Page 27 of The Storm of the Empire (Flyers Of The First Kingdom #3)

TWENTY-SIX

HAZEL

K iera quickly left to assist, and when the bells continued, Nyx got up to look out across the courtyard.

“Something big is happening over there. Maybe we should take a look.” Nyx wore a frown, seeming more concerned than usual.

“Do you think something happened?” I asked. “Maybe a dragon is injured?” Not much got the palace this worked up. They were used to injuries and battle wounds.

A fist hammered on his office door.

“Come in,” Nyx called, striding across the room to meet whoever it was.

An out of breath healer burst through and took in all our stunned faces. “General, you must come immediately.”

“Why?”

“Just come.”

Nyx and I exchanged a glance and then we ran to the hospital wing. Nyx lead and none of us could keep up with him.

By the time we got there, the healers were already working on someone in one of the emergency rooms. Kiera stood outside the door and jogged to us as we approached.

“We can’t go in. There’s Dragon’s Bane. They are decontaminating now.”

“Who is it?” Nyx asked, concern written in the lines on his tired face.

Kiera looked at the ground wringing her hands. I didn’t know what she was steeling herself for, but an ugly dread settled in the pit of my stomach. She gathered her courage and looked up into his eyes. “We think it’s Kol.”

A collective gasp went up.

Nyx fell to his knees. “Don’t play with my emotions.”

Both Kiera and Zaria knelt to support him.

“Do you really believe it’s him?”

“Yes.” Kiera’s voice was hollow.

Nyx made a gut-wrenching, strangled sound.

Kiera took Nyx’s face in her hands and made him look at her. “As soon as it’s safe to be in there, I will do all that I can.”

“H—how?” Nyx croaked.

Kiera shook her head. “We don’t know any details yet. Luka and Faolan brought him in. They are being decontaminated as we speak, and then we can find out what in the Goddess’ name is going on. But he’s in good hands.”

Zaria wrapped Nyx in her arms then and held him until Luka and Faolan emerged from a room across the hall, looking washed but tired.

I rushed to Luka. All my earlier conflict over trusting him vanished at the relief I felt seeing him safe. He wrapped me in a hug, and we held each other while around us, the entire spectrum of fae emotions played out. Relief, joy, fear.

Jaxus pulled Faolan into a tight hug, muttering words of fond greeting, and Nyx wept into Zaria’s shoulder.

When Jaxus let Faolan go, he turned to Luka. “Is it really Kol?”

Luka lifted his shoulders. “Sure looks like Nyx, but I never knew him.”

The wait was agonizing, but not even Kiera could go in until it was declared safe from Dragon’s Bane. When her father finally came from the room, removing a mask and protective robe, he looked solemn. He tossed the garments in a bin beside the door and cleared his throat.

“We have performed the decontamination, but the Dragon’s Bane exposure was intense. There may still be levels in his system that pose a threat to all of you, so I must insist on you wearing masks and robes, but you can see him briefly.”

He only got through half of his sentence before Nyx was up and bursting through the door. No one would keep him out, and Kiera’s father didn’t even try.

We all followed, rules be damned. This could be our prayers answered.

I longed to see Kol’s cheeky version of Nyx’s stern face again, but there were too many fae working around him, so I stood back, finding myself next to Luka while Nyx, Zaria, and Kiera shoved their way to the front.

A harrowing cry came from Nyx, radiating through my bones. The pain in his voice told me all I needed to know. My heart hammered so hard, I was sure it was trying to break out of my chest. Tears welled up in my eyes again.

“Jaxus!” Zaria called. “We need you.”

Jaxus looked confused, but a path cleared for him to get to Kol’s bedside where Nyx was clutching at the unconscious body of his brother.

“There is still too much Dragon’s Bane in him,” Kiera wheezed. We need all the dragons out of here now. Jaxus, please get Nyx off him before he makes himself just as ill.”

Jaxus pried Nyx off Kol, both of them collapsing in a coughing fit. Luka ran forward to help as Nyx fought to be near his brother. Finally, between Luka, Jaxus, and three other healers, they were able to drag Nyx away to be decontaminated.

I left the room shaking and found Faolan lingering outside awkwardly. “You brought them back?”

He nodded.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“I had to.”

“Wait, do you need to be further decontaminated? How are you not more ill?”

He shook his head. “Luka stole a sail for us to wrap him in. I carried it. I’m fine. I’ve bathed, and I won’t be touching him.”

We stood in the hall waiting for any news. After a while, Luka, Jaxus, Nyx, and Zaria came out in different clothes with freshly washed hair.

Nyx wheezed with every inhale, barely keeping himself upright. “I need to be in there with him.”

“Let the healers do their work.” Zaria clung to him, probably fearing he’d break back into the room.

“I don’t care about my health. I’ll wear a mask. I need to be with him.”

