Fallen Embers (Fallen Guardians #9)

Chapter 30

Chapter

Thirty

Endless anguish consumed Lore as he sped through the darkness, so sure his entire mind had fractured. A fuzzy white tip jutting through the cloud cover fast approached in the never-ending night.

Unable to slow down, he crash-landed onto a snow-covered granite plateau. He lay there, face buried in an icy pile, trapped in his own hell.

A tormented groan escaped him. Warm wetness flowed from his sides, seeping into the snow, turning it brilliant red.

Freezing winds enclosed him. His thoughts scattered, unable to bring anything into focus…just that danger lurked.

He struggled to flash and leave, but he couldn’t move. Even breathing hurt as he strained to self-heal without success. He tried to push to his knees, but they refused to cooperate.

Lore grunted, agony ratcheting higher and higher as if his back had been flayed with flaming whips. He was imprisoned in an endless haze of anguish. He longed for darkness, for oblivion from this torture, this damnation?—

I miss you.

The soft words broke through his torment.

He lifted his head from the soggy snow and struggled to find the one who spoke to him. Faint images of teasing amber eyes hovered at the edges of his blurred thoughts, then faded away. “No…don’t leave.”

He thumped his brow on the granite, more pain ripping through his back as his mind finally gave way to blessed oblivion.

Nia leaned back in the lounger on the deck of her brother and Ely’s boathouse as the moon hid behind the dark clouds. She hadn’t been to the castle since that horrid day after Lore had left, when she’d found out he’d broken their mate bond to spare her his fall from grace.

Blowing out a rough breath, she slipped her new cell, one Echo had given her, into her parka pocket. She’d texted Saia to say she’d lost her phone and would call soon. Right now, she really didn’t want to share her dread and the agony of waiting, of not knowing where Lore was.

It had been a week, and still nothing, except for the growing emptiness within. Dark thoughts tormented her. He’s dead…he couldn’t accept his changed status and his fall… He’d sought oblivion in the Dark Realm.

But remembering their torrid lovemaking, his insatiable drive?—

No! She jumped up, refusing to believe he’d do what Michael had implied, that he’d find gratification in the Dark Realm.

She gripped the railing and stared at the bobbing sailboat, her desolation deepening.

“I miss you…” the words escaped her in a whisper.

“Here.” Echo’s voice broke through her reverie. Sounds of mugs being set on the glass tabletop echoed in the quiet. Her twin had been a constant visitor in the passing days.

She turned. “It’s been a week, Echo.”

“Remember, time is irrelevant for angels. Michael will let us know if there’s any news.”

And that was the only thing Nia could hold onto. She paced the length of the deck, trying to keep herself together. As she marched back and forth, Echo reached out and stopped her. “We have to believe it will be okay.”

Swallowing hard, Nia nodded and collapsed on the wicker lounger. She warmed her fingers around the hot ceramic and took a sip of the steaming chocolate.

Echo lowered to the chair opposite her. “You should come to the castle. You can have your own room instead of sleeping on Nate and Ely’s couch.”

“I know.” But she couldn’t bring herself to go there, be among the other happily mated couples when her heart lay in tatters. At least here at the boathouse, with only her brother and Ely, she could cope.

They both went to work at night, giving her the solitude she needed. However, living in limbo was like peeling off a scab over and over again, the memories and worries consuming her. Was he okay? Did he survive?

She shivered.

“You’re cold.” Echo jumped up, grabbed a throw from the other chair, and started to tuck it around her. Nia hastily set her cup down and took the fabric from her.

“I can do that…” She appreciated her sister’s care. Except for Bennett, everyone at Nan’s mansion had merely tolerated her. But her old life was over now.

Echo sat down again. She appeared paler than usual beneath the moonlight.

“Are you all right?” Nia asked softly.

“I wish I knew.” She blew out a tired breath and leaned back in her seat, staring across the deck at the gently undulating sea. “I’m so glad Aethan’s gone to work, because if he heard that, he’d be hovering again.”

