Sewn & Scarred (The Fated Creations Trilogy #3)

Chapter Seventy-TwoMaddox

Chapter Seventy-Two

Maddox

M y feet slowed with a skid atop wet cobblestone and I slid a hand around Evaline’s elbow preemptively to balance her, but my head was already turning, eyes already scanning our surroundings.

We stood in the town’s center, just at the base of the mountain and winding stairs that led up to the castle, and there was movement all around us. Fighting, mortals fleeing, and the odd rain mixture that felt like ice as it hit my cheeks.

Across the expanse I could see Grant with a Vasi by the throat, and to his left, Nash plunged his fist through a Vasi’s chest.

A Vasi approached from Evaline’s side, eyes narrowing on us.

She faced away from me, already aware of the threat, and reached for her father’s sword at her hip.

“Use the bond if you need me,” I said in her ear, then turned as I heard a noise to my left.

You too, she answered as she lunged for the Vasi.

A smirk tugged my lips at her words, at the fact that she knew—and was absolutely correct—she could save me if needed.

I saw a bolt of fire lash out from her out of the corner of my eye just as I turned to collide with the Vasi running for me.

Our hands grappled on each other’s shoulders but as his eyes flitted over mine, I understood.

He wasn’t only trying to get me out of the way or kill me. He was going for Evaline.

We’d known it was likely before we ever portaled into Correnti, but having it confirmed didn’t dull the growl that ripped through my chest or the anger that slashed through my mind as my eyes narrowed, my teeth bared, and I took advantage of his distraction. I bashed my elbow into the center of his face so hard that a crack filled the air.

I didn’t hesitate as he stumbled backward, disoriented, before my hands closed around his head and I yanked it off.

Not waiting to watch his still-standing body fall to the side, I turned back toward Evaline, and dropped the Vasi’s head as I spun.

Evaline leaped into the air away from the lunging woman, swung her sword down. It was gripped tightly between both hands and cut clean through the neck of the Vasi. When Evaline landed, the Vasi’s head rolled to rest beside her comrade’s at my feet, and Evaline landed with a grunt, her sword dripping with blood.

We only made eye contact for a moment before we turned for the fray.

I ran for a Vasi that was on Fredrik’s back as he fought another in front of him.

My hand grasped around the back of the Vasi’s neck, and I ripped him off and swung my body toward the ground until my knee made contact with the stone, and the Vasi’s head collided so hard that the back of his skull shattered. His neck snapped, and I pulled my hands away to remove his head.

“You good?” I shouted as I stood and scanned the shops around us.

“Yes, go,” Fredrik answered with a grunt before I heard the crack of a ribcage, and the Vasi’s wheeze.

I looked for my friends, and they were all holding their own. Grant with a different Vasi by the chest, Nash cleaving the head off of another, and Eliana wrapped around the back a third as she screamed and ripped his head off so hard that she fell back onto the cobblestone.

I swung my eyes toward a sound in an alley, and once I heard a woman’s scream, I ran for it.

The lighting was poor, but I could see the scene as clear as day. A human or Sorceress was held aloft by the neck, her green eyes wide with terror, with dozens of others dead at her feet.

The Vasi holding her turned his head toward me the moment I entered the alley.

“Take a step closer, and she dies,” he said, cocking his head with a sick grin.

She made a choked sound and kicked out at him. I held up my hands in innocence.

“Fine,” I said but my eyes scanned all the dead bodies behind him. They bled from their death blows, or their mouths, and that was one act that nearly all Vasi-slain bodies did not do.

My eyes flicked back to the Vasi. “This is senseless killing,” I condemned. They weren’t even feeding on these people, just killing them outright.

The Vasi chuckled. “This is war,” he snarled, and the woman yelped as his hand tightened.

What are you doing? I called for Evaline down the bond.

Just finished one, what’s wrong? She responded.

Alley between the Baker and the Grocer. I can’t move, one has a woman by the neck.

The entire exchange took only a breath, and the Vasi narrowed his eyes at me.

“You can’t save them all, Maddox.”

