“Don’t move,” Terletov snarled with a thicker-than-usual accent. He looked exhausted. His shoulders sagged and his arm shook from where he held out the infant.
Gavriel’s head hung awkwardly from his neck and he too bleated out angry protests. Eden and Kiran sat huddled in the corner, bloodied and beaten. Their hands were bound together and something chained them by the neck to the dirt wall at their backs.
Eden’s eyes were as black and furious as I’d ever seen her. Her entire body radiated with rage. Her Magic surged in pulsing waves outwardly and I wondered if that was the reason for the volatile Magic in the other room. Even I could feel the sheer power emanating from her. It bounced around the room like steel boomerangs, returning to her and then shooting off again in search of a place to land.
“Eden?” I lifted an eyebrow her direction.
“No,” she hissed. “I can’t use it.”
Kiran shot me a sharp look. We had been speaking with our expressions for the better part of our lives. I read everything I needed to in just that one glance. They couldn’t access their Magic. They couldn’t get out of their restraints.
And if I didn’t save their children the entire world would burn to the ground.
“Silence!” Terletov shouted at us. His hand faltered and I prepared my body to jump into the dark pit after the child. He righted the infant and flashed a sick smile at the new parents. “They are finally listening,” he told Seraphina and me. “They are finally listening to the things that I have to say.”
“And what things are those?” Seraphina asked with a measured lilt.
I could feel her Magic spread out through the room. It crawled along the floor and over the walls as if casting a careful net over her prey.
Avalon pushed at my back, but I knew he felt the atmosphere of this room. He knew not to push too hard.
“I had you both, didn’t I?” Terletov narrowed his eyes and swayed toward us. “You are the reason my empire fell, yes? You are the reason my brother is not at my side. You are the reason I have no army.”
“And no Magic,” Eden growled. “Don’t forget that.”
“Silence, Witch!” he screamed at her, spittle flying from his lips. “I lost everything because of you! I was set to overthrow Lucan. Did you know? First I would take you, take your Magic. Then I would storm the Citadel and take my rightful place on the throne. You would have died at my hands and all would have been right. But instead you forced me to find creative ways to reclaim my Magic. I crawled out of the pits of that prison on my own. I learned how to use Magic again on my own. And I built an army, an army of followers that hate you and everything you stand for, on my own. You took my Magic and my future and my brother from me. And now you’ve taken my empire.”
“You’re bloody mad,” Kiran growled. “You would have been free had you not tried to overturn the Kingdom. We would have never known that you were alive, let alone killed your brother! You did this to yourself!”
Terletov snarled something ugly at Kiran before stepping closer to the edge of the pit. I couldn’t see how far down it went from here, but if this was the image from Sera’s dream then I didn’t have to see it to know it didn’t end. It was a passageway straight to hell.
Or maybe it was only that way metaphorically. Either way I knew that no one would survive the outcome of losing the twins or our King and Queen.
“Fools!” Terletov shouted. “You are fools!”
Seraphina’s Magic continued to creep around the room. Her strength was stealth and she seemed to pull this off perfectly. I knew the only reason I was aware of what she was doing was because our Magics were connected.
And they would always be connected. No matter what happened today.
“I’m going to take everything from you,” Terletov swore. “I’m going to do it slowly. I’m going to make you watch as every last thing is taken away from you. I’m going to make you relive the pain of losing everything you loved over and over and over. And when you’ve lost everything, then I’m going to take your Kingdom. The only thing I’m not going to take is your lives. Oh, no. I want you alive for all of this. I want you to watch on for eternity as I destroy everything you’ve touched.”
Kiran fought against his restraints. I felt Eden’s Magic building. It was a force that pressed against my skin and pushed the boundaries of the physical world. Nothing could restrain her, not even Terletov’s reinforced metal.
“I’ll never let that happen.” Kiran jerked his head and the chains clanked against the wall. Stone crumbled from the ceiling, showing off how much strength he still had. “You still can’t beat us. Not even when we’re tied up and Magic-less.”
