Page 36 of Risen
I followed his directions and the tug of his hand without question.But when we reached the top of what was left of the destroyed stage, his hand was ripped from mine.Guard,he sent mentally.Get back.
I shrunk back out of the way, coming up against what must be the smoldering remains of the curtains at the back of the stage as I tried and failed to get my magical connection to the animals back.I didn’t exactly know how I’d done it the first few times.And trying to do it on purpose seemed to just make it harder to grasp.
I didn’t havetimefor this.Robin’s aura was fading fast, already so faint.The death song burned in my throat.I adjusted my grip on the dagger, remembering every adamant lesson Martina had drilled into me during our training sessions.A sobbing breath of relief left me when my vision burst back into being, letting me see through Queen Cat’s eyes.The emperor was kneeling beside Robin’s body, attempting to pry a scale from her beautiful dragon hide, while he finished draining her of her magical essence.Odin fluttered down to land on my shoulder, lending his sight to the mix, shifting the perspective of my borrowed sight so it was as if I was looking through my own eyes.
No one paid me any attention as I crept up behind the emperor.I was an omega, my aura comforting and soft.A witch with no real power.I wasn’t a threat.Below notice.Keeping my shoulders back and my chin up, I strode the last few steps to the emperor, and kicked the blade he had been using on Robin from his hand before he even knew what was happening.
I moved without conscious thought, muscle memory from hours of training and sparring with my chupacabra carrying me forward, Odin’s eyes showing me my target.
Hot blood spilled over my hand as I plunged the magic-imbued ritual dagger into the emperor’s chest.I didn’t need to struggle to avoid ribs, the way Martina had cautioned.The enchanted knife slid right through skin and bone like butter.
He tried to mount a magical defense, but it was already too late, and we both knew it.I met his eyes as bright red trickled from the corners of his mouth with his whispered incantation.His words were drowned out by the high, clear, keening sound of my song.I sang his death, loud and clear.
My borrowed sight faded, replaced by the banshee magic that provided me with a rapid replay of his life.Impressions of all the evil he had done.And, for the first time, the newly powerful magic in me extendedforwardin time,bolstered by my true mate bond, and the power I drew from the naga clan.I saw all of the evil hewould have doneif he were allowed to live.
And in one blinding moment of clarity, I understood everything.Robin’s reasons for giving her all to end the syndicate.The wild fae elder’s insistence that I kill this man—this monster—before he could get any worse.
The fae’s premonition must have shown him that Robin would die in her attempt at revenge.That the others would be distracted and overwhelmed with the fighting.So, it had to be me.Hehadto die before he waged even more genocide and destroyedeverything.
I slammed back into my body as time sped up again and awareness hit me like a ton of bricks.The vision—if that was what it had been—faded, leaving me trembling as the emperor’s body fell to the side, yanking itself off the blade I still held clutched in my hand.
My witch,Cicely’s voice was full of sadness and awe as it gently caressed my mind.Drop the dagger, my beautiful, terrifying mate.It’s over.It’s over, my love.
I forced my fingers to uncurl, letting the knife drop to the floor.Cicely’s warm hands gripped my shoulders, then ran up and down my arms, as if trying to warm me or bring circulation back.I felt distant.Floaty.As if nothing around me was real.But his touch and his voice in my mind grounded me enough to focus on the most important thing.
The fighting was dying down, but the others were shouting, then murmuring amongst themselves.Sadavir’s strong, solid alpha aura wrapped around me, bolstering me and propping me up emotionally when I would have faltered.
Robin.
I crouched, fumbling about until my fingers came into contact with the crystal orb at my feet.Then I stood and rushed to her side, feeling the last faint flutters of her aura as they slipped away.
My healing magic poured out of me without even touching the dragon.I couldn’t lose her.I wouldn’t.I moved without thinking.Didn’t pause to ask for advice, to ask Sanka or one of the other magic users if it was the right thing to do… Robin’s body was starving for lack of the missing piece of her soul, and every instinct said I needed to free it, return it to her at once.
Raising my hands over my head, I brought them down with all the force I could possibly muster, smashing the crystal orb onto the floor.
Robin roared as the orb shattered, the stolen magic ripping free and flowing around us like a physical force.It surged back into her, blinding, brilliant, raw.The dragon thrashed as the power flooded her, her tail lashing out and smacking into my legs, throwing me to the floor in a blinding flash of pain.
The silence that followed was cavernous.
I pushed aside the helping hands that reached for me as I shoved myself up to kneel at Robin’s side.She shuddered and twitched, growled and whined, and I recalled with chilling clarity that she had confided she was afraid she would lose her human form forever if she let her dragon take control in this fight.
“You can do this, alpha,” I said firmly, reaching for her with my hands and my aura.“Come back to me, Robin.Your omega needs you.”It was fighting dirty, using my omega wiles on her when she was so vulnerable and lost.But at this point, morals meant nothing to me.All that mattered was keeping the woman I loved alive and whole.
I felt the entire rebel court gathered around us, their fear, and sadness, andhelplessnessalmost palpable in the air.But no one made the mistake of trying to get between me and Robin.
She shuddered and heaved beside me, bursts of heat searing against my skin, and I could hear and sense the way she struggled between forms, bones crunching and reforming over and over again as her wild magic ebbed and receded again and again.
“Don’t leave me, alpha,” I demanded.“I’m here and I need you.And you can only hold me with human arms.Can onlymateme with a human body.”My cheeks flamed at that, but I gritted my teeth together and soldiered on.“Please, alpha,” I let a little bit of a whine into my voice, let my pain and fear travel along the half-formed bond between us to needle her alpha instincts.“Come back to me.”
She thrashed even harder, heat pouring off her.
I sucked in a breath and swallowed smoke, coughing, my eyes watering.“Robin,please.” She was in so much pain.I could feel it with my healer’s magic, her torment as two warring instincts tore her body apart again and again.I pushed healing to her in a constant flood, knitting fractures and torn tissue back together over and over.I wouldnot.Let.Her.Give.Up.
Finally, the torment ended, halting at a low-level of constant, but tolerable, agony that came from soreness and exhaustion, rather than new injuries.
Robin’s husky voice was rough.“It’s mine.Mine.”
I nodded, reaching for her.“You did it.You got your magic back.He can’t use you anymore.”