I bristled at the whisper of my name but didn’t engage. I knew he was trying to provoke me, and that he only recognized me as a clear relative of Vasier.

I felt Evaline move closer, but she remained far enough around the corner that the Vasi wouldn’t notice her approach amongst the other sounds of battle around us.

I plunged down the bond, which was already held open for me, and saw what she saw. Felt what she felt.

She stared at the scene ahead of her. Our friends engaged in combat. But her mind was elsewhere. And for the first time, I felt her use her magic.

I felt the way it rose inside of her, the way it seemed to awaken in her veins. I felt it reach out around her, as if hands that extended in every direction. I felt it, through her mind, scale down the side of the storefront she stood in front of to my right. How it slid around the corner of it, sliding past me. It seemed to hum in recognition as it passed.

My heart raced from the sheer thrill of experiencing this with her for the first time.

The magic was quick, and I felt how it shuddered as it found the Vasi. How it seemed to shiver in unease as it slid over him.

“Did you want her?” The Vasi asked and I pulled back into my own mind to see him nodding toward the woman. “You sure seemed to enjoy the last one you drained.”

I stood my ground, despite the uptick in my heart and the swell of anger around it. But in a breath, the rain around him shifted, until the run of it down his neck halted, and instead of sliding down, it slid in .

His eyes widened, but by the time the thin line of water looped around his neck and snapped in on itself, he had no time to react.

Slowly, a line of blood started to fall around his neck, his throat, before his grip on the woman faltered, and she crashed toward the ground, his hand still looped around her neck.

I ran for her, yanked her up, and pulled his limp hand from her throat. She watched in horror as the Vasi’s head slid off while his body slumped, and we turned to see Evaline in the entryway of the alley.

“Is she okay?” she asked, and I turned to the woman.

She was coughing, but that meant she was breathing.

“I know this is scary,” I said to her softly. “And I’m so sorry for that, but can I take you to safety?”

She sputtered but nodded, and I pulled her up into my arms and looked up to see Evaline still standing at the mouth of the alley. The rain that fell down between us disrupted my view of her before she was tackled in the side in a flash and taken out of sight completely.

Panic rose in me as I ran out of the alley, the woman still gripped in my hold, to find Evaline on her back, a Vasi on top of her, trying to use a fallen flag as makeshift rope around her wrists.

Go, Evaline pressed down the bond, her eyes squinted in effort against her wrestle with the Vasi.

Despite my instinct to protect her, I listened.

I ran up to the castle in only a breath and once I arrived, saw that it was heavily guarded. That the Vasi didn’t seem to have been making the castle a target.

The guards moved out of my way as I ran through the doors, and I found a few injured mortals splayed across several couches and chaises in the sitting rooms.

Lady June ran up to me and took the woman from my arms.

“Thank you,” she rushed out.

But I didn’t stay to converse, only ran back down, and heard the guards shut the doors behind me.

When I got back on the street, I saw what I hadn’t noticed before. That guards from the castle had already come down to try to protect the citizens, and each of them lay lifeless on the ground at various angles.

My eyes landed on Evaline, still on her back in front of the Baker’s as she fought off the Vasi who made no attempt to kill her, only subdue her.

I took a step, ready to run to her, when Grant appeared behind the Vasi, and he ripped the head from him in a second.

I was at her side as she sputtered out the blood from the Vasi’s neck as it washed down over her, and Grant pulled the body off of her.

“Thank you,” I said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

He nodded to me, and as Evaline rose, wiping the back of her hand over her eyes to clear the blood out of them, we looked around.

Eliana grunted as she pulled the heart of a Vasi out, Nash growled as he swung his sword through the neck of another, and Fredrik picked up a human man with a wound on his side, turning to run him up to the castle.

A rustle sounded from a few buildings over before a squelching reached us, and Charlotte and James walked out of an alley, covered in blood.

The night grew quiet around us, save for the patter of rain on rooftops and shop windows.

We looked around and listened, but there weren’t any more sounds of an outright fight, only injured humans crying out. The other Kova took off to round up any injured.

I turned to Evaline and she looked up at me.

