Thinking a very nasty word that would horrify her mother, Alex paced along the edge of the cliff, wondering if she had it in her to make the gruelling climb down the icy rock face. She knew from experience that it was hard enough doing it in summer, but now, having been stabbed with a flaming sword, it would be even more challenging—impossibly so. That left her with only one option if she wanted to make it back to the city on her own.
Grasping the hem of her bloodied dress that had definitely seen better days, Alex forced herself into a sprint, panting against the glacial air burning her lungs and the jolting of her still healing wound.
She slid to a halt atop the nearest waterfall, knowing that jumping over the edge would be the swiftest and safest plunge into the valley. But she was also aware that entering the frosty water with her already weakened, blood-deprived body would quite possibly send her into a near catatonic state of hypothermia.
Pacing restlessly, she came to a quick decision and took off into the forest, yanking up a fistful of laendra as she heard the sound of Aven’s footsteps closing in on her.
Sawing A’enara into one of the flowers, Alex swallowed a mouthful of the sticky nectar, relieved to find that even with how much was already working in her bloodstream, the healing plant still gave her an instant kick and warmed her from the inside out. Balling her fingers around the remaining stems, she spun on her heel, sprinted back to the edge of the cliffs, and before she could talk herself out of it, leapt off the waterfall.
Sailing down with the icy water, Alex was aware in a distant part of her mind just how impossibly cold she was. But thanks to the laendra firing through her nerve endings, the temperature wasn’t as debilitating as she knew it should be. And when she finally crashed painfully—oh, so painfully—into the surface of the river, Alex was able to swim to the shore and drag her quickly numbing body up onto the ice.
Hands shaking so hard she struggled to summon A’enara again, Alex had to swallow one of the flowers in great chewing hunks before she was able to still her fingers enough to slice another one open and guzzle the liquid inside. It took three entire buds before Alex was able to stumble up to her pins-and-needles feet, shaking her head against her double vision and wondering in some kind of shock-induced haze how she’d managed to keep her dainty Meyarin heels on her feet in spite of everything she’d been through in the past few hours.
Moving step by step into an increasingly powerful run that sent blood circulating around her near frozen limbs, Alex made her way through the snowy streets of the city, sprinting past shocked-looking Meyarins as they took in her state of disarray. She knew she must look a fright, dripping wet in a stunning dress with a gaping tear in the middle that was stained by mortal blood. And then there was the golden shine of her vaeliana skin. Given all that, she wasn’t much surprised when they cried out in alarm and gave her a wide berth.
Panting from the exertion of running with only the help of the laendra fuelling her, Alex powered onwards, ignoring the pain, ignoring the cold, ignoring the growing deterioration of her energy levels. Stride after stride she flew through the city until she reached a building she had visited only once before in the dead of the night. Bursting into the dark foyer entrance, Alex skidded to a halt, searching for signs of anyone who might stop her. But there was no one. No guards, nothing; just like when she’d last been there with Roka. Apparently Taevarg was impenetrable enough with its traesos foundation to not need security on hand. A fact for which Alex was grateful.
Heart thudding in her chest, she took off down the staircase and along the labyrinthine corridors until she stopped in front of the impossibly thick cell door she remembered as belonging to Niyx. Standing before it, Alex didn’t know what to think or how to feel. She had no idea what she was about to find inside, no idea which Meyarin would be behind the door—the cocky but caring Niyx she’d left in the past, or the Niyx who’d had millennia to bitterly rot in prison. He’d scared her, the Niyx of the future… but that was back when she hadn’t known him.
Shaking her head, Alex deliberately shoved away her fears. For all his flaws, Niyx was one of the strongest Meyarins she knew. And even if he was mad from his time spent isolated in Taevarg, the fact remained that he’d been imprisoned for a crime he’d never committed. It was high time he was liberated.
Knowing she was doing the right thing, Alex stepped forward, hoping beyond hope that part of the Niyx she knew remained in him.
Squinting at the lock where Roka had inserted his engraved-Myrox key to open the cell, Alex recalled that the only thing powerful enough to destroy traesos was pure light energy from beyond the stars. A’enara, Alex knew, could pierce even the purest of darkness, and it was also wrought by the Tia Aurans—the race beyond the stars.
With a self-satisfied smile—and the knowledge of what she’d already seen the blade do to the bonds that secured her to Xiraxus through the Void—Alex summoned her weapon, certain for once that something was about to go right for her. Plunging the flaming point of the blade into the lock, she wasn’t at all surprised when blue fire engulfed the entire door, dissolving it until only melted shards of black crystal remained bordering the edges.
Sending A’enara away, Alex hesitantly stepped through the still-smouldering ruins of the door until she came to a stop inside the cell.
There he was, standing by the far wall, looking the same but also so, so different. Gone was his healthy tan, his proud bearing, his confident, easy grin. He looked older, too. Not much, but enough to be noticeable. But it was his amethyst eyes that caused her to inhale sharply with unease, staring as he was at her with no discernable emotion. His face, his expression, everything about him was perfectly, scarily blank.
“You look different,” she managed to choke out.
