Sewn & Scarred (The Fated Creations Trilogy #3)

Chapter NinetyMaddox

Chapter Ninety

Maddox

T here was nothing, and then there was green.

Green everywhere, as far as the eye could see.

I tried to sit up, tried to shout for Evaline, but a ringing sound flooded my ears, and combined with the Rominium that still beat through my veins, my daze disoriented everything around me.

I realized my face was pressed against the ground, and above me, all around me, was green.

Grass.

I felt the bond stir before I felt Evaline’s hands on my shoulder, ripping me onto my side, then on my back.

She had a small cut over her brow, where her head must’ve made impact when we landed, but otherwise looked safe.

Her eyes were wild below the drip of blood crawling down her face, her hair was disheveled from her braid, but it was still intact, and she looked around wildly.

She was on alert, evaluating the damage, but I don’t think she’d ever looked more beautiful.

Her mouth moved, and I realized I still couldn’t hear the words.

She leaped up from me, ran to my right, and I lost sight of her.

That’s when I forced myself to move.

I screamed against the pain and fatigue as I sat up, though I hardly heard the sounds from my own mouth, just felt the vibration of it through my chest.

My head popped out of the tall grass, and I looked around. At the distant, sparse, trees. At the rolling hills, at the wildflowers.

We were in Widow Maker Plains.

I threw myself to the side, still not completely able to control the motions, and expected to see an army marching toward us, thought Sage had failed to stop the compulsion, that instead of Mortithev she’d brought us to the battle’s frontlines, before our Kova forces ever made it.

But instead, I only saw my friends, fallen in the grass all around me. I made a quick count to make sure we were all here.

“Sage!” Finally, I heard Evaline’s voice filter in as the ringing in my ears subsided.

She was lifting the Sorceress up, pulling her onto her lap.

Sage was alive, but her eyes were wide, she was just as disoriented as I was.

We’re stunned, our hearing is coming back slowly, I said to Evaline down the bond, realizing she didn’t understand what was happening.

She looked up at me from where she sat and then looked to all the Kova around us.

That’s when her eyes landed on who must’ve been Broderick and Maeve.

They were moving slowly, but faster than the Kova who were still reeling from the Rominium in our veins.

She ran to Maeve’s side, where she still had the sling of arrows at her back, and pulled a few out.

The Vasi groaned, tried to turn over, but Evaline raised her hands up, then slammed them down, jamming the arrows into each of their thighs.

They shrieked, and I could hear it louder this time.

Good thinking, I said down the bond to Evaline, only able to watch as she protected the rest of us.

She ran back to me and kneeled down, swiping her Rominium dagger from her thigh.

I hissed as she sliced it down my arm.

“What…?” was all I was able to get out as I looked at her, brows furrowed.

“I’m trying to drain as much blood as I can before you feed,” she said, concentrating on the blood flow down my arm. “Try to dilute the Rominium as much as I can.”

Smart.

When she was satisfied with the blood loss, she held her wrist out to my mouth and kept her eyes on our surroundings as I fed.

“Evaline?” Sage asked, coming to, and moving to stand on her own.

“Are you okay?” Evaline asked, looking to Sage but not moving her wrist from my lips.

Sage’s eyes landed on us before they widened and she looked down at Dean, at her feet.

I could hear his groans, but not much more than that.

She fell to her knees. “Dean?” she pleaded, pulling him to lay across her lap.

“Bleed him out a little first,” Evaline instructed, sharing her theory on the Rominium.

I pulled my mouth from Evaline, and swept my tongue over her cut so she’d heal.

“Was it enough?” she asked, worried eyes scanning over my face.

I nodded and raised my arms, flexed my hands. “I still feel it, but now it’s just a slight hindrance. As if it’s been a couple weeks since I fed. I can manage.” I pulled her face into my hands. “You did good. Thank you for protecting us.”

Her eyes scanned my face, and I saw the relief on it as I returned to myself, before she nodded.

We dispersed to take care of the rest of the Kova as Sage brought Dean back, too. We couldn’t feed all the Kova, but we could help them to sit up.

I moved to the Vasi, sat them up and knelt in front of them.

“What was the point in harming Kembertus and Arlomandrah?” I questioned as Evaline, Sage, and Dean helped the rest of the Kova.

Rick only stared at me, and I could see he was fighting to maintain a straight face, to hide the pain I knew he felt.

It was clear that Vestaria was only a trap.

