The Last
Return

Moving through time and space was sickening. Amira materialized on the other side of the world just outside of the Heliki stronghold and immediately fell to her knees, vomiting profusely. The time dial vanished in her hands and she did not have time to think about where it had gone. She shoved herself up to her feet and stumbled along the outside of the wall to the palace, hand dragging along the cool stone while she regained her balance. By the time she made it to the gates, she was severely pale and disoriented, but at least she was walking straight. The guards took a moment to recognize her, she was dressed traditionally, in a black wrap this time, but her golden eyes were a dead giveaway.

She didn’t wait for them to raise the alarm. She was certain that the Queen had ordered her killed on sight anyways. She simply extended her hand and created a bubble of raging hot fire around her, they charged her, and she charged them. Staggering straight past into the courtyard as they were blown back by the heat of her flames. They couldn’t even get close. The alarm started blaring from the watchtower behind her, the noise penetrating every thought, but she didn’t stop as she surged forwards, pulling deep from her reservoir of magic that she hadn’t used like this in a very long time. Breaking the enchantment on Ian’s chains had been draining enough, this was forcing her to dig into a whole new level. She took a massive breath in and then yelled, with everything she had, her voice shifting into somewhat of a roar as she screamed her mate’s name.

“CALDWIN!” Her cry of warning shook the very ground itself as it rumbled forth into the world. She had made it all the way into the inner gardens before she was completely surrounded. Her gaze whipped around as she slowly moved in a circle as the soldiers inched their way forwards. They stopped however and took a slight step back, parting down the middle as there was a hiss of metal, a sword being drawn and then the Queen came into sight, stalking towards her, face set in a murderous rage.

“I told you that I would kill you myself if you ever stood against me.” She snarled as she approached. Amira turned to face her directly, arms catching fire as she rallied her magic to defend herself,

“I’m not here to fight you, I’m here to save Cal. He’s in-” She didn’t finish her last word as the Queen had already swung her blade. She ducked and rolled to the side, sliding quickly out of her range. “You have to listen to me! She was sent to kill him!” The Queen swung again and this time the metal sang as it collided with Amira’s talons, her eyes burning violet as she stared down the queen, the two of them shoving against each other with all the strength they had.

“I can protect my son without you.” The woman hissed as the pair were face to face, “All you ever did was bring trouble to my home.” She drew her blade away quickly and spun slashing back for the Princess’s middle. Amira had no choice but to stumble backward, the skin of her stomach sliced open as the tip of the Queen’s blade found its mark.

The balcony doors above flew open and Cal surged forth, standing above them he snarled, “Mother! Stop this!” Amira’s eyes snapped up at the sound of his voice. The world slowed, she stepped around the Queen’s next attack blasting fire into the woman’s face, and threw herself forwards sprinting towards him,

“Behind you!” She screamed, but the words didn’t reach him soon enough. Caldwin spun, hand snapping out to defend himself, only he missed and the knife struck true plunging into his chest driven by none other than his own fiancé.

Wings ripped out of her shoulder blades and Amira threw herself into the air as Cal slowly tipped back eyes wide with shock as he fell over the side of the balcony. Amira caught him mid-air, but the added weight sent her skidding into the ground. Her feet hit the soil and her knee’s immediately buckled. She cried out in pain as the pair hit the ground, she gave everything she had into keeping his landing gentle, no matter how it contorted her body.

Dragging herself up to his side, her hands immediately went to his chest ripping at the shirt to examine the wound, “no no no,” she murmured, hands shaking as she tried to think of what to do. She looked over her shoulder and screamed, “Someone get the medic!” She looked back quickly when she felt a gentle pressure on her face. Her eyes snapped to Cal’s as she realized it was his hand, he was touching her.

“You came back.” He said with a soft smile, expression close to serene, “I promised I wouldn’t stop you… but you came back” A tear escaped the Princess’s control as she gently held the hand on her face, putting on a painful smile for him.

“Yeah I did,” She said softly as a boy dressed in white rushed forwards, falling down to his knees across from the Princess, he quickly examined him while she didn’t take her eyes off his face. “So you’re not allowed to die on me yeah?” she sniffed, dragging in as much courage as she could muster to keep a brave face for him, “you still owe me that date.” Cal’s smile broadened and he nodded slightly, but Amira could tell he was fading fast. She looked to the medic across from her, “what do we do?” she asked desperately. The boy’s eyes didn’t look up from the Prince as he seemed to be doing some silent calculations.

“As far as I can tell it looks like our biggest problem is going to be blood loss,” he said quickly and succinctly. “I can fix up whatever damage was done on the inside if we can just keep him alive long enough for me to do it.” His gaze finally lifted to Amira’s “do you have any of your fire left.” She simply nodded yes as an answer, “good. I’m going to pull this out-” he placed his hand on the hilt of the knife. “-you’re going to burn him, cauterize the wound, all the way through if you can, stop any and all bleeding.” Amira nodded.

