Page 83

I felt eyes following me as I went but the Talon at the door shut it firmly behind us once we stepped through. We found ourselves in a darkened chamber with a ring of forest green sofas and a low fire burning in a black stone fireplace.

I felt a silencing shield sliding over us and noticed Mirelle’s fingers moving to cast it. She faced all three of us, but her eyes were on me, burning a hole in my head.

“Kaiser. Explain.”

“During my searches at Never Keep, I discovered many secrets.”

“You did?” North hissed.

“I wish to hear of the Cascadian girl only right now,” Mirelle demanded and Kaiser nodded while North pursed his lips.

“I will spare the details for the purpose of efficiency,” Kaiser said. “She is the Void spoken of in the Elysium Prophecy.”

Silence.

Mirelle regarded him and North whirled to look at me.

“Bullshit,” North laughed.

“North, if you cannot be quiet, I will ask you to leave,” Mirelle warned and he bowed his head in deference, though his eyes quickly crawled back to me, full of a thousand questions.

“Kaiser…” Mirelle drifted closer to him. “How can you be sure of such a thing?”

“I gathered evidence at first, then it was confirmed to me when I saw her wield her Void power to halt the magic of a Reaper.”

The blood began to drain from my face. It was starting to sink in how bad this situation was, how truly, truly fucked I really was if I couldn’t escape this place.

“I have witnessed her power many times since,” Kaiser continued. “It is undeniable what she is.”

“By the light of the sun.” Mirelle touched a hand to her chest in shock as her eyes drifted onto me.

“She is my weapon to wield now. She will win Pyros the war,” Kaiser announced and my blood ran icily cold.

Mirelle approached me, her hand lifting so her fingers skated softly against my jaw. I flinched away, baring my teeth at her but Kaiser’s possession forced me to stand still so she could examine me further.

“I will kill your son,” I vowed in a fate-drenched voice. “I will kill you all.”

“Petty threats,” she murmured dismissively, making my rage rise.

“I chose to make her my Fearsire to ensure she is controlled. She cannot kill me. And I will ensure she does not kill a single Flamebringer in Pyros either,” Kaiser declared.

I ground my teeth, taking in the beautiful queen whose eyes were alight with hope. “So she stalled the power of one Reaper, how will that help us win the war?”

“I believe she is capable of far more than that. She can likely halt the power of many at once. Perhaps even an army.”

My pulse juddered and I cut him a look, wondering if he was right about that.

“This is it then,” North said excitedly. “We have the Void. We’ll win the war. Pyros will prevail.”

“Never,” I snarled and Kaiser forced my lips to shut tight.

“No, let her speak, love,” Mirelle purred. “I like the fire in her.”

“There is no fire in me,” I growled as Kaiser obeyed her command. “Water runs in my veins. My spirit is built from the hands of Pisces and the bloody hunger of Typhon.”

“Well whatever it is, enjoy it while it lasts. When we turn you upon your own people, I doubt it will shimmer so brightly.” She patted me on the cheek and acidic hatred oozed through my chest.

“I have yet to wield the magic of the Void through my possession,” Kaiser said. “I need time to learn how.”

“Then get started this instant,” Mirelle said darkly.

Kaiser strode toward me and panic reared in my chest. They were going to turn me against Cascada. They were going to use me to kill my own people.

“Stay away,” I growled. “Don’t touch me.”

The Void flooded through me unbidden, awakening like a beast from slumber and I let it pour from me, slamming into Kaiser and making him stagger.

His hand rose to his chest as his possession over me shattered and I cast two blades of ice in my grip.

I threw one at Mirelle, aiming for her throat and shot the other one blindly at North.

Mirelle raised a hand, using a flash fire to melt my blade and North cried out at the same time. The Matriarch cast a wall of fire around me and I flinched away from it, casting ice against my skin to protect myself from the blazing heat.

“She shot me in the ass!” North yelled, pointing at the ice blade sticking out of it.

A dark and rolling laughter rose in Kaiser’s throat which turned to a manic, raucous crescendo. It was a maddened thing that filled the room and Mirelle whirled toward him as North’s face paled in shock.

Kaiser’s laughter abruptly guttered out and rage took its place as he grabbed a coffee table and hurled it at the wall. It smashed into ten pieces and he stormed toward me with a snarl on his lips and bloody fury in his eyes.

I cast another ice blade in my hand, ready to leap through Mirelle’s flames and strike this bastard from the world. My one chance was racing toward me. He was walking directly to his death with no magic in his veins and a promise of his downfall humming in the air.

But the Void fluttered away, abandoning me at once and Kaiser’s expression dropped, flattening out to that hollow nothingness.

He parted Mirelle’s flames with a flick of his hand, his fingers closing around my arm and his possession rushing through me.

Heat shuddered through my skin from his touch and he forced me to melt the blade in my hand so the icy water dripped to the floor.

He tugged me out from the cage of flames and turned to find Mirelle watching him with tears wetting her cheeks.

“Kaiser,” she croaked. “How?”

North was holding the gash on his ass, the ice blade now dealt with, but his focus was entirely on his brother.

“You laughed,” he said, his voice coming out cracked. “I’ve never heard you laugh.”

“She used the Void,” Kaiser said slowly. “I…am not sure what it does to me. It awakens something inside me.”

Mirelle looked to me, her brown eyes burning with emotion. She strode toward me and stunning wings burst into existence at her back that resembled a magpie’s, with white tips at the edges of the black feathers, holding a shimmering blue sheen.

They flexed, making her appear larger and more imposing than before.

She was a Harpy, a flying Order that could fly as fast as the wind.

They were a monstrous opponent in battle, their Order forming armour against their skin when they fully shifted and protecting them from strikes as they flew above their enemies, cutting them down with magic and weapons alike.

Mirelle took off on those beautiful wings, flying from the room and returning after barely a few breaths.

She landed before me with glittering cuffs that she latched around my wrists, and I immediately felt my magic locking down from the strange power within them.

“You’re a dangerous creature, Everest,” she whispered to me. “And you are now my dangerous creature.”