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I threw out my left palm and erected a shield just as Jaxon hit, holding him at bay, while I continued to stream and force Draco down with my other.

“Jaxon, it’s me. Mia. Your mate. Your love.”

His eyes flickered.

“You hear me, yes? He’s using you, warping your mind. You’re stronger than that.”

He stopped struggling. “Mia?”

“Yes, baby. He triggered you by hurting me, but, look, I’m fine.

I’m absolutely fine. Please stand down, I need all my power to end him.

” I inadvertently caught Gabriel’s eye, before telling Jaxon, “Then we can all move into my home and start our lives together. So much love and happiness to share, to experience.” I saw Gabriel smiling that I’d accepted the merits of his argument earlier, that I finally believed I could actually be free.

Jaxon stepped back and shook his head wildly, tugging at his hair. “I’m sorry, princess. I’m so fucking sorry. I didn’t mean—” He looked out at Ryker who was being held by Lucian and watched over covertly by Gabriel, as he healed himself. “Ry, I’m—”

His words were interrupted by a scream from Draco.

“Get down!” my father bellowed, a moment before the Beast dropped his stream against me and thrust both his palms up into the sky above.

The sky rumbled then screamed as bolts and bolts of his black fire rained down all over us.

At the same time, he forced the darkness back again and the full force of the sun came into being.

Ryker cried out as Lucian’s pendant activated and pulled a mass amount of his power.

From what he’d told my father, he’d been able to withstand it last time without damage because he’d temporarily stored some of my angel magic.

“Lucian, get inside!” Gabriel called.

Before Lucian could do that, Draco’s bolts became missiles much like Gabriel’s from our previous battle, and they rained down like heavy magical artillery all over the castle, decimating it in moments.

My father fired his magic, trying to alleviate some of the damage and destroy the missiles before impact, but there were too many of them.

Before long, we were all standing in a pile of ruins, the sun blazing down on us, Ryker doubled over, Gabriel and Warlow hastily trying to conjure shelter for Lucian to alleviate the burden on Ryker.

“Teleport him home,” Gabriel ordered.

“Cornelius, grant him the ability to walk in the sun,” Warlow called out. “Break that ridiculous rule. Now.”

My father actually looked pained. “I can’t.” He held his palms down, his magic now sputtering in and out. “I’m sorry.”

“Argh!” I screamed at the injustice of it all, that I’d come so close to ending the Beast and now this had happened. I spun and fired my magic with absolutely everything I had, pulling completely on what the Celestial Plane had given me, and gave myself over to it.

Draco reacted, eyes wide, and ducked and rolled.

I fired again, but he used the momentum to reach out and snatch up his sword.

My magic slammed into it and he grinned as he angled it so it was deflected right back at me.

I shrieked as it burned like a bitch, cutting me right down to the bone as it tore through me and blasted me onto my back.

I heard the collective bellows of my men.

Draco’s heavy footsteps sounded, coming toward me all too quickly as I lay prone and burning from the magic ravaging my body. I could feel my leathers melting into my skin.

My head lolled to the side and I watched Gabriel, Warlow, Jaxon, and my father firing at Draco. But he deflected their attacks with his sword, spinning it rapidly and creating a form of a shield, while also sending their magic back at them, forcing them to duck out of the way and take shelter.

Lucian bolted forward, only to be batted away brutally by the Beast.

And then the demon stood over me, victory shining in his eyes.

He brought his sword down and I braced myself.

It never made contact, halting halfway through the arc.

Green fire surrounded it and I blinked through my rapidly blurring vision to see Ryker on his stomach, one hand outstretched and shaking wildly, fighting to hold it back.

The others resumed their efforts to bring Draco down.

But it wasn’t enough.

It never would be.

The rise of Draco had been so feared for a reason.

Because he was so incredibly difficult to put down.

My father had honestly gotten lucky the last time he’d managed it.

Right place, right time. Those circumstances were long gone now.

Draco had learned far too well and spent all those years trapped in my father’s spelled confines deep within the earth preparing for every eventuality.

All except one.

Tears pricked my eyes as the brutal realization rolled over me.

There was no other way.

Ryker’s magic fell away and he collapsed.

Draco brought the sword down.

I conjured the Wrath of Hades.

And then I ran him through.

“No,” he choked. “No.”

His sword clattered to the ground.

He sank to his knees and gazed down at the dagger protruding from his heart. “Foolish… girl. A life for a life.”