I shifted to the side, out of the way of the entrance. We needed Avalon in here now. Eden might not have access to her Magic, but Avalon and Mimi still did.
It was just the baby in his arm and at his feet that kept us from jumping him and ending this already.
“I’ve already beaten you.” Terletov slid baby Amari to the edge of the pit with the toe of his loafer.
His wrinkled suit hung off his thin frame, boasting of a once stronger man. His thin hair hung in limp, greasy strands across his forehead and his skin had turned a pasty yellow. My nose started to wrinkle as his disgusting scent permeated the damp room. The babies continued to scream and Eden and Kiran continued to fight their restraints.
Seraphina lunged forward, apparently tired of waiting on Terletov to do something. I felt her same impatience, but my gut kicked when I watched her get thrown back against the wall from a sweep of Terletov’s Magic.
I got clipped in the side with it. It pushed us apart. I flew to one side of the crack in the wall, closer to Kiran. And Seraphina flew to the other, closer to the abyss than I was comfortable with. She pushed herself up, but I could see how shaky she was. She had gotten hit straight on. My heart hurt inside my chest. I wanted to crawl over to her and pull her into my arms. I wanted to pick her up and run with her, never looking back.
But there were too many other people that needed us.
And I was afraid that if I made a move to her, I would only make things worse.
I hated how powerless I felt.
“Don’t test me!” Terletov shouted. “I will end you. And I will end these children.” The children screamed louder, their faces bright red and their voices hoarse from their impatience.
A bubbling rage built inside of me. I would kill this man before he could hurt anyone I loved.
“If you hurt those children I will murder you,” I snarled. “You will be dead.”
Terletov scoffed at my threat, but Eden cut through his arrogance with her own ominous warning. “He’s already dead, Sebastian. Can’t you see that? Look at how sick he is. He won’t last through the night.”
“Give me back my Magic!” His shout rattled through the room at the same time another tremor of Magic shook the walls. I could hear the zapping of electricity as it struck in the other room. It lasted for longer than before, zinging up and down the wall.
Eden tilted her chin with defiance. “I’ve never been able to give you your Magic, Dmitri. That power has always lain solely with you. That’s the secret to returning Magic. The owner must reclaim it. The owner must fight to take it back. I could never give it to you. It was never in my power and always in yours.”
Terletov’s eyes shone with hope for the first time maybe ever. He took a step away from the pit and moved toward Eden.
She wasn’t finished with her verbal slaying. “But you’re too weak now. Don’t you see? You waited too long and now your body isn’t strong enough to survive.”
Rage twisted his face into a monstrous mask. He held out his free hand to her and made a gnarled fist. I could see the exertion he put forth from his red, sweaty face, but I could also see that nothing happened.
He really wasn’t strong enough to reclaim his Magic. He’d destroyed his chances when he stole someone else’s energy and turned it into a sick, rotten thing inside of him.
&n
bsp; “No,” he gasped, the deadly realization dawning on his drawn face.
And then three things happened at once.
First, Terletov stumbled back to the pit and thrust baby Gavriel directly over it. Second, Avalon shoved into the room and lashed out with his Magic. It burst in a bright, hot wave directly at Terletov, slamming him against the far wall.
And third, Seraphina jumped to her feet and dove into the black pit where Terletov had loosed his grip on the babe and let go.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Seraphina
I was weightless for about three seconds before I hit the hard ground, burning my back from the rock debris and dirt I landed on.
I had Time-Slowed just in time. I had the nagging sensation that this baby boy was going to get dropped and so I had done my best to prepare for the moment it happened.
I dove after him, slowing him down long enough for me to catch him, cradle him next to my body, turn over and land on a ledge thirty feet into the pit.
Some kind of scary Magic buzzed below. I could feel it licking at my skin and burning straight through my clothes. I pulled myself to my feet and held the baby tighter to my chest.
