I landed, Jordan came leaping out of nowhere and chopped the frozen head clean off, then proceeded to stab it for good measure.
“A little late, but thanks for the assist,” I said, looking around for the others. Ryland was still fighting near the town hall against an opponent who kept disappearing and reappearing every time Ryland came too close.
“Come on, we have to help them,” Jordan said, grabbing my hand, then immediately dropping it. “Care to turn the cold off, Chuck?”
“Actually, no, I don’t. Let’s go.”
She grinned and nodded, then proceeded to plow through the crowd of fighting animals and creatures.
Heat slammed into my back, but I ignored it because it didn’t hurt. Though, when the voice that followed spoke softly in my ear, I froze on the spot. “You were made for me. What you did to that dragon was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen in my existence.”
Alaryk’s voice was alluring, but I fought the pull with everything I had. His hand trailed down my bloodied arm. “I won’t let anyone else hurt you. Just come with me.”
Then it hit me. He kept asking me to come with him when he could have easily just grabbed me and disappeared. “You can’t take me.” I turned around and faced him, no longer afraid. “You need me to come with you willingly, don’t you?”
His face went from caring lover to murderous in a split second. “I don’t need for you to do anything. I’m offering you a life of luxury, but if you continuously refuse, then I will show you the consequences of that decision.”
There must have been something in the prophecy he believed in so much that stated I had to become his on my own terms, a loophole I so badly needed. It told me I wasn’t doomed, and we had a real chance at stopping this psycho.
“You don’t scare me,” I snarled before thrusting my arms at him, trying to freeze him like I did the dragon.
He shook his finger at me, completely unaffected. “You’re going to regret that.” His dark eyes stared above my head and nodded.
Taking the chance, I followed his gaze and found my parents being held by two of his men at the top of the stairs to the town hall.
“No!” I shouted and began to run for them, but I was too late. The two monsters holding them paralyzed plunged blades into their chests at the same time before disappearing, but I’d remember their faces and they would face my wrath one day.
Alaryk yelled after me. “This is what happens when you fight destiny, my love. Remember, this all could have been avoided if you’d just come with me, but don’t worry, I’ll give you time to grieve before I come back for you.”
Alaryk’s words cut straight through my heart as a darkness began to come over me with every step I took. The fury raging through me took precedence over everything else as creatures began to disappear and the path to my parents cleared.
Their lifeless bodies lay at the footsteps of town hall, both bleeding from daggers in their chests. I collapsed between them, wrapping one arm around each of their waists as tears ran down my cheeks. There wasn’t an inch of me that wasn’t breaking from the anguish of seeing my parents motionless on the ground.
I could hear my voice being called, but I ignored them as I let the hate for Alaryk rise to the surface. I wanted it to consume everything I was, and I wanted to kill him. He’d taken my only family from me, and I wasn’t going to let him get away with it. Not even if I had to go dark to accomplish the task.
As I attempted to dry the tears I’d shed for my mother and father, thunder sounded in the distance. It was a noise that didn’t belong in the perfect climate of Arvayta but called to me, nonetheless. As I raised myself up, I looked to the sky, calling the powerful energy of the storm brewing to me.
“Kali, you need to stop,” Jordan said cautiously, and when my eyes met hers, she took a step back.
“Who’s going to make me?”
Just as lightning shot down from the sky, straight for my body, Ryland wrapped his arms around me, absorbing the hit alongside me. His hands moved to my face, and everything around us faded except the glow of power I wanted all to myself in order to remove Alaryk’s existence from the worlds.
“Let’s do this together, Kali. You and me. We will end him. You’re not alone, and I will help you carry this burden.” His words were strong, forceful, and demanding.
My head shook as tears still trailed down my face. “He took them. I have to make him pay.”
“And you will. I’ll make sure of it, even if it’s the last thing I do.”
His eyes called to the darkness growing within me, forcing it down by the second. When I finally nodded, the storm dissipated, and Ryland pulled me into his arms. I allowed him to take some of the weight from my shoulders, but as I glanced down at my parents’ prone bodies, I knew it was just the beginning.
A storm was about to rage, and I was going to destroy everything in my path.
Continue Kali’s story in the final installment of Royal Fae Guardians called Of Blood and Sacrifce! Now available for preorder and releasing June 2020!