“How can this be? How can we no longer be mates? We’re bonded!”
Illarion shrugged at Edilyn’s question. I have no idea. I didn’t know anything could undo it. Never have I heard of a mating being undone, never mind a life bond.
If that wasn’t bad enough, he heard a deep, fierce growling.
Edilyn’s eyes widened. “What’s that sound?”
You don’t want to know. We have to find shelter.
“Better yet, let’s find an exit!”
He laughed at her naiveté. If there was one, my lady, I’d already have us out. You don’t just walk out of here. This isn’t like Avalon where I have the ability to come and go. This is the Tor. We’re locked here. Without a key, we’re screwed.
“How do we get a key?”
Morgen has one, but I doubt she’ll share.
Suddenly, out of the darkness around them, an army began to appear.
Edilyn gasped at the terrifying sight. Holy saints! That was more than they could handle alone. “Illarion? What do we do?”
He shifted his forms. We fight.
“So glad your sense of humor hasn’t fled. But…”
He dipped his wing so that she could scramble up his back. No humor, Addie. We fight. I’ve trained you. Trust in me and we will beat them back.
With a shaky breath, she took her seat. Illarion manifested her weapons for her. And as soon as he had her secured, he flew toward their enemies.
Aye, she was petrified, but what stunned her was the fact that her training kicked in and drove out her fear. Once the fighting began, they ceased to be an overwhelming horde. They were merely targets.
By the time the battle was over, they were both coated in blood. Her body throbbed from her wounds and the stress of the hours of fighting. Yet that didn’t concern her.
“Illy?” She slid from his back to inspect him. “Are you all right?”
He nodded, but by the way he moved, she knew he was in pain, too.
“Is there anything I can do?”
In spite of his injuries, he shifted forms. Only then did she see the gash he’d taken to his abdomen.
Gasping, she reached to touch it, but he stopped her. I’m fine. We must find you shelter.
She ground her teeth as unreasoning fury took over and drove out her pain. “I’m going to kill my brother!”
Illarion knew the feeling.
But before he could speak another word, he felt a shift in the air behind him. Turning, he saw the shimmer there that could only mean one thing.
Gale.
Fury exploded inside him as he seized Edilyn’s sword from her hip. With a blind rage, he summoned his powers and rushed the goddess.
She’d barely manifested in front of them before he ran her through.
Just as she started to laugh, she realized that she wasn’t immune to the blade. It wasn’t a mere mortal weapon.
It’d been forged by the gods.
“What have you done?”
Not I, bitch! You started this fight. You and Morgen and Hekate and Dagon. I’m only finishing it. He kicked her back. And I will die before I see my father’s army in your hands or Morgen’s.
Edilyn moved to stand behind as the goddess staggered back and fell.
She glared at the two of them. “You’ll never escape from here. Neither of you!”
Illarion sneered at her. Neither will you.
She died a moment later.
Normally, that might have been concerning without a Chthonian to absorb her powers, but because they were locked in this realm and her powers weren’t that significant, Illarion wasn’t worried about it.
Edilyn clutched at his tunic. “What’s to become of us here?”
We will endure. And we will find a way out of here. I promise you.
She grimaced at his wound. “Just swear to me that you won’t die and leave me alone in this horrible place.”
I swear it to you.
It was an oath Illarion made sure to uphold. For the next ten years, he kept himself and Edilyn safe from every twisted form of shadow fey, every piece of Morgen’s army, and every halfling that came for them.
But on the fifth day of the tenth year, Morgen’s Stone Legion of gargoyles and her mandrakes hit them with a surprise attack at dawn.
One moment, Edilyn had been on his back, and in the next, Maddor, Morgen’s commander, had torn her from her saddle and sent her plummeting to the ground.
Horrified, Illarion had done his best to catch her or use his powers to cushion her fall, but he’d been overwhelmed by their forces.
Edilyn!
By the time he reached her, she’d been barely alive and in more pain than he could imagine. Unmitigated rage and agony had torn him apart.
Her eyes glazing, she’d reached for him.
He’d clasped her hand and watched the light fade from her beautiful blue eyes. In one dreadful moment before any words could be spoken, they’d turned dull, and in a single gasp, she was gone.
An instant later, his enemies had seized her lifeless body and ripped her from his arms.
They’d sent his beloved back to him in pieces.
The irony was that if Morgen had tried to bargain with him before they’d harmed her, he’d have given her the Spartoi. For Edilyn alone, he’d have sold out the entire world.
Morgen hadn’t given him the choice. Her cruelty was such that she’d been bent only on his punishment.
Now …
He lived only to see her and her mandrakes burn. There was no other purpose.
For the dragon lived on without his heart.