Everlife (Everlife #3)

Panic returns, those needle-pricks sinking ever-deeper.

I don’t know why she’s out, and I’m not. What happens to one no longer happens to the other? I can only guess the reason. Before, we were two halves of a whole. Now? We are two wholes linked together. Rings connected and inseparable.

I just want her healthy and whole. Will do anything to ensure her safety.

Urgency sets my feet on fire. I run, shoving my way through the combatants to drop to my knees and gather Ten close. Her eyes are closed, her body boneless. Trembling, I scramble to check for a pulse…a pulse I cannot find.

No! No, no, no. A heart can be restarted.

Her heart will be restarted. Here. Now. No other outcome is acceptable.

“Tell me what happened,” I demand, easing her back to the ground. Verging on hysteria, I pound a fist in the center of her sternum. Again. Again. And again. “Live, Ten. Do you hear me? Live!”

Without her I can’t… I won’t…

“She tried to get to you,” Biscuit says between sobs. “Ambrosine hit her with more darkness than she could withstand. Make her breathe again, Killian. Please.”

Hands just over her heart, I begin compressions. One, two, three. All the way to fifteen. Tears blur my vision. I check for a pulse. Nothing. Begin compressions again, doing everything in my power to push Light into her.

Light. My Light. She fed me what remained of her Light, didn’t she? To save me from Javier. Put my needs before her own.

Argh! I want to scream, rant and beat everyone in the vicinity. She dies, we all die. “You come back tae me, Tenley Flynn. That’s an order.” Whatever I plan to say next gets clogged in my throat.

Darkness, darkness, all around her, enclosing her…so thick, too thick, but I refuse to give up. I push and push and push, my Light draining… And yet, I’m not drained. The other Conduits are feeding me Light even as they engage in combat. Feeding Ten, too?

A hard hand settles on my shoulder. Leonard Lockwood. Before I can strike, he gasps and stumbles away from me. His knees give out, and he collapses. The Light too much for him? Good!

Suddenly the brightest Light of all explodes from the Veil of Midnight, mere feet away from Ambrosine. In the center, a being appears. A being I’ve only ever seen in holograms.

Eron, Prince of Doves. Wind blows around him, and lightning flashes under the surface of his skin.

Relief fills me. He will save Ten in ways I cannot.

The battle stops abruptly, Abrogates rushing to one side of the battlefield, Troikans to the other. The Myriadians do not rush to offer their support to their Secondking, but to hide from Eron.

Archer, Deacon, Sloan, Erica, Clay, Reed, Clementine and Raanan race back to Ten’s side. My family. My… friends?

“Eron,” I call. “Ten needs yer help.” I need his help. I need this beautiful lass now and always.

His blue, blue gaze finds me. The corners of his lips lift slightly, and he gives me a barely perceptible nod.

Relief spills from me. Ten will be all right. I know it.

I know it!

This is the faith she’s always had in the man. The being. I understand now. No matter how bad circumstances seem, things can get better.

“The time has come at long last,” Eron says to his brother, voice booming. “While you punished your people, I’ve taught and empowered mine, waiting for a group willing to sacrifice everything to brave the darkness and save the damned, no matter the risk to themselves.”

“They might have saved the damned,” Ambrosine growls, “but they doomed themselves.”

A smile of pure joy spreads over Eron’s face, and in that moment he’s so beautiful that it actually hurts to look at him. “What has Father always told us? There is no power stronger than love, and the greatest sign of love is giving. Giving is sacrifice. One after the other, my people have died to save yours. Now they will be reborn—and your reign ends.” With barely a pause, Eron shouts, “Shine. Shine now.”

Light explodes from each of us, including me! Beams soak into Ten, and she stirs in my arms. When she moans, her eyes blinking open, my heart leaps for joy. She lives!

Most Abrogates run away, screaming in pain.

Ten’s mismatched gaze clears of any fog, and questions me: What’s going on?

I lean down to place kisses all over her face and whisper, “You’re alive and well. Everythin’ is going tae be all right. Your king is here.” Our king. “I think we’re about tae witness the showdown of the ages.”

Above us, Eron and a trembling Ambrosine face off.

“Take your people and go.” My former Secondking shakes his head in denial. “Leave my territory. You do not wish to fight me, Eron.”

“Oh, but I do. Father wishes to rebuild the bridge between realms. Without your shadows, Myriadians will be unharmed by Light. They may choose to enter Troika, or stay here. I have no quarrel with your people—only you.”

Ambrosine grows pale but swiftly rallies. Pride will do that—trick you into thinking you are better than you truly are. “There cannot be new life without blood and sacrifice, just as you claimed. If you want my people, Prince of Doves, you must die for them.”

Eron lifts his chin, refusing to back down.

But his brother isn’t done. “Our entire court system is built on a single principle. A toll must always be paid. A life for a life. A king for a city. Would you and your father prove yourselves unjust, rebuilding the bridge without the proper blood sacrifice? And after so many of our people have willingly died for the chance to help someone else defect to another realm. Someone who is, in essence, an enemy at the time.”

Your father. Every day of my life, I’ve yearned for a family of my own. Yet Ambrosine has disavowed his own flesh and blood, as if they mean nothing to him.

“You want my life?” Eron spread his arms wide. “Very well. Take it.”

“Oh, brother. I will. With pleasure.” Ambrosine unsheathes a sword and, with a shrill war cry, launches at his brother, who is prepared, meeting the sword with one of his own.

The two propel into the air, twirling this way and that, their swords clanging together so quickly that my eyes cannot keep track. I see blurs, yet I’m still amazed by the show of strength, skill and speed.

Ambrosine will lose. I’m certain of it. As certain as I was that Ten would live. Our choices dictate the conditions of our life. Even faced with pain and death, Ten has always done what she believes is right. And more often than not, she’s put others first. My former Secondking never has.

What Ambrosine and his minions do not understand? This war has never been about gaining the upper hand, or destroying the other realm. This war has always been about love. When you deal like with like, return pain for pain, you’ve already lost.

Ambrosine lost day one. Today’s battle is simply the manifestation of it.

His people do not yet comprehend this truth. The Abrogates who opted to remain behind join hands, probably thinking to aid him. Darkness soon rises from them, a mist that wafts on the breeze to envelop the combatants. Eron’s movements slow, and Ambrosine laughs with glee.

“You’re only fighting the inevitable, brother,” Ambrosine taunts.

“Killian,” Ten says, and gulps. “We must help our king.”

In that moment, my heart swells. I love her a thousand times more. She trusts me to help, not hurt.

I tug her to her feet, my hand clinging tightly to hers. “Together,” I call.

We join hands with the others, forming an unbreakable link. Love floods me. Light rises from us all and spreads, chasing away the darkness.

When our Light reaches Eron, he stops altogether, rather than speeding up. He hovers, his head thrown back and his arms spread, as if he wants…no, surely not. Confusion pokes holes in my triumph, and my brow furrows.

A life for a life. A king for a city.

The words reverberate inside my head, and I gulp.

“He’s got this,” Ten says.

Ambrosine closes in, maneuvering around the Light, and swings his sword—

Eron doesn’t move.