Gift (Enchanted Ardor #2)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Olivia’s heart pounded as she struggled against the black chain, pinning her to Sleipnir’s saddle. Chaos exploded beyond the portal and flowed into the confines of the mountain corridor.

Taints—djinn shards, as Gena had called them—rose up over the edge of the icy rooftop, flowing toward them. Several surrounded the men working to deliver the barrels in a cloud of roiling, sulfuric masses, disappearing up into the men’s nostrils and eye sockets.

Eyes blackened, the men turned toward Olivia; one passed a hand over the chain, releasing her from it while it remained to trap Sleipnir, as the man dragged her from the portal master’s back, knife pinned to her throat.

Donder roared her name, but he was waylaid by two of the possessed men running toward him. It was enough to draw Dash’s attention to her. In moments his great body descended on her captor, who shoved her aside to deal with this new threat.

Vixen spun into place, weapon raised to defend Olivia.

“Don’t kill them, they’re possessed!” she screamed over the din of clashing weapons and grunting combatants.

“Not very practical, Ms. Boncoeur. I will not release any of them from my spell now that I have them.” A woman’s voice snapped across the expanse.

Olivia spun around to face Ms. Chernalog, balanced on the rooftop ledge, the edges of her coat whipping in the fierce wind.

Gaping, she gasped, fists clenched. “Wha—You? Where did you come from?” But the woman ignored Olivia, her clawed hand outstretched, focused on Nick and Dolph, a thick black thread writhed toward the latter, intent on attacking his brother.

Unsure what to do to stop them, Olivia was moving before she’d completed the decision, running toward the two, fear strangling her. She ran past the Nisse trying to free Sleipnir, one stretched, reaching for her. Ignoring the weapons and powerful fists, she slid between the brothers, hands outstretched, intent on shoving them apart, with no other thought than to stop them from hurting each other.

Nick’s hand lifted as Olivia felt tiny hands grasp her leg.

“No!” She screamed, slamming her palms against both Nick and Dolph. Light exploded in all direction then everything froze, blinding white.

Her breath whooshed in her ears as she stood, frozen in place, one hand on Nick’s beating heart, the other on Dolph’s. A Nisse clung to her leg, monkey-like, with one hand on Sleipnir.

Nothing but white space surrounded them, snow and sleet a twisted wall, cutting them off from everything else. The edges tinged with the colours of the aurora borealis, fizzling both around and within her.

Her connection to the grove was strong at this threshold between the other realm and her world, held open by Sleipnir’s portal and with the power of the Nisse reinforcing her connection to it.

The grove’s consciousness imparted information to her with each breath she drew.

Threads of power wove their way around each individual, even Dolph, though black smoke rose from a pinhole in his shoulder. Her vision flickered, showing her the black veins stretching inward toward his heart, eating away at the coloured threads circulating through his body.

Her heart ached, understanding how the grove’s magic struggled within Dolph against the blackness.

The light brightened.

A scene exploded before her, like a movie playing out, less the confines of a screen.

Around them, the chaos of a destroyed village raged. Much like the current scene of battle, this one was just as visceral.

The stench of blood and smoke from burning cottages and bodies filled her nose and coated her tongue as she gasped for breath.

She’d seen the like before, in her long lifetime. This scene was not one of those.

It was much older, centuries before her birth.

An old man in grey robes ushered a troop of children toward a simple stone building, glancing back over his shoulder with one good eye. Carved statues and offerings were strewn across the threshold, knocked from their place when the invaders flooded the village.

Dolph came into view, leading a band of warriors, eyes fixed on the group of children seeking shelter in the temple.

Nick, engaged with a defender, glanced toward his brother. Seeing his intent, he quickly discharged the enemy and ran to block Dolph’s progress.

From the edge of a hut, a dark figure loomed, unseen by everyone else, observing.

“No, Dolph. Let them be. We’ve done enough here.”

“We promised to avenge our kin, Nicholas. Your wife. Your children. My kin. Our family.” He lifted his sword.