“How long since this…” Nia didn’t want to say sickness , remembering Echo’s irritation the other day in the study, so she settled on, “This lethargy started?”

Her gaze came back to Nia, her striking bicolored eyes dark. “Since my return from the Fae Realm.”

“What?” Nia sat up. “You mean fae, as in Faeries and such?”

A smile. “Yes. Aethan and I had to go over. I needed to heal a tear in the veils between the demon world and the Fae one.”

Yes, her sister had already explained about being the Curantii, what it entailed, and how it made Echo weaker by drawing on her life essence, and it worried Nia.

Echo’s smile dimmed. “It wasn’t easy, with Aethan and the Fae fighting a horde of demons who broke through. The negative energy took a toll on me. He tried to be there with me since I’m at my most vulnerable during those healings. I lose focus of what’s around me. But with those monsters coming from every side, he had to kill them to keep me safe…”

Nia gaped, stunned, as Echo continued. “I must have fallen into a coma. It’s how my healing sleep works. Aethan said he found me in the forest, a short distance from where I was psychically repairing the tear. I don’t recall anything, only that I’d awakened back in the castle. Anyway, Nate helped restore my soul’s energy. He has the ability to do so. Yet, I still don’t feel like everything is right.”

Nia leaned forward, studying Echo’s drawn features. It felt surreal, like looking in the mirror, except for their eyes and hairstyles. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Our family finally being together helps.” A glimmer of a smile.

Nia glanced at the shore and rose. “Let’s go for a walk. It’s safe here, right?”

“Yeah, it is.”

She hoped the stroll would invigorate her sister and maybe take her own mind off Lore’s fate.

Her cell beeped. Nia removed it from her parka pocket. Saia.

It’s okay. Call when you can, as long as I know you’re okay.

Nia sent a heart emoji and slipped the phone back into her pocket.

They left the boathouse and ambled along the beach, their booted feet crunching through snow and pebbles. While Echo had told her everything from her first meeting with Aethan to her dying and being reborn, she knew little about their brother.

“Nate said he isn’t psionic and mentioned something about a curse of our ancestors. Sorry, I barely paid much attention at the time, with my mind in a mess about Lore…” She stuck her chilled hands in her pockets. “He said there’s time to fill me in about everything once all this is all over.”

“Don’t apologize,” Echo murmured as they clambered over a cluster of boulders on the shore, avoiding pockets of snow. “We understand.”

“Echo…” Nia frowned. “I know Nate’s otherworldly. How did that happen?”

“It’s another long story, and best to ask him.” She pushed her overlong bangs away from her eyes. “No, maybe Ely would be better. He’ll probably give you the CliffsNotes version?—”

A disturbance in the frigid air stopped them in their tracks. Michael took form in front of them. “Rania, come with me.”

She stilled, blood thundering in her ears. “Lore?”

He nodded.

Echo gave her a quick hug, pulling her out of her frozen state.

With a touch of his hand to hers, the chilly air around them spun, and Nia shut her eyes and prayed. Michael wouldn’t be so cruel as to show her Lore’s dead body?—

They emerged on top of a frigid mountain blanketed with snow. Her teeth chattered at the freezing air, and she hastily stuck her hands in her parka pocket.

Dawn slowly broke, painting the night sky with rich shades of oranges and yellows, giving her a little more clarity of the sheer isolation of the meandering mountain range.

Michael glanced around the plateau and sighed. “He’s not here.”

“Wait, wait, you found him here ?”

“Yes. I kept an eye out for him, so I’d be aware the moment he entered the earthly plane again. It took a while to find him, though. Come.”

He flashed them to a gravelly slope carpeted in daisy-like flowers with pointy white petals and trees that appeared like relics from an ancient forest—tall and imposing, seeming to defy gravity with their towering trunks. They grew sporadically on the incline. The air here was brisk but not as icy as on the plateau, and a little dry.

“Where are we?” she asked as Michael scanned the mountain.

“Tanzania, Africa. On the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro.”

She gaped at him. “What?”

