“You’re not going to win this,” I croaked, barely sucking in half a breath.
Lying on the ground just twenty feet from me was Caspian. He wasn’t moving.
I felt my heart swell—it hurt like crazy, but I could feel everything. I could feel my skin burning. That was Caspian. He was still feeling things. He was alive. I was still tied to him, body and soul. Our inner-sentries were connected. Shaytan hadn’t cut us off yet.
Caspian’s eyes popped open.
My stomach hurt. My breathing became shallow.
At least he’s alive.
“You keep saying that, but you’re the one dying out here, darling,” Shaytan replied, snickering. I felt something sharp and cold on my throat. His sword. He was pressing it against my skin, teasing me, tormenting me.
I have to do something. I can’t die here. I don’t want to die here.
I heard wings flapping. I looked farther beyond Caspian. Up in a tree nearby, an Ekar settled on a branch. Its fiery red feathers looked familiar. Its beady eyes were fixed on mine. Ramin…
“Ramin,” I whispered.
Time stood still—or, at least, that’s what it felt like. A second became a minute as I thought about the Ekar bird and Neha’s stories about the fire spirits. Were they true? Was a fire spirit watching me through Ramin’s eyes?
What were the odds?
Shaytan chuckled, but he didn’t sound that close anymore. The noise rather echoed around me, instead of reaching my ears.
“Any last words, Miss Hellswan? Lord Kifo’s coming to, and he’s about to watch you die,” he said.
I wanted to kick him in the nuts and cut his head off. But I couldn’t feel my body anymore. I wasn’t even sure if I was still breathing. My soul hurt. There were gaps in it. It hurt so much…
All of a sudden, as I kept my gaze fixed on Ramin, I heard whispers.
They didn’t come from the outside. They swirled inside my head, like distant memories, getting clearer and louder with each second that passed.
Let go, Harper.
I froze. That wasn’t my thought. That was someone else’s voice. A male timbre, soft as honey, but intense, like freshly brewed coffee. It set my soul on fire. Or was it just my body giving out, shutting down, one organ at a time?
Let go, Harper.
There it was again! I tried to move, but I felt as though I’d been separated from my body already. I looked up and found myself staring into Shaytan’s blistering red eyes. His satisfied smirk made me want to wipe it off with my blade.
Let go, Harper. We need to talk.
“Who’s this?” I whispered.
Shaytan frowned at me. But I wasn’t talking to him.
The Hermessi have heard your thoughts, Harper. Let go.
What was this voice talking about? Let go of what? I wasn’t ready to die, yet. I didn’t want to. I vehemently refused it, in fact.
My head felt so heavy… I shook it, slowly.
Come, Harper. Let’s talk.
“But I don’t want to go…” I breathed.
I didn’t hear the answer. Everything went white.
Everything was gone.
Caspian
My body was frozen and burning at the same time.
I couldn’t move. Every cell, every molecule that composed me, hurt. I wanted to move. I needed to say something, but… nothing functioned properly.
The sky above me was a pale shade of violet. The suns were going down.
How long has it been? Where am I?
Harper. I’d just seen her. Shaytan. Zane. Fiona. Avril.
The daemon king had caught me by the throat. He’d set me on fire, somehow.
He’d muttered a spell, and… I couldn’t speak.
I wanted to cry out. My field of vision shifted as my head moved. Harper was on the ground. Her arms and legs were twitching. I could feel everything she was experiencing, and it tore me apart on the inside. Grief. Anger. Despair. The desire to live.
She was bleeding out. Her eyes rolled into her head.
Shaytan towered over her, chuckling. He had the tip of his blade against her throat.
I had to do something. He was going to kill her.
“Harper,” I whispered.
No one could hear me. But I could hear Shaytan laughing.
“Any last words, Miss Hellswan?”
Darkness constricted around my heart. It squeezed and tightened around it.
