Dawn of Chaos and Fury by Melissa K. Roehrich - 51

48

A hand covered her mouth, and her eyes went wide as she was dragged into a hall bathroom. Then she went still when the door closed, and she came face-to-face with Lange.

“By the gods, bellana ,” Lange muttered. “Does he only let you piss once a day? We’ve been waiting forever.”

Corbin had removed his hand from her mouth, but he still had an arm wound around her. She wriggled from his hold, facing them both now.

“What the fuck are you doing here? And how?” she hissed, knowing she didn’t have much time.

She had been allowed to go to the bathroom, but she also had to return with a new bottle of scotch for Valter. If she took too long, there would be consequences.

“We’re here to get you,” Lange answered. “Tessa is here, along with Theon, Luka, and Axel. They’re with Theon’s mother. Did you know she was here?”

“Of course I knew she was here,” Eviana snapped. “I helped put her here.”

“And you never told him?” She stared back at him. “Right,” Lange muttered, rubbing at his nape. “I suppose you couldn’t.”

“We don’t have a lot of time,” Corbin stated.

“Obviously. What’s the plan?” she retorted.

This time they stared back at her.

“You came here without a fucking plan?” she demanded. “Did I teach you fools nothing?”

“We sort of have a plan,” Lange countered. “Theon and Axel are here to kill their father. So once that’s done, we’re good to go, right?”

“They are here to kill him?”

“Well, I’m guessing he’s not going to let them simply walk out the nonexistent front door with their mother,” Lange drawled. “Speaking of, why the fuck isn’t there a door?”

“Oh my gods,” Eviana muttered, going over all this new information and trying to pull together a plan. Priya wasn’t just going to go with them. She was too enamored by Valter.

“I have to get back or he’s going to come looking for me,” she said. “Come back with Tessa, Theon, and Axel, but first…”

She faltered, clasping her hands in front of her. Out of habit, yes, but also out of nerves. She felt the most in control when she was doing something she was used to. Something that came as naturally as breathing.

“What is it, nightmare?” Corbin asked, clearly trying to lighten the mood.

“Have you met the Shifters?” she asked suddenly.

His eyes widened in confusion. “Yes,” he answered slowly. “Tessa took me to them shortly after we caught up with her at the Acropolis.”

“They were kind? Kylian can be abrasive,” she said.

Corbin studied her for a moment. “They were more than kind. My…mother especially.”

She nodded once, squeezing her fingers. “When this is all over, will you stay with them?”

He exchanged a look with Lange. “We haven’t decided where we will settle down,” he answered. “I suppose it will depend on what the world looks like when this is all over.”

That made sense, she supposed.

“Eviana?” Corbin prodded gently when she remained silent.

She straightened her spine, dropping her hands to her sides. “If you can only leave with one of us, promise me you’ll take Priya.”

“What?” Lange scoffed. “No. You’re both coming with us.”

She sighed. “Lange⁠—”

“No,” he interrupted, stepping closer and crowding her against the wall. “You’re both coming with us. Do you understand me? You didn’t drag us across half the fucking kingdoms, through the Dreamlock Woods, and make us godsdamn care, for us to leave you behind. You and Priya are both leaving here with us.”

“Swear it,” she breathed, looking up into sky-blue eyes. “Swear that you will leave here with both of us. That when this is all said and done, you will take us both from here. That you will…help me with her. Is it an accord?”

His head tilted as if listening to something, and she swore to the gods, if those winds fucked her over right now…

“I swear to you that you will both leave here with us,” Lange said, holding her stare. “I swear that when this is all said and done, you will not be alone. You and Priya? You’ll be part of our family. That is the accord I make with you.”

“Agreed,” she breathed, fighting back the emotion trying to claw up her throat. She didn’t get emotional. Emotions were pointless.

But she felt the tingling of the bargain Mark on her skin just below her shoulder blade. Then she pushed off the wall, shoving him aside. “I have to go. He will come looking soon. I am already taking too long.”

She slipped from the bathroom, rushing to the kitchens and retrieving the liquor and a fresh ice bucket before hurrying back to his study. He looked up when she entered, his hazel eyes hard.

“That took longer than it should have,” he said coldly.

“My apologies, my Lord,” she answered, dropping her gaze to the floor. “I have been unwell with my power so low.”

“And who’s to blame for that, Eve?”

“Me, my Lord,” she said immediately. Lifting the liquor bottle, she dared to look at him, finding him with a slight smirk. “Would you like a glass now or later?”

“Now.”

She nodded, moving to the liquor cart and pulling out a tumbler. She filled it with a few ice cubes and the liquor, trying to calm her racing heart and steady her breathing before she carried it to him.