Doing this would be essentially suicide, to hurt her mate was going to be excruciating and using up the last of her magic was incredibly dangerous on top of having no real escape plan. The guards for now simply hovered, seeming confused as to what to do, and she had no idea where the Queen had ended up, but if it meant saving him then she would do it. She placed one hand underneath him and the other hovering nearby the hilt of the knife and blew out a thin breath of air. She nodded to the medic and he ripped the blade out without warning.

Cal rocked forward screaming in pain, only for that scream to intensify head and body slamming back into the ground, arching away from her as Amira’s burning hands made contact with his side. She threw everything she had into that one quick motion before her scream too joined Caldwins and she rocked back away from him slamming into the grass body convulsing against the burning pain that shot through her entire being. She vomited instantly and then again as there was nothing to stop the pain, no magic left to heal her own wounds. The world spun around her arms and legs twitching her wings mangled on her back from their fall, shaking as well. She attempted to shove herself upright but her strength failed her and her vision went dark.

Her eyes blinked open and she was swaying in someone’s arms. Her vision was out of focus and darkened and cleared as she struggled to get a look at who was taking her away.

“I got you Princess,” Ah, Rue, her friend. Her thoughts felt slow and sticky like she was drunk. Was she drunk? She didn’t know, “Just hang in there okay? You hang on,” He sounded scared, why would he be scared? Amira didn’t know. She simply allowed herself to fall back down into that comfortable darkness that had beckoned to her for such a long time.

~

Amira was a dead weight in his arms. Rue didn’t know where to go, he just knew he had to get her the hell out of there. His brown eyes frantically scanned the streets ahead of him as he hurried through the city. Her wings hung lifelessly from where he held her and he did his best not to hit them, but at some points it was unavoidable. Her skin was far paler than the young Prince was comfortable with, and her breathing far too shallow, but he could only deal with one problem at a time.

The streets were empty, the city had gone into an immediate lockdown at the sound of the alarm he could hear guards patrolling nearby and shifted course to avoid them. Ducking down one of the alleyways he quickly moved along and almost made it to the other side before old hands reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder pulling him into an alcove above a set of stairs that led down into what seemed to be a bar. His fangs glinted in the light as he snarled, turning quickly to face the threat only to find an old woman standing beside him, the source of those hands.

“Quickly Prince,” She said in a hushed tone and gestured down the stairwell as those steps drew closer. One of the guards shouting, ‘I think I heard something’ and their steps became hurried. She left him no choice, Rue moved down the stairs and pushed open the door with his boot. Amira still cradled in his arms protectively. The old woman hurried down behind him and shut the door.

Rue’s eyes adjusted to the din instantly and he found nearly thirty pairs of eyes staring back at him. He froze feet planting into the ground as he looked around the packed bar, slowly trying to figure out how he could place Amira down and fight them all until he realized they weren’t looking at him. They were looking at her.

The old woman pushed by him and hurried towards the back. “Come boy” she hissed, hobbling her way along and Rue reluctantly followed, meeting anyone’s gaze who dared to meet his fangs still out and very much prepared to be in use. No-one stopped them though as the woman led them to one of the bedrooms in the back. “You can stop with all that nonsense,” the woman snapped, waving her hand at his expression, “no one here wishes any harm to our Princess.”

“You’re all Druhan citizens?” Rue asked carefully, surprised by the fact,

“Yes, that or sympathizers. Lay her down now,” the woman demanded, pointing to the bed. “I need to take a look at her,” she added as she pulled out a kit from one of the half falling apart cabinets and set it down on a small stool to open it revealing medical supplies. Rue hesitantly did as he was told, however, his eyes watched her every movement as he carefully placed the Princess down on the pathetic excuse for a bed. Now able to fully see the extent of the damage Rue scrunched his nose slightly, anger boiling within him, but there was nothing he could do about it.

The old woman made her way over to his side and looked to him expectantly waiting for him to step out of the way. He did so reluctantly and granted her access to the Princess. She inspected her injuries and quickly set about working, “Be a doll and tell Jerico that I need some clean water,” she instructed, not looking up from the Princess as she placed the back of her hand to Amira’s forehead. Rue didn’t move from his spot, he didn’t trust this woman at all, and he absolutely would not be letting Amira out of his sight. At his lack of reply, the woman sighed heavily, frustration clear on her features, but she pushed past the Prince, hobbling towards the door, and opened it. “Jerico,” she called into the now quietly functioning bar. A young boy appeared and she placed a hand on his messy mop of hair. “Fetch me some clean water will ya?”

“Yes Nana,” the boy chirped and disappeared into the bar to do as he was told. The woman shoved her way past the Prince who still had yet to move from his spot and returned to the Princess.