I needed to get to her… To save her…
From the moment she’d walked into my life, I’d known… I’d known I was in deep trouble. The same heart that was caving in now had thumped and soared in my chest at the sight of her. I’d cursed my fate when she set foot on Neraka. I knew we’d end up somewhere like this.
But I couldn’t let her suffer like the rest of us. She didn’t belong here. She didn’t deserve any of this. She was innocent.
Harper Hellswan was a force to be reckoned with. Before I could stop myself—not that I could’ve, but I might’ve tried—I was in love with her. Harper was stubborn and proud. Determined and lethal. Calm and yet… could turn into a veritable firestorm if challenged. I’d taken great pleasure in teasing her during the Spring Ball.
I would never forget the way her heart skipped a beat whenever I got close. Her scent. The way she looked at me when I refused to tell her the truth—when I couldn’t tell her the truth, because of my blood oath.
Our souls had merged. We belonged together. We were going to set Neraka free and travel through the millions of stars out there. The universe was supposed to be our oyster.
She didn’t deserve to die. Certainly not by Shaytan’s blade.
I had to stop it.
Caspian. It’s time to believe.
There it was again. I’d heard this voice before. Maybe in my dreams? I wasn’t sure. But I recognized it. It felt familiar, and it was only in my head. I couldn’t take my eyes off Harper. Tears welled up in my eyes. I couldn’t see clearly anymore.
Caspian. Believe. Have faith in the fire spirit.
Was I losing my mind, perhaps?
I’d heard the old folk tales about the elemental spirits. The Hermessi. They fueled the stars. They flowed through the rivers. They settled in the stones. They flew with the winds. But they were just legends. No one had ever seen one. All we had were faded illustrations in the preserved books of ancient Imen.
Caspian. You have to believe.
How could I? I’d never seen any myself.
The fire could’ve killed you. Yet you’re still alive, Caspian. I’m trying to come back to this world, but I need you to believe. Harper had a flicker of hope in my existence.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Despite the pain, I was filled with love.
But I couldn’t die just yet. I had to save her.
She saved you, Caspian, because she believed in me.
I tried to process what the voice was whispering to me, but I just couldn’t connect the dots. It didn’t make sense. Where were the Hermessi, if not in this world, already? How come I could hear one of them, after a lifetime of silence? What was happening to me?
Everything is connected, Caspian. The natural elements that feed into the fae, they’re all gifts of ours. They’re all threads of Hermessi. Every spark, every drop of dew, every salty breeze, and every grain of sand. It’s all us, Caspian. You must believe.
What do you want from me? I asked, internally.
I want you to live, the whispering voice said. I need you to live.
I tried to move again, but my body didn’t respond. My limbs were weak. My blood simmered. On top of it all, the only concept I could truly focus on was saving Harper. She needed me. I needed her.
Shaytan’s laughter boomed across the entire sixth level.
He raised his sword high above his head, ready to deliver the final blow. Ready to destroy the creature I loved most in this world.
Believe in me, Caspian! Believe in me, and I will burn through the poison that has spread in this world.
/>
“Will you save her?” I heard myself mumble, though I couldn’t feel my lips move.
Do you believe in me?
“I believe… I believe.”
The sword came down. Everything went white.
Heron
Lumi and Velnias kept moving around the room as she finished drawing the ceiling symbols. She’d done all the walls, and, as soon as she got off Velnias, she started writing on the floor. Velnias tossed the beds aside to give her room, breaking them and piling them on top of each other in a corner.
Outside, the fight was turning savage. I peeked through the blinds, watching Sienna and Tobiah as they fought against the incoming daemons. Soldiers were pouring in from both the first level and the third, the latter most likely the horde that Shaytan had sent to find us.
“How long do you think this protection charm will last?” I muttered, frowning at the sight of Tobiah as he took a tumble, then jumped back to his feet, roared ferociously, and rammed into a group of armed daemon soldiers.
