The dead grass crunches beneath my feet as I run through the forest. Silvia’s land is getting worse as the days go on. Everything is dying; the trees aren’t vibrant with life, the forests are dry, and broken, brown grass as far as the eye can see. This death is all James’ doing. He brings evil wherever he goes. I just hope we find the two remaining stones and defeat James before it’s too late. I couldn’t let Silvia get taken by the darkness.

Turning around, I run towards the sound of the roaring water up ahead. Not stopping until I hit the edge of the waterfall. Looking around the surrounds of the pool of water, it’s changed. A dull brown now replaces the once vibrant lush green grass.

Taking off my clothes, I jump in, enjoying the cold water against my skin. Laying on my back, I think back to what happened yesterday with Dara. The way her lips felt against mine, it had felt right. I’d denied my feelings for her since she came back to us. I feel like it’s wrong for all of us to have her - especially me.

All of us weren’t sure how this would work, if we should push the way we felt about her. But as the time has gone we’ve realised we couldn’t hide the way she made each of us feel. After all, she had been destined to be with us from the beginning. For us to be her protectors, her warriors, the deep feelings were just a bonus that we couldn’t deny.

My brothers and I had an understanding, that we could all have her if that’s what she wanted. We decided to just go with the flow and see what happened. Dara makes us all feel complete. The years without her hurt like nothing else. A part of us was missing, and once we got her back, we weren’t ever letting her go. Our time with her since she returned has been all business with trying to retrieve the stones. I couldn’t wait until we could relax and enjoy our time with Dara and show her Silvia the way it should be.

I swim fifty laps before hauling myself out of the water. I need to check in with Elijah to see what’s happening with Alaric and James in the Kingdom. Having Alaric working undercover as a slayer is a godsend, but it’s very risky. Despite Alaric proving his allegiance to James, if the king discovered the deception, he wouldn’t hesitate to bring Alaric down. Alaric had been undercover since Dara got sent to Earth. Sam sent him there knowing it would come in handy when the time came.

I focus within and get in contact with Elijah, hoping he would be able to talk to give me some information.

Hey, brother. Are you around? I wait several minutes for a response.

Yep.What’s up?

I sigh in relief. Perfect. I wanted an update? Anything going on in the Kingdom, have you heard from Alaric? How did James take Blair escaping? Will there be any retaliation?

Not good at all; Alaric said he was furious. He’s planning something, Declan - something to hurt Dara and make her give up the stone. I will try and keep you updated as soon as I hear from him, but he said make sure you push Dara to retrieve the remaining stones. Everything depends on it, and we’re losing time.

I quickly close off the connection and scream out in frustration. Why couldn’t anything be simple in life? After the victory of finding the stone, I thought our luck had turned, but nope. Blair got captured, and everything went to shit. Now he’s back, but still hasn’t woken up.

Picking up my clothes I put them back on, then make my way back to the house. I need to relay this information to my brothers, but I’ll leave Dara out this time. She doesn’t need the extra stress of worrying about what James will do next to someone she loves. She hasn’t left Blair’s side much since we got him back and I don’t blame her at all. I just hoped that he woke up soon so Dara could focus her mind fully on her training. Time’s ticking, and she needed to retrieve these stones and be ready for James’ next move.

Walking into the kitchen, I mentally tell Harlan and Oliver to meet me down in the training room, where we all gather around the mats.

“What’s up, man?” Harlan asks.

I start pacing back and forth. “I just got an update from Elijah from the kingdom. He said that James is planning something big to hurt Dara and make her bring the stones to him.”

I stop, looking towards the guys. “We needed to find these stones.”

Oliver runs a hand through his hair. “Fuck.”

I feel his frustration, but we need to put it to use. Harlan only stares at me, his eyes telling me to take charge - to step up.

“Dara needs to train more. She needs to focus on finding the next stone. I know she’s preoccupied with Blair, but we need to remind her what’s at stake. Tell her it’s what Blair would want. Let’s just keep her focused on her task. Deal?”

Everyone nods.

I just hope for all our sakes that Blair wakes up soon so we can move our focus to finding Topaz.

Come on brother, please wake up. We need you.