“Can’t see a damn thing with all this blood,” she grumbled to herself as she grabbed a spare cloth and tried to wipe some away, without the water though it was no use. The boy appeared moments later carrying a pail full of it and he entered the room brushing past the prince without offering him a single glance, eyes pinned to the floor until he got past his intense gaze and to his grandmother’s side.

“Will this do?” he asked as he set it down beside her,

“Yes child, thank you, run along now and find your mother. We’ll be needing her help,” she instructed and the boy nodded, taking off obediently to do as he was told. She began to clean up the mess of blood that coated Amira’s abdomen. Much of it appearing to not be hers the woman quickly realized although the slice across her stomach was still sizable. “Are you going to tell me what happened or are you going to stand there like a useless lawn ornament?” The elder demanded of the Prince. Rue blinked, and nearly retorted with something unsavory before he held his tongue. As far as he could tell, this woman meant well, and she was helping them, he couldn’t afford to risk their precarious situation.

“She returned to warn my brother of a threat. She and my mother had a...disagreement, causing her warning to be moments too late.” He summarized vaguely.

“Ah, I see.” The old woman said with a faint smile, “then this must be from their disagreement no?” She gestured to the cut she was now working to clean dousing it in what appeared to be some sort of antiseptic, before slowly and carefully beginning to stitch it back together. “And the rest from your brother?” A small nod in confirmation was all Rue offered. She continued her work in silence, and Rue watched carefully. When she was finished she picked up her things and moved past the Prince to return her supplies to where she had procured them from before turning back to face Rue, “My daughter in law, Vishnu, will be arriving shortly. She will not take kindly to your attitude, I suggest you treat her with respect if you want her to help the Princess.”

“Why would we need her help?”

“Her highness has expended much of her magic in a form that was not controlled. She let her magic use her, instead of the other way around. I can sense her energy is depleted to a level that is unsafe for those of her kind. Without intervention, her body may recover, but her mind may not.” Rue blinked in surprise, he had never heard of such a thing before. The woman took pity on him and offered him a soft smile, “Do not worry, we will not allow her to become feral.” She reassured him,

“What are they?” he asked finally, giving in a bit and conceding his lack of knowledge to the woman, she sighed heavily and sat down on the wooden stool, looking exhausted now after everything she’d done.

“They are Druheran who have lost their way, either by their magic or by something traumatizing enough that they no longer want to think human thoughts. They surrender everything to their beast and simply enjoy the peace of the nothing. In rare cases Ferals have been brought back, but it was seldom done, and far easier to prevent the transition in the first place. More commonly they were left alone to live out the rest of their lives in peace. Whatever they had faced, the community believed they needn’t be forced back into our world to face more.”

“That sounds... awful…” Rue said softly, eyes shifting back to the Princess, his thoughts finally shifting to his brother, he would live through this… he had to… but if he made it through only to lose his mate again. Rue didn’t think there would be any way to salvage his sanity.

The old woman nodded solemnly, “Many after the slaughter of Delenmai went feral, but without the strength in unity were picked off too easily one by one.”

“I’m sorry,” Rue said softly, there weren’t enough apologies on the earth to make up for what his ancestors had done, but at least he could try. The woman nodded in acceptance as the door to the small room opened and a dark-skinned black haired woman entered. She couldn’t be more than three or four years older than him, yet the young boy was her son. Her green eyes snapped to the Prince, her face twisting in disgust.

“Does the mutt have to be here?” She demanded looking to her mother in law,

“He brought the Princess to us. He is her guardian. He will remain.” The elder spoke her tone leaving no room for questioning. Vishnu, the younger woman, huffed in annoyance but strode past the young Prince to the Princess’s bedside. Pulling an old wooden chair from the wall over to the bedside she sat down and took up one of Amira’s slack hands.

“If he bothers us-” Vishnu began but her mother in law cut her off,

“He will not. Go about your work, daughter.” Vishnu cut another unapproving look towards the Prince, who simply remained where he stood, watching vigilantly with his hands by his sides. She shook her head but turned her whole attention to the Princess, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath both hands holding onto Amira’s. She spoke quickly and softly, in a language Rue did not recognize. Moments later, the woman’s head went slack and her body slumped forwards onto the bed, their connection between their hands not breaking, however.

Rue’s whole body jumped slightly as he was startled by the ordeal, he took a step forward but the elder’s voice cut him off.

“Leave them be,” she instructed and Rue found himself listening, turning back to the woman.

“What the hell is going on?” he demanded.

“Relax Prince, this shouldn’t take more than a few moments. She simply has to join minds with the Princess, find her in whatever mindscape her subconscious has made up, and remind her who she is. It will be easy.”

“Easy?!” Rue exclaimed shock clear on his features, Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FindNʘᴠᴇl.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Mhm,” the woman nodded, seeming rather unconcerned as she picked up a notebook from beside her on the table and began to start writing a few things down. Rue’s frantic gaze returned to the Princess, but there was nothing he could do, but stand there and wait.

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