Page 35 of Wrath of the Fae Queen
But if he is from the future, does that mean I die here? That Dante survives to age?
The two versions of him split, circling me from different directions. For a single moment I think the injured one is going to sit it out for a bit.
A man can dream.
The smoke and shadows curling around him thrash rapidly as they expand. At first it looks like his wounds are struggling to heal and the matter is bleeding out of him, but that is a foolish hope. The darkness solidifies. Blue light explodes out of Dante. His flesh moves and drastically rearranges until the wounds are gone. Until the man is gone.
And his Nightmare forms.
The beast is double my height, all billowing inky tendrils and shards of spiked obsidian. That blue starlight of his power glows from between each crack, through his huge jagged teeth and from his eyes. Nightmare Dante charges at me from across the arena, paws cracking flagstones and claws slicing furrows in them. He looks like an oversized wolf from the darkest abyss.
At the same time, bearded Dante runs at me, sliding to his knees and swinging his axe low to take out my ankles. I somersault right over the top of the blade and man while the Nightmare form lunges in an arc over me, claws out.
One of my swords cuts a shallow wound up the beast’s chest as I rotate in the air, narrowly missing his swipe, while the other swings out for the axeman’s throat. The fae beneath me winks out of existence, appearing back in his starting position, right as the wolf lands a paw to the ground where his head was. They fight together in a beautiful dance.
Light pours out of the Nightmare’s wound right before darkness heals it up again, but I glimpse it: his heart-stone.
The Nightmare’s next attack catches me before I can leap away. He throws me to the ground, pinning me beneath him. Those claws dig into my shoulders as my head smacks stone. Hishuge maw parts and a snarl escapes him as his jaws reach down to tear my throat out.
In the same heartbeat, I smash multiple thick limbs of mycelium into his side, tearing him off me, while using another to drag myself out from under him. I hardly get the chance to register the rumbling crash of his falling bulk, or the way it makes the ground shake, before an axe lands an inch from my head.
Bearded Dante unleashes a rain of deadly needles upon me and I roll away, throwing up a network of mycelium as a shield. The mushrooms form almost instantaneously, blasting a cloud of spores in older Dante’s face. He shakes his head and trips backward. The moment his eyes haze over, pupils fully dilated, and froth seeps from his lips, he winks out of this time period.
The gong sounds and the Mistress’ voice rings out. “Two minutes until the sand runs out.”
Fuck. I need more time.
Desperation floods me.
I cannot—Iwill notdie here.
If that sand runs out and Dante still lives, I am going to have a blood-frenzied horde on my hands. My heartbeat ramps up until it pounds violently in my ears. I think I am going to vomit. I am just one man and I cannot take on the entire order of the Assassins of Belladonna. Right now, I can hardly beat one of their number.
The heart-stone, Aldrin!Keira shrieks.Destroy his heart-stone!
It is time to show my hand. Use the move that will only work once on a target who can time stutter.
I stand in the center of the arena, perfectly still, and hold my sword ready while Dante’s Nightmare barrels toward me. I run my power along the flagstones until the many channels of itreach Dante and sink into him like hooks. Taking over each of his muscles one by one. Removing his control over his own flesh.
His whole body shakes as he fights me, but I haven’t met another who could remove my talons once they have sunk deep. I run at the beast, refusing to think of him as Dante, and meet him in a head-on attack. My shoulders collide into his and, controlling both our bodies, I flip him onto his back, straddling his huge barrel of a chest as I thrust my sword deep into its center. I send raw power through my blade, forcing it to emit pure sunlight into the wound.
A tear runs down my cheek as obsidian cracks and breaks, and I thrust my fist into his ribcage. My fingers wrap around his heart-stone and tear it out of him. The blue light it releases stutters and begins to fade as I thrust my earth power into it, finding the life throbbing within, tapping into it and choking it off.
It is taking too long.
Hot breath curls across my skin a fraction of a second before his jaws wrap around my throat and his teeth puncture my flesh. Somehow, he broke my hold over his muscles, but his control over his body is weak.
The gong sounds and I know my doom.
I am out of time.
They are going to kill me in the most brutal sort of way. Will they revel in my blood being spilled? In my organs being scattered across the pavers? Will I be nothing but a red smear across the killing floor by the time they are done with me?
Dante’s teeth release me and he collapses against the ground, emitting shallow, wheezing pants. I drop his heart-stone back into the cavity of his chest, because somehow I still like the man, and what is one more enemy at this point? I back away from him and hold my sword at the ready. It doesn’t even shake in my grip.I will die fighting, no matter that I have no chance of survival. I will meet my death with whatever courage I can muster.
Keira is screaming and wailing incoherently at the back of my mind. Devastation rolls through her like crashing tidal waves, her entire body shaking and hot tears running down her face. How her heart shatters for me. It is nothing but an endless well of pain.
I will find you in the next life, dear heart. Then we will enjoy that life of peace together that we promised to each other.I send her an intense wave of love and regret, before blocking her out completely. There are things a mate should never witness. I do not want her to feel my agony as I am shredded.
