Page 24 of The Shadow Fae Rhapsody (Elven Fantasy Romance #3)

Chapter 23 Rhianelle

T he sun arches high in the sky but its light could not penetrate the darkness enveloping the fortress. Pillars of smoke rise from the structure—no, not smoke.

Shadows.

Heavens above…

I just know that the shadow belongs to Svenn.

My husband. My mate.

What is happening over there? I’m almost too scared to find out.

A whistling sound snatches me from my thoughts. My eyes meet Shade’s smoky, weary ones. He is dragging Briallen behind him. The assassin steadies my steed by the reins.

“You need to go to him, don’t you?” he asks me, as if he can read my mind.

I nod.

“Then go.”

I desperately climb on the horse, my pulse hammering like crazy. The brave stallion treads through the chaos and havoc of the battlefield steadily. I take several deep breaths to calm my racing heart. The thick smell of blood permeates the air the closer we get to the keep.

“Faster, Briallen,” I urge the warhorse as we cross the battlement gates.

The bloodbath in this fortress is far worse than the battlefield. It is a complete slaughter. I look at the bodies on the ground, their flesh peeled from the bones. None of these creatures stood a chance.

I follow the death trail until I reach the open square of the fortress in the upper bailey.

Through the billowing smoke, I see him rampaging like the wrath of an avenging god. The beast is two times the height of an elf, with demonic horns, claws, and covered with furs. His inhuman eyes are a dark, molten fluid. That carnivorous look on his face bears no resemblance to the man I know. Shadows surround him as he tears through enemies and allies alike.

“Svenn!” I scream at him.

He answers it with a roar to the sky. It reverberates through the ground, shaking the walls around us.

“Svenn…” I mutter, covering my sensitive ears.

Horns sprout from his head, growing and spiraling. His jaw opens once again, and the bellowing is so loud I’m afraid it may bring down the entire fortress.

Briallen thrashes at the intimidating presence before us. It’s a natural instinct of all living beings to steer away from death. I quickly dismount from the panicking horse.

Garret makes his way through the chaos towards us.

“Easy,” he murmurs to my neighing mount.

“What happened? Why is he in that shape?” I ask him. But the knight has no answer for me.

We continue to watch the storm of death and fury before us. Svenn pulverizes a band of orcs like they are mere bugs in his path. One of the younger knights beside me vomits.

“It’s best if you look away,” Garrett counsels, bracing my back.

“This bloodletting is mine to bear…” I wince, staring ahead at the unfolding carnage. I have unleashed this beast into this world.

Svenn breaks the bones of his enemies, snapping them like twigs. His dark eyes gleam like the devil, perfectly at home in this hellish battlefield.

But Svenn is not uninjured.

My stomach dip over the arrows jutting out all over his body. Sword, spears, and axes. How is he still walking with that much damage?

“Wake up, Svenn!” My throat feels parched and raw from all the screaming, but I don’t stop. Not until he hears me. “Svenn!”

He turns to me, crushing the skull of an orc with one hand and ripping the throat of another with the other. Our gazes meet and my heart lurches to my throat. There is no light whatsoever in the depth of those eyes.And he doesn’t recognize me.

“Get out of his way!” Lord Nemarion commands his infantry too little too late. The shadows devour his soldiers into its dark embrace. “Kvatosh help us. The vampire is a force to be reckoned with.”

No. Svenn is the Reckoning.

The end of all things. A creature created to cull the human race and subjugate them to his master’s command.

He throws a spear at Aelfric. My lightning-fast knight narrowly avoids the attack.

“Svenn!” I call upon him again to cease this madness.

Please.

My heart turns to stone when his shadows swallow Lord Wesley and the newly arrived enforcement.

Heavens help me.

Un, what do I do?

Then I see it. A sinister presence coils around him.

I was right.

The dwarven dagger come in pairs. A tear trickles out of the corner of my eye. Svenn is influenced by a curse…

Be as it may, he’s hurting the innocents.

I know this can’t go on.

“Svenn!” I hope my voice can somehow reach his heart.

No response. Nothing but pure hell reigns in his dark eyes.

Hell or not.

That is my home. It’s been so long since I had one.I’m going to fight for it. I shoulder past the crowd to face the rampaging monster.

“Svenn!” I call to him again.

I climb the array of weapons on his body, gripping an axe embedded deep in his sternum for support.

I am silent.

I am nothing.

“Svenn…” I whisper one final call to my husband.

He whirls to me at the sound of my voice, his jaw flexing ever so slightly.

The eyes that stare at me are not of this earth. They look like something out of the darkest nightmare.

“I’m sorry.”

The blade trembles in my hand and I draw it straight into his chest.