“Listen to yourself. You can barely breathe, and you were only in there a few moments.” Zaria was stern with him.

“I don’t care. I would trade my health for his. He needs me.”

I’d never seen Nyx so distraught.

“Just give it some time.” Jaxus put his hand on Nyx’s shoulder.

“What if he dies? I need to be with him!” Nyx’s voice broke me. “I can’t let him die alone. Not again.”

I turned away, wiping my tears. They’d been like brothers to me, all of us growing up here with our parents at war. All we had was each other, and Kol had been the life of our family. I knew we couldn’t handle him dying again. Once nearly killed Nyx. It nearly broke us all.

“He’s not going to die. Kiera won’t let him,” Jaxus said, firm in his conviction.

The waiting was hell. Healers brought chairs, but Nyx wouldn’t sit. He paced the length of the hallway.

Finally, Kiera came out of the room and stripped off her protective gear, handing it off to a healer to discard. “We have him cleared as best we can, and he’s stable. We don’t know the extent of the damage it has done because we don’t know how long he’s been like that. Months, maybe longer.”

“He’s been gone over a year.” Nyx’s voice cracked.

“I know.” Kiera pulled him into a hug.

“They’ve been doing that to him for a damn year?”

Kiera nodded. “Yes. Probably.”

“How can he possibly still be alive?”

Kiera couldn’t answer him.

“I will destroy all of them. I will burn them to the ground.” Nyx looked like a shell of himself, but his voice was strong.

“There will be time for that later,” Jaxus muttered, sounding just as murderous.

“And what will this have done to him?” Nyx asked Kiera, clearly needing answers.

“We can’t know until we get a mind healer here. We’ve already sent for the best from the Forest Kingdom.”

“Gran?” Nyx asked.

“Yes. I sent her a message personally.” Kiera cupped his face. “If anyone can help him, it’s her. She will bring the best with her to treat every part of him, but he has blood poisoning, which…” She trailed off, but her face told us all we needed to know.

It wasn’t good.

“If he can survive the night and they can make it here in time…”

“We’ll send dragons.” Nyx turned to Jaxus. “Get our fastest flyers and send them now.”

“What about Damona Island?”

“Go to the King after you dispatch the flyers and tell him I need to speak with him urgently. Tell him I’m here.”

I blinked.

Was Nyx summoning the King to him?

I kept my mouth shut. What could I say?

Nyx turned back on Kiera. “I won’t be kept from him any longer. Dragon’s Bane be damned.”

“Wait. You need a mask and gloves. The bane is so deep in his tissue from prolonged exposure, we could only get so much out of his system.” She stopped him before he could move. And I need you to be sure this is your brother and not some lookalike. You still can’t feel him?”

“It’s him.” Nyx set his jaw.

Kiera pressed her lips into a line, clearly holding back.

We all donned the safety gear and went in again.

Nyx collapsed at Kol’s bedside, his face pressed into Kol’s lifeless chest.

Kiera stood back, wincing, but we all knew nothing was getting Nyx out of this room a second time. Eventually, we got Nyx to take a chair next to Kol’s bedside.

We left to find a meal when the King came to speak to Jaxus and Nyx, returning later to bring Nyx some food, which went untouched.

The healers came in and out over the hours, checking on Kol, but nothing changed. We were all there holding our breath, waiting for the healers to arrive from the Forest Kingdom.

“What in Uriel’s seventh circle is that?” Nyx growled when Kiera pulled down the blanket over Kol to listen to his heart and revealed one arm and the shackle attached to his wrist.

“I suspect it’s the reason you still can’t feel him. The shackles are inlaid with Draco Fulgurite which we know can disrupt certain magics. One tiny shard was enough to keep you from Zaria for years. Between that and the level of Dragon’s Bane in his system, there’s no question someone has gone to great lengths to hide him away. They wanted us to think he was dead.” Kiera’s words were ominous.

“Well, get them off him,” Nyx demanded, flipping back the covers to reveal the same on his ankles.

“We will,” Kiera assured him. “I have healers looking into how we can break them without causing him further injury. You burned Zaria getting her chain off, remember? These have been on him so long and so tightly, they are nearly imbedded in his flesh. We don’t want to harm him. His body can’t take it.”

“I can do it,” I said from where I stood quietly observing near the door. I stepped forward and examined the shackle on Kol’s ankle. “My lightning can break them, but there is a risk that the charge might disrupt any treatments for a short time. Is he strong enough for that?”

Kiera sighed. “That, I don’t know.” She turned to Nyx. “It might be better to wait for Gran to arrive with more specialized healers before we try. He’s stable right now, and I want to keep him that way.”

Nyx nodded, a war of opposing emotions evident in his watery eyes. I would want to get them off, too.