His fingers brushed hers as he took the glass, and then he stood, forcing her to stumble back a step. He leaned against his desk, studying her while he took a sip.

“How long have you been mine, Eviana?” he mused, swirling the contents of his glass.

“For decades, my Lord,” she answered, her mind racing as she tried to figure out where this was going.

He hummed in response, setting the glass down with a faint clunk. Then he reached over, a fingertip trailing along her collarbone. “Decades of training. Decades of investing my time and energy into you.”

She stayed silent, his fingers still skating down to her cleavage. It was only then she realized Priya wasn’t in the room anymore. She had been here when she’d left to fetch the liquor, but now she was gone.

“And I was studying you all that time too,” he went on. “Clearly not well enough. You still managed to hide your thoughts and emotions from me. Not that I’m surprised. You are clever, but your mannerisms…” His fingers dragged back up. “You’ve never once lied directly to my face. Until now.”

Her eyes went wide, and she tried to lurch back. But he was faster because she was too weak right now. His fingers clamped around her throat, keeping her close.

“I did not think I could be more disappointed in you,” he snarled into her ear. “Yet you continue to prove me wrong at every turn. Tell me how, after fucking decades, this is how you treat me, Eviana?”

But she couldn’t speak because he was squeezing her throat. Then she couldn’t speak as the door opened and Corbin and Lange were shoved into the room by two of the three servants that were here, one of whom was an Arius Legacy.

No!

“Tell me,” Valter said, twisting so he stood behind her now. He tugged her back into his chest, adjusting his grip on her neck. “Tell me why a seven-year-old child is more loyal to me than my godsdamn Source.”

Corbin and Lange were staring at her wide-eyed, clearly not knowing what to do or say.

Then she was trying to scream around that grip on her throat as shadows sprang forward and wrapped around the males. They both cried out in agony, those shadows biting and twisting and coiling. They fell to their knees, items in the room being thrown about as Lange fought back with his wind. Corbin shifted, but the magic didn’t care. It wrapped around the feline as much as it did Lange. Strangling and drawing blood.

No! No, no, no!

She could do nothing. They were here because of her. They’d come for her. To help her. And now they would be dead because of her.

It had been decades since she’d felt anything, but now she felt guilt and regret. She wished she’d never met them. Never coerced them. Never dragged them with her on this pointless quest to do what? Find her daughter just to watch her slowly become what she was?

Those were tears on her face, and she thrashed against Valter’s hold. He only tightened his grip on her throat, murmuring in her ear how she had caused this. This was her fault. She was the reason they were being tortured.

As if she didn’t already know those truths.

“What are you doing?”

Valter stilled at the small, horrified voice. His grip on Eviana’s throat loosened the smallest amount, and she turned her head to find Priya standing just inside the door. If her voice was horrified, it was nothing compared to the look on her small face as she took in a scene no child should ever have to see.

“These Fae are here to hurt you, Priya,” Valter ground out. “I am protecting you. Just like I promised I always would.”

Her turquoise eyes bounced from Valter to the Fae to Eviana and back, fear pouring off her.

“Leave, Priya,” Valter said, his voice getting firmer. Gruffer. “Let me handle this. Go with Benson.” Snapping at the Arius guard, he added, “Where the fuck is Annis?”

“I don’t want to go back to Annis,” Priya said, backing away as Benson approached her.

“Sometimes we don’t get to choose what we want to do,” Valter gritted out, losing all semblance of patience. “Go with Benson. Now!”

“Don’t touch her!” Eviana gasped, Valter’s grip loosening more as his attention was split between her, Priya, and keeping Lange and Corbin tied down with his shadows.

Lange had stopped fighting back, instead using his magic to get air to himself and Corbin as Valter’s shadows squeezed tighter. Blood marred them everywhere, that magic burning and branding.

“I will restore your obedience if it is the last thing I do,” Valter snarled, his hand leaving her throat and grabbing her hair. He yanked her back, throwing her into the bookshelf behind the desk, and she crumpled to the floor. Too weak to fight back. Too drained from these godsdamn bands.

“Stop! Let me go!” Priya was crying, screaming , and Eviana grabbed onto the desk to pull herself back to her feet.

Benson was wrestling with Priya, and the girl was fighting back with everything she had. Kicking and biting. She was a fighter, Eviana would give her that, but she didn’t stand a chance against an Arius Legacy.

Valter was stalking across the room, a dagger in hand as he approached Lange first.

“Get her out of here, Benson!” he roared.

