Queen of Blood and Vengeance (Secrets of the Faerie Crown #4)

68. Arran

68

ARRAN

It was difficult to measure the passage of time enshrouded as we were in the mist. Evander and his Aquarian queen, Mya, disappeared for what might have been an hour or could have been two or three. When they returned, Evander’s face was set in a harsh mask. The puffiness around Mya’s eyes told me that she had been crying.

Percival and Diana sat on the grass, occasionally speaking to one another but mostly silent. A lavender-draped priestess appeared from the mist to offer water and bread. I should have used the time to strategize with Lyrena or to question Cyara about her journey since leaving Eilean Gayl. Instead, I passed off the communication crystal and let the two of them contact Gwen.

I watched Veyka go, and then I felt her go. Through the void. She did not emerge for a long time. The bond was still intact, still strong, but it was as taut as I’d ever felt it. Wherever she’d gone, it was not in the human realm. My instincts told me she had not gone to Annwyn, either.

Where else… she’d mentioned the succubus realm once. When recounting those terrifying trips through the void, when her power overwhelmed her at our Joining, she’d mentioned a realm of darkness and death. A smell and chill she later attributed to the succubus.

She would not go there alone, I told myself. Not when she could have taken me with her, when we could have battled together. Not without saying goodbye.

But the longer she was gone, the less sure I felt. She was beyond , of that I was certain. The bond was intact but the pressure built in my chest minute by minute. It was almost painful.

I’d never tried to reach her when she was in another realm. I had no idea if the connection between us would reach that far. But I had to try.

Veyka, where are you?

Nothing.

My beast howled inside of me. I tried again. Veyka, come back.

My mind flashed to the temple in Eilean Gayl, when Diana’s mind had floated unmoored through space and time, and Percival had used his bond as her brother to pull her back to him. I did exactly what I’d described to him. I wrapped myself around that golden bond, tugging, an insistent demand.

For a few heartbeats, I thought it wouldn’t be enough. Then I felt her on the other side.

The mist obscured everything, but I knew my mate was near.

She walked on silent feet out of the fog, but by the time she’d fully emerged, everyone in the small circle that Evander held clear was on their feet.

Veyka’s eyes tracked around the circle, holding the gaze of each person in turn. Everyone except me.

No footsteps sounded over my shoulder, but Veyka’s expression told me who had joined us again from behind the wall of mist.

“I am ready,” she said to the Lady of the Lake.

“There is a succubus horde in the valley below Eldermist,” Cyara said. “Humans from five villages prepare to fight in coalition with Elora and the remnants of the Elemental Army. Gwen cannot leave them.”

Cyara’s hand shook around the communication stone.

“Thank you.” She hugged Cyara close. Then Lyrena.

This was unacceptable.

She reached Mya and Evander. She glared at the latter. But she grasped the Ethereal Queen’s hand.

“It is not your decision alone, Veyka. My life is mine to risk,” Mya insisted.

Veyka shook her head. “There is no reason for us both to sacrifice our lives when my soul will do the trick.”

I watched the weight lift off Evander’s chest and felt it settle on mine.

I’d known what she would choose. But it was still wrong.

She reached me where I stood over the items of the Sacred Trinity, still on the ground where she’d dropped them. The jewels on the scabbards were dulled by the mist. Excalibur’s blade was buried six inches into the dirt. The golden chalice lay carelessly on its side. They did not seem special at all in the white mist. Just things . Things that would take my mate from me.

Veyka nudged the sword with her toe. “Can you be any more descriptive about what it means to trade my soul for the ability to wield the Sacred Trinity?”

Morgyn le Fae stared at her sister. I resisted the compulsion to step back and give the two females space to speak privately. If these were Veyka’s last moments, I was selfish enough to hold on to every single one of them.

“I have never wished you ill, Veyka,” Morgyn finally said. “If the ones who originally forged the Sacred Trinity knew the cost, they did not pass it down to us.”

Veyka nodded silently, as if she’d expected that answer.

“How?” Her voice was small and quiet.

“Don the sword and scabbards. Dip the cup into the water of the lake, and drink.”

A simple way to die.

Veyka leaned down to retrieve the scabbards, but I reached for them as well. I closed my hand around hers, drawing the belt to her waist. Together, we secured the straps. I checked her daggers for her. I lifted Excalibur from the ground and stepped up to her so our bodies were flush. She was so tall, so perfectly matched for me. The inches I had on her were just enough to allow me to slide the sword into place across her back.

Neither of us reached for the grail.

Veyka needed both her hands to hold my face. If she hadn’t, I’d have chucked the blasted chalice into the lake. But when she held me, I could not pull away.

“When you lost your memories, there were times that I thought it would have been better if you’d died. But I was wrong. Any piece of you, no matter how small… I was grateful for it. For you.”

She was asking me to love her, no matter what was left. You do not have to ask, Princess.

Without my soul, who am I?

I savored the warmth of her breath against my skin, the scrape of her thumb over the stubble on my jaw.

I spoke aloud, desperate for the sound of her voice. “Whoever you are, whatever you become, I will love you. This realm, any other. Whether you live or die. You are mine, Veyka, and I am yours.”

Two tears slid down her cheeks, one from each eye. The right one amplified the darkness of the Talisman inked on her cheek. My beautiful, brave mate.

She leaned into me fully, pressing her lips to mine. A kiss that meant everything, and yet would never be enough. She dipped her tongue into my mouth, tasting and twirling. I let her have her way, trying to be what she needed.

Veyka needed me to let her go.

She broke away and I did not pull her back. More tears spilled down her cheeks. “I love you. And if even a fragment of my soul persists, here or in another realm entirely, it will always belong to you. For a thousand years.”

“And a thousand more.”

She stepped out of my embrace, picking up the chalice. The mist had cleared without me noticing. Her path to the edge of the lake was open. She dipped the cup, turning to look back one last time. One last burst of love, shining there in her eyes bright and clear.

Then she closed her eyes and drank.

For a few brief seconds, I thought that maybe her willingness to make the sacrifice would be enough. That it was a test. But then those seconds passed, and I was wrong.

At our Joining, when our blood mingled together, she’d exploded with light. Now, she became a phantom of darkness. The mist was gone completely. Overhead, the sun was nearly gone as well, twilight upon us. But the shadows… the darkness that marked the coming night… they moved .

Shadows raced across the landscape. All of the darkness around us yielded itself up to her, entering her body through her eyes and nose and mouth. The force of them lifted her hair off of her shoulders, swirling around her abdomen, wrapping around every limb.

Just as quickly as they’d come, the shadows disappeared. But not back from where they came. Veyka inhaled them like air, taking the darkness into her body.

She fell to her knees, knocked down by the force of power. A hand went to the ground to steady her.

I watched, unsure of what had happened—what might still be happening. Slowly, Veyka lifted her hand from the ground, opening her palm to examine it.

A cut had broken open on her hand, dark liquid sliding out of the small wound.

She wore the scabbards—she could not bleed. But what came out of her was not blood. It was black, and thick, and leaked a scent so distinctive that all the hairs on my body rose in unison.

That was not blood leaking from her wound. It was her soul.

Her gaze lifted from her hand. But the female that looked up at me through soulless black eyes was not my mate.

Veyka was a succubus.