The … trees.
While Kade had been fighting the Dark Fae Lord, the trees had been amassing an army. There was a long line now, all of them walking over the ground; a true sense of life filled them, despite their blackened limbs. The darkness leaving had returned some of their power. I watched in awed silence as they started to toss the dark creatures into the lake—creatures who had fallen with their lord—cleaning the land.
I moved quickly toward one of them; it halted, waiting for my touch. Can you please place the Dark Fae Lord’s body in the fiery lake? I asked, when my hand was pressed to its middle.
With pleasure, it responded.
Thank you!
I turned then and ran, still a little awkwardly, toward Kian. As I dropped down at his side, on the opposite side to where Kade knelt, my mate lifted his face to meet my gaze. “He’s dead.”
Those words came out quietly, before he dropped his head back and the deepest, most grief-stricken bellow emerged from him. I heard an echoing cry, louder than before. Shelley was coming for her mate; she was going to see his lifeless body lying here.
“Kade…” I didn’t know what to say. I was terrified at the darkness in his eyes, and absolutely devastated about his brother.
Kade sat there for two seconds, frozen. Then his grip on the staff tightened. “Violet,” he breathed.
Violet? Violet couldn’t get here in time to help, and she definitely couldn’t bring people back from the dead.
“Kade…” I repeated slowly, hoping to jolt him out of whatever weird place he was in. Grief had obviously affected his mind, which was to be expected, but with so much darkness within him I was worried about his next actions.
The crystal on the end of the staff pulsed then, the black blood of the Dark Fae Lord sliding away; the veins in Kade’s arm that held it turned black. I could see rivers of ink throbbing up and down his arms.
“Violet showed me the way. She foresaw this,” he said in a voice I didn’t recognize.
“Kade, you’re scaring me. You need to let go of the staff now. It is changing you. Kade!” I moved closer, reaching for him, my energy already surging forward in preparation of siphoning the darkness from him.
“I can save him,” he said as the black ink in his veins continued to expand, surging up to his throat and down in under his shirt.
“At what cost?” I shouted, losing my cool as I dove forward, ready to rip the staff away from him. Kade anticipated this move, though, and while he didn’t push me away, he did angle himself so that I tumbled past him.
I crashed into the ground, and as I pushed myself up, Shelley came tearing through the woods. She was cradling Jota, Kian’s lifeless familiar in her arms. We hadn’t brought our familiars with us, but Kian’s must have crossed over to the Otherworld somehow when he sensed his bonded one dying.
“Kian!” she shouted desperately, slipping and sliding across the melting snow as she fell at his feet.
Kade faced me warily. I’ve got this, Ari. You need to trust me.
I recoiled as his darkness brushed against my mind, and I couldn’t get the fae’s last words out of my head, darkness has you.
What the hell was I supposed to do? Charge my own mate and rip that staff from his hands, or do as he asked and trust him? In normal circumstance that wouldn’t even be a question to ask. I always trusted Kade, but this was not my Kade. Not completely. The essence of him was slipping away from me, and I was afraid it might already be too late.
But what if he could save his brother?
If I stopped him, he would never forgive me. I would lose him either way. I remained frozen for a beat, taking in Shelley’s sobbing figure, the dead familiar, and my mate, who was strongly resembling the Dark Fae Lord right now. I lowered my arm, knowing there was no other option.
I would just keep faith that I had saved him from the darkness once, so I could do it again.
But I still had to offer him one last thought, so he would understand how I felt. “Are you sure, Kade?” I asked him. “Will Kian return as he was? Your brother. Or will death have taken him only to return a shadow of the shifter you knew?”
Could we truly be returned from the dead? Should anyone mess with something that was the domain of the gods?
Kade took a deep breath in, staring at me with his black eyes. “This will work, Arianna. The darkness took him and the darkness will return him. But I must hurry, there is only a short window before his soul is beyond my reach.”
I nodded, stepping back, giving him space. Kade raised the staff high over his head as that black ink visibly pulsed in his veins. Then he spun the staff upside down so that the dark crystal was hovering just over Kian’s chest and brought it down hard, smacking his brother in the chest quickly before pulling up again. It was the same movement he’d used on the Dark Fae Lord, only this time he didn’t pierce his brother’s chest.
Kian’s body jerked once when the crystal hit his chest, but then he fell flat again. Shelley sat up slowly, mouth open, eyes wide.
I took a staggered step closer. “Try again!” I said.
I’d seen something when the crystal connected — a flicker of mecca had washed over Kian.
Kade obliged, slamming the staff down a bit longer this time, but not long enough to … infect … his brother with the darkness. I was guessing my mate was using his power to filter pure creative mecca energy through the powerful crystal, but keeping the darkness inside himself — condemning himself to save his brother.
The next time he hit, more mecca shot into Kian and his whole body jumped up.
“More!” Shelley shouted at Kade, still desperately clutching Jota.
Kade slammed the staff down, his arms shaking with the power of holding the energy.
Suddenly the crow jerked in Shelley’s hands, letting out a loud caw. At the same time, Kian gasped for air. I immediately looked to Kade, and in an almost slow-motion movement, he turned his entire body in my direction, the staff clutched tightly to his chest. I swallowed my cry, trying not to burst into hysterical sobs as our gazes met. His eyes were now completely black, even the part that was supposed to be white. His veins were thick and black, and he looked … evil.
“So … much … power,” he rumbled, looking at the staff like it was a lover. Like it was precious. I recognized that look, I had seen it directed my way more times than I could count.
I swallowed hard, hot tears running down my face even though I was trying my best to keep it together. I couldn’t fall apart yet, I had to save Kade first.
My magic swirled closer to the surface, and as much as I wanted to reach out through our bond, I knew that wasn’t the right way to approach this. Not yet. I needed him to come back a little first, because I wasn’t sure I could fight him.