He had calmed down some, but his body still stretched out uncomfortably and his whimpers had not stopped.
“Shh,” I cooed to him. “Auntie Sera has you now. Shh…”
I could hear the sounds of fighting overhead. The smacking of a body against a hard surface, the clanking of chains and shouts from my friends. The baby and I were pretty much submerged into darkness. The faint light from the surface glowed overhead, but we had been plunged into thick blackness.
The Magic beneath me rumbled hungrily. It seemed to sense living beings above it. The unseen force whipped out at my calves and ankles, making me jump and wince from sharp, shooting pain.
Residual electricity crackled over every place the weird Magic touched. Panic pooled in my belly and started to rise up my chest like floodwaters.
I had heard Eden tell the story of what it was like for her to face the Source Magic in India. I had witnessed what it was like for Avalon in Morocco.
I was not like them. I wouldn’t survive a confrontation with real, true, Source Magic. The baby had a better chance of surviving this than I did.
I tucked him into the crook of my elbow and held him tightly against my body with my left arm. With my right, I reached upward and searched for a place to hold onto. Something immensely powerful made this hole I’d fallen into like it had dug straight down into it. The walls were not smooth and held hope that I might be able to climb out.
Using as much Magic as I could gather, even pulling some from Sebastian, I set about climbing out of the hole with one hand. And I swear, I held my breath the entire time.
I shoved my feet into narrow spaces, only to have the dirt fall away underneath and make me grapple for any kind of holding just to keep from tumbling backward into the terrifying unknown. The baby cried and trembled in my arms, only adding to my anxiety.
“Shh, little one,” I sang. “I’m taking you to Mommy.”
I let out a scream and clutched the wall desperately with just my fingertips when suddenly the entire foundation of this place shook violently. Magic surged from beneath me and chased my heels. I shut my eyes so tightly that tears squeezed from the corners.
Only a little bit further, I promised myself.
When the ground stopped moving again, the bottom of this pit groaned a long yawning sound. I imagined a huge mouth waiting to swallow me up as soon as my precarious grip slipped. I kept my body pressed against the wall, but it was nearly impossible to keep climbing with only one hand.
Rocks kicked over the side of ledge from above and hit me in the head. I leaned over Gavriel, trying to protect him as best as I could. He screamed bloody murder in my face.
“I’m just trying to help,” I told him. He screamed at me some more.
I could hear his sister crying out overhead. The sounds of fighting continued on. I wondered for how much longer though. There were so many of us against just one of him.
I prayed that Amari was safe somewhere and that Terletov hadn’t managed to grab her.
“Sera!”
I looked up, desperate for more of that voice. “Sebastian.” My voice was a whisper, but I knew he heard me.
He looked absolutely startled to find me climbing the wall, baby in toe.
Okay, maybe it was a little farfetched that I’d caught the baby, but I didn’t have many talents. Time-slowing just happened to be something I excelled at.
“You’re alive!” He still seemed unable to make sense of my climb.
“I am,” I squeaked.
“And the baby is alive!”
“Of course, the baby’s alive.” Obviously, I didn’t jump into the pit for the fun of it.
The walls rumbled more aggressively and I had to smash Gavriel against my chest and the wall and reach out with both hands to hold on. I looked down and prayed the baby would survive this ascent.
He was so tiny in my arms, so very fragile. Theoretically I knew that he was an Immortal, but he was still a newborn! Just a few days old.
He had been born into a very scary world. But hopefully we were about to fix that for him.
“Come on, Sera!” Sebastian called after me and I responded.
I had to.
I wanted to.
That man… That man that had never let me go, that had followed after me and brought me back to him. I loved him. I had never stopped loving him.
I would never stop loving him.
I couldn’t.
And so I climbed. I used all of my Magic and all of my strength. I found handholds in places that I shouldn’t have been able to hold onto, and my feet found a place to go with every step. I miraculously kept the baby safely tucked to my side.