“What’s going on? Are there any more Vasi?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but I heard the thud of boots across the way and turned to find Sage and Dean landing.

They ran to our side in an instant.

“It’s done,” Sage said, her eyes scanning the damage—the death—around us. “I’m sorry it took so long, it took several tries before I found the correct spell Lauden used.” She turned back to us. “He’d cycle through different variations.” Her brows furrowed. “That’s the best I can do,” she continued. “There wasn’t any sign of an issue of the Vasi still being within the ward when I made it. No blockade or hesitation in the ward.” She shook her head. “How do we know if there are any more hiding in the kingdom?”

“We’ll have to do a street-by-street search,” Dean said. “They could be hiding and our hearing can’t extend this entire kingdom.”

I turned to Evaline at the same time that her eyes widened, and knew she had the same instinct that I did.

“Your magic,” I said to her, and she nodded. When I’d felt her use it, how she could make it reach out into her surroundings, something had stuck out.

Not only that her magic had recognized me, I assumed as her mate, but that her magic also recognized the Vasi. There’d been a sense of delight when it had found me, but when it found the Vasi, there was only regret and unease.

“Your blood created them,” I said quietly, and she nodded.

“Part of it did.”

Her magic was her blood, and because some of that blood created the Vasi, some of her magic had, too. And it knew the Vasi when it felt them. She turned to look around us. “I’ll still have to go in chunks, I don’t know that I could extend it around the entire kingdom. But it’ll be faster than a street-by-street search.”

I turned to Sage and Dean and filled them in.

Dean called to Eliana, just coming back down the mountain from helping a human to the castle. She ran over, and Dean turned to Sage.

“Portal to the castle and stay inside, you’ll be protected there with the other Kova.”

Sage nodded, and I wondered if he explained further down the bond. That he had to help protect Evaline while we hunted Vasi, and if Sage was here and we were attacked, that it wouldn’t be my mate he was saving.

I turned to Eliana, explained, and then the four of us set to work. Myself and the two other Kova stood around Evaline to protect her as we went, just in case any Vasi jumped out of nowhere.

It took a while. Her magic reached far, several streets wide. She stood with us surrounding her, eyes closed to focus. I’d feel down the bond to see how she was feeling as she went, I didn’t want her to overexert herself when we could take the time to comb the city, too. But I couldn’t sense anything other than the buzz of her magic in her veins, the way it seemed to jolt with excitement as if it was happy to be utilized.

We stood in front of the inn, one of the first establishments when you entered the walls—and wards—of the kingdom when her eyes popped open.

In there, she whispered down the bond, eyes flicking to the inn. In the basement. Just two.

I turned to Dean and nodded toward the building, and he followed soundlessly.

Eliana nodded, to us, moving to stand in front of Evaline, head on a swivel.

Dean and I didn’t make it two steps before Evaline’s voice was down the bond.

They must hear you, they’re sneaking up the steps. Is there a door in front of you? That should be the basement door.

Now that we were closer, and inside, we could hear their heartbeats. Which was how we’d find Vasi if we did a street search, but there was really no difference in the sound of a mortal heartbeat, and a Vasi’s.

I sent back my acknowledgement and signaled to Dean to prepare as we approached the door to the basement.

Dean stood around the corner with his head peeked over so he could see me. I counted to three on my fingers, then ripped the door open.

Two Vasi struck out, one reaching for me and one making a bolt for the door. He had rope around his shoulders, and I knew it was for Evaline.

But before I had a chance to warn her that he was coming, Dean launched out of his hiding place and killed the Vasi.

My hands were locked around the throat of the Vasi that leaped on top of me, dodging his hands reaching for my chest, when I slowed my movements.

“Dean,” I grunted out. “We need him alive.”

I didn’t know if the wards would work with a dead Vasi, and we were already so close to the edge of the kingdom that these may be the last ones still inside.

Dean ripped the Vasi off of me, and we each held one side of his body, lifted his feet off the ground, as we carried him out past the gate of the city, outside of the wards. Eliana and Evaline followed and understood what we were doing.

We walked several feet past the gates.