No child should have to see this, but a part of Eviana was glad. She recognized that made her a horrible person. She also recognized it was why she should never have been a mother, but seeing the truth of the male she was so enamored with? It would mark her. She would always remember this. Always be wary to trust again, and she should be. Whoever she deemed worthy of her trust needed to earn it.

“Son of a bitch!” Benson barked, and Eviana looked over to see her teeth deep in his hand. He released her, throwing her away from him, and she hit the ground hard.

“Priya!” Eviana cried, and it hurt. Fuck, did it hurt. She had to have broken a rib when Valter threw her into the bookshelf.

Then it was Benson being thrown across the room, light and dark lifting him off his feet and pinning him to the wall. Tessa stormed in, power rolling off her with a hand raised to keep Benson in place. Theon, Axel, and Luka stalked in behind her, the three of them looking like walking death.

“How the fuck did you get here?” Valter demanded, lurching back.

Tessa’s smile was pure wrath as she rotated her hand, a crack resounding through the room before Benson dropped to a heap on the floor.

The interruption had caught Valter off guard enough that his power loosened, Corbin and Lange sucking down breaths. Corbin was still in his mountain cat form, hovering over Lange.

“Eviana,” Tessa said in a too calm voice. “Get Priya.”

She moved as fast as she could, biting down the scream of pain when she reached the girl and scooped her into her arms.

“Don’t watch,” she murmured, pushing Priya’s face into her neck. “Don’t watch and cover your ears.”

Priya didn’t argue, and Eviana clung onto her as she watched Valter’s sons cross the room. Valter tried to fight back, his shadows lashing out at them, but it appeared Theon had finally learned a truth. He was stronger than Valter even without a Source. He was stronger than all the Ladies with his double bloodline.

It was something Valter had never let him learn, and it was part of the reason he was brutal with Theon from the very beginning. If he grew up thinking he was the weaker one, he’d never realize how powerful he actually was. It had driven Valter mad that Theon wouldn’t discuss his Source options because Valter couldn’t scheme properly. He had dreaded the day Theon took a Source. He’d wanted him powerful, but only if he controlled that power. So he controlled his son with threats and abuse. Threatened him with Axel and Luka.

And then Tessa had come along.

Tessa had moved to Corbin, who’d shifted back, and Lange, standing beside them while Luka towered over her. Her violet eyes were honed in on Valter, watching and waiting. Eviana knew she would intervene if she needed to, but she was letting the St. Orcas brothers have their vengeance.

“My ungrateful, spoiled sons,” Valter spat, pressing up against his desk. There was nowhere else for him to go.

His shadows lashed out again, and Theon’s darkness caught them. Somehow seeped into them. Made them darker and deadlier. Controlled them.

Eviana saw the uncertainty flicker across her Master’s face, but then it was gone. He straightened with a sneer, staring back at his sons. “Killing me would be pointless now. I heard what you’ve done, Theon. Giving our kingdom over to an Achaz descendant? You betray our people.”

“We’re not here to discuss the kingdom, the people, or my choices,” Theon said coldly. “We’re here to discuss you.”

“You lost any right to discuss anything with me when you gave everything we are to that cunt,” Valter spat.

Theon’s darkness was at Valter’s throat, sinking into his flesh. His veins took on a grey pallor as Theon stalked forward, pulling a dagger from a swirl of black. One of the many daggers Eviana had seen Valter shove into his own children on numerous occasions.

Without any of Valter’s flair, Theon plunged that blade deep into Valter’s side. “That’s my wife, you weak, pathetic piece of shit,” he snarled. “Talk like that about her again, and I’ll rip out your godsdamn tongue.”

“You always were one for empty threats,” Valter sneered, reaching for the dagger hilt.

But then Axel was there, moving so godsdamn fast he was a blur. In Eviana’s next blink, he had Valter’s hands wrenched behind his back, and Theon was shoving rings onto his fingers.

Priya whimpered in her arms, and Eviana clutched her tighter. She should really get her out of here, but she was too weak to do anything other than slide to the floor. She stifled her own scream when she adjusted her hold on the child, her ribs definitely broken on one side.

“My worthless spare,” Valter panted, his power no longer working to combat his wound.

With one hand holding his wrists, Axel pulled a knife from the bandolier across his chest. It was a long, thin one, the blade coming to a sharp point, and he dragged that point along Valter’s cheekbone.

“I really have nothing to say to you,” Axel said, his voice as cold and dark as the death he came from, even if he could no longer wield its wrath.

Axel had wrath of his own to wield.

“But then again,” Axel continued, “I know how much you love my dramatics.”

Without warning, the blade was in Valter’s inner thigh, right next to his groin. The ex-Lord howled in pain as Axel twisted the knife.