I gasped as I was pulled from the memory, and found Cassius eyeing me steadily.

He gestured at a mammoth scorch mark a few feet away. “That was where she died. The precise spot. A sorceress is engulfed in white fire when she perishes.”

“That’s not the story I know about the battle with the Beast.”

“Yes, I’m aware. You also weren’t told that Mia Snow was never supposed to be brought back.

And it wouldn’t have happened if it hadn’t been for the pregnancy.

An outlawed Celestial pregnancy, which led to us having to bring Mia to the Celestial Plane, rather than allowing her to pass through to the Valley of the Dead.

All in the name of concealing the truth—that a being like you had been conceived.

You were never supposed to have been born and separating Mia from you, keeping her caged with us was intended to prevent that.

However, Cornelius Martel and Jaxon Silver used that to their advantage to find a loophole that enabled them to tear Mia from the Celestial Plane, reunite her with the energy field that was your life force, essentially resurrecting her in the process and allowing you to be birthed unto this plane. ”

“I don’t… I don’t understand… if it was such a violation… why did the Celestial Plane allow it? Why was my mom allowed to stay… resurrected? And why was I allowed to exist at all?”

“The balance stands to be disrupted from too much True Celestial intervention. Especially intervention to that extent—extinguishing the lifeforces of two beings of mammoth power, both of whom possess a strong Celestial connection. Fortunately, an alternative was found, actually, offered by your family to avoid the other option entirely.” He stared at me intensely.

“A bargain was struck. Much like the one that Cornelius made to spare Mia. However, this one involved you. To spare your life, you were marked, Ariana. You are a servant of the Celestial Plane. You possess a duty that is inescapable and profound. You are to serve as our Champion. Once you reached magical maturity, that duty was activated. And that is why I am here. To prepare you.”

“What… what if I don’t fulfill this duty?”

I had so many other questions as well, but I needed time to process the shock of it all, and the fact that what I’d believed were truths for so long were in fact all bullshit.

“When your mother tried to shirk her duty and turn from the bargain that Cornelius made in her name, it caused her a great deal of pain. And pain to those she loved. See for yourself.”

He pressed his hands to my head again, then another memory that wasn’t mine pushed into me.

Draco slammed back into a pile of ruins, roaring in fury.

Mom had him on the ropes.

Until his sword left his hand.

It cut through the air with unmatched speed.

I heard Pops bellowing out a warning.

But Draco was too fast.

The monstrosity plunged into her side, impaling her to the ground.

“Mia!” Pops screamed, as she shrieked in agony.

Her magic retracted involuntarily and Draco advanced on her.

He was going to kill her.

“Stop!” Pops shouted. “She’s already down! Leave her! It’s over!”

“It will be,” Draco pronounced.

In a burst of speed, he grabbed the hilt of his sword and ripped it out of her.

“Stop!” Pops yelled, skidding to his knees beside her as she writhed, shrieking and screaming on the ground, blood pouring from the wound.

Black blood.

I’d barely managed to absorb that when he pushed another memory into me.

“Your pack is no more.”

“No!” Dad roared, lunging at Draco, his teeth gnashing, claws slashing.

He was out of control.

His rage and grief was so great.

“You will join me, boy,” Draco told him. “With their annihilation, I have severed your connection to this life, a life not meant for you. You will thank me for it soon enough, once I release you and you taste true power.”

I was panting when I came out of it and back to reality, but he didn’t allow me breath, forcing another one on me instead.

Draco grabbed Pops’ jaw painfully, forcing his attention back to him. “This is the punishment I promised you, which your sorceress saved you from last time.”

The flames tore through his flesh, melting it down to the bone and even beyond.

The flames of Hellfire!

He screamed out into the night and collapsed to his knees.

It started spreading everywhere.

I heard Papa and Gramps bellowing out from somewhere nearby as well.

“A painful death, indeed, magic-wielder. I warned you repeatedly. Now you suffer.”

“Stop!” I cried, as soon as that brutal one ended and I was back in the present. “I get it! You’ve made your point!”

“It seems that I have,” he said, stepping back.

I couldn’t hide it anymore.

I was reeling.

From the memories he’d shown me.

From these revelations.

From all of it.

I felt my power pulsing within me.

With nowhere to go, and trapped by the cuffs, it burned and churned violently, and I shuddered in the chair, trying to get a handle on it.