Page 62 of Gates of Rapture (The Guardians of Ascension #6)

The answer came swiftly as the body vanished and Greaves called to them. “Come, come, my children. Did you think killing me would be so simple? Or that even together you had enough combined power to destroy me?”

As Leto turned, Grace with him, the next blast flowed over Leto’s body like a sheet of molten ore, heavy and burning hot.

This time he was thrown against the same wall, and Grace with him.

He had no illusions about what had just happened.

This blow would finish them both. All Greaves had to do now was bring in his death vampires.

So was this how it would end for him and for his woman, smashed up against the wall, in the same place Greaves had just inhabited?

He opened his eyes to slits. He could manage nothing more. Grace was in a heap next to him, her limbs bent at weird angles and blood flowing from her nose and mouth. He smelled burning flesh. He tried to reach her mind, but nothing was there.

***

The pain was beyond Grace’s comprehension or tolerance.

Before she could make sense of what she had done, she apparitioned and the moment she did, the pain was gone. At least Greaves couldn’t prevent her from doing this.

Her first thought was again of Casimir. Maybe she had sufficient power to bring him through the heavy shroud that Greaves had created over the cabin.

She focused on him, and her ghost-self flew through the cabin and the dense shroud all the way through nether-space, past Second Earth, to the portal to Third.

She found herself in a room that had a wall of windows. Casimir was pacing the length. She called to him.

He turned toward her. His eyes went wide as he looked her up and down. “I saw you like this in Moscow Two when you took Leto away.”

“Yes, this is my apparition-form.”

“What’s happening? I just realized that something is wrong with my voyeur window. Is Leto all right?”

She shook her head. “Greaves has us trapped in Leto’s cabin, beneath a shroud of mist that no one can penetrate. I can leave in this form, but neither of us can fold out of the room. I’m hoping I can bring you back.”

“Let’s go.”

He moved toward her, and she put her apparition-hand on his shoulder. She thought the thought, but nothing happened. She tried several times, but she couldn’t move him back with her.

She shook her head. “This isn’t working. Just… let Endelle know. I’ve got to find some way to do this. I’m going to Beatrice. Maybe she can help.”

“Yes, go. I’ll do what I can here.”

She focused on Beatrice and began to glide past Third; then she was at the palace. Beatrice sat in her chair, the lavender yarn in a ball at her left elbow.

“My son has hurt you, hasn’t he?”

Grace explained the situation. “Can you help me?”

“Try to take me back with you.” Beatrice reached for Grace’s arm.

Once the connection was made, Grace once more attempted the return trip—but she couldn’t do it, not with another ascender.

Despite her apparition-form, she fell at the philosopher’s feet. She didn’t know what else she could do. She laid her head on Beatrice’s lap. “Did you know this would happen, that your son would take my life?”

“No, but it seemed like a logical thing for him to do. You are one of the greatest threats to his plans.”

“I learned Leto’s hand-blast skill just now.”

“You’re very powerful, Grace.”

She frowned as she fingered the silk of Beatrice’s skirt. She felt the woman’s gentle hand on her head. “I don’t want to die. I want to live and be with Leto, to share his bed. I want to bear his children, but I’m barren. My life has been so barren, so useless.”

“Don’t say that. You were always beloved wherever you went.”

“And yet I held back from love. Even after I completed the breh-hedden with Leto, it was as though I was still a ghost with him. He could be outside of me or in me, and yet could he really embrace me and hold me? Hold who I was? Oh, Beatrice, I didn’t want to be a ghost with him, an apparition.

How do you make the apparition real when you’ve been a ghost your entire life? ”

And there it was, the hard truth, the deep understanding that finally came to her. She had been a ghost in her life from the time she’d given up her baby for adoption. She’d lived in the shadows of life, always keeping herself safe, keeping herself from harm.

Now she was near death, as was Leto, and she had no way to help him or herself. How had this happened? Why had this happened? “I’ve lived in the shadows all my life.”

Beatrice spoke softly. “My dear, you don’t even know, do you?”

“What?”

“You stepped out of the shadows the moment you folded three dimensions and made love to a beast-man in the basement of the Cascades cabin. You’ve been out of the shadows at least that long. You just lack experience. So go. Make more experiences.”

