Page 85 of Detonation
My hands burn, the heat crawling up my arms and through my chest, spreading through me like a wildfire. All emotions fall from me and numbness settles in.
My hair swirls around me and my body levitates from the ground as I stand, drawing gasps from my men. In my peripheral, I see Zedd wipe away his tears before I turn all my attention to Erebus.
Gaia turns her head towards me, a smile on her face. "You're ready. Let the chains go, daughter."
A weight lifts inside, as I give into her instruction on instinct. The teal tethers that bind me to my mates and my mother shine brightly between us, though Ash’s is a dull gray, fading with every second.
Erebus laughs. "If only you’d figured out how to tap into your true powers earlier. Your mother wouldn't have had to pay the price."
With that, he slides the dagger into her chest.
Her eyes never leave my own as our tether snuffs out.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Lana
As soon as that tether fades, a white heat burns through me, searing pain hitting every single nerve in my body. My heartbeat races until it stops altogether for a moment and I feel nothing. Weightless in the air.
A jolt slams into my chest, my heart beating once more, and my eyes snap to Erebus, his red eyes fixated on me, shadow daggers hovering in the air by the hundreds around him. Some pointed towards me, the rest facing my mates.
Teal hair flashes in the doorway and I see Serenity. Before she can step into the chambers, I send a wall of air towards the door, slamming it shut in her face and constructing a barrier over it, preventing them from entering this fight.
This is between me and him. I will not allow anyone else to perish.
Rage like I’ve never felt before burns through me. My veins are on fire, my heart pounding so loudly in my head, I can hear nothing else, even as my mates mouths open, yelling at me.
Erebus is going to die.
A dome surrounds my mates, a vibrant green pulsating with my heartbeat like the barrier Gaia constructed to let me say goodbye to Ash. I flex my fingers and roll my shoulders, trying to adjust to the energy coursing through me.
I sink into the energy that rolls beneath the castle grounds, calling to me, whispering to me, asking to be put to use.
Opening myself to its call, I latch on and the walls begin to shake around us, stones falling from the ceiling. Erebus lets loose the daggers. I throw my hands out and the green energy shoots from my palms, a counter for each of his daggers, dissolving them midflight. Without waiting for his next move, I let my instincts guide me, letting the raw power flow into one large staff that materializes in my hand. An orb, multicolored like my mother’s eyes, floats in the intricate twining of the white wood as I cling to the oak base.
"You will not defeat me, fae child," Erebus yells as I use my staff to center the power into a massive ball, hurling it towards him.
He constructs a glowing red shield with shadows swirling through it, fortifying it, but it quickly crumbles as my attack meets it, ripping through to him. The blast clears his shadows away and throws his hood back, showing his ebony skin and black eyes with red irises.
My energy sears a side of his face, black blood dripping from the wound to the stone floor before a shadowed portal appears behind him and he prepares to flee like a coward. "This is not over, child. You will not be able to take on my forces. I have spent a century forming them and they will not fall toyou."
"You do not scare me, Erebus.”
He sneers at me before falling into the portal.
A calm numbness flows through my veins as the energy fueling me fades, lowering me so my feet kiss the ground as my staff disappears. The dome over my mates drops at the same time the seal over the door does.
Serenity and the mage rush through as my mates run to me.
They halt as a new portal materializes in front of me and out steps one of the most gorgeous women I've ever seen. Skin so light, it almost shimmers and glows like the moon shining in the night sky, with hourglass curves and long, curled, ebony hair down to her hips. Deep purple eyes stare at me before dropping to Gaia. Her dark lashes close and she takes in a shaky breath as another figure appears from the portal.
I instantly recognize him with his pale blue skin and long, white braid hanging down the front of his body. His milky white eyes meet mine and he speaks softly, "I told you that you would not be alone in this fight."
I open my mouth but the drain on my body from fighting for so long catches up at that exact moment. I drop to the ground.
Arms wrap around me on both sides, the calming scents of a sea breeze and the ash from a bonfire permeating my senses. I snuggle into my twins, struggling to keep my eyes open and focused on Hypnos as he walks over to me.
Leo throws his hand out in defense, flames bursting from it as he demands, "Tell us who you are."
