Together they’d only travelled a few feet from the alleyway, so they were still partially sheltered, but they wouldn’t be for long. Bear was in shock—she needed to get him away from the battle. And she couldn’t risk waiting to see how long it would take Caspar Lennox to return.
Shoving aside her own grief, Alex cast her gaze outwards, searching for the means to get him to safety. Her eyes landed on Soraya who was still fighting with Niyx on the other side of the dark battleground. Noting the size of her Shadow Wolf, Alex hoped like crazy that Soraya had grown enough for what she needed.
Yelling out her name, the wolf appeared panting at Alex’s side in a flash of light and dark. As she did so, three more Meyarins swooped in and lunged towards Alex and the still-immobile Bear. While Alex struggled to keep them from reaching her friend, she cried, “Get him out of here!”
Intelligent amber eyes met Alex’s as keen understanding flowed through whatever connection she had with the wolf. And then Soraya bounded past Alex and, in a blur of lightning and shadow, Bear was swept up by the massive creature, the two of them vanishing from sight.
Alex was too focused on her newest opponents to feel any kind of relief—or disappointment that she was now alone again—and once she disabled them, she ran straight back out into the square. Pushing aside her heartache, she attacked left and right, struggling through the crowd in her attempt to return to Niyx’s side, knowing they were stronger and safer together. Part of her wondered if she should have left with Bear, if she should have retreated to be with her friends. But she knew she was still needed here. D.C. was right—this was everyone’s fight. And after William…
Alex wouldn’t leave. Not if there was the slightest chance she could still make a difference.
Halfway across the square, and therefore half the remaining distance from Niyx, Alex was brought to a halt when she became pressed between shifting movements from Shadow Walkers, Dayriders and Meyarins alike. Fighting dizziness as they whirled around her with their quick bursts of shadows, flashes of light and blurs of the Valispath, a noise caused her body to lock and her head to turn—a noise that sent chills down her spine.
That noise was Aven laughing.
Straining to free herself from the masses, Alex could do nothing but stab with her sword and watch with dread as Calista stepped up the darkened stone staircase towards Aven, levitating a person through the air behind her.
Alex recoiled in horror when she realised who it was.
Lady Mystique.
The old woman wasn’t struggling. She was looking calmly at Aven, her face radiating peace.
That expression didn’t leave her; not when Aven unsheathed an inky black sword from his belt… and not when he thrust the blade through her midsection until it pierced clean out the other side.
“No!” Alex cried, watching Lady Mystique’s mouth open in a silent gasp as she sunk to the ground, the sword sliding free as she landed on her knees.
Even in the face of Aven’s triumphant expression, the ancient woman’s peace didn’t falter. He said something to her, something too low for Alex to hear over the sounds of A’enara still clashing against the weapons of those not pausing to watch the hideousness of what Aven had just done.
Lady Mystique replied to Aven, and whatever she said caused his features to darken before he viciously ran her through again, and then a third time.
“No!” Alex cried again, convulsing as if she’d been stabbed herself. The tears she’d held back after William’s death were now streaming down her cheeks at the sight of the ancient Tia Auran swaying on her knees.
As if she’d heard her cry, Lady Mystique turned pained but still peaceful eyes Alex’s way, finding her instantly despite the crowded square. The moment their gazes locked, the old woman smiled softly, before her eyes closed and she crumpled in a heap at Aven’s feet.
In that moment following Lady Mystique’s final breath, Alex was certain time stopped—at least for some.
For three whole seconds, every Claimed human and Meyarin froze mid-fight. Only Alex and Niyx, along with the Shadow Walkers, Dayriders, and free humans, were exempt from the pause in action. Once it passed, Aven’s Claimed army continued fighting with even more of a vengeance than before.
But Alex wasn’t focused on the battle. She was watching Aven, whose eyes had followed the Tia Auran’s gaze in her final moments as she’d looked straight at Alex.
With a face more ravaged than anything she had ever seen, he stumbled backwards at the sight of her—he actually stumbled, his eyes never leaving hers. But then his mouth opened, forming a single word.
Alex was still too far away to hear him, but she didn’t need to, because she knew exactly what word he spoke.
Aeylia.
Like the flick of a switch, his features morphed from shocked disbelief to unbridled rage. He threw his head back like an animal and roared to the heavens, the sound so ferocious that those battling in the square paused mid-swing to look up at him. Only when his eyes returned to Alex did the armies renew their combat.
Seeing the look on his face, watching him mouth her Meyarin name, hearing his scream… Alex knew that with Lady Mystique’s death, whatever had hidden ‘Aeylia’ from the minds of the Meyarins was now gone.
Aven’s memories had returned. He now knew the truth—that Alex was Aeylia. And that she was the catalyst for everything he had done… and everything that had happened to him.
With eyes like flames of liquid fire, Aven took one step and then two before tearing down the stairs, roaring again as he flew towards Alex, his Claimed army clearing a path at his mental command.
Alex froze for only a microsecond before she heard the memory of Niyx’s voice float across her mind: ‘You will not, under any circumstances, engage him in battle.’
Spinning on her heel, Alex ran. Or, she attempted to. But his army was now blocking her, trapping her in place even as she stabbed and hacked at them, trying desperately to get through. When she saw it was no use, that they weren’t moving, she whirled back around—right in time for Aven to leap towards her with his terrifying black sword raised high above his head, swooping straight down at her.
The speed of his attack was so startling that Alex only just managed to raise A’enara in time to block him. The power behind his swing had her stumbling backwards and falling hard onto the bloodied cobblestones.
He didn’t let up, he didn’t pull back; he kept pressing down against her, his dark blade crossed with her light one as blue flames swirled from A’enara and sinister black flames engulfed his.
Still in her fallen position, Alex struggled to hold up against his strength as both blades edged closer and closer to her neck. Arms shaking as she panted from the effort, it was all she could do to keep him from beheading her.