Nick wavered, chest heaving from the fighting. “This is not the warrior’s way. We don’t slaughter children.”

“They will grow, and come for what’s left of ours if we don’t.”

“Perhaps not. This won’t bring the lost back to us. If you do this, you will not see them in Valhalla, Dolph.”

It was Dolph’s turn to waver, the men behind him waiting for his command.

Finally Dolph nodded, and after a long moment, he lowered his sword.

By now, the rest of Nick’s crew—his chosen family—surrounded him, facing Dolph and the other warriors who were intent on vengeance.

Olivia swallowed, feeling the heartache emanating from him. From both of them.

The dark figure lifted what appeared to be a blow dart to its obscured face.

Dolph jerked, his free hand swiped at his shoulder, knocking something to the ground.

Olivia saw it then. The smoky thread drifting from Dolph’s shoulder back to the figure, who lifted their hands, twisting and curling.

Dolph’s shoulders lifted, his sword came up between himself and Nick. Shadows flickered in his eyes as he glanced toward the temple. “Get out of my way, brother. I have work to finish here.”

Olivia felt Nick’s heart break as he stepped up to stop Dolph, resolved.

They battled, long and fierce.

Dolph, larger and stronger than Nick, backed him all the way to the temple door, eventually crashing through it.

He battered Nick relentlessly, on his way to dispatch the old man guarding the children.

Olivia couldn’t move, helpless to do anything but watch and absorb every broken heartbeat.

It was all happening so fast.

The scent of sulfur mingled with the stench of chaos.

The warriors slaughtered each other. The last to fall outside the temple door was Cupid, taking down the warrior coming up on Vixen as she fell to a dagger in the back.

“Ye’re brothers,” he cried, bleeding on the step, Vixen’s inert body in his arms. “Stop this!”

The black figure followed, chanting, thickening the smoke controlling Dolph as he tried to hack through Nick toward the old man shielding the children cowering in the corner.

Dolph disarmed Nick, sending his ax clattering to the stone floor of the temple.

Nick’s hand shot out, freezing Dolph in place, as he wrenched the sword from his hand, in a bid to stop his advance.

Dolph unfroze, startled to have his sword taken from him, and he withdrew a dagger.

Nick froze him again.

The dark figure chanted louder, more insistent.

The old man guarding the children, trying to shield them from the vicious battle, screamed at the figure. “This will not gain you the access you want! You will not take the grove.”

“We will have it.” The figure sent a blast of black magic in the old man’s direction. A shield of coloured light deflected it, blinding the attacker, forcing them back. “You’re too weak to fight all of us at once, old man, and defend the humans.”

Dolph advanced, lunging forward with a great arc to drive his dagger into him, giving Nick no choice. He lifted the sword, stopping Dolph’s attack. Both fell to the ground.

The sword penetrated Dolph’s chest, piercing his heart.

Nick gasped as blood flowed from an open wound, so profusely there was little hope of stopping it.

The old man stepped forward, hands raised against the black figure. With their dark champion no longer between them, the figure retreated from the broken temple door, disappearing into the shadows.

The old man got down on his knees, laying hands on Nick, murmuring next to his ear.

Olivia could not hear the words. She watched as tears flowed, in utter heartbreak.

It was the past, there was no changing it.

Finally, Nick nodded to whatever the old man had asked him.

He reached up, clasped the one-eyed man’s hand and coughed.

In an instant the scene changed.

Nick, Dolph and the rest of the crew stood facing the grove, staring in awed confusion at the northern lights glimmering in the sky over the mountain entrance.

With a wave of the old man’s hand, the great doors opened.

“What happened? Where are we?” Nick sputtered, eyes flicking to his equally confused family.

“I am Ayo, and I will explain along the way.” He lead them inside. “We have great work to do. Great, important work to do.”

They filed along behind him. Dolph was the last to go, but go he did.

On his shoulder a single black mote burrowed deeper into his shoulder.

