Dark Possession - Aja James Page 0,71
great leaps and bounds, forcing him away from Ramses.
With a bracing breath, Ramses looked up into the sky and saw a giant eagle circling above, carrying something—or someone—in its talons.
A someone who hurled flaming…scrolls at the other fighter.
“This is an outrage!” Queen Anya cried from the east bank of the falls. “Bring them down! No one can interfere with a Challenge!”
To her Champion she ordered, “Get back in the fight! Finish him! Do it now!”
“I wasn’t interfering!” came a distant shout from the skies above, “those darn tubes got away from me, my bad! Don’t know how they caught fire… so strange...”
Eveline?
Ramses squinted ferociously at the skies.
Eveline?!
And it was Rhys who was carrying her, motherfucker!
What the fuck was she doing here?
With a renewed burst of adrenaline, a surge of power charged through Ramses’ body with the force of a nuclear bomb. Suddenly, he no longer felt his wounds, his lungs no longer burned with water. He only felt fury—
And fear. So much fear.
She shouldn’t be here. She just made herself a target, and there was little he could do to protect her.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his opponent take a giant leap off a boulder that jutted from the rapids. Mid-step, the other male sprouted giant black wings from his back, though he maintained his humanoid form otherwise. Like a bullet, he shot up into the sky directly at Rhys and Eveline.
No.
Ramses’ heart pounded so hard as he leapt after the male, he couldn’t hear anything else. Didn’t register that pandemonium had broken out all around them, warriors from both sides bursting from the forests with weapons raised. His only thought was to somehow reach Eveline.
But he couldn’t leap fast or high enough, his outstretched hand missing the Challenger’s foot by a whisper of an inch.
As the other male collided with Rhys and Eveline, Rhys suddenly transformed back into his humanoid form, plummeting from the sky in a deadweight.
Ramses’ breath froze as Eveline shrieked, falling right behind Rhys.
But the winged male caught her in his arms. Caught her and fucking carried her off!
An explosive roar tore through Ramses’ chest, just as rocks beneath the rapids detonated through the surface of the water and rained down upon the opposing forces on both sides of the falls like boulder-sized hail.
The release of power draining him, along with his countless wounds, Ramses fell back into the currents.
Down the crushing deluge of the falls.
“A queen becomes Queen. A slave becomes Mate. A King falls in flames. A winner loses in games. A queen gives way. A Mate displaced. A Champion reborn. A King transformed. A stone heart in fire. A soul dances higher. When True Love reveals. And old wounds heal…”
—From the lost records of the Zodiac Prophesies
Chapter Thirteen
“Well, that was certainly an interesting display.”
“Indeed. You were right, my child,” the hissing voice could be heard from an unidentified location amidst the surrounding trees.
The messenger and the Mistress observed the ongoing battle between Queen Anya’s contingent and that of Alend Ramses, each hidden in their own respective shadows from view.
“The Dark King appears to be a powerful telekinetic,” the messenger noted. “No wonder he chose to fight bare-handed.”
A dark chuckle echoed through the whispering leaves of the forest.
“He is not simply a telekinetic, my child. He is an Earth Elemental. An extremely strong one, by the looks of it. Though he didn’t unleash his power until the end.”
The messenger frowned.
“I have never heard of such. What is an Elemental?”
“A story for another time,” the Mistress answered obliquely, and abruptly changed the subject.
“You have done very well. I am pleased. However, I will take it from here.”
The messenger stiffened.
“My prize?”
“Of course,” came the silky hiss, with a goose-bump raising undertone of danger. “But in due time. You want to be ruler of your own hive, you shall have your wish. The wheels are in motion.”
“But—”
“Do not test me, child,” the Mistress growled threateningly.
The messenger had enough sense of self-preservation to slink back into the shadows.
“I will await your news, then.”
“Do.”
With that, the messenger silently retreated from the forest, going the way they came.
Medusa lingered a while longer in the darkness, watching the battle between the two Dark forces draw to conclusion.
What a spectacular display of strength and power from both fighters!
And now they were wounded, Ramses more than the Challenger. It was too risky to pursue Ramses while he was surrounded by his Chosen—already, the two animal spirits on his guard had dove down the waterfall after him and fished him