Page 77 of The Last One Standing (Rogue X Ara #4)

ARA

L eaves crunched underfoot, frost sparkling with the pale sunrise.

“Ara?” Adon asked in a sing-song voice.

“Sorry.” I shook my head and pulled my fur coat tighter, as if such a thing were possible. I hadn’t gotten a new one since I turned sixteen, but that was three years ago, and I’d developed breasts since then. “It’s b-beautiful, but f-freezing.”

He threw an arm over my shoulders, rubbing my arm for warmth. “We won’t be out here long.”

“Where are we g-going?” I managed through numb lips and chattering teeth.

“To meet my mother.”

I gawked at him, but he didn’t crack a smile or laugh. No one, to my knowledge, had ever seen either of his parents.

“Why?”

“I have a few questions for her.”

We stopped at the beach, the air blowing off the lake even colder. Ice kissed the edge where water met earth.

I ground my teeth, exhaling a cloud of white. “And I need to be here for that?”

“Yes, and when she arrives, don’t say a word. Keep your mouth shut. Don’t react.” Fear seeped into me, and he must have sensed it, because he glanced down with a grin that filled my mind with enough black smoke to make my head fuzzy. He leaned closer and whispered, “And don’t run.”

My heart thundered, my chin trembling, but I was immobile—shivering but immobile. Fear was much colder than winter. It was all I could manage to face the water as the sun rose, painting streaks of pink and orange on the surface.

Then, like some otherworldly being, a woman emerged, and my instincts screamed to flee. Not because she was terrifying—and she was—but because she was too beautiful.

Too beautiful to exist in this world.

Not natural.

Not human.

Her brown skin shimmered with rivulets of water, the soaked blue silk clinging to her form. Her hair had been plaited into a dozen braids, shells and trinkets clipped into them, and her eyes…

She walked closer, and a scream stuck in my throat.

Her eyes glowed and glimmered, opalescent like the inside of shells.

Not human. Not human. Not human.

Fae.

We needed to run. I tried to grab his hand. I tried to warn him, to scream, or at least grab a weapon, but I couldn’t do any of that.

I couldn’t do anything.

What’s happening to me?

My muscles burned as I strained against my invisible restraints. My lungs burned, too, wheezing in search of air.

He rested a hand on the center of my back, and I would’ve recoiled if I could.

The woman’s eyes flitted between the two of us, her brows pulling together as she stepped onto the beach. “Why have you brought this human?”

Tears pooled in my eyes, my lungs on fire, knees weak.

“I came to meet you .” She eyed him. “Not anyone else.”

“Hello, Mother,” he said, his voice hard. “I would say it’s nice to finally meet you, but we’ve met before, haven’t we? A lifetime ago, when you left me for dead.”

Her mouth twitched, but she smoothed out her expression, lifting her chin. “It was for the best.”

“The best?” He scoffed. “Leaving a child to the streets of Rainsmyre?”

“It is nice to meet you.” She circled us, tilting her head as she regarded him. I stiffened, holding my breath as she walked around me, but she ignored my presence and stopped in front of him. “Though you took entirely after your father, practically a replica. I was worried that would happen.”

Adon clenched his jaw. “Never insult me like that again.” Her mouth opened in confusion, but he continued, “I didn’t want to meet you, the selfish bitch that left a child to my own devices, but I need your assistance.”

She barked out a laugh and crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s not how you ask, boy.”

“Look at her.” He shoved me forward a step. “ Really look at her.”

I shook my head, tears falling.

The woman’s hand was gentle, but ice cold as she turned my face to hers. Her touch cleared the black smoke in an instant, and a pent-up sob wracked my body, followed by a scream. “Please! Please don’t.”

“Don’t what?” she murmured.

“Don’t hurt me.” I still couldn’t run. I couldn’t even drop to the ground. “Please let me go.”

She didn’t answer, then. She held my face still and looked into my eyes, her brows pulling together before lifting. She released my face like I’d burned her and took a step back.

“She’s a Wrynwood,” she said. “How did you?—”

“With great effort and immense patience,” he ground out. “I need you to tell me who her mate is.”

My what?

She balked at him before releasing a breathy laugh and waving a hand through the air. “You know, I expected you’d inherit many things from your father, but his madness was not one of them.”

He lunged forward and grabbed her by the throat, and his eyes?—

I screamed and stumbled away from them.

His eyes swirled with black ink.

I swiveled on my heel and sprinted, but only made it two measly strides before that dark fog invaded my mind again.

Don’t run , he whispered. My feet took one large step back and turned me to face them. Be the good little girl you are.

