The Girl With Red Hair (The Last War Saga Book 1) (41 page)

“Then you know what my love cost.”

“Miss Hastings says nothing of value is free.”

Tannyl gritted his teeth and swallowed his building rage. He couldn’t remember the peace that he had felt only moments before. He had hoped that burying his past would ease the torrent of emotions, but it was proving to be only a temporary reprieve. Not that he deserved any better.

“It’s more confusing than I thought it’d be,” she said when Tannyl didn’t respond. She looked at him and seemed every bit the child she had been the day before. She looked lost and afraid.

“Didn’t Miss Hastings tell you that it would be?”

Adelaide shook her head and shuffled close to Tannyl. They were nearly touching. His first instinct was to move away, but he didn’t. Instead he closed the gap and put an arm around her shoulder. She leaned into the embrace and rested her head on his upper chest. Her hair smelled like wildflowers and ash. Life and death, in concert. Harmony.

“Tannyl?”

He looked down at her. She seemed even smaller now. “Yeah?”

“Do you think Thiladir will help me?”

“I’m sure…” he hesitated, and then said, “I don’t know.”

“But we have to try, don’t we?”

Tannyl didn’t answer. He didn’t want to lie to the girl.

“What’s happening to me?”

“That’s not something I can answer,” he said. “What you did…”

“But I don’t know what I did,” she said, her voice trembling. She pushed tighter against his side. “Sometimes I feel like a different person. And sometimes I know I’m awake, but I feel like I’m dreaming. And sometimes my dreams feel more real than when I’m awake.”

She leaned back enough to look him in the eye. Tears ran silently down her cheeks and soaked into his armored vest. He knew it wasn’t logical, and Adelaide looked nothing like her, but Tannyl couldn’t help but see Fae’Na in her eyes. Every ounce of tension evaporated from his body. He brushed aside a tear and smiled, trying to will the sorrow from her eyes.

“We’re going to find out,” he said.

“It’s more than just me,” she said.

“Oh?”

Adelaide shook her head. “I don’t know.”

He pulled her tight and rested his chin on top of her head. He knew exactly what she had meant in that moment and the thought filled him with equal parts dread and hope. Whatever was happening was far greater than one magical girl. It was more than the dragon before them and it was more than a vindictive woman in a black dress. The worlds were changing, and somehow Adelaide was right in the middle of it. And him with her.

“This may be just the beginning,” he said.

He felt her nod. “I’m scared.”

“Me too,” he said.

“I’ll miss you when you leave us,” she said after they had been silent for a time.

He opened his mouth to refute the strange and sudden statement, but couldn’t form the words.

“It’s all right. I know you have to,” she said.

“I don’t think I know what I’m doing any more than you do.”

“I know what I’m doing.”

“And what’s that?”

She sat up and put a hand on his chest. “We’re building a new world. Just like Hilaros wanted. Something better. Something with more love in it, no matter the danger.”

He was taken aback. It wasn’t her words that surprised him, but the firmness with how she said them. The look in her strangely colored eyes was one of utter certainty. Tannyl thought he could feel waves of power coming from her body. He shuddered.

“How do you know that?”

Suddenly, the look vanished and her whole body seemed to deflate. The luster in her eyes dulled and her hand fell to her side. “Know what?” she asked.

“That you’re meant to change the world?”

Adelaide’s face contorted and she looked slowly about her. Her eyes rested on Hilaros. Tannyl could see her eyes widen. “Is that the All-Mother?”

Tannyl grabbed her chin and turned her to face him. He studied her face and saw nothing of what had been there a moment prior. The face that stared back was one of a sixteen-year-old girl, and the wonder plastered on her face was that of a child.

She smiled at him and wrapped her arms around his chest, squeezing tightly. “I love you, Tannyl,” she said. “And I don’t care what you think.”

His heart was pounding again, but he squeezed her tighter. “I love you too, Addy.”

She giggled and wriggled into him. “Really?”

“Yes,” he said, trying to hide the tremor in his voice. It was true. Whatever she was, Tannyl loved her, but not because he wanted to. He loved her because, in that moment, he knew she needed him to.

Chapter Forty-Six

MAIRA IMMEDIATELY TRANSITIONED into a body of rage. She flipped her bed with a single hand and sent a large portion of the outer wall spinning into the Shadows. She didn’t stop until her mind had completely reformed, banishing the memories and restoring her tenuous control.

She sucked at the air, and found she could not stop her hands from shaking. How dare he reject her? After all she had done, the elf had taken her life as opposed to his. He had journeyed to that wicked place, destined to die, but when given the opportunity to make his death count for something, he balked. The coward! The fool!

Wife.

Maira cursed and wrung her hands, trying to still them. She was not in a mood to stand before her impotent god and husband. She needed to return to the surface. She needed to find Tannyl and destroy him. Of course, she would need to kill the others first. Despite what it seemed, she knew Tannyl cared for them. His death could wait for a bit of punishment. No one rejected her.

Wife. Come to me.

She curled her hands into fists at her side and forced her breathing to slow. She kicked down her chamber door, releasing the last bit of her rage. She unclenched her hands, saw them still, and stepped into the shadows. The brief journey to the throne room calmed her further, and as she stepped through the archway, her mask was back in place. Head high and shoulders back, she strode to the dais with purpose.

She didn’t bother bowing. “I wish to kill the Chosen. And the girl. Let us end this foolish game of yours.”

I am prepared to grant you that wish. Except as it concerns the girl with red hair.

Maira knelt and pressed her forehead to the obsidian steps. She hadn’t expected such acquiescence. Suddenly she was ashamed at her haughty entrance.