“The thing is, you threatened my wife,” Axel said, each word getting tighter as he clung to his control.

Another knife was in Valter’s other thigh. This one Axel dragged down, slicing him open more.

“And came after my child,” Axel snarled.

Another knife to the back of Valter’s knee, dragging horizontally this time.

Another whimper from Priya, and Eviana knew she was hearing far too much.

“Shh,” she murmured, smoothing a hand down her hair. “You’re safe. I promise, you’re safe. They won’t hurt you.”

“I’ve got it.”

Eviana looked up to find Lange there, reaching for the girl. His hands covered Priya’s where they were clamped over her ears.

“All she can hear now is the sound of the wind,” Lange said.

“You stole everything from me,” Axel was saying, coming around to stand before his father. “And I want to thank you.”

“Thank me?” Valter spat, once again trying to reach for the knives and dagger, but Theon’s magic snapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides. “For what? Making you weak enough to give in to bloodlust?”

“For making me strong enough to keep getting back up, even when it feels fucking pointless,” Axel returned, his hands sliding into the pockets of his pants.

Valter scoffed. “You are nothing but a slave to the dark now, vampyre.”

Axel’s lips tilted in his signature malicious smile. “And yet the sun still rises because the dark does not hate the light. It makes it clearer. A balance. Fire and shadows.”

Valter huffed a derisive laugh, dismissing his younger son and turning to Theon. “And you? How else will you fail me today?”

“I won’t fail you,” Theon said, too calmly. Too controlled. “I will return you to your beginnings. Deliver you to your beloved Arius, and you can fall at his feet and proclaim how you failed him .”

And for the first time, Valter stilled, as if only now realizing what his death would mean. Who he would have to face and how that would end.

Eviana blinked as she realized the male had truly thought himself invincible. Then again, all the rulers of the realm did. They were the gods here, forgetting that Devram was the forgotten world of the stars, and in the grand scheme of things, they were minuscule.

Theon strolled forward, pure dominance and power, and he slapped his father’s cheek patronizingly. “Because I control your fate, and I can think of nothing better than letting Arius fall asleep to your screams of agony from the Pits of Torment every. Fucking. Night.”

He stepped back, nothing but hatred on his face as he looked down at his father. “And while I could be the one to end you, because I am, after all, far more powerful than you⁠—”

Valter snarled, and Eviana knew Theon’s words were hitting harder than any blade embedded in her Master’s flesh.

Theon’s lips tipped up in a knowing smirk. “I have my own vendettas against you, but they’re nothing compared to Axel’s when you went after his wife and child.” He paused, taking a step to the side. “Or Luka’s.”

“Luka?” Valter spat. “That ungrateful bastard. He⁠—”

But then Valter was bellowing in pain. Eviana couldn’t figure out why until she saw the smoke rising from Valter’s shirt as it slowly burned. A perfect hole right over the top of his chest. And it wasn’t just his shirt that was burning, but his skin. Bone. Muscle. A cavity slowly burning deep into his chest with dragonfire until they could see his heart beating far too fast.

Axel snickered where he stood nearby, having poured himself a glass of scotch. “I truly thought there would be nothing there.”

Theon slapped his father’s cheek again, much harder. “Stay awake, Valter. We’re not done yet.”

“That’s for my father,” Luka snarled, not moving from his place at Tessa’s side. “And for my wife.”

“Your wife?” Valter gasped, wild eyes jumping from him to Tessa to Theon. “Somehow you manage to disappoint me even more, Theon.”

“As if I give a single fuck,” Theon replied casually, taking the glass of liquor Axel passed to him.

“So what now?” Valter spat. “You leave me filleted wide open? Since no one seems to have the balls to carry out their threats? Weak. All of you.”

“Your death is not ours to claim,” Theon said simply, sipping his scotch.

“I suppose it’s the cunt’s you share with the dragon?”

Eviana gasped when Theon shot forward, gripping Valter’s hair and yanking his head back. Valter opened his mouth with a pained groan, and Theon poured his drink down his throat, Valter coughing and gagging.

“I told you not to speak of her again,” Theon snarled, that control gone. “The only one who deserves to claim your death more than me is my mother.”

“Your…” Valter’s eyes flew to the other side of the room, and so did Eviana’s where she found Caris standing just inside the door. The stone on her upper arms was gone, and darkness flowed around her like a midnight mist. She glided forward, and as she passed Tessa, the female handed her a gold dagger.

Not a blade of black to end the former Arius Lord, but a blade of light.

Caris stopped in front of Valter, and the male stared back at her.

“Finally taking your vengeance then?” Valter sneered, holding himself up with his desk as his legs trembled from Axel’s blades.