The silence between them seemed to last a lifetime as he stared at her bloodstained, tattered self.
“Funny,” he finally said, trailing his gaze along her exposed skin and clearly noting the shimmer of her bond with Xiraxus that she certainly hadn’t sported the last time she’d visited his cell. “I was about to say you look exactly like I remember. Time has been good to you, Aeylia.”
Alex felt something in her relax at Niyx’s words, even more so when a hint of a smile touched his lips. When it did, she hitched out a shuddering breath and flew forward, launching herself into his arms.
He made a pained grunting sound as he caught her on the fly, saying, “Easy, kitten. I feel like I’ve been stabbed in the stomach all over again, thanks to you. It wasn’t fun the first time around; I could have done without the repeat.”
A laugh bubbled out of Alex as she pulled away from him, swiping under her watery eyes as she eased her grip and stepped back. “I’m sorry. It’s just so good to see you being so… you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Who else would I be?”
She sent him a ‘seriously?’ look and said, “How about the jerk who implied I was one of Aven’s Garseth the first time I visited Meya?”
He waved a hand. “I was lonely. I figured if I had a cellmate, things would have been much more interesting around here. Especially if I could torture you with all the things I knew about you before you’d met me.”
Alex narrowed her eyes. “And how about the super creep from a few weeks ago who I thought was going to crush my windpipe?”
He appeared puzzled for a moment before his expression cleared. “That was only a few days ago for me, Aeylia. And that ‘super creep’ as you call him was a product of impatiently having to wait for any news of your appearance, disappearance, or reappearance in either time stream. For thousands of years, all I’ve done is wait. When you came with Roka that night, it may have stretched the limits of my patience.” Strangely, his mouth curled up at the edges. “But you know now that I never would have hurt you—not unless I wanted to hurt me, too.”
“So it’s still in place?” Alex asked, knowing what he was referring to but needing confirmation even though he’d already mentioned his sore stomach. “The bon
d?”
Since I feel like I have frostbite creeping up my extremities, I’m going to say yes, Niyx said dryly into her mind.
Alex couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t believe any of it. Suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of emotion, she looked up at him and whispered, “Niyx, it’s all my fault.”
His response was instant. “I know.”
“Everything that happened—Aven murdering those humans—he did that because he was mad at me. He was banished because of me. He hates mortals because of me. Who he is today—it’s all my fault.” She ran her fingers through her hair, tugging hard. “No one will remember, Niyx. They’ll think it was just some—just some random, faceless, nameless mortal. None of them have any idea I’m to blame for the single greatest threat to this city. To this world.”
“And you can’t tell them.”
Alex looked up sharply.
“What do you think will happen to you if they find out, Aeylia?” he asked, reading her look. “What do you think will happen if Aven finds out? What will happen if he realises the mortal he blames for him losing everything is alive, thousands of years after she was dealt a killing blow at his hands?”
“It wouldn’t be good,” Alex mumbled, looking at the ground.
Niyx laughed bitterly. “No, it wouldn’t. It would only make an already bad situation worse. And believe me, the situation is already much worse than you could possibly imagine.” He reached for her, tilting her head back up to meet his. “Do you know what nightmare has haunted me all these years?” At her quick shake, he said, “The vision of the future I saw through your eyes. That terrifies me, kitten, because I know—I know—we’re so close to seeing that future come to pass. Everything rests on you.”
Alex hated hearing his words, hated the pressure of them.
“I didn’t understand it years ago,” Niyx said. “Even after you left, I didn’t understand why you, one mortal amongst so many, claimed to be the only person with a chance of defeating him. It didn’t make sense to me, not even with your vaeliana and your connection to A’enara. Why not Roka? Zain? Kyia? Stars, even me? I mean no offence, but despite the blood running in your veins, you’re not a Meyarin, Aeylia. All the training in the world won’t change that. So why would you have to bear the burden of conquering Aven?”
Alex opened her mouth to respond with her wholehearted agreement, but he continued before she could get a word out.
“But I understand now. I may have been trapped in here over the years, but I know more than you could possibly imagine.” He broke eye contact, glancing unfocused over her shoulder. “Aven is powerful beyond measure, even beyond what Roka might believe. I won’t lie to you, kitten. I wish I didn’t have to say this, but I’m not sure… I’m not sure you can overcome him.”
Alex gulped back her fear, hating the knowledge that he wouldn’t have said something like that if he didn’t mean it.
“But I also know that if you can’t, then no one can,” Niyx continued softly, meeting her eyes again. “What Aven has done over the years, the number of beings he’s Claimed—it’s turned him into something else. Something that no man or woman, mortal or immortal, should ever become.” His gaze unfocused again as he added, “I’ve heard rumours… Horrible, unspeakable rumours of what he’s capable of now. If they’re true, there’s no one in this world who can possibly stand against him—no one but you.”
“But why, Niyx?” Alex whispered. “Why only me?”
