Ever Wrath (17 page)
Cold Hearts
CORB
WATCHED AS
Kilara sent another energy wave against the side of the Withering Palace. Her wild eyes betrayed the insanity within her, and he knew she’d turned into the very thing she used to defend the land against: darkness, emptiness and bitterness. What had happened? What was going on inside that pretty head of hers that she felt compelled to bring the Unseelie castle, an entity as old as they were, down to ruins? This wasn’t the woman he’d fallen in love with centuries ago. No, this was a stranger before him.
“Must you do this now? They’re all still in there.” His face was tight with disapproval
, but he knew she wouldn’t stop what she had started.
“It must be done.”
“I thought you needed Rowan.”
“Plans change.”
“And me? Am I still useful to you, or will you bring a castle down onto me when you’re done using me?” His voice was frosty, and the tone captured Kilara’s attention, sending a ripple of shivers down her spine. She stopped the attack and turned to face him.
Her old lover, the one she’d promised all eternity to
, was watching her every move with judgmental eyes and a wary stance. There was no way he knew her agenda, that she was sick underneath her powerful exterior… that the withering sickness was taking her apart, bit by tiny bit, even though she didn’t want to die. No one had ever mentioned a sickness that took its victim by force. Withering was voluntary, chosen by the faery who wished to die. This wasn’t the same thing.
“Why are you doing this?” His accusatory tone made her flinch. She didn’t feel like explaining herself or her
motives to him, of all people. He wasn’t even useful to her, really. With his magic bound, with Shade in control of it, he was as good as a puppet. She knew she couldn’t kill Rowan by bringing down the Withering Palace, but she was hoping to shake them out of the castle and into her clutches. It was proving to be an impossible feat.
“Why is it resisting my destruction?” She turned back to the walls of the palace as they systematically rebuilt each hole, crack and tear in the walls until
it looked as if it had never been touched. This made her frown, her anger growing with each stone the castle replaced. She’d never seen anything like it and began to wonder if she’d never be able to bring it down.
“Don’t ignore m
e. I asked if you’d be rid of me when I’m of no use.”
“You’re of no use now!” She gritted her teeth and stared him down. The Ice King wouldn’t back down
, though, and met her gaze with equal power.
So Shade had his strings in her hands
, but she let him have his power anyway,
she thought.
Why would she do that?
“I won’t allow this. Shade and Rowan
must be allowed to escape the palace.”
“You’re going to try to stop me?” She laughed, her frustration showing in her rough, p
iercing cackles. “I dare you to,” she hissed.
“Don’t try me, we are equal. Shade allows me use of my magic
, and I respect her for that. It’s a lot more than I can say about you.” He didn’t move from his spot, knowing it was intimidating her.
She sent another
blast of energy at the castle walls, causing a large gap to form on one of the upper floors. Dust and debris tumbled down the mountain from the wound but almost as quickly as she had caused the damage, the hole began reconstructing itself, piece by piece, with eternal patience.
Damn!
She screamed in frustration. “Why can’t I bring it down?”
“Because the building is an Ancient being, just like you and me. We do not answer to
each other, nor can we kill each other. I thought you knew this rule. We do not provide sanctuary for each other, either, like the Ancient Oak Trees. I’m sure Arthas has had a very unhappy life in there.” The thought of the castle disliking to harbor an Ancient like Arthas brought a smile to his lips.
Aveta probably knew this by now.
He hoped Aveta would use it against Arthas, but she was as unpredictable as Shade.
“Y
ou’re just using up your power. I sense you depleting it rapidly. Maybe you should rest a while.”
“Sh
ut up!” Kilara grabbed her head as a sharp, tormenting pain shot through her skull. He was right. The exertion was doing nothing but withering her faster. She had to get out of there before he learned her secret. “Maybe you’re right. This is useless.”
Corb’s smile faded as he watched her, knowing what was next.
“Where are you going this time?”
“Where you’ll never find me.” She smirked.
“Why would you do that to me again? I’ve been nothing but loyal to you and you’ve treated me like the scum that grows underneath the unmoving pools of water. Why?”
“Because…
I told you. I don’t love you anymore. I have to go.”
“Wait…
.”
“
Goodbye, Corb,” she said and faded away.
Silence met him as
he pressed his lips tight. He should have never trusted her again, and the ache in his chest that he thought had been dormant for so long re-emerged violently until he stifled it with a cold, freezing touch.
It was b
etter to be hardened and cold than to let his heart break again.
