Page 87 of Sidhe (The Incubus Saga #3)

Everything became a tangle of limbs—Jim’s, Nathan’s, Sasha’s.

Soon there were Alex’s too. Walter didn’t feel right getting in the midst of that, Puck holding back understandably as well, but it was something else to see, to see this family reunited that Walter counted himself so lucky to be even a meager part of.

“I can’t believe you, Nathan,” Sasha said, though there was no real reprimand in his tone. “You risked the fate of the world on us? What if we hadn’t been strong enough? What if we had really chosen him?”

Nathan grinned wearily. “Never a doubt in my mind. Just had to…buy us a little time, ya know. Now, he can come on back all he wants. We’ll be ready. The fae and all the…seals, the Gatehouse is wide open to them now. I was just evening the odds a bit, that’s all.”

“You crazy idiot,” Alex laughed despite how she shook her head at Nathan with some of that reprimand Sasha had failed at, “what if someone had ended up hurt?”

“Nah.” Nathan blinked hard a few times, looking sturdier with Jim and Sasha on either side of him. “That was always part of the deal, way back on day one. Malak wouldn’t have dared. Admit it,” he smirked, “I’m an evil genius.”

Almost everyone laughed at that, Puck included, who looked rather impressed.

Only Sasha refrained, a small blissful smile on his face that grew as he took hold of Nathan’s chin. “I can do without the evil part,” he said, pulling Nathan to him for a brief and gentle kiss.

When they pulled apart, Walter watched the brothers reenact their lifelong ritual—their hands formed into pistols, each cocking back a silent BANG.

Nathan had managed the impossible. Now they had the chance to start over, start fresh, with all the backup they’d been waiting for. It filled Walter with a renewed sense of faith in all that was Nathan Grier.

If only the mirth could have lasted.

It was foolish, really. Walter should not have forgotten the remaining member of their group. None of them should have forgotten him. But they had.

Standing stonily still at the base of the stairs, they had forgotten Solrin , who stood gaping, his hand trembling where it gripped the banister.

“You have betrayed us,” Solrin said deploringly to Nathan. He started to back his way up the stairs. “How could you taste all that he has to offer and choose willingly to go on without his gifts? You were a being beyond measure.”

“Sol.” Nathan stepped away from the others, forcing himself to move on his own.

“You don’t really feel that way. You know this is right.

If you thought otherwise, why didn’t you try to stop them?

” Nathan indicated Jim and Sasha who had somehow orchestrated a plan that suited Nathan’s own, freeing them all despite the odds.

Solrin shook his head, another step slowly ascended.

“I believed in your power, that they would be made to pay for their transgression. I don’t…

” He stumbled on his words, hesitant and unsure; Walter could see it in the lone jade eye.

“I know this is wrong. Your power. You told me that you had never felt truly whole until the moment you became one with Malak, that you understood, finally, all you could accomplish.”

The steady progression Nathan had been making toward Solrin ceased.

Something flickered in Nathan’s expression, telling Walter that Solrin was not entirely wrong.

“Temptation’s a tricky thing, pal,” Nathan said in a soft, careful voice.

“The promises gotta be a little true, or we’d never want them.

Jim and Sasha were able to trick me, because a part of them really were on Malak’s side. ”

The darkness that filled Jim and Sasha’s eyes proved how true that was. But Walter did not see it as something to condemn, but a truer testament to their strengths that they had the ability to refuse even when their temptations were greatest.

Nathan was the same, having tasted something that tempted him still, but the part of him that was stronger knew it had been wrong.

“Solrin,” Nathan tried again, a few more cautious steps taken, “you don’t have to be against us. I want you to be a part of this, but on this side, on the right side. I had Malak as…a part of me, and I can still step back and say no. You can’t believe his lies, please.”

“Enough!” Solrin cried out, more than halfway up the stairs, his muscles taut. “I know the truth. I know…you’re wrong. You have to be wrong.” He started moving faster, half turned around as he climbed the stairs.

“Sol, wait! Stop!”

Solrin turned fully and bolted up the stairs, deaf to Nathan’s pleas. Nathan rushed up after him. Everyone else gave similar chase, the whole thing feeling like awful déjà vu after chasing Puck down there.