Caris said nothing, but she looked over her shoulder, locking eyes with Eviana. Caris glanced at Priya, then back to her, and Eviana gave a nod of her head, smoothing her hand down Priya’s hair once more.

“It’s almost over,” Eviana whispered, even though Priya couldn’t hear her over Lange’s magic.

But Lange heard her.

“It is, bellana ,” he said. “You’re almost free.”

“You took my place in this kingdom,” Caris said, her tone strong and unwavering. “You took my son. My love. My life.” She lifted her other hand, her fingers covered in her darkness, and she reached inside Valter’s chest and gripped his heart, squeezing.

Valter gasped, his knees giving out, but Theon and Axel were there, holding him up. Making him face his comeuppance.

“And still this is not for me in the end,” Caris said, her voice taking on the edge of death she came from. “It is for everyone who suffered because of you. Me. My sons. The people of the kingdom you stole from my family.”

Her hand tightened again, and Valter’s eyes rolled back before she loosened her grip.

“But in the end, this is for Eviana and everything you stole from her, ” Caris said, and then she yanked her hand back a moment before her other hand sank the gold dagger into the muscle.

Axel and Theon released him, letting Valter drop to the floor as if he were nothing, and they stepped back, turning away. Eviana knew they would never think of the male again.

She nodded at Lange, and he pulled his hands back. Priya shifted, and Eviana sucked in a sharp breath as her chest tightened. She reached up, smoothing her daughter’s hair back from her brow before taking her face in her hands.

“It’s over, Priya. You were so brave,” she murmured softly.

The girl’s eyes were haunted, her face tearstained as her gaze bounced around Eviana’s face.

Eviana was doing the same. Taking in her turquoise eyes. The scattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. Her wild auburn hair.

She sucked in a shuddering breath, her chest constricting even more. “You are such a bright and beautiful flower,” Eviana murmured, her hands slipping from Priya’s face.

The world tilted a little, and Lange caught her shoulders. “Easy, bellana ,” he said, brow furrowing in alarm. “Let’s get these off you.”

He gently pulled the bands from her wrists, her power springing forth at being free. The few potted plants in the room reached for her, leaves stretching, and she smiled.

But removing the bands wouldn’t do what Lange thought it would. Her power wasn’t going to replenish. It wasn’t going to heal her or strengthen her.

Eviana lifted a shaky hand and turned her palm up, a seedling appearing in the center. Priya gasped, staring in amazement as the seedling opened and grew. Sprouting and unfurling until a perfect bright pink bellana flower formed.

Priya reached for it, twirling it between her fingers. A wide smile spread across her face, and Eviana marveled at it.

Until her chest tightened further and she was sinking down, her head in Lange’s lap.

“Eviana? What’s wrong?” Lange demanded, eyes darting from her to Priya and back.

“Take her,” she rasped. “Don’t let her see.”

“See what?”

But someone was there, lifting her daughter into strong arms. She blinked as the room blurred, finding Corbin’s features tight with grief as he stared down at her.

“Don’t tell her,” Eviana whispered. “Don’t tell her who I am.”

“What? Why?” Lange demanded, trying and failing to keep the panic from his voice.

“I don’t want her to remember…this,” she rasped, each breath becoming harder. Shallower. “But you swore…”

“Eviana, stop,” Lange ordered, her face in his hands as he leaned over her. “Stop. We’ll get a Healer. Cienna. Someone. We’ll⁠—

“You swore she would be part of your family,” Eviana forced out. “That she wouldn’t…be alone.”

“Eviana!”

Corbin was there then, leaning over her, and Eviana could just make out Caris holding Priya in her arms, softly discussing the flower. Priya was none the wiser, listening intently to whatever Caris was saying. She was a mother. She understood.

“It’s okay, nightmare,” Corbin said gently, taking her hand in his. “We’ve got her.”

Eviana gave him a weak smile. “Thank you.”

“No,” Lange snarled, shaking his head in denial. “No, you didn’t… You hauled us all over the continent for her and now… No.”

“She always knew it would come to this, Lange,” Corbin said softly, ever the observant one. “It’s why she took us with her.”

He understood. Good. That was good.

“Make sure…she knows the trees,” she rasped.

Corbin nodded, his throat bobbing with emotion. “Yeah, nightmare. We will.”

Because there was always a cost. For every good, there was an evil. For every light, there was a dark. For every sacrifice, there was a reward.

And hers was getting to watch her daughter admire a flower, bright and beautiful, as she took her last breath. Not as a Source on her knees for her Master, but as a mother knowing her daughter would never have to be what she had become.