He was fighting his own people, slashing and tearing them apart as he kept them from getting close to the infirmary building. Sienna was surprisingly fast. I’d never seen her in battle against so many enemies at once, but I was definitely impressed. I made a mental note never to cross her. She was as vicious as the daemons she was fighting.
“I’m not sure,” Lumi murmured as she kept drawing.
A thud on the door made me stand back. The second made me draw my sword.
There were daemons out there, trying to get in. I looked at Lumi, then at Velnias, and shrugged. My nerves were stretched. I’d never been this nervous in my entire life. Not even when I told Avril how I felt.
Actually… That might’ve been worse.
I worried about her. I didn’t know if she was okay. Shaytan was probably livid about the swap. I prayed to every single deity in all known pantheons that they look after her. I wasn’t much into this kind of stuff, but, given our circumstances, I figured it was worth a shot. All Avril had to do was keep that bastard and his goons busy while we did our thing here.
“Dammit, Lumi, are you writing the book of life down there?” I groaned, increasingly anxious. The third thud made the door shudder.
More daemons gathered by the windows. They tried to smash them in, but the protection spell kept them from succeeding. Unfortunately, Tobiah and Sienna were outnumbered. I caught glimpses of them from one of the windows. Daemons had made it past the couple. Two of them were snarling and baring their fangs at me, our faces separated only by an inch of glass and Lumi’s magic.
Behind them, Tobiah and Sienna were kicking major ass. I was so frustrated that I couldn’t get out there to help, that I found myself smirking at the daemons in contempt as they struggled to break into the infirmary. They punched the glass. They tried to smash it with their sword handles. Nothing worked.
I couldn’t help but snicker and offer them an obscene hand gesture I’d learned from Velnias the other day. It riled the daemons up. They roared and hit the window even harder.
“It’s better if they give up, not if you make them try harder,” Lumi replied, giving me a reprimanding frown.
“What? I didn’t do anything,” I replied with an innocent shrug.
Velnias chuckled. All three of us froze when the window in front of me started to crack.
“As I was saying,” Lumi muttered, as she filled out the last corner of the room with chalk symbols, then walked into the middle and sat down, crossing her legs.
“Yeah, I see what you mean now,” I replied dryly.
Chills ran down my spine. The thought of daemons breaking in made me break into a cold sweat. Tobiah and Sienna were holding their own out there, but Velnias and I were stuck in a room and were in charge of protecting the swamp witch.
The moment they’d figured out that the glass was unbreakable, the daemons must’ve known she was in here with us. I was also convinced they’d caught her scent. They were incredible hunters, after all.
I took several deep breaths, looking for the kind of internal balance that allowed me to go into war-mode. I was a soldier. I needed to fight like one. My brother had taught me everything he knew, and I’d taken all of that knowledge and turned myself into a veritable killing machine. I didn’t need to brag about it, though. My body count said enough.
The daemons kept banging and ramming their shoulders into the door. The wood started to give out. The spell was wearing thin. Only a matter of time.
“Lumi, how much longer till you do this?” I asked, getting more anxious.
Velnias and I took our positions in front of her. I faced the door, while he faced the windows. He was big enough to handle two to three of his own kind at once. I was perfectly happy with one at a time. My pulse quickened. My vision came into crystal-clear focus.
“You’ll know, trust me,” Lumi replied, as she closed her eyes, resting her hands on her knees.
“I’d like to still be alive to know it!” I shot back.
“Just hold them back. I can’t be interrupted,” she muttered, then proceeded with her incantation. I didn’t understand a single word coming out of her mouth, but I could see the symbols in the room light up, one at a time. It was a slow but fascinating process.
The door burst open. The windows broke. Shattered glass scattered across the floor.
The daemons poured into the room, their rapiers out, thirsty for blood. Velnias roared as he tackled a bunch of them, as expected. He used his sword and claws, his fangs and his horns, as he tore through the soldiers.
I handled my opponents in a slightly different fashion. I ducked, narrowly avoiding decapitation by rapier, then brought my sword out and cut off the first head.