He was angry, but he was alive.
Someone held onto Sebastian’s legs and he reached down into the pit. His fingers dangled above me and his hazel eyes pierced right through me. As the ground shifted and trembled around us, I climbed to where Sebastian could reach the baby and held Gavriel out to him.
Holding the baby carefully, with two hands, he looked at me with this infinite well of love and kissed my sweaty forehead. “I’m coming back for you, Sera. Hold on.”
I nodded, too out of breath to respond. He shouted for whoever held onto him to pull him up and they did. My breath stalled in my chest as I watched Sebastian hold the baby away from the wall and over the deep abyss as they dragged his body back onto solid ground.
Once Sebastian and Gavriel disappeared, I resumed my climb, anxious to get to the top now that I had two hands to work with.
The yawning sounded again, something like a great beast groaning for sustenance. I felt the prickles of urgency raise the hairs on my neck and moved with renewed purpose.
The dirt walls around me began to vibrate aggressively. I let out a squeak of panic and moved my hand over the rocky surface, struggling to find a better hold. The ground beneath my feet began to shift and disappear. A cracking sound caught my attention and I looked down just in time to see the ledge I’d landed on earlier break off and crumble into the ominous black hole.
I was losing my hold and I had nowhere to go.
I could Time-Slow, but that would only prolong my death if I fell.
That same dangerous, superheated Magic bubbled up from below like a volcano burping lava. It hit my back, stunning me completely with shock and stinging pain. I felt my hands release their grasp, but I had no strength to do anything about it.
I watched in horror as I started to fall backward, slowly at first, but I knew my momentum would pick up. I could swear I felt the abyss below lick its savage lips in anticipation for my fall.
My heart felt like it would burst in my chest and I couldn’t work out a coherent thought in my head. There was nothing up there but raw, unfiltered panic.
But then I wasn’t falling.
Something grabbed both of my w
rists and in the next second my body slammed against the rock wall. The breath left my lungs at the same time I was yanked upwards.
Grateful tears came next.
“I’ve got you, Sera. You’re not getting away from me that easily,” Sebastian exclaimed. He leaned over the ledge again, straining for me.
I closed my eyes and let him pull me up. My body shook and my spirit soared. I had been sure I was on my way to meet my end. Positive of it.
And then I wasn’t. Life waited for me instead of death. Love instead of the aching loneliness of that hole.
The Magic below did not like that its meal had been snatched from its claws. The cavern shook violently, debris falling from the ceiling.
Sebastian hauled me over the edge and we lay together, head to head with our bodies stretched in opposite directions for several long moments. I could feel and hear the commotion around me, but I needed this minute to savor my rescue, to breathe in the man I loved with all of me.
I felt the stabbing punctures of the Magic from below and jumped back into action. I crawled to my feet and Sebastian was there to catch me when I staggered to the side.
At the same time, we looked over at where Terletov was cornered, more furious than ever. Which made him as dangerous as ever.
Someone had freed Kiran and Eden. Kiran held Amari in his hands and Olivia stood next to him with Gavriel in hers.
Eden trembled with rage, too violent to even hold her child.
Avalon and Jericho hovered aggressively over Terletov, ready to deliver their final judgment.
“You deserve this,” Eden declared. Her voice shook and her Magic pulsed so strongly we could all feel it. The rest of our team had filtered into this room. We were an army against this one, horrible man. “You tried to take my Kingdom, my loved ones, and my children from me. You tried to destroy the few things I would risk my life for over and over again. You could not defeat me when I was seventeen and you will not defeat me now. I wish you had to live with your defeat, but I cannot stomach the idea of you existing in the same world as me.”
Terletov’s angry expression transformed to something purely savage. He pushed off the wall and lunged for her. His stolen Magic gushed out from his hands in a dark green explosion. I sucked in a gasp and felt my feet move before I even registered planning to intervene.