“You got into the Madierian Kingdoms,” I started and heard Sage speak behind me. Share that she’d remembered that part of her compulsion, that Lauden had left weak spots in the wards for the Vasi.

“So Vasier has been waiting for the right moment,” I mused, then looked around us at Widow Maker Plains, since it was clear Rick wasn’t going to talk.

The plains had recovered since the last war. They looked like themselves again. And amongst the regrowth, I couldn’t find any sign of war. Not even a sign that anyone had walked through, let alone an army.

Then, I understood.

All at once, it hit me.

I stood, and spun, looking around at Widow Maker Plains. Where the battles had always occurred, where we’d assumed they would occur this time, too.

“You attacked the Kromean Kingdoms because you wanted us far from Rominia,” I said, mostly to myself, as I turned. I spun to face Evaline, where she knelt by Eliana. “Correnti is farther for the Vasi to travel, but they had more Vasi than Merwinan. The Madierian Kingdoms are our allies, but even they had less Vasi attacking them than Kembertus and Arlomandrah. The further away we went from Rominia, the more Vasi there were. The worse the damage. The longer we took there.”

Her face paled as she understood.

“This is a distraction,” I breathed and then turned to Sage. “We need to get home, now. ”

She turned to me and nodded.

I moved to help the Kova stand up, so she could take small groups of them back. It took only a few minutes, and finally, it was just Evaline, Dean, Sage, the Vasi and I left.

Sage looked to us, eyes wide, and I knew whatever was on the other side of the portal, was awful.

Dean and I held the Vasi, and we portaled into the wards.

We landed in the sand, in the exact same spot we had when we portaled out of Mortithev.

The other Kova sat in the sand, still gathering their bearings.

And all around us, was the sound of war.

I gritted my teeth as I turned around slowly, praying for a moment that it was all a trick of the wind. That my hearing was only still recovering, that I didn’t hear what I thought I did.

But when we finished our turn, when we looked out over the Madierian Sea, we saw it.

We saw it all.

The greatest war the Kova have ever been a part of. Ships as far as the horizon stretched, both Kova and Vasi. Fire, catapults, waves, and blood.

The island behind us was damn near silent, and I knew the civilians had retreated far into the heart of it to protect themselves.

I turned to the other Kova. “Can you get yourselves inland to feed?”

They all nodded and moved to their feet.

“Let’s get them into the manor,” I said to Dean, and we picked up the Vasi and ran, leaving our mates on the beach.

We’ll be back, I said down the bond.

We ran inside, to the same room I’d been holed up in as a Vasi, and I watched Broderick and Maeve as Dean ran to the armory of the manor to get Rominium chains.

He came back quickly, and we wrapped up their arms, their torsos, their ankles. Prohibiting them from moving, at least until we could come back and make them Rominium chairs of their own.

When we made it back outside to our mates, Evaline was drinking from Sage’s wrist.

“She needs her strength,” Sage said, looking out over the water with a worried glance.

I nodded, knew I couldn’t feed Evaline after just feeding from her myself.

When she finished, she wiped her mouth and looked up at me.

I took her face in my hands, and saw Dean and Sage do something similar in my periphery, but ignored it as I lowered my face to my mate’s, and kissed her.

“No risks,” I said when I pulled away, and she nodded.

I could hear the race of her heart, feel the worry winding up her throat.

She shook her head, eyes wide. “I’ve never been to war,” her voice shook.

I smiled at her. “You’ve been at war since the day you were born, you just didn’t know it yet,” I said softly, swiping a thumb over her cheek. “And every fight you’ve fought, every awful man you killed, each Vasi, have all been small battles leading up to the real thing.”

She took a steadying breath and nodded, reaching up to grasp at my wrists.

“Trust yourself,” I whispered. “Your gift from Vestari will help you. And so will all your others. This is your curse. This is your fate.” She nodded as I spoke, eyes searching mine as she drank in everything I said. “The Gods wouldn’t have chosen you if you couldn’t do it. Trust,” I said softly.

She nodded, then swallowed. “Okay,” she whispered. “I love you. Until the end of my days.”

I kissed her one more time and prayed to the Gods it wouldn’t be the last.

“I love you. Until the end of my days, and in the Night that follows.”

Her hands tightened around me, and I ran my eyes down her face, trying to memorize every detail.

“Side by side,” I reminded.

She nodded, and then her eyes looked out behind me, where my back faced the war.

I watched her face as she steeled herself, and saw the warrior’s mask slide over. The face of Vestari.

“I’m ready.”