Page 45 of Mantle (IMMORTAL FLAME #3)

At the bottom, the chamber opened into a circular sanctum carved from black marble.

The ceiling arched like a cathedral. And in the center of the floor, carved into the stone itself, was the sigil of the legacy enchantment: a monstrous thing, all jagged angles and blood-bound symbols.

Black tendrils of necromantic magic crawled across the floor from it, embedding into the room like roots and rising faintly toward the ceiling.

Sylas knelt at the edge of the circle, his hand hovering over it, trembling.

“This is where they tied your magic to their will, Kai.” He looked up at me. “Time to undo the fucking thing.”

He settled there on his knees and gestured for me to lie down.

Before I could, a spark of Nyx’s magic startled me and he conjured a mattress with a fuzzy gold blanket.

Ariana chuckled.

“So fucking lovable, Luscious,” Vorzyr said, coming and draping his arm over his shoulders.

I smiled out at Nyx. “I’ll be okay. I promise. Besides, you know what a stubborn bastard I am.”

“No arguments here,” Sylas muttered with a wry grin.

“He’s got this,” Ari assured Nyx. “He’s prepared. He’s strong. And, yes, he’s exceedingly forthright as well.”

“Aww, sweetheart, I love you, too,” I uttered, as I settled onto the mattress and placed my hands over my stomach. I looked out at them each in turn. “All of you.”

Although they didn’t say much because they were all trying to keep it together, focus needed right now, I saw it in their eyes, their body language, felt it from them.

I always fucking did.

As Sylas reached out with one hand toward the living enchantment, his red magic flaring to life, I tensed, my body and mind alike priming me for what was to come.

The moment his magic connected with it, a tremor rocked the chamber and a surge of violet light burst from the enchantment and launched upward—straight through the stone, as if firing a signal flare into the heart of the Maven Coven estate above.

Moments later, the air shimmered at the edge of the chamber, and two figures began to phase in.

I didn’t get to see them because Vorzyr and Nyx stepped forward defensively blocking my view, but their yells of protests made it clear it was my parents.

I saw Ariana move to call her power, but she stopped in the next beat, remembering my warning.

“I need you here,” Sylas reminded her also, and then she came and knelt down opposite him on the other side of me.

Magic flew everywhere in the next moment.

A bellow tore from Vorzyr and he was shifting into dragon form, the secret space thankfully large enough to be able to accommodate him.

Then dragon fire, Nyx’s magic, and my parents’ collided in a furious storm of battle.

I heard Sylas begin the spell, the incantation echoing off the walls.

Electricity shot through my body.

“Now,” I heard Sylas say to himself, as he briefly broke his chanting to push his magic into me.

Death magic.

Another jolt, and then my body was burning all over, then convulsing.

And then—everything went black.

He’d killed me.

It had worked.

Sylas had stopped my heart.

I found myself surrounded by darkness, no path that I could see.

Just a void.

It wasn’t the Valley of the Dead.

He’d told me I wouldn’t actually pass through, I’d just be in between life and death.

I caught sight of a red shimmering band wrapped around my wrist—a literal tether from him.

A flash of light in front of me drew my focus and I found myself stepping forward.

With every step further that I took, that light grew more vivid.

And then a blurry gray sea of faceless figures forming a wall of sorts extending what seemed to be forever in either direction came into view.

That was the Valley of the Dead.

Those s hadowed figures caught my eye, reaching out to me.

They wanted me with them.

They wanted another to join them.

New, fallen blood.

Death finding peace.

The pull was intense, just like Sylas had warned.

But I didn’t take a step forward.

I didn’t reach out.

Because, let’s fucking face it—peace wasn’t my thing.

But finally having my freedom was.

I spun around and saw Sylas’ red magic reaching out in the form of a glowing hand through the darkness.

I lunged forward and grabbed hold of it.

Then the edge of the Valley of the Dead slipped away.

A violent, rasping gasp burst from my throat, raw and desperate as reality came crashing back.

As life did.

It was jarring, but a warmth infusing my entire body made it a little less so than it could have been, and I looked to see Ariana crouched down at my side, her silver power rolling through me, removing the dark magic of Sylas’ spell from my system.

A beautiful smile spread over her face. “Thank goodness,” she breathed in so much relief.

“Kai!” Nyx cried, rushing over to me, and all over me in seconds, kissing my face, then throwing his arms around me and gathering me up to a sitting position.

“Come on, did you ever really doubt my ability to flip off death itself?” I rasped.

Sylas caught my eye and grinned. “Not many can resist the pull that easily. Your stubbornness really does come in handy sometimes, huh?”

“Sometimes? Please.”

The brief levity in the face of all the heaviness was broken in the next moment.

“No,” a familiar voice uttered on a pained cry.

Dazedly, I followed the sound to see my parents standing there being held back by Marlise.

Louise Hunter radiated sophistication, ambition, and rigidity. Her sleek silver suit coat was cinched tight at the waist over a midnight turtleneck and matching tailored trousers, exuding ruthless elegance. Her deep burgundy hair was straight and cut into a blunt bob.

Thomas Hunter was in one of his tailored charcoal suits, not a single strand of his dark brown hair out of place. His jaw was square, clean-shaven, and severe, matching the rest of his narrow, hawk-like features.

“Kai,” my mother uttered again. “What have you done?”

“What you forced him to do,” Ariana spat at them.

I staggered over and Ari helped me with her strength, while Sylas hung back on high alert. “We all make mistakes when we act out of fear. But what you did crossed a line. What you did to me. It became not about protection, but about the pursuit of power.”

“We were just trying to keep the Coven together, to ensure it was strong enough,” my father told me.

“In the wrong way. In a perverse way.”

“We never meant to hurt you, son,” he said.

“But you did.” I looked between them. “You stopped seeing me as a son, or even as a human being, and I became a spell to you, a means to power.”

My father scrubbed his hand over his face, emotion welling in his eyes, as my mother also sniffled.

She looked to Nyx. “You understand our intent wasn’t malicious, yes? You can feel it with your Incubus abilities.”

“I can. But intent is only a part of it. You tried to force him into a role that not only didn’t suit him, but that he never wanted.

You ignored his agency. And, yeah, I do owe you for taking me in, but at the same time, I can’t forgive this.

You branded your own son, you hurt him, and you kept on doing it. ”

“Please, Kai,” my mom pleaded.

“Son,” my father added.

“You want forgiveness without earning it,” I told them. “And let’s face it, that forgiveness you covet from me is more to assuage your own guilt. No. That’s not how it works. Change is required first. And that isn’t the case currently.”

“We’re done here, right, Kai?” V asked me, clearly on the verge of losing his shit all over them. Especially when he’d just recently shifted into his draconic form, something that put him on edge, his emotions wild, for a while afterward.

I looked to Marlise and she gave a nod, assuring me, “I’ve got it from here. And, thank you, Kai. I promise I will do the role justice.”

“I have no doubt.”

Then I turned and looked at my loves and Sylas, confirming, “We’re done. Let’s go.”

In the next moment, Ariana was enveloping us all in a cloud of teleportation.

And I smiled.

I couldn’t stop smiling.

It had actually happened.

I was finally free .