Page 5

~Kai~

Once again, Celestial power had conquered me.

Harmed me.

Dominated me.

Almost fucking killed me.

Worse, this time—it had almost taken Nyx’s life as well.

I couldn’t… I couldn’t stomach it.

But I was being forced to.

They needed me to.

Ariana was missing—taken by that True Celestial they called Cassius. I had to keep my focus on that, on bringing her back to us.

The spell I’d imbued my Aetherbound Scepter with was supposed to have been a defense against immense power, exactly like that which Cassius had displayed.

But he’d come in too hot. He’d caught us all off guard.

So I needed to make improvements, needed to add something more to the failsafe.

Off the top of my head, that would involve fine-tuning the scepter to detect a Celestial threat in advance and react at speed that rivaled my own.

That would have prevented the shitshow that tonight had turned out to be.

Cassius had trounced all of us within seconds.

I wouldn’t allow that to happen again.

“Thank you,” I spoke, breaking the tense and worried silence between Vorzyr and I as we trekked through Meforian Forest.

We’d put Nyx to bed, something he hadn’t been happy about.

But he’d needed to rest after what he’d endured earlier.

Unfortunately, his insistence on coming with us and helping with the search for Ariana had been so persistent with no regard to his own health that I’d had to put a sleeping spell on him.

I had no doubt I’d hear about it later in a severe way, but I was willing to face his wrath so long as he remained safe and recuperated.

“For what?” V asked, eyeing me walking beside him.

It was too dangerous to simply teleport to the site of the consecrated ground that we were headed for, because of the Celestial magic component.

It could repel us when it felt our magic activating right upon it via a teleportation spell.

After the hits we’d already taken earlier, we weren’t willing to take that chance.

We needed to conserve our strength for when we located Ari.

“Catching me before I was crushed to shit on those rocks at the base of the mountain.”

He’d told me exactly what had happened after I’d been knocked unconscious, how he’d swept down in his dragon form and grabbed me just in time, even managing to control his new Primal Celestial Resonance ability in order to do so.

“That’s twice now that you’ve saved my life. I don’t take that lightly,” I told him.

“You don’t need to thank me, Kai. Plus, I don’t doubt for a second that you would do the same for me.” He stared at me, more concern visible—this time for me.

“What?” I asked.

“It bothers you greatly, doesn’t it?”

I frowned. “I’m not following.”

“The fact that you needed saving. Twice now.”

I grimaced at his words, at hearing them actually spoken aloud. “Yes,” I admitted. “It’s not just about the needing saving aspect, although that’s bad enough. It’s what I needed saving from.”

“Celestial power?”

“Beings of insurmountable power that eclipses that of all others on this plane.” I sighed, then found myself telling him where that was rooted, explaining, “Before I was born, shortly after my parents got married, Draco rose. He attacked their Coven. My parents were supposed to be some of the most powerful magic-wielders in the world. But Draco’s power and abilities completely transcended even that.

They would have died without a doubt if Mia Snow, Ryker Morgan, and Lucian Black hadn’t stepped in.

All the power at their disposal and in that instance they were utterly power less. ”

“Wow… this explains a lot when it comes to you, how you operate… so much, Kai.”

“I suppose it does.”

“It also shows how deeply you care about and adore Ariana. Because, in spite of this, astoundingly, you’ve never considered her to be a threat to you along the lines of Draco, even though she is technically a being of insurmountable power.”

“I always thought there should be a failsafe, just because all beings need that. But it was never about me worrying that she’d consciously hurt me.

It was me considering all eventualities, including her being influenced or someone taking control of her.

But, no, I’ve never seen Ariana Martel as a threat to me or anyone I care about.

” I smiled at the thought of it all, of her.

“She stands apart from the rest of them.”

He beamed out at me.

“What?”

“You romantic bastard. You really hide that well, you know?”

“Less so lately, yes?”

“Yes. And I love that it’s important to you that the three of us see that from you.”

“Watch it. Stop humanizing me too much. I’m still a ruthless bastard.”

“I don’t deny that. Just not to the three of us, huh?”

“No. Not to the three of you,” I admitted.

He reached out and stroked my nape. It sent a soothing warmth through me that I hadn’t thought myself capable of feeling while all of this was happening.