Twenty-Four
Old Death
“HEY
, BRO, WAKE
up!” A cold splash of fluid shocked Dylan’s senses, making him sputter as he blinked and wiped the drops away. The water rolled off his face, beads of it drenching his tunic as he glared at the deliverer of the dousing.
“What’s the meaning of this?” h
e snapped. Long black locks stuck to his skin, and he swatted them away from his face.
Benton grinned, his big white teeth flashing. “Sorry
, but you were so out of it, I was afraid you’d turned into Sleeping Beauty.”
Dylan groaned and
used his tunic to wipe the rest of the wetness off his face. Realizing he was not inside the Withering Palace anymore, he jerked around quickly, searching for his beloved’s face in the crowd of people around him. “Shade… where is she? How’d I get here? Did she get out, too?”
Benton’s smile fell
, and he pressed his mouth tight. “No, man. I thought she was with you. Camulus found you and brought you back here. He said he thought he’d heard Shade when he retrieved you, but when he was able to return for her, he only saw Aveta and Arthas together and she wasn’t anywhere to be found, even though he sensed his summoning orb nearby. Where’d she go?”
Dylan rubbed his face, gathering his wits
about him. He still felt groggy. What had happened to Shade? She’d been there; he could’ve sworn he’d seen her. One minute, Darren had gotten him with the poisoned dagger. The next, she was wrapping his leg. Then again, he’d been so out of it, he didn’t know what had happened after the poison took effect.
H
e pulled his leg into view and stared at the strips of shirt wrapped securely around his wound. Ripping them off, he found his skin pristine and unblemished. How? A Darkling’s poison should have killed him.
“Darren was there
, too. Did Camulus see him there?”
Benton shook his head. “No, Camulus didn’t mention him
, but he did say he was in a hurry to get the hell out of there. Arthas was there.”
“She’s still in there.” Dylan fiddled
with the ring on his finger, feeling for his love’s life pulsating through it. With enough concentration, he could feel her heart beating as if he was holding her in his arms. As soon as the soft thumping vibrated under his skin, he let out the breath he’d been holding.
She’s alive…
still trapped inside the castle. Alone.
“I have to go back
there. I have to find her….” He stood up but quickly melted back onto the cot again. The Darkling’s poison had weakened him greatly, and he was in no condition to go anywhere. This angered him, and he sat there, filling with rage.
“You can’t. Y
ou’ve had some sort of spell or something on you. Braelynn said you needed to rest.”
At the mention of the healer who’d ventured with them in Faerie so many months ago, he peered up at Benton. “Braelynn’s here?”
“Yep, sure am. You think I’d miss this? Unseelie going down!” She chose that moment to waltz in and high-five Benton. She smiled down at him and examined Dylan’s slumped position. “Now you’ve got to lie down. That poison has to work its way out of your system. I don’t know how you did it, but whatever you did, you must tell me how you countered Darkling poison.”
Dylan shook his head as
a slow, deep ache reminded him to lie down. “I don’t know. One minute, I was collapsing from the poison and the next, I was here. Shade’s still there. We have to help her.” His eyes pleaded with her, even though inside he wanted to scream.
“No one’s going to be helping her if you won’t lie still!” Braelynn clasped his shoulder firmly, her tone unrelenting. “Shade would want you to relax
and heal. She’ll be fine. We all know how much power that chic has. Now lie down, or I’ll give you a sleep draught to knock you out till Tuesday.” She winked and patted his shoulder, but the reassurance was lost on him.
Dylan turned red but complied. Sighing, he stared up at the sky above. He was lying on a soft snow
leopard skin with a pillow under his head. Nothing could keep him from his love. If only he’d avoided Darren’s dagger.
And where
was Darren?
He closed his eyes and felt around, stretching his magic for miles to feel the coursing of his blood
in his brother. Nothing reached back. It didn’t recognize his kin anywhere, forcing Dylan to rein it back in, exhausted and thoroughly spent from the energy it took to search for his brother. They were close enough to the palace for him to be able to find Darren, yet he’d felt nothing. Darren was either far from there now or his life force had been cut short.
If he w
as dead, that could mean only one thing.
Shade had killed his brother.
Maybe he should have felt some remorse. Maybe he should have felt sadness or even broken from losing the only brother he’d ever had. Yet strangely, he didn’t. Relief flooded his mind before he succumbed to darkness once more, hoping to find his Shade, even in his dreams, safe and sound.