Walter stuttered to an awkward stop behind the others when they finally reached the bar area where Nathan now stood, the main doors swung wide but with no sign of Solrin. They had been right behind him. He couldn’t have just vanished.

It was a tangible feeling, an ill sense of darkness on the approach, before Walter actually saw anything.

Everyone had stopped on the far side of the bar, save Nathan who was up at the doors.

Between them a ripple of smoke began to form that by the time Nathan turned back to everyone had taken the shape of Malak .

The true Malak—male, blond hair, trim suit.

Walter trembled where he stood. Then he was no longer standing but thrown back into the wall along with everyone else, held firm, painfully tight and immobile by Malak’s power.

Only Nathan remained standing. He looked at them all, startled, guilt-ridden, like he was looking at a reflection in Malak and this was all his fault.

The sun had been shining outside, not the fake sunny skies from the way Nathan had shielded them, but the real sun, Walter was certain. With the appearance of Malak, however, the darkness returned, throwing everything into shadow.

“You think you’re so clever, don’t you?” Malak’s voice rumbled with inherent power.

“You think you’ve won something today. Do not be mistaken, Nathan, you still chose me .

Without you my power is lesser, but still greater than before we made our deal.

I will come for you yet, and you will fall willingly, no tricks, no bargains; you will bow at my feet to have my power back when you feel its true absence.

I am still coming with my army, mark my words, and when we take your little stronghold, I will slaughter my way through everyone you hold precious. Starting…”

Walter felt panic rake through him as Malak turned to look at him .

“…with the most insignificant.”

“No!” Nathan called out, even before Malak’s hand rose and Walter felt the most awful pain flow through him, throwing his head back with a keen. Malak was going to kill him, there, now , as punishment for Nathan tricking him. Walter didn’t know what death, a second time, would mean.

Nathan tried to rush Malak, thrown only too easily and helplessly back like the rest of them.

There was only one thing Walter could think to do as he was filled with terrible anguish.

He didn’t know if it would be enough, but he looked across the room at Nathan.

He spoke silently to him with all that space between them, pleading for Nathan to help in this small but important task.

Nathan nodded, understanding, a quiet desperation in his eyes.

Then Walter turned his eyes up, knowing Nathan would do the same, and prayed.

Help us.

Heat and light and a calming balm to ease the pain rushed through every part of Walter, so very much the opposite of how it had felt when Nathan, tainted by Malak, had stripped him of his status. Soon he was his true self once more now that Nathan was free.

Walter fell from the wall on steady feet.

“You overstep your bounds, Malak,” he said confidently, boldly as the others fell from their pinned positions as well.

Even a mere Spirit Guide was more powerful than the king of dark fae with Nathan having chosen them .

“You will leave,” he said as he walked up to Malak unwaveringly.

Fierce red on black eyes glared at him. “I can kill whoever I like in the throng of battle. Even you, Spirit Guide . I promised you that, remember?”

“And yet you could not do so here and now because Nathan would not allow you to.” Walter raised a single eyebrow at Malak. “You will leave. We will face you when the true battle comes, and only then. You will not come to Nathan again until that time. I forbid it.”

Malak’s eyes flashed. “You—! You forbid it, do you?” He laughed bitterly then turned swiftly to Nathan. “Rest assured, I will take everyone you care about away from you.”

“Solrin—” Nathan tried.

“Solrin,” Malak took Nathan’s words away, “is mine.” A final look of fierce promise was sent back to Walter before Malak faded like so much smoke and was gone.

“Nathan, forgive me,” Walter said immediately, rushing to him. “I did not trust you. I did not have enough faith. While it was foolish and brash, as you always are,” he allowed a small smile, “it was the right decision. I am so very proud of you for resisting temptation so great.”

“Hey, I…I was just doing what Dave told me. Having faith in my boys there,” Nathan said, gesturing to Sasha and Jim. “They’re the ones who saved the day. They’re the ones who resisted.”

“Yes.” Walter smiled wider, looking around to see that they were tightly surrounded by the others—even Puck.

“Yes, they too were remarkable. But, Nathan, your task is not yet complete. You have done something we could not predict. Choosing Malak while not choosing him at the same time…I do not know how the battle will end with this turn of events. The world is in darkness still, but the shield Malak used to keep this place for his own is gone. Your army awaits you outside. You must prepare for Malak’s return. ”