“Please.” I rolled my eyes, trying not to smile and failing to sum up the fury I’d once felt at his supposed defection. “You were nowhere near death’s door then, Jonas. Now, on the other hand…”
“You wouldn’t have killed him before? Going soft, Lexa?” Sava sounded smug. “Or is it that before, you were too weak to harm a fly? What you’re really saying is that you’re much more powerful now than you were then. Thanks in great part, I’m sure, to a certain Light Bringer sorcerer we know.”
“I’m not saying that at all. I felt perfectly fine then.” A lie. “I feel fine now.” I did, in fact, feel wonderful. Ever since making love with Arim, I’d felt restored, as if the part of me withering away in the demon plane hadn’t been taken.
Was my new strength the result of Arim’s power, my own revitalizing energy, or Tanselm’s magic? I wanted to look deeper into myself but couldn’t concentrate and keep up with Arim’s leggy strides at the same time. I resolved to investigate the matter later, falling on Tanselm’s welcome as the source of my newfound strength as the most likely answer to my question. That made sense as much as anything I’d experienced. And I knew the land had missed me.
Ignoring the startled, frightened, and angry glares of the Light Bringer warriors swarming the keep, we arrived at the royal hallway leading toward Ravyn’s quarters. Arim faltered once before he squeezed my hand and continued. Waves of sadness radiated from him with growing intensity.
I heard Jonas’s hiss and glanced over my shoulder. He nodded toward Arim in sympathy.
Arim neared Ravyn’s door, and I dreaded the coming confrontation. I knew at least one, if not more, of Arim’s nephews surrounded Ravyn’s body. I’d never gone out of my way to make friends with the Storm Lords outside of Ellie, now a Storm Lord affai.
Nodding to the guards protecting the entrance, Arim pushed the door open and strode through with me, still hand in hand, Jonas and Sava a step behind. He froze when his gaze landed on the bed, and I wasn’t surprised by the pain leeching through our physical contact.
Ignoring the startled occupants of the room, I focused on Arim. “I’ll wait here.” I prodded him to move forward without me. He gave a final squeeze before stepping away, slowly approaching his deceased sister lying on my bed.
I braced for the hostility sure to swing my way. Jonas and Sava moved closer to me, proving I wasn’t the only one with such thoughts. Four mourning Storm Lords and their weeping affai stared at me in befuddlement. Then a few of those glances turned to anger.
Darius placed himself in front of his affai and conjured a ball of flame. Marcus’s glare cooled to an icy blue, and I could feel his telekinetic power shimmering as water crystals formed around him and his brothers like a shield. Soon those crystals would form sharp, lethal daggers of ice.
Full credit for manipulating his talents to the fullest.
Had I the entire use of my power, I would have waved them all into stillness to give Arim time to grieve in private. He didn’t need his attention split right now, and I certainly didn’t want to be the cause of his distraction.
My anger grew when Cadmus and Aerolus, two of the Storm Lords I considered fairer than the others — especially as they’d wed women with Dark natures — assumed offensive rather than defensive stances.
Seriously? Did they really want to play right now? I understood grief, but I was tired of taking the blame for Sin Garu’s doings.
“Come to see what havoc your kind has reaped?” Marcus snarled, the usually cool River Prince as fiery as the hot-tempered Darius.
“Marcus,” Aerolus interrupted.
“No, Aerolus. Let him speak,” Darius growled. “This Dark Lord needs to know we’re not going to let them win, no matter what they do.”
“I didn’t do this.” I scowled. Arim kneeled by Ravyn, his forehead pressed against her side as he held one of her cold, lifeless hands. “Sin Garu killed your mother. And if you care at all for your uncle or your affai, you might tamp down your rage and focus on the Netharat’s return. The final battle is coming. Tell them, Cadmus.”
Cadmus shook his head, his brown eyes black with tension. “The visions I’ve seen aren’t worth sharing.”
The others looked at him, all except Darius, who kept his furious gaze on me.
“You’ve seen our defeat then,” Aerolus stated, his voice calm.
“Bullshit.” Darius scowled.
Samantha, his affai, tightened her arm around his waist. “Darius, ease up.”
“What you’ve seen is only a possibility,” I told Cadmus.
“It bodes well for no one,” he replied bluntly. “My mother is dead, and our line very well may end with us.”
Cadmus admission earned startling exclamations of disbelief and fury from his family.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” his affai asked.
“Ellie, I didn’t want to worry you. Besides, I thought it was all just a bad dream. Some of my nightmares are just that. And this particular dream didn’t feel like a vision. I wasn’t dazed and didn’t black out.”
“Perhaps it wasn’t a vision at all,” I speculated. “Sin Garu has ways of infiltrating even the strongest of minds.” I had a feeling the Dark Lord had been tampering with Cadmus’s clairvoyance.
