Zodiac Academy 8.5: Beyond The Veil
Beyond The Veil: Chapter 26

Merissa and I watched on while Gwendalina fought with the Shadow Beast hand to hand in the palace armoury, no magic to aid her. The father in me wanted to intervene, my fear for her so great that it burned, but another part of me wanted to watch her ferocity spill out in furious swipes of her mother’s sword. She had been caged too long, a wild creature all of her own, chained and kept subdued, but now she was free it was a sight to behold.

Lance was in a furious battle with Tharix, the monstrous Acrux heir taking hits time and again, only to heal with the power of the shadows that lived in his flesh.

Gwendalina was climbing the rack of weapons on the far wall to escape the powerful jaws of the Shadow Beast and Merissa stayed close to her, calling out in encouragement. “Strike for the heart! Cut it down – yes!” she cried as our daughter struck a blow against the beast and I hollered in encouragement.

Lance was in a bind, his back against the wall and Azriel kept close to him, watching every move he made. Tharix closed in, the heinous creature on a hunt for blood, but Lance was putting up one hell of a battle. It almost felt like blood was thundering through my veins in response to the fight, the old instinct in me for war coming back in full force. What I’d give to fight at Lance and my daughter’s sides now, casting blows of my own and bathing in the victory of bloodshed. It was a thrill like no other, and even though they were in peril here in the fray, their Fae nature was thriving, and I knew them capable of defeating their enemies. They had suffered long enough, and had been waiting for this very moment to unleash their fury over their imprisonment.

“Go on, son!” I roared to Lance. “Give him hell!”

“Son?” Azriel hooked an eyebrow up at me.

“He is that to me, Azriel,” I said fiercely and he moved closer, grasping my arm.

“And Gwendalina is a daughter to me,” he said, the two of us sharing a brief smile before we turned back to watch the