With a sharp inhale and a final surge of strength, Lova curled her hand around Bane's and wrenched the long dagger out, blood spilling from her like a broken dam as she fell.
Bane stared horrified at the blade, and then back to Lova, watching as she dragged her bleeding body to curl alongside her fallen friend—deep brown eyes stared unseeing and vacant back at her.
"Your babies will live on, Calliope. This I vow," Lova choked on a whisper, a thin sheen of sweat beading on her brow, her lips twitching at the foul curses escaping the swordmaster’s mouth as he made his first cut. Holding onto her dead friend Lova waited, growing colder in death alongside her.
When a high pitched cry of a newborn babe rent the frigid air, angry and fierce, Lova knew that he was the male foreseen in Talgira’s vision which meant the female was next. Her breath slowing, the beat of her heart waning, she waited for the next cry, and when it came, asoft sweet whimper joined by the coo’s of the hardened warrior that held her, the shifter smiled.
Through Lova’s eyes, I stared in awe at Bane who was unsheathing his own fur, baring his body to the unforgiving cold, to wrap the twin faelings together in the heavy cloth.
"Penina," she gurgled and I choked on the blood filling her mouth. Bane’s eyes drifted over to us, rocking the babe’s in a subconscious paternal instinct. "Calliope wanted to name them Penina and Falcon."
Bane cleared his throat and it was then that I noticed through the haze of Lova’s death that he had been crying again. "Goddess bless Penina and Falcon, children of the shifters Calliope and Maddox Sythe. Long may they live in the light."
"Long may they live in the light," Lova’s lips moved but no sound left them.
Bane’s shadow leaned over her, his soft heated touch chasing away the bleak coldness of the looming death. I could barely hear his final words. "Rest your warrior soul now, forta," he called to her. "You have fulfilled your vow, Lovisa Riss. May the goddess take you with her golden light to live freely within our hearts where the devoted and young never die.”
Her breath rattled when she took her last—a harsh sound for a harsh end and I felt every vibration of it as I died with her.
Chapter 62
Iwasgettingtiredofwaking in a pool of water. This time Riella cradled my head, her tiny body submerged and shivering while keeping me afloat. I choked when the dark shadows of Lova's lilin poured out of me and I blinked up at the mocking stars.
"No more," I whispered, still feeling the weakness of death lingering, attempting to regain my own reality.
Riella was above me, smoothing my hair away from my face with her wet pruney hand. "No more, maedere. You did it."
Rising, I pulled her shivering body into me, rubbing my hands up and down her damp arms.
"Thank you, little chickadee." I kissed her forehead, seeing my haggard self within the reflective surface of her crown. "I fear you have taken better care of me than I have of you."
Riella curled into me. "Faedere would want us to take careof each other."
I tapped her nose lovingly, ignoring the deep set worry I had as Emon’s soul fluttered inside. "That he would." Rising, the cold water dripped from my exposed legs and weighed down my boots. I grimaced, more than eager to feel dry lands beneath my feet and the hot sun on my face instead of the cold wet dampness of this realm. Adjusting Riella, not wanting her in these unknown waters a moment longer, I slung her across my back once again. Spying her shadow spear lying at my feet, I summoned it to my hand, carefully handing it back to her. "Let's get out of here," I whispered, walking towards where we had first entered.
Riella and I both gasped when the shadows popped up towards us, Lova's lilin joining them, becoming one in their agitated swirl. My steps faltered and my brow quirked, I had lived a long enough life with the previous shadows, I knew their urgency when I saw it.
"What is it now?" I sighed.
They furiously tumbled around us, shoving us forward.
Riella tilted her head, her eyes widening listening to their anxious swirling. "They say they have obtained the souls but the demons are still outside. They have captured Lir and lay in wait. A trap."
I ground my teeth, "We must free Lir, even if it is a trap—” my heart pounded, Emon’s body was aboard that ship, vulnerable in the soulless sleep. "Take me to Lir and protect Riella at all costs when we get there."
They did not pause this time, in one quick swirl Riella and I were enveloped in darkness before we were sent stumbling onto a demon infested metal ship with the great fae sea king laughing with each blast of his glittering trident. Looking up into the sky, I inhaled sharply at the hundreds of demons above, illuminated in Wrath’s skies by dark ruby red blood crystals.
"Lir!" I cried out, setting Riella down and watching the lilin cloak protectively over her. Nodding, Riella raised her spear in response, before I turned to run to Lir’s side. Sliding across the deck, I sliced viciously at any demon in my way, my eyes trained on the sea king.
Lir fought valiantly, but their sheer numbers were vast and he was quickly buried beneath a heap of demon scum.
“No,” I screamed, lunging forward only to be knocked to the side by a fierce wind. Its gusts barreled straight into the demon pile, sending more than several flying into the churning seas.
Whether it was Lir’s jealous ex wife, his cursed north wind daughter Fi, or both, I would never know, but it was enough for the sea king to regain his footing. Reaching his side, together we blasted and skewered demons dropping from the sky, the glow above us increasing in its brightness—charging in strength.
My eyes widened, “They are sacrificing their own to build the strength of the blood crystals!”
Lir roared as he pierced two demons at once with his great trident, flinging them hundreds of feet over the sea with ease. “Dinnae know if I am happy t’ see ye or not lass with such grave news!” Then he frowned, "Where is yer wraith?"
