CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Sorin
The stinging winds and empty vistas of the wastelands brought to mind images from an age long forgotten.
These lifeless planes were the only reason my sister and I survived the Arcana Realm attack on our home centuries ago.
“Brings back memories, doesn’t it big brother?” Raksha grinned, nudging an elbow into my ribs as she shimmered in next to me.
That it did.
Raksha taught me everything she knew about warfare and combat in these planes. It was her gift. It was to be her destiny.
“You know she’ll never forgive you for this,” she joked, eliciting snickers from Callum and Verrill.
I nodded. It was a risk I’d bear.
“This is serious,” Jadzeera said, flashing steel in her gaze. The laughing kings quieted immediately.
“So, what’s the plan?” Raksha asked.
“The same as it’s always been,” I rumbled. “Storm the castle, rip out the king’s heart, and keep our queen safe. Questions?” I looked to the faces of my fellow realm leaders. “Good. Raksha, I’ll need you to accompany Callum.”
My younger sister flashed a wide, lupine smile at the Green King. “Afraid of the big, bad Blood King?”
Callum’s color rose but he comported himself well despite her teasing. “I’m not at full strength yet. All help is appreciated.”
My sister clapped the Green King on the back, knocking the air from his lungs. “At your service, my liege.”
Jadzeera nodded. “I’ll provide protection spells as well.”
Raksha turned to the Arcana Queen, all traces of humor erased from her being. “You don’t believe I can’t take care of myself and the Green King?”
Jadzeera stepped forward in answer to my sister’s challenge but before she replied, I stepped between them both.
It seemed Zurie’s magic didn’t extend to members outside the horde.
“Enough. You both know precisely what the other is capable of. This is not the time for a pissing match, ladies.”
Neither Jadzeera nor Raksha had any part in the attacks on our realms. But blood feuds run deep and last through the millennia.
The two women stared at each other, generations of contempt clear in their gaze.
A War Demon turned Archive and a scholar turned realm leader.
Neither was as they should be. Both had their destinies rewritten because of the Blood King’s meddling.
I wouldn’t let that happen again.
Raksha was to be my second-in-command, my general, when we were of age to take our positions in the realm. But the Arcane Realm attacked the fortress with hellfire, burning everyone, everything for miles. The only reason my sister and I survived was because we were in the wastelands at the time, far enough from the blast we hadn’t realized what happened until we shimmered back.
Our mother and father, along with the betas that made up the tribunal senate, all dead.
Hellfire burns hot enough to melt bone, muscle, and demon hearts.
I was seventeen. A beta should have stepped in until I was old enough to rule, but there were no betas. We’d lost three-quarters of our population.
I was forced into ruling too early and Raksha was forced into giving up her destiny as my War Chief for Archiving.
Raksha never complained, never bemoaned giving up her passion, her talent for something less stimulating, less prestigious. She gave up her identity and training, her destiny to piece our realm’s history back together because of the lies the Blood King told.
Jadzeera, as far as I knew, was the youngest child, slated to be her realm’s academic.
I wouldn’t see another woman sacrifice everything because of that tyrant.
Zurie was safe on the earth plane. And I planned to keep it that way.
I stared at them. “Stand down, both of you or I’ll send you back to the Earth realm where neither can quell their blood lust.”
They didn’t move.
“This isn’t helpful, cousin.” Verrill touched the Arcana Queen’s shoulder.
“Stand. Down.” I let power roll off me in waves, smothering the quibbling demons in dominance. Jadzeera’s pallor shifted toward green as it hit her but Raksha’s response was the same as it always was.
She shifted into an enormous, mahogany-furred battle wolf.
She’d make me pay for ruining her leathers.
Head as high as my elbow, thick black ruff, and shining eyes, she was as regal and powerful as I’d remembered.
Everyone stepped back three paces.
“I had no idea your people retained the ability to transform.” Verrill’s eyes traveled to me from my sister, wide with awe.
“We didn’t. Raksha is the only one who can.”
You’re buying me new leathers, brother.
I expected nothing less.
She growled, snapping her wide jaws at me. Let’s get on with it then.
In the distance, the Blood King’s castle stood stark against the bleak backdrop of this dead place. The progeny abomination hadn’t lied about the location, at least. The rest remained to be seen.
“I’ll go first to get a lay of the land and make sure the heir hasn’t laid a trap for us. Follow after I’ve given word.”
I didn’t wait for confirmation and shimmered behind an ancient cypress tree by the ancillary entrance. Just as the abomination said, this entrance had the fewest guards. I smelled three, two on either side and one a few yards away.
I rushed the entrance, building enough speed that when I reached the guards, my fists burst through their chests and out of their backs. I dropped their hearts and ran at the next one, doing the same. I dispatched all three in ten seconds.
I scented the air for traps, magic, other demons, and, on finding none, summoned the others.
Nice work, little brother. Raksha nosed the arm of a guard and fell in line behind me.
Everyone check for traps and spells. Make sure I haven’t missed anything.
Each leader took a moment and reported nothing out of the ordinary. We continued down the narrow service corridor a few feet when Raksha’s hackles rose and a low growl ripped from her throat.
What is it?
I don’t know. Something’s coming.
All of us crouched low, searching for the telltale shift in airflow before a shimmer.
“Do you see anything?” Verrill asked of his cousin.
“Nothing.”
“Does anyone?” I asked.
Raksha’s growls grew more insistent.
Callum shook his head. “I sense nothing.”
The Blood Heir appeared before us. No shimmer, no warning, he was simply there where nothing was before.
“I am truly sorry,” he said.