The second daemon came at me with his massive frame. I counteracted his assault with my own body. I jumped and ripped his throat out with my fangs, then tossed him aside and drove my sword through the third one’s neck.
I kicked him back, ready for the next one. I had the taste of daemon blood in my mouth, and, I had to admit, it was fantastic. Full-bodied and robust, just like the horned meat sack I’d taken it from.
The fourth daemon swerved to my left and headed straight for Lumi.
I kicked him in the gut and pushed him back, then cut off his head. I didn’t spot the fifth one in time. He tackled me and knocked the air out of my lungs. I heard Lumi cry out.
It took me a few seconds to realize that the bastard had thrown me into her. I was literally on top of her.
“I can’t stop! Get off!” Her voice was muffled beneath me, and she grunted.
I cursed under my breath, then rolled over and faced off with the fifth daemon again. He punched me. My head was thrown to the side. My jaw broke. I couldn’t afford to even think about the pain. I punched him back.
The room was crawling with daemons. But I could hear Lumi muttering her incantation. I could see more symbols lighting up. I caught a glimpse of metal coming toward my head. I leaned backward in a flash. The rapier missed my face by half an inch.
Then I slipped.
I landed on the floor with a painful thud.
“What the—” I cried out, then stilled, as I registered the sudden temperature drop.
Dhaxanian frost had spread out across the wooden floor. Lumi’s symbols kept lighting up beneath it, undisturbed. I looked up and sucked in a breath.
Relief washed over me at the sight of all daemons frozen like icicles. They were coated in Nevis’s Dhaxanian frost. Velnias grunted as he got back to his feet, then looked around. Our eyes met. His eyebrows were up. He was as surprised as I was.
The ruckus had stopped outside the infirmary as well, but I could still hear the mayhem below. The war was still going, just not in or around our location. I exhaled sharply as Tobiah and Sienna proceeded to cut off the frozen daemons’ heads.
“Good idea,” Velnias murmured, and moved to do the same to the ones inside.
Before his blade could reach the first daemon, a swishing sound came acr
oss. The air fluttered over my face. Then all the daemon heads came off clean, as if sliced off with a single blade simultaneously. They shattered on the floor like broken crystal vases—only much gorier, as there was plenty of frozen daemon gunk scattered around.
Nevis stood in the splintered doorway with his hand out.
“I didn’t think I’d say this so soon, but man, am I glad to see you!” I blurted out.
The Dhaxanian prince smirked, then put his hands behind his back, assuming his usual posture. He wore his battle armor—splendid meranium plates with intricate designs and thousands of tiny diamonds encrusted into the pattern. They covered his chest, his shoulders, and his arms, as well as his legs. His feet were bare, and there were short pieces of white silk covering his hips. He wore a beautiful battle helmet made from the same material and covered in diamonds. His icy blue eyes filled me with a sense of determination.
“I have snowflakes all over the city,” he replied. “I thought I’d pop by and check things out.”
“Where are the others?” Velnias asked.
Lumi kept muttering her spell on the floor, with more symbols continuing to light up. Nevis watched her with keen interest, but I still caught the glimmer of sadness in his eyes.
“They’re out there fighting and dying for freedom,” he said, his voice low. “My people are giving the daemons frozen hell. The Manticores and the rebel Imen are helping. The dragon joined the fight and is currently dousing them in fire. But I’m not sure we’ll last much longer. How are we doing here?”
“Almost there, I guess?” I replied, not really sure myself.
Nevis’s expression changed, his eyes widening as he stared at Lumi. I glanced over my shoulder, realizing she’d stopped chanting, and instantly realized why he was stunned.
Lumi had lit up white from the inside, matching the glow of all the symbols in the room.
“I take it all back,” she whispered, though I could no longer see her lips moving.
White light exploded from her and expanded outward.
It swallowed us all whole.
Everything turned white.