“Because of your gift, Alexandra Jennings,” he said, using her real name for the first time and showing he really did know a lot more than he should, given his imprisonment. “The strength of your will is what you can count on to protect you from him; hopefully, to protect us all from him. Human, Meyarin, Draekoran; the life forces flowing within you make up a volatile cocktail, Aeylia. Even as a mortal, you managed to break free of his Claim from sheer willpower. Imagine how much stronger that gift of yours is now, supplemented by not one, but two immortal bonds. On its own, no matter the circumstances, your will reigns supreme over his.”
Before he could say more—or she could respond—a soft beeping noise echoed from an object nestled in the raggedy blanket on Niyx’s pallet. His eyes travelled to it as he listened, and when the beeps ended his jaw was clenched, the rest of his body stiff with the hard lines of tension.
He turned back to Alex and his features softened.
“I said I’m not sure if you can defeat him, Aeylia,” Niyx whispered. “But by the stars, I’m going to do everything I can to help you try.”
She frowned at the look of apology on his face, not understanding, but then as quick as a flash he reached forward and pinched his fingers into her neck, causing her to cry out in startled pain as a nerve zinged from the top of her head to the bottom of her feet. Without any say in the matter, she collapsed into his arms as if paralysed.
“Believe it or not, I’m doing this to protect you,” he murmured, carrying her over until she rested across his pallet where he then proceeded to begin mummifying her by wrapping her almost obsessively tightly within his blanket.
What the hell, Niyx? Alex screamed at him when she couldn’t force the words past her stiffened lips.
“The effects aren’t permanent,” he said, ignoring her question. “And since you’re not technically wounded and your nerves are just… having a time-out, thankfully this is one of those other loopholes where I’m not stuck feeling the effects with you.”
NIYX!
“That beeping noise you heard?” he said, pulling a small, circular disc out from near her head. “It was a message. Like everyone else in this city, Aven’s followers have always believed me to be loyal to the cause of the Garseth, and this”—he flicked the disc with a finger—“is how they’ve remained in contact with me over the years. What I just heard is something I need to respond to at once, and since you’ve so very kindly decided to liberate me, I’m so very kindly going to make sure you stay safe and warm while I do what must be done.”
What did the message say, Niyx? Alex demanded. What must be done?
“You know, I’m still very sore, which means you must be feeling much worse,” Niyx said contemplatively. “I think it’s best if you rest until the paralysis wears off.”
Realising instantly what he meant, Alex’s eyes widened and she yelled, No! Don’t you dare—
But before she could finish screaming her thought, he reached out to touch her neck again, and with another shooting blaze of nerves, Alex’s eyes rolled to the back of her head and in an instant she was asleep.
Thirty-Seven
When Alex woke again, the first thing she realised was that she was no longer in Taevarg. The second was that she had no idea where she was. What she did know was that she wasn’t alone.
Sitting beside her makeshift bed inside what looked to be a Myrox-canvassed tent was Zain. His shoulders were slumped, his head was cradled in his hands—everything about his posture caused Alex’s pulse to throb in her ears as she pushed herself into a seated position, absently noting that her stomach was no longer tender at all.
The moment she moved, his head jerked up, the relief on his otherwise strained features clear as day.
“It’s good to see you awake, little human,” he said quietly, his tone rough. “When you didn’t stir for so long, we feared it might be the same as…”
His voice trailed off, becoming so hoarse with emotion that Alex knew something must be very, very wrong.
“Zain, where am I?” she asked, looking around the sparse tent and then down at her body, finding her ruined dress had been replaced with what appeared to be an exact replica of the winter clothing she’d been wearing when she’d left through the abrassa the first time. “What happened? How did I get here?”
“You were out on the varrungard,” he answered, looking down at his hands. “We were taking turns checking in on you to make sure you were travelling well when a roar sounded out over the forest. Aven”—he spat the name, his expression fierce—“discover
ed a way to pull an ancient draekon long departed from this world through a Void in space; a draekon who Aes Daega—a wise woman known to us—says you saved from entrapment, an action that resulted in the two of you bonding before it left this world once more.”
Zain looked at the glow of the vaeliana, seemingly entranced by how it made her skin shimmer.
As far as he was aware, she was still sketchy with her ability to use her Meyarin senses, so without being able to explain how it was now her natural setting, all she could say in response was, “What are you looking at, Zain?”
He gave her a small, comforting smile, but even that seemed to take great effort. “No one has bonded with a draekon in my lifetime—it’s strange to see the physical mark I’ve only ever heard tales about.”
Feeling a sharp pain in her chest at the undeniable proof of his memories being gone, she played along and asked, “Physical mark?”
“A golden lustre to your flesh,” he said. At her fake wide-eyed look, he said, “Don’t worry, little human. It’s not noticeable to anyone but a Meyarin—or you, when you eventually learn to control your senses.”
Alex squinted at her hand as if she were trying to see it. “I’ll have to take your word on that. But ignoring this new bond of mine, what else has happened? Is there a reason we’re… wherever we are?”
His face tensed again as he moved back to his explanation. “The draekon, it turns out, was both a desire and a distraction.”
Apprehension flooded Alex and she waited for him to explain.
“For whatever reason,” Zain said, “Aven wanted to get his hands on one of the ancient beasts. But while he was closing in on his downed prey, he had another plan in effect as well. To assassinate his father and brother.”