He stared at me, and I wasted no time slapping out with my energy the way I had been learning with Rowan, letting my fae-side take the lead, because mecca magic had no effect on him. The dark fae faced me fully, so at least none of his attention was on Kade and Violet.
He jabbed forward with his staff, countering my attack with one of his own. Our energy met in the middle, sending out an explosion of light and power.
Ari, be careful! Kade’s voice was briefly in my head, but there was no time to reply.
Two erchos burst from the water on either side of the dark fae, hovering in the air. Well, shit. Things just got real. Rowan, Nikoli, and I ran along the bridge, heading closer to Kade and Violet so we could defend them.
The erchos let out a screech, which sent waves of pain through my ears, but Nikoli, after muttering a spell, did something that dulled some of the effect. I kept half of my attention locked on their dark oiliness — a blot in the gray skies. The other half was on the Dark Fae Lord. He had a grin on his face now, that creepy, sardonic, psycho smile he did so well.
“Last chance to join me, Ari.”
His shout echoed across the water, and I responded with another blast of energy, which he lazily blocked. He then waved his two creatures on. They came straight for us, but thankfully, we had reached the others by now. We could stop running, and start fighting.
“Remember that drill we practiced, Arianna,” Rowan said in a rush. “Where I boost your powers with my own for an attack spell.”
I nodded, understanding immediately where she was going. This was what Violet did in the Otherworld, when she had made the eternal fire. We had been practicing this as well as spell breaking.
I summoned my winter fae magic, focusing on filling my center with ice, and just as I was about to fling it free, Rowan latched onto my forearm. The moment she wrapped her hands around me, it was like I had stuck my hand onto a pure source of power. It jolted through my veins and I released the spell, aiming for the two erchos. They tried to avoid my blast, but with the extra boost, my range was wide, spreading out across the water. There was nowhere for them to go.
I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had refused to freeze any living beings when we practiced. It had been a potted plant, a few stuffed animals, and the pool. All of which had been a success — after a few attempts.
I didn’t have a few attempts this time, so I sent everything I had at them. Thankfully, the ice wrapped around them as I had hoped would happen, freezing both of them in the air. I held the magic for a few beats, letting them plunge deep into the water. I had no idea if they could withstand a full body freezing … or hold their breath indefinitely … but I had bought us some time at least.
The Dark Fae Lord looked unperturbed, walking along the top of the water, closing the distance to Violet’s swirling portal. My friend’s face was lined with strain, veins standing out across her pale skin, even throbbing in her forehead. I leaned closer, careful not to touch her. The second crystal was visible just below the surface of the murky lake; whatever she was doing was working. Slowly.
As more of it emerged, I realized that it wasn’t just a dark crystal. It was another staff. There was a gold filigree of vines wrapped around the base of the stone, and it looked like that gold metal extended down into the water.
The dark fae eyed the second staff greedily, looking between it and his own dark piece over and over. So there were two staffs and two books. Seemed someone had created these weapons long ago, and left the books with the unique slivers of stone so that if the staff was ever lost, someone could find it. Evil bastard.
Was this the work of the God obsessed with fairness? Was he represented by the inverted tree carved into the book? Or was there another being from long ago who created the staffs? How had the Red Queen even gotten the book? I felt like these were questions I would never have the answers to. And in reality, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that the staffs existed, and one of them was being used to threaten my people.
I could not let him have the other one.
My fae energy had frozen the part of the river where the erchos had fallen. The Dark Fae Lord stepped on that ice, moving more rapidly as the second staff broke the surface of the water. It seemed the more of it that emerged, the harder Violet was having to work to lift it.
Violet groaned. “It’s stuck. He’s countering me.”
“We need to get that staff before he does,” I said, positioning myself in front of her. “It could be the difference in our success or failure in this war.”
Kade was still on her other side, helping direct her energy. “We won’t let him have it,” he said, and before I could stop him he chucked off his jacket and dove into the water.
“No, Kade!” I screamed. No, no, no! What the heck was he doing? If the Dark Fae Lord didn’t kill him, I might after he pulled that stunt.
The dark fae paused, hovering above the water, only a dozen or so feet from us. He seemed to be staring down into the shadowy churning water, clearly waiting for the bear shifter to appear. We were all waiting, but the water was dark and choppy, and the waves my mate had created when he had jumped had obscured the staff.
“What is he doing?” Violet sounded mildly panicked; I could see she was losing her magical control on the staff. The strain on her face was increasing, until all of a sudden she stumbled back, her hands falling to her sides.
She turned wide, unblinking eyes on me.
“What!” I asked her panicked.
“Kade has the staff.” The words had barely left her lips when Kade broke the surface of the water, staff in hand.
What in the hell? I’d said we needed the staff because I wanted everyone to be prepared for a fight. Not because I wanted my idiot mate to jump in and grab it with his bare hands.
What are you doing? I asked through our bond, receiving no answer. From what I could sense, all of his concentration was on holding that staff and trying to swim at the same time.
The dark fae grinned and held his free hand out, raising it up into the air. My mate rose up out of the water. Oh shit. Kade had no idea how to control the dark magic contained within that staff, but this fae had a lot of practice, and he currently had control over my mate.
Before I could freak out completely, Rowan leaned in and whispered, “I can create a portal behind the fae if you can get Kade to shove him in.”
I nodded, my movements jagged, before I mentally reached for my bond with Kade. Chills broke out on my arms. In the few seconds since I had checked last, there was now a dark cloying energy coating his end of our bond. It was not hugely surprising, considering he was holding a dark magical staff, but it had infiltrated rather quickly. I pushed through the darkness, feeling it reaching out for me.
Kade, drop that thing.