Page 57

W hen the black magic touched my skin, I thought a million needles had pierced me. As I fell from the window, my only thought was that my skin was burning off . That by the time I landed, I wouldn’t have any skin left at all.

The landing came much quicker than I had anticipated, and I fell against a balcony and not the battlefield that warred beneath.

The wind entirely left my lungs and I gasped, struggling to capture any amount of breath I could.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fill my lungs with air.

My hand clutched against my jacket, peeling it away from me.

I was choking.

The rain came down in sheets around me, the biting wind whipping my already sopping hair across my face. The storms above were furious, raining their anger down. Out here on the balcony, I could hear the sounds of battle clearly .

My eyes were on the sky as I saw Donika appear in the frame of the shattered window above, her skirt whipping around her beneath the whipping winds. She smiled down at me for only a moment before she jumped into the spitting rain.

She landed in a crouch on the balcony beside me. I had fallen with both Nik’s sword and Stormslayer in my grip, but at some point they had clattered away from me on the stone terrace.

I swallowed, pressing my eyes closed as I tried to capture any breath I could manage to fill my lungs with. I gasped, clawing once more at my chest as I allowed the energy I had pulled from the sky to fill my lungs instead.

My magic breathed for me.

My lungs filled once.

Twice.

My breaths were coming in stuttering gulps now, but I could breathe.

I turned away from Donika to locate my blades, but her foot across my back stopped me.

She pressed down, but not enough to crush me or cause any injury.

The sound of her laugh filled my ears as the rain cascaded down my face, filling my mouth with rainwater and blood.

“Tsk, tsk. Not so fast.”

She allowed me to turn over, her heel now pressed flush against my chest. If she truly wanted to, she could likely drive that heel right into my heart from this vantage point.

Another ball of dark magic swirled within her palm.

It appeared as a fire of darkness, licking against her skin as if it were made of flame .

How much of her soul had she had to sacrifice for that power?

As if reading the thoughts on my face, she pressed her heel down harder into my chest, causing me to wince.

I tried to recoil, but with my back to the terrace stones, there was nowhere for me to go.

As I watched her above me, I pulled more energy from the sky.

Lightning struck out and hit the iron railing next to us.

It sparked, causing Donika to take a step back.

This time I didn’t hesitate—I extended my palm towards her and released the energy I had siphoned from the storm overhead. My magic shot out of my palm as a steady, pulsing flame. Amethyst energy colliding with hers.

She took another step back beneath the force of my power.

Then another.

I pulled more magic from the sky when I felt myself tire, the continuous stream of energy pushing Donika farther and farther back. I spotted Stormslayer beneath the railing and bent to pick it up, comforted by the blade safely back in my grip.

Donika’s own palm was extended towards me, her energy met mine.

Black fire mixing with violet. They pressed against each other mercilessly, the terrace groaning beneath us from the weight of all the energy we were wielding.

We appeared evenly matched, her dark energy holding back mine for the time being.

Unless she cut herself and performed a new blood spell, she would eventually run out of energy. My energy was already in the sky, and the only way I would run out is if I sucked all the energy dry without allowing time to create a new storm.

The storms above us were furious, spitting and crackling with energy I had never seen before. It was truly a sight to behold.

I pulled more.

And more.

Until I was so full of energy, I thought I could fly. My skin was glistening violet as I pushed against her. I was certain my amethyst magic swirled furiously in my eyes. The light of our battle illuminated the surrounding sky, sending a beacon of light directly upwards where our magic clashed.

Donika was straining to hold me off, both hands extended towards me, her teeth ground together from pain.

I bet she wished she wore more practical shoes.

I took a step forward. Then another.

Donika stepped back away from me, conceding. Another few steps back and she would be pressed against the iron railing of the balcony. The slash of a blade across my side almost dropped me to my knees, my focus broken for a single moment.

Nik had been hurt again.

Donika used the momentary lapse in my concentration to press forward, but I was ready. I pulled even more energy from above to fill the void of what I had already expended, and she was forced backwards once more.

Her back was pressed against the iron railing now, my magic threatening to push her over. We were a few stories up, but a fall like this wouldn’t kill her. It would take more than a little height to kill the queen of blood magic.

Was that… fear I saw in her black eyes?

I shook my head, banishing the thought from my mind.

Donika would never be afraid. That was a human emotion, none of which belonged to her anymore. She was growing weaker, my magic funneling straight from the sky and into my core. I would need to push more magic back up into the sky soon, and I prayed that Donika would break before then.

Right as the thought crossed my mind, Donika buckled, falling to her knees, her chiffon skirt so wet around her that it clung to her legs as she fell. Her black energy blinked out, but my magic continued to surge forth.

It exploded into her with such force that I was propelled backwards myself.

