hands, my ankles, forcing me down and Kaiser was ripped away from me. Fire bloomed in my periphery but more Skyforgers had come to help and the Fury would soon be overwhelmed.

Yells went up and shots of ice overhead told me the Cascadians had arrived just as a clamour of battle broke out.

I thrashed as a fearsome man with wings pinned me down, his knee driving into my chest, his tongue slicking his lips as he tried to lift me into his arms and take flight. But one of his comrades threw a punch to his face and tried to drag me from his arms, keeping me on the ground.

“As if I’d let you have the glory,” she spat and more Skyforgers scrambled to be the one to take me.

“Ever!” Harlon bayed to me over the din of war, but he couldn’t reach me.

My hands were bound with air, forced against my sides to stop me from casting and the pressure mounting on my body was making it hard to breathe.

“ Stop ,” I gasped as someone fisted a hand in my hair and more fingers clawed at me, trying to keep their claim on me.

“Enough of this. Let’s take her to Prince Dragor,” a woman barked. “Hurry now. She’s ours. She belongs to Stormfell.”

“I belong to no one,” I growled. But no one heard me. Not the stars, not the warriors, not even the wind.