We turned, walking back toward the gate, toward the two women who stood in its arch and were slammed to a halt as the Vasi hit the boundary.

I heard Evaline’s sigh of relief at the same time Dean killed the Vasi, and we dumped his body there and went back into the kingdom.

“It’s clear,” she confirmed as we reached the end of the last street we had to scan, and I picked her up into my arms and ran for the town center again.

Nash was coming back down the stairs of the castle, looking for us.

“We’ve got them all,” he said, out of breath. “All the mortals who’d been hiding, and all those who were injured.”

We followed him up to the castle, and when the doors opened, there was only noise. The halls, each room, were filled with humans.

It was clear the Ladies had tried to organize a system with the Kova. The most injured were in the ballroom as servants ran around the room with blankets folded in their arms, handing them out. It looked as if every pillow, every linen, in the entire castle was brought out to try to make the injured comfortable.

Lady June turned to us as we entered the ballroom, and informed us that humans were sheltering from the danger and cold in the other rooms. They took up the sitting, dining, and even guest rooms.

She turned to a passing servant, grasping their arm gently. “We need to start fires in every hearth.”

Evaline straightened at that and turned to me. “I’m on it.” She turned to the servant. “If you show me where, I can ignite the fires,” she said, holding up her hand and letting a small flame roll across her palm.

The young woman nodded, and they were off.

Lady June’s eyes rose as she watched them, but her attention quickly turned to the injured behind her.

“It’s time to tell them,” I told her. “About all of it. It’s the only way to get their consent to heal them with our blood.”

She looked up at me, her wide eyes worried.

“Kovarrin won’t be angry?”

I ground my teeth. “If he is, let him be angry with me. We are here to protect you all, and if that means sharing some of our secrets, then that’s fine with me.”

She looked around the room first, and saw her wife kneeling next to a young woman cringing from a wound to the gut, and ran over to her.

Lady June shared the plan, and then she and I got to work. We went to the head of the ballroom and gained their attention.

Luckily, it didn’t take much explanation. After seeing human-like beings with red eyes that could move faster than anything they’d ever seen before and who had slaughtered too many people in the kingdom, it didn’t take much convincing that Kova existed, too. And after many of them saw us save them, or help them, they were open to the idea of us being trustworthy. But still, seemed uncomfortable at the thought of drinking our blood.

After a few minutes of trying to convince them that it was safe, Lady June finally pursed her lips and turned to me.

She grabbed an empty cup from a table behind us, then a dagger from my hip, and raised the arm that held the cup up for the entire crowd to see.

She didn’t even wince as she dug the blade through her arm until the gushing wound was visible no matter how far back in the ballroom people sat.

“Watch,” she instructed, turning so everyone could see the blood dripping down her arm.

Gasps of surprise filled the room, and my eyes landed on Lady Harper and her anxious expression as she watched her wife like the rest of the citizens did.

Lady June turned to me, and I nodded, taking the cup. I bit into my hand and then squeezed it to drip the blood into the glass.

I held it up for everyone to see the blood going into the cup, and handed it to her when it was enough.

She held her arm up, still bleeding, for everyone to see, then tilted the cup back into her mouth.

She shoved the cup toward me when finished, and wiped a hand down her mouth to clear the blood from it. Then lowered her arm to her torso, lifted the hem of her shirt to wipe the blood away, and raised it again to show that the wound was gone.

A shrill gasp of surprise rose from the crowd, but she spoke over it.

“No one said it was pleasant, and you do not have to agree,” she started, her voice strong and commanding over the room. “But it will heal you. Any of our Kova friends with gray eyes will be able to help you this way,” she said, nodding around the room to the different Kova who raised their hands so the mortals could identify them.

The crowd erupted in noise, and some of the mortals—especially the seemingly most injured—flagged down my friends.

She turned toward the wall behind her when she was done and cringed, gave a small cough.

“Gods,” she winced and I laughed.

“I’m sorry,” I said, looking down at her. “But your father would be proud.”

She looked up at me and smiled at that. Despite what had happened tonight, how many people had died, she had done what she needed to as a leader to ensure the safety of her people. And now, she did what she had to do to help them recover.