I twisted my body to land as gracefully as I possibly could, pushing myself back up onto my hands and knees.

My breathing was labored, my wet clothes plastered to my skin.

I was utterly drained, but vengeance pushed me to continue once more.

Donika lay in a heap across the terrace from me, her white blue hair streaming around her head against the terrace stone. I pushed myself to standing, slowly approaching her with Stormslayer held tightly in my grip.

She hadn’t regained herself, her head limp against the terrace.

I used the edge of the blade to turn her face towards me, as she had done in the throne room to me so many times before.

When her gaze met mine, her black eyes were filled with sorrow.

I wasn’t sure what I had expected… but it wasn’t this.

I pressed the tip of my blade to her chest, pressing down only enough to pierce the skin.

When her blood poured forth across the bodice of her bejeweled dress, it was as dark as midnight.

The same ichor that pumped through the veins of her monsters.

It pooled at her collarbone, a laugh escaping her lips and causing it to spill over her shoulders and onto the stone below with the vibration.

“Why are you laughing?” I asked, pressing the blade harder against her, my brows drawn together.

The ichor mixed with the torrents of rain that still fell from the sky above, causing it to turn a milky charcoal color. The storms overhead had weakened due to the amount of energy I had pulled from them, but the rain continued to fall.

“Because in the end, I always knew it would be you, little Stormshade.”

I glared down at her in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

Her hand fell from her stomach to lie against the stone terrace, straight into a pool of her own blood. It instantly soaked through the delicate lace of the sleeve, but she didn’t have the strength to move it. She had exhausted all of her energy. All of her power.

“I always knew you would win.”

“And how did you know that?” I asked.

It had to be a trick. There was no other way Donika would concede defeat, even if my blade was poised over her heart.

“The Mother told me,” she replied, coughing up a mouthful of rain and ichor. My magic had hurt something deep inside of her when it had blasted through her. Something irreparable.

“The Mother?”

She nodded. “She visits me often. She has tried to… tried to save me. Tried to convince me to join the light once more. There was never any hope of that… but it didn’t stop her from trying.”

The Mother had visited Donika? Alastir was the only one I had known to communicate with the Mother. She had chosen those that she sent visions to with great care.

To think that she would speak with Donika… and often…

I shook my head, blinking away the rain that coated my lashes.

“She told me what would happen… but I didn’t believe her,” Donika said, her head inclining towards me. “But it doesn’t matter. I am ready to join her.”

“I’m not sure that’s where you are going,” I spit out, pressing the blade deeper.

She wouldn’t save herself with pretty words about being saved or the Mother trying to convince her to leave the darkness behind. She was a monster… and there was only one way for this to end.

Donika reached up to grasp the back of my head and I reared back, careful to ensure the blade was still pressed into her flesh right above her heart.

As she moved closer, she pulled herself further onto my blade and the ichor poured forth in earnest now, coating the both of us in the slick, black liquid.

She gripped my head with her hands, bringing her mouth to my ear .

The words that she whispered were words I never thought I would hear in this lifetime, or the next. When she released me and fell back against the wet stones, I could see through the terrace doors that the others had joined us. They were watching from the open doorway.

They had successfully defeated her Noctani in Osiris’s old bedroom above.

The battle still raged below us, but it would come to an end in only a matter of moments.

The shock of her words still reeled within me as I kneeled, gathering the leverage to press the blade home.

Annelise must have stood right over my shoulder, because Donika’s dark eyes were filled with wonder as she met her gaze. I had never thought such an emotion could be possible with that depthless black. Annelise kneeled beside us, gripping Donika’s hand tightly in her own.

Donika was still weak from the blast of storm magic, her nose trickling the black ichor that was still pooling on her chest. That same ichor dripped to crease the corners of her mouth. My magic was killing her, eating her from the inside out.

She was dark where I was light. The energy I had filled her with was too much for her constitution… they weren’t compatible. Even without the help of my blade, she wouldn’t make it.

A humorless laugh escaped her as she tilted her head, glancing over my other shoulder.

I inclined my own head to see out of the corner of my eye that Zion had joined us on the balcony. He kneeled too, his hands capturing Annelise’s and Donika’s. I met Annelise's and Zion’s gaze with a question in my eyes.

I know I had been the one to say we couldn’t afford any last-minute changes of heart—that Annelise and Zion would be a liability when it came down to it.

But it was me who somehow hesitated now…

confusion swirling in my chest. We had never been whole as a family until now.

Zion, Annelise, Donika, me… the only one missing was Osiris.

Annelise answered my unspoken question with a soft, sad nod.

Despite everything, I would put her out of her misery. Even if she didn’t deserve such a kindness.

My gaze fell on Donika one last time, and she tightened her grip on Annelise’s and Zion’s hands as I plunged Stormslayer into her heart.