“Things are different now, Kai. You no longer have to be completely self-sufficient, self-reliant, and able to defeat all foes and threats all on your own. Things have altered substantially since you first started out on your quest to obtain knowledge that could serve to defeat beings of insurmountable power. We’re right by your side now.

It’s the four of us against whatever comes our way.

” He brushed his lips over my cheek, lightly over the corner of my mouth too, and a peaceful groan escaped me in the midst of all of this madness and pain, the fear for Ari, and the sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach for what Nyx had suffered through tonight.

And my failure to stop any of it.

“I understand that it will take time for that to sink in. But try, all right? Start now. It will help a great deal.”

“Yeah,” I murmured. “Thank you.”

I slipped my hand into his.

He smiled, but didn’t speak to it, knowing it would be difficult for me to acknowledge the vulnerability of the action I’d just taken, but also obviously getting that I did need the comfort right now.

Given how he squeezed my hand back and started stroking my fingers with his, he clearly needed it just as much as I did.

“You’re shaking,” he said.

“I’ll be fine.”

“I was focused on the fall at the time, but thinking about it now, I saw you take a hit as well, like Nyx. Why didn’t you bleed like him?”

“It wasn’t a direct blow for me. It was the shockwave that blew me back. Also, at the time, I was in the process of calling my scepter, which requires magic. It provided a partial barrier. It’s likely why the hit wasn’t actually head-on.”

“Like a bulletproof vest sort of situation?”

“Essentially.”

Realization flashed in his eyes. “Lift up your shirt.”

“Let’s just focus,” I said, moving to pull my hand from his.

He tightened his hold, preventing me from doing so. “Kai,” he insisted.

I cursed, then jerked up my shirt with my free hand.

His eyes shot wide as he saw the severe bruising all over my torso.

“It didn’t penetrate, but it sure as fuck bruised the shit out of you. How are you even moving normally right now?”

“Sheer force of will? Because Ari needs us? Because you all need me?”

“Fuck, Kai. How do you know the damage isn’t internal? Internal bleeding, for instance?”

“A mark of a Celestial wound is bubbling or burning. That’s not present. As you saw, there are no black veins, which is another mark of such a thing. And my magic also hasn’t been impacted. I’m just sore, that’s all. With a little rest, I’ll be fine.”

Fortunately, we reached our target site, so our discussion was interrupted.

The peonies and the stone tablet.

More importantly in this case—consecrated Celestial ground brought about by Cornelius Martel’s fall from on high.

I conjured my Aetherbound Scepter and knelt down closer to the ground and the energy I could feel radiating forth.

I concentrated, feeling it deep down, a lot more power buried in the earth. It wasn’t something a non-Celestial being could normally access or pull out. But with the loophole of what we’d done with my scepter, it would be possible for me to do so.

“So, you’re gonna extract all of this, which is the power of Cornelius Martel, and use his familial link to his granddaughter to track her that way?” V asked, wanting to double-check he understood the complicated task ahead of us. A lot was at stake, there couldn’t be any mistakes.

“Yes,” I confirmed. “It will be able to bypass the cloaking that Cassius is employing.” It was something that had become immediately apparent to me when Cornelius had forced us back to the Academy, and I’d taken a shot at employing a tracking spell that had slammed right into a formidable barrier, that clearly being that accursed True Celestial.

“And with Ari’s magic being imbued in the scepter, pulling it out will be possible, it won’t resist me. ”

Before I could activate the scepter and get down to doing that, a rush of potent power had me choking.

Vorzyr and I both spun around to see two figures materializing just a few feet from us.

“Shit,” I uttered at the sight of Mia Snow and Lucian Black standing there eyeing us.

Mia’s ivory hair with the blue streaks at the front was down and flapping in the wind.

She was dressed her usual sophisticated way in a black Burberry coat and a pair of tailored dress pants.

Lucian’s black hair was also flapping wildly as he stood there holding her hand supportively while glaring out at us.

His charcoal designer suit was a real contrast to our surroundings.

His expensive shoes were even sinking into the mud.

But he didn’t seem to care one little bit.

The fact that his daughter was missing and that Mia looked absolutely distraught was no doubt the reason for that.

Before we could get a word out, Mia eased her hand from Lucian’s, then her magic sparked to life with a flick of her fingers.

In the next second, my scepter flew from my hand and into hers.