“Thank you, Husband. But what of the girl?”

You will bring her to me.

Maira stood and combed her fingers through her hair. “I don’t understand. You wish for the girl, but forbid me kill her?”

Yes.

She stared at the shadowy elf strung up by ethereal chains. His face was a constant swirl of black mist, though she had no doubt it would be just as unreadable no matter the circumstance.

“Husband…”

“You must bring the girl to the Shadows,” Vyncis said. Maira started. She hadn’t even noticed the armored man standing beside her husband. “Alive.”

The general’s hard eyes shone, and the edges of his mouth curled ever so slightly. Maira hissed internally. He understood what she did not. That would have to be remedied. She forced her eyes back to Him, fearing her simmering anger would boil over should she focus on Vyncis Gewralt any longer. Her mouth was silent, but her mind pleaded for an explanation.

He shifted, pulling at His chains, and then relaxed, letting His full weight hang from the limitless tethers.

She cannot be killed. She is the one the Guardians call Ta’Nyah.

Her eyes narrowed.

It is Gods’ tongue. It means ‘The Daughter.’

“She is their child?”

Vyncis shifted just enough for his armor to clink on the black glass of the dais. She didn’t dare look at him. Even so, her hands curled into claws.

She will be, yes. They seek to use her to change what has always been and always will be. She has already consumed Eros and Hilaros. She has even fed on Miseo, though not enough to destroy her. If she should reach the others while I am still in mortal form…

His form was an enigma, but the tone of the thoughts He threaded into her mind showed His true emotion. It unsettled her.

“Dear husband, allow me to end her false life and restore your peace of mind. She cannot haunt us from the grave.”

NO!

The force of the thought exploded within her mind and sent her sprawling to the black glass, clutching her head. She couldn’t hear him, but something told her that Vyncis was relishing in seeing her struck down. Violence burned within her soul.

You must bring her to me, alive, so that I may draw on her power. I will use their pet against them. Never again will the Guardians dare interfere with the nature of this world.

Maira found her balance and stood. Her ears still rung, and her vision swam. “Yes, Husband. It shall be as you wish.”

Good. Now, go to Shahdo. The foolish dwarves have nearly reached the Gateway. See that they are replaced, and prepare for the girl’s capture.

She nodded, though she still lacked full understanding. She knew better than to argue. The path would present itself as she went. And while she would have loved to watch the Chosen witness their precious charge butchered, having been granted permission to kill them would be enough. She smiled. She would save Tannyl for last. The thought of his suffering sent a charge throughout her body and made her muscles twitch with anticipation. She stifled a moan.

Vyncis cleared his throat. She shot him a look that she hoped would slay him where he stood. He matched the look and crossed his meaty arms.

The Emperor will command my army from Shahdo once you have seen to the transition.

Vyncis smiled. She regretted ever having underestimated the man. Guile was not something he lacked as much as she had hoped.

“Of course,” she said through gritted teeth. “Your will be done.”

A thread from Him snaked into her mind, far softer than usual. It was only for her.
Do not despair, my love. The time is nearly upon us. The Guardians’ presence will only accelerate my rise, and once I have Ta’Nyah it will be complete. Alfuria will become a wasteland and you shall rule over it as it crumbles to dust.

She took comfort in the words and responded in kind, opening her mind so that there would be no mistake in what she thought.

Bring me the girl and you shall have your son. He will stand beside you in glory.

She channeled her sorrow into focused rage and nodded. “Your will be done,” she repeated.

Ignoring Vyncis, she swept from the room with all haste. She crumpled against the nearest wall. She made no effort to restrain the tears that wet her cheeks. It was foolish to think the memories could ever be killed. Tannyl had forced a wedge between what she remembered and what she strove to forget. There was no true escape. No solace. She hugged her knees and trembled.

Soon,
she thought.
My dear, sweet Evendur. Soon.

Lilacoris was at the helm when every emotion in her body was wrenched from her soul. Pain rushed in and brought her to her knees. The rest of the crew felt it as well, though not as acutely. The Council members at her sides recovered first and rushed to help her to her feet. She allowed them to hold her upright. Her legs could not bear the weight.

The moment she had always dreaded was here. She knew it for the certainty that it was, but wished it false with every fiber of her being. She was empty. Her senses continued to function, but nothing reached her mind. She was alone, barren, and forever changed.

She gasped as the collective emotions of the Fae filled the void. They nearly overwhelmed her, but that was to be expected as well. Sorrow and rage were dominant, hers chief among the totality of the Fae.

“High Watcher?” Nyx, Queen of the Underground, said softly. The arachnid held her right shoulder with a spindly arm.

“Lilacoris?” Pliratis asked from her left side. His mandibles clacked nervously.

She sensed their minds with all the ease of breathing. Was this the burden that Hilaros carried for so long? Her fall into madness was no longer a mystery. It was a certainty.

She spoke, knowing that the others could not form the words. “Hilaros is dead.”

They knew it to be just as true as she did, but doubt still pulsed within their minds. No, not doubt. Hope.

She took a deep breath, drawing in the collective, taking strength from every Fae that lived or had ever lived. Pliratis and Nyx stood back and allowed her to stand on her own. She felt taller than before. Sorrow swirled within her own mind, but she held it back. It would not benefit her people. She brought forth her hatred and rage. She closed her eyes and sent it along the magic with a single, forceful blast. It took seed in the Fae almost immediately.

She turned to the Council. They stood at her back, enraged, but restrained. They all nodded in unison.

“All-Mother.”

She bowed deeply, lending them courage. “The Outsyders will be punished for what they have done.”