Grace blinked. Had she moved out of the shadows? Was she more than a ghost?

And yet, as she thought about all that she’d done over the past four days, she realized she had never been that person before, taking charge, formulating enormous plans to alter Greaves’s ability to take over the world, then actually following through with the spectacle event and the mass fold of a million warriors.

She was no longer the woman who’d lived in a convent for a century.

She was obsidian flame.

Which meant… that she already had the tools in her possession, had been learning them for the past several days, all that she would need to defeat the monster.

What came to her was so pure and so simple that she rose up in her apparition-form, kissed Beatrice on the cheek, then folded, not to the cabin but to the palace. This time, she wanted Endelle.

Beatrice had said she needed to make more experiences. Well, who had more experience than the scorpion queen?

Grace found her walking through the rotunda nearest her rooms, where she stopped and stared at Grace.

“So you can see me?” Grace asked.

“Of course I can see you. What the fuck are you doing here? I thought all you cared about was getting Leto to go beast for you.”

She told her about Greaves and how he had them both trapped and dying. Endelle put a hand to her forehead. “That bastard. Okay. What do you need me to do? I can try blasting through the shroud.”

Grace wasn’t convinced anything external could help at this point. “I need something from you.”

When Endelle once more suggested an assault, Grace said, “Just trust me right now to take care of this, Endelle. Please. I can do this. I just need something from your soul, and once I’ve acquired that ability, I’ll want you to bring the rest of obsidian flame here to the palace.

And then, as soon as I can, I’ll bring Leto to you. ”

Endelle became very still. She grew relaxed, her shoulders dropping. Opening her hands wide, she said, “Take whatever you need.” No more questions, or suggestions, no complaints, just take what you need.

And here was the truth about the hard-bitten ruler of Second Earth: Endelle always came through.

“I need to capture your skill of living out loud. I mean, I think I’m already getting the hang of it, but I’d like a booster just in case.”

Endelle laughed. “You sure you’re ready for that?”

“Oh, yeah. It’s time. It’s been time for two millennia.”

“Then hit me, baby.”

Grace pierced Endelle’s mind and once more sank deep toward the woman’s soul.

She found the lock she needed all lit up and inserted her blue flame key.

The lock gave way, the door opened, and it was as though all of Endelle’s life poured over her: all the ways she met every challenge head-on, all the ways she could be cunning, all the ways she manipulated with sarcasm.

Grace drank it in.

Street smarts. That’s what Endelle had. And courage, mountains and mountains of courage. But mostly, Endelle had experience, that which Grace lacked the most, experience dealing with Greaves.

She thanked Endelle telepathically and sped back to the cabin. She moved to stand in front of Greaves. He still couldn’t see her or even perceive that she was near him, and he still sat in that chair, as if he had all night to finish them off.

Good. Although in this moment, she had to resist a very Endelle-like desire to slap the bastard silly.

She smiled.

Then she looked around. She let all of Endelle’s experience flow through her mind.

She picked up one strategy and threw it out.

She picked up another and turned it over in her mind.

She felt more substantial in herself, more weighted, more real, as though having all of Endelle’s experience backing her up had sharpened her focus.

She apparitioned across the room to stare down at Leto. She blinked. She needed to do something with him, but what?

***

Greaves sat in the chair near the head of Leto’s bed. He’d barely broken a sweat and two powerful vampires lay facing each other in a tangle of burned and broken limbs. Neither was dead yet, and he would need to bring in a few death vampires to get the job done, but not just yet.

He savored this precise moment in his life, in his long career, in the brilliant path of his ambitions, because with just a little patience, he would see this pair good and dead; obsidian flame would be eliminated as a threat, and he could at last allow his plans to unfold.

He leaned his head back and he smiled.

Life was good.

***

Leto wanted to lift a thumb to touch Grace’s cheek, but he didn’t think he could. He didn’t know exactly how many bones of his were broken, but the pain was staggering. He couldn’t move, couldn’t even lift a finger. Her eyes were open, but there was little life present, if any.

How had it come down to this? What had he done wrong? How had he failed to keep Grace safe?

He had known she was at risk. The fact that she had outmaneuvered Greaves had put her in danger.