“You know where I draw power from, just as you know I can stop at any time. All it would take is for me to stop learning new abilities and needing more power to perform them.” He released the woman, and she scowled at him, rubbing her neck.

“If you want me to leave you alive, I suggest you help me .”

“What?” she croaked sarcastically. “You haven’t stolen that ability yet?”

“I could.” His smile turned feline, and my gut churned. I hated that smile; I hated what followed that smile. “Should I? I thought I’d at least offer you the chance, seeing as you’ve already lost your edge.”

“No,” she snapped, her throat bobbing. “No, I’ll… I’ll do it.”

When her eyes slid to mine, they were heavy with regret. I shook my head, eyes and throat burning. I silently begged and pleaded, but my lips refused to say words aloud.

She lifted a hand toward me, and I braced myself, scrunching my eyes, but seconds passed, and nothing happened—or nothing I felt.

Something did happen, though, because when I peeled my eyes open, I found her holding a glowing strand between her fingers, a strand that plunged into the center of my chest.

It wasn’t painful or pleasant. It didn’t feel like anything as she squinted at it, then her gaze followed the strand to where it disappeared into the forest.

“What?” escaped under my breath, confusion overriding fear.

“Well?” Adon asked.

Her eyes flitted back and forth as if she were watching a scene play out in front of her, a smile tugging at her lips. She gave the other end of the strand a quick tug, and I flinched when a surprised laugh burst from her.

She dropped the string, and it faded from existence as she whirled to Adon. Still laughing, she shook her head. “You’ll never guess.”

Adon threw his hands out to either side. “Then, tell me.”

She peeked over her shoulder at me, an amused lilt to her lips as she said to him, “Meet your brother’s mate.”

Adon went still. The blood drained from his face.

“Her mate is Rogue Draki, and their destinies are already tangled beyond even my ability to decipher.” She wiped the tears from under her eyes, releasing a sigh as she backed into the water. “And you, my poor boy, have somehow found yourself ensnared between them.”

She disappeared, leaving only her laugh behind, echoing over the water—echoing in my ears.

I still heard it, loud and unsettling as my surroundings blurred, and a lake turned to an ocean, the forest to a room.

Rogue stood with his hands on my shoulders, eyes frantic, breathing heavily.

I blinked.

We weren’t in his chambers anymore.

I sat on the table in Iaso’s surgery, my hands gripping the edge hard enough that nails bit into the wood. Unfurling my fingers, I glanced around the room.

Thana and Delphia stood on one side of Rogue, Iaso on the other, wrapped in her green robe. Her glowing eyes provided the only light in the room.

I slowly turned to the window, breath hitching.

It was dark out.

“How did we get here?” I whispered before memories came flooding back. Energy surged alongside anger, and I jumped off the table.

“Hey, wait.” Rogue grabbed my arm, but I yanked it free.

Iaso shouted, “Ara!”

I ripped the door open, sparks popping at the metal handle, and strode down the hall.

That had been real. Not a dream. Not a hallucination.

Real.

Adonis had dipped his grimy claws into my head long before I realized, and she knew.

“Where is she?” I screamed to no one in particular.

“Who?” Rogue slid in my way, towering over me, silver light caressing his face. “Talk to me.”

I should. I should return to the room and recount everything that happened—because it did happen.

But I was fucking exhausted of being lied to and bargained with. Bolts of energy ricocheted down the stone hallway. Rain unleashed. Windows flashed as lightning struck the sea.

“The selfish, lying, treacherous wench knows what she did. She knew and said nothing. ”

“Wench?” His head tilted, and steam swirled in the air as the hall grew warmer. “The sea wench?”

She didn’t owe me anything. She never had.

But she followed us here , to our home, to our family. She talked strategy with us, pretending like she didn’t know a thing.

I turned my glare to the thrashing ocean and shot my magic’s feelers in every direction. They devoured Draig Hearth like searing vines, consuming it whole in their pursuit.

It took less than ten seconds.

I grabbed his hand and held as lightning struck again—this time, straight through the window, and we went with it.

We dropped on the beach just outside the gates.

Rain pelted down in heavy sheets.

“Calypso,” I hissed.

She whipped around, narrow eyes flashing before she moved to dive into the sea, but lightning struck and scattered over the waves. Each wave broke with a ripple of blue energy—charged.

It wouldn’t kill her, but it’d fucking hurt.

Her chest heaved. “I wondered how long it’d take you.”

“What did you do?” Iaso asked, breathless. She’d sprinted down the hill, soaked to the bone as she came to a halt at Rogue’s side. “Calypso?”