“Besides, there is also this,” Kiera said hesitantly. It was obvious the pain it caused her each time she had to dash Nyx’s hopes. She leaned forward and parted the robe they had put Kol in to show the skin around his neck, and the quiet room fell even more still.

A tattoo graced Kol’s pale skin. It was an exact replica of Luka’s pendant.

“We think the crystal has been ground down and tattooed under his skin.”

Nyx made a sound of despair, like he just couldn’t take one more thing.

I closed in, leaning over Kol’s thin frame to get some sense of what we were dealing with. I held a hand over the ink on his neck and swore under my breath. There was definitely a signature of storm dragon lightning in the skin there.

“It’s the same magic.” I said, knowing I was breaking Nyx’s heart even further and it killed me. Whoever was using our magic in this way had to be stopped.

“So what does this mean? Will I ever be able to feel him again?” Nyx asked, desperation leaking into his tone.

Kiera placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “One step at a time. He’s here. The Goddess returned him to us. Let us have hope and trust She has a plan for him.”

Nyx took up his hand and squeezed. “I just wish I’d known. I should have searched harder.”

“We all believed him dead, brother,” Jaxus said.

“What has he endured?” Nyx asked no one in particular. “And I left him there.”

No one knew what to say, so we kept silent.

“He knew then that something bad was going to happen to him. I felt it. It was like he had a foreboding feeling before he left. I should have stopped him.”

“It wasn’t your call back then,” Zaria comforted him.

Nyx growled. “No, it was Octavian’s, and look what a monster he turned out to be.”

No one had anything to say on the matter of Octavian. A thousand lifetimes could pass, and we would never understand what drove that creature.

“I just wish I knew what was going through Kol’s head before he left.”

“Nyx,” Zaria whispered.

“Hmm?” He barely looked at her. He’d changed so much in a day, it was almost unbelievable. If I didn’t know their bond had been severed, I would have thought Kol was bleeding his life force away.

“Kol wrote you a letter before he left. He gave it to me to keep safe, in case?—”

“What?” Nyx snatched his eyes away from his brother to stare at Zaria.

Zaria rubbed her forehead, tears filling her eyes. “I’m sorry. But so much happened right after that, it never re-entered my head. Then I found it not long ago, and I thought about giving it to you, but your mind was just starting to heal.” She sobbed.

He turned on her, and I worried it was going to be with rage, but there were tears in his eyes.

“I’m so sorry. Will you ever be able to forgive me?” She shook as she tried to get a breath.

He cupped Zaria’s face and pressed his forehead to hers. “Always, Sol. You did the right thing. I wasn’t strong enough then…but do you think I should read it now?” His voice was barely audible.

“It might give you some idea of where his head was. It might help.”

“Let me have it,” he said softly.

Zaria made to stand. “I’ll go and get it.”

Luka stood. “No, tell me where it is, and I’ll get it for you.”

Kiera busied herself while we waited for Luka to return, checking all Kol’s vitals and administering several doses of various treatments. She checked and rechecked the stones placed around his bed for healing and made notes on Kol’s progress. It was reassuring to watch her work. Kol was in the best possible hands.

When Luka came back through the door clutching the letter, we all exchanged looks and silently agreed we should leave them.

“We’ll give you two a moment,” Kiera said.

“No,” Nyx insisted, staring at the unopened letter. “Please stay.”

Uneasily, we watched him open the letter and scan Kol’s familiar handwriting. Then, surprising us all, he read aloud.

’Nyx,

My brother. My light. My best friend.

There are no words to tell you what it ’ s been like growing up in your head. I could not feel closer to another soul. There are so many things I could tell you to express what you mean to me but you know all of them.

I will not be coming back from this mission, I know it in my heart.

It is the deepest regret of my life that I couldn ’ t be there to see you become the dragon I know you will be with Zaria by your side. I wanted to watch you make a big family and teach your younglings all the things we used to get up to. Know that if the Goddess permits me, I will always be near you. Death can ’ t keep me from watching over you.

So onto the important stuff…

Octavian can ’ t be trusted. I overheard him talking to a high priest and they are up to something. They were talking about Dragon ’ s Bane like they were hoarding it, not having it destroyed. I heard them mention Damona Island and a chain of remote outposts to the north, I don ’ t know what they are involved in, but you need to keep an eye on him.

He caught me watching them and now he ’ s ordered my flight to the Sixth Kingdom, it ’ s no coincidence. I fear if I resist, he could use other methods to do me harm. I will go down fighting, but I am choosing to take this fight away from you.

Please don ’ t let this ruin you. I ’ m ready for it. You ’ re a better male than I ever have been, and you need to be the one to survive this. I ’ ve always been the spare.

The kingdoms need you.

Zaria needs you, and she was never meant to share you with me.

Remember all that you have to live for and let me go.

I will forever miss living in your mind.

Kol