“We’re on the alpine desert side. When angels fall, it’s not leaping into a cauldron of flames or a volcano of fire or walking through a blazing tunnel. It’s literally falling from the Zenith, the highest point in the Heavenly realm, to the lowest peak. So, any mountain here.”

All her hurting heart wanted to know was, Is he okay?

Without a word, Michael swerved to his right, passing the looming groundsels, and headed toward an outcrop of rocks. Nia followed him to the dark opening of a cave.

Her heart pounded. She would have darted forward, but Michael grabbed her arm. “Don’t. I only brought you because he wasn’t in an approachable mindset and refused to leave the plateau. Now, he’s sequestrated himself in that cave. You must be cautious. He might have fallen, but he’s still strong and in immense pain…and dangerous.”

Her stomach churned. So, he wasn’t himself. She didn’t care. Nothing and no one would keep her from him, but she would do as Michael asked for now. “Okay.”

Sunlight grew brighter, chasing away the gloomy dawn as she carefully made her way over the rough ground to the yawning cave mouth. The darkness within prevented her from seeing anything or anyone.

“Lore?”

A harsh growl erupted as if a wounded creature had sought refuge inside.

Instinct clamored for her to hit the slopes running and get out of danger. But she dug her toes in and stayed. “It’s me, Nia. I’m not leaving, not without you.”

“I don’t want you here.” A guttural growl.

So, he remembered her? Thank God.

Her sight adjusted to the gloom. Then she saw him crouched at the back. His metallic eyes glowed in the dark, red-rimmed orbs of agony, and her heart shuddered in pain. He was pale and ragged, like a creature who suffered.

Oh, my love. She longed to hold him, to hug him, but couldn’t do anything.

She’d dealt with abused, tortured animals at the clinic, and he bore a similar expression. It crushed her heart.

She took a step inside. A harsh snarl erupted.

Nia froze. Dammit. In her need to get to him, she was doing this all wrong.

“Why did you bring her?” His husky hiss sounded like he’d lost his voice.

Screaming?

Tears burned her eyes.

His glare shifted behind her to Michael.

Slowly, Nia lowered to her knees on the ground, and his gaze tracked her movements. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. Had it burned off during the fall? Yet, his dark pants remained intact for the most part, just singed in places, and her heart shuddered at what he must have suffered.

“So, you want to stay here, huh?” She waved her hand around the chilly cave, the odor of earth and cold stone dense. “Africa is known as where the Cradle of Life originated. Of course, you’d have to go further down to South Africa to see evidence of that wonder.”

He watched her with those luminous eyes, glowing as if whitefire still blazed within him.

When her comment received no reaction, not even a debate about how humanity originated, she whispered, “I missed you. So much. I thought I’d never see you again.”

Silence.

She plowed on. “Don’t you know, just like you would give your life to save me, so would I for you?”

Still nothing.

“Do you remember what you told me the first time we met? Or should I say, when you hauled me away to a rooftop? You said, I’m it, little human. Be grateful. I was so mad at you, but deeper, I couldn’t believe I had someone like you who would keep me safe.”

He blinked.

And her heart stuttered in pain. “I am here for you.”

“I… I’m a husk of who I once was…”

Tears gathered, and she shut her burning eyes for a moment, then met his unblinking stare. “You’re so much more than your powers or your wings, Lore. You are the soul that lives within you, and the one that calls out to me.”

Another blink. “I-I…”

“I will be with you while you heal. For always, if you’ll let me.” At his silence, she rubbed her chilled hands on her jeans-clad thighs. “I know you’ve been through something I cannot even fathom. Let me do what you’ve always done for me. Lean on me. Let me be your strength, my love…”

He blinked at her endearment.

Taking encouragement from the little flicker, she held out a hand to him and prayed he would take it.

Lord, please, please give him back to me.

Slowly, he reached for her, and hope soared. Their fingertips touched?—

His body glitched and blurred.

“Lore!” She lunged for him, but her hands went straight through his body as he fell.

He was no longer corporeal.