“Thank you,” she said, and for a brief moment, I remembered her as a little girl, running through the halls when we’d come to visit the kingdom. “For coming to help, for all of it.”

I nodded. “Of course. We don’t know what will happen with war on the horizon, but it was time for everyone to know.” My brows raised. “I just hope they don’t rise against us.”

It had always been my father’s fear. It was why only the rulers of the Madierian Kingdoms knew of our existence.

Lady June nodded. “I’ll ensure that doesn’t happen.” She turned to look out at her people, at all the mortals who choked down the blood that was offered to them and then laughed in disbelief when their pain subsided. “Besides, I don’t think they’ll look at the Kova as anything except what you all have been today.” She looked up at me. “Our saviors.”

I felt Evaline enter the room then, and looked across the hall to see her shut the side door.

“Not just the Kova,” I said, looking to my mate. And even though she was soaked from the rain with blood smeared across her face and staining her hair, she was the most breathtaking woman I’d ever seen. The love I had for her beat in my chest, and warmed my bones with every pump of it. She turned and her eyes met mine, a smile on her face. She must’ve felt it through the bond.

I felt her love wash down it, too, and remembered the way she’d moved in battle. The way she’d killed Vasi easily as if she’d been born to do it. The way she protected the innocent, and did it all without a second thought.

And immediately, I remembered the box I had hidden. I should have pulled it from its hiding place by now, should have already given it to her.

I made a mental note, a promise to myself. As soon as we got home, I would find it, and tell her that I wanted to spend as much of my life as she’ll let me, at her side.

A woman on the ground reached for Evaline then, and she called for Kova blood, and I remembered what I’d been about to tell Lady June before I’d entered that trance.

“We’ve re-established the ward, so it now protects against Vasi, and we’ve cleared them all out. You should all be safe.”

She nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank the Gods.” Then lifted a shaking hand to run through her hair.

“This is still war, and Vasier isn’t beneath forcing humans into this kingdom, or Sorcerers he has under his command, to harm you all. You need to have guards manning the walls, and the gates.”

She nodded. “Of course, thank you.”

I told her what compelling was then, too. We’d always kept it from all mortals, even those who knew us. But it was time they knew that, too.

“I’m sorry we kept it from you, but it’s time you knew.”

She nodded, confusion clouding her eyes. “Have you ever compelled me?”

I shook my head. “Of course not, June. We use our compulsion sparingly. And almost only on humans we feed from, so they don’t feel pain or fear, and so they don’t remember what happened.”

She nodded and swallowed.

“The other kingdoms need us, too,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m sorry we can’t stay to help clean up the mess.”

She looked up at me with wide eyes. “Oh Gods, you need to go. Go help them. Thank you Maddox. And thank Kovarrin for us.”

I nodded, and turned away from her. Tried to fight the tension in my shoulders at that, because my father had not done this. And even though I now understood why, his hesitation still angered me.

James continued on with us to Merwinan. He and Charlotte wouldn’t be leaving each other’s side anytime soon, and it seemed that they wanted to prove that they would stand by Rominia’s side in this war. That they were attempting to make up for their desertion.

The moment we landed in Merwinan, there was an audible sigh of relief from the lot of us.

Because there was far less destruction here than there had been in Correnti.

There were only a handful of Vasi present, and the civilian death toll was fractions of their Northern ally.

We finished the Vasi off quickly while Sage, Dean, and Eliana went to fix the wards. We thought it wiser to send a second guard for Sage as she did the spell, considering that she was much more exposed here than she had been in the high mountaintops of Correnti.

We rounded up the injured and took them to the castle, and once Sage was finished, we, again, tested the wards with a Vasi.

We spoke quickly with the Lord and Lady as they tended to their wounded in the castle to inform them of the ward’s replacement and that we’d cleared the kingdom of Vasi, and then we were seeking privacy for Sage to take us into Neomaeros.

And before we ever stepped foot through the portal, when it was only a puddle of midnight blue on the ground, there were screams.

So many screams.