Olivia gasped as the scene dropped away and they were again in the cavern, back in their current time, still ensnared in Nick’s time freeze.

Magic rippled through her. Power fizzled from her heart to her palms, reminding her of Gena’s particles, only instead of black djinn glitter, it was full of the aural colours of the borealis. The magic connecting sky to grove.

A little zap on her leg from the Nisse triggered the flow within her, pushing it toward her palms, still slammed against the battling brothers.

The squeezed her eyes shut, allowing her empathic connection to open as emotions flowed from one palm to another, channeling the pain and love and grief between Nick and Dolph.

The grove had tried to heal Dolph, but the single spore had lingered, digging deeper as the Ascension loomed ever closer, encircling his heart in the black infection, preventing him from healing. Without healing, Dolph could not move on.

Olivia, filled with the grove’s power, boosted by the Nisse, and now able to tap into Gena’s djinn particles as well, found she was able to focus on that single spore, created from a djinn shard, as healing magic flowed from her palms.

It eased through Nick, mingling with his natural golden glow, travelled through Olivia, and into Dolph’s misty grey soul energy, until it pushed the blackened spore back through is own channels to the pinpoint in Dolph’s shoulder.

It retreated, exiting the skin, tumbling to the ground like a pebble of lava rock.

At that point, all of the dark wisps of magic binding Sleipnir retracted with a snap toward the dark mage controlling the Taints from the rooftop.

The Nisse let go. Nick’s power released its hold and Olivia collapsed into his arms.

Dolph dropped the dagger as he too fell to the ground, panting, wide-eyed, hand clutched to his chest as he stared from Olivia to Nick. “I—you…”

Olivia’s breath hitched as Dolph’s aura brightened.

Dolph’s attention swung toward the battle that continued around them. Gaze dropping to the floor, he kicked the blackened pebble through the open portal and out of the mountain’s corridor.

Olivia spared a glance, noting that Joey Kane and some of her agents had somehow arrived during the moment that they were locked in the netherworld spell, and were working to subdue the dark mage.

“Go! You have to deliver the seeds.” Dolph nodded toward Sleipnir, who huffed as several Nisse clung to his mane, hissing at the Taints beyond the crackling portal.

Stumbling to his feet, Nick glanced back to Cupid and Vixen, on guard within the corridor, unable to engage outside the portal. Both nodded as they monitored the battle outside.

“I can’t feel the spore here anymore.” Olivia said as Nick helped her up.

He helped her up into the saddle, mounting behind her. Blix and Donder retrieved the cast-aside satchels, handing them back up to Nick, then backed away to fill the gap in the line of defense behind them.

“We’ll sort things out here, don’t waste any more time.” Cupid shouted, waving for them to go.

Sleipnir danced on the spot, looking to regain his footing as his muscles bunched to into action after straining against the magical bonds for so long.

The Nisse squealed as he launched forward. Olivia held her breath as they raced toward the edge of the rooftop.

The mage turned toward them, hand raised.

Nick froze her in place, and the Nisse jumped from Sleipnir’s back, dragging the frozen mage to the ground as Sleipnir raced past her over the side of the building.

Sleipnir’s magic crackled as they soared through the air, making Olivia’s stomach lurch.

The instant Sleipnir’s hooves passed into the astral realm, he kept running, the charge of his magic encircling Nick, drawing their power together.

Olivia’s stomach churned and her head swam as she remained in place atop the horse. Nick dismounted with a satchel. His image flickered, appearing and disappearing in one place to another so fast it all blurred together.

She struggled to hold onto her dinner as motion sickness threatened to overwhelm her.

Maybe I was a little hasty in offering to take over…

She swallowed, sucking in a breath, only to realize they seemed to be in another time zone, somewhere in the eastern part of the world.

Locked in Sleipnir’s saddle, there was no sense of time as all things happened at once; though Sleipnir seemed to be running ceaselessly, they didn’t move forward. The scenes flowed around them, blending from one to another.

At some point, Nick swapped out the satchels and carried on.

Finally, they reappeared on the hotel roof that they’d launched from, devoid of the corridor to the mountain which held Nick’s beloved crew.

Joey Kane and her agents, as well as the dark mage who had weirdly turned out to be her former supervisor, Susan Chernalog, were all long gone. The blizzard had calmed to gently drifting snow.

Only Gena stood there, waiting next to the access door, eyes closed, her face bathed in the light of the sun cresting the horizon.

Sleipnir released his magic, cantering to a stop, his sides heaving.

Nick dismounted, then helped Olivia slide down to her feet. Her knees wobbled and backside ached.

Sleipnir huffed, shaking his head and body out, releasing the tension in his muscles.

Gena stepped forward, arms outstretched. “I sensed you come and go, so I thought I’d come and wait for you here. You left quite a scene in your wake.”

“Oh?” Olivia gripped Gena tight.

“Agent Kane and her men arrested your old boss—what was her name—Chernalog? The fourth person in that meeting.”

Olivia nodded.

“Interesting turn of events.” Gena lifted a brow. “I put Kane in contact with your friend, Constable Greer. He’s launching a local investigation into Chernalog’s activities here for corporate corruption while Kane’s group looks into the djinn shards. Seems they have ways to bind her magic, rendering her powerless to hurt anyone else.” Her expression tightened.

“Mr. Anderson?”

Gena nodded. “I think he’ll be alright, once Chernalog is stripped of her power over him.” She turned to Nick. “And you brought my Olivia back to me. Thank you.”

Olivia turned back to Nick.

His face was pale, devoid of expression, but Olivia felt the intense churn of emotions radiating from him. She reached out, brushing her hand over his, giving his fingers a light squeeze as she searched his eyes.

“I’m glad its safe for you to return home.” He cleared his throat.

“I’ll meet you downstairs, Liv.” Gena went through the access door, leaving them alone.

“It’s been one heck of a week,” Olivia released a pent breath, brows raised.

“That it has.”

Olivia’s heart flipped.

This is it. Our time had run out. For real this time.

“Maybe I’ll see you around.” Olivia forced a smile as she committed his features to memory. “Find a nice atrium somewhere—,”

Nick dipped his head, claiming her lips, crushing her to him with a rush of fierce need.

She instantly gave into him, arms gripping him equally as fierce, deepening the kiss, hoping it would never end.

But it would.

It had to.

This was it.

Olivia broke the kiss first, eyes closed.

Nick sighed, kissing her forehead.

She leaned her ear to his chest, listening to his heart thump before burying her nose into his shirt, inhaling his unique cinnamon scent.

“I’m going to miss you.”

He sighed, voice tight. “I’m going to miss you too, my Livy.”

She smiled, heart twisting.

Olivia let go, easing back out of his embrace. “Tell everyone I—I’ll miss them too. You have a great family, Nick. Great family.”

“I’m glad you think so.” He lifted a hand, stroking her cheek, then let it fall away. “You take care of Gena.”

“Always.”

Olivia turned toward Sleipnir.

He watched her approach with unblinking eyes.

“Nick’s right. You are magnificent.”

Sleipnir huffed, pressing his head into her shoulder, allowing her to feel his delight and reciprocated sentiment.

She ran a hand along his neck, marveling in his silky strength. “King and Portal Master,” she whispered. “I am honoured.”

She turned for one last look at Nick, standing alone, eyes glued to her face with such intensity it drew her to him.

She looked up into his dark eyes, feeling all the longevity, the stoicism, and love bundled up into that large body of his.

Her gaze dropped to his lips, fighting the desire to kiss him one last time.

Looking into his eyes again, she held his gaze.

I love you.

She felt it in the way he looked at her, though he didn’t speak.

I love you too.

Olivia turned, and without looking back, left through the access door to join Gena.

Moments later, she thought she heard the soft ringing of harness bells in her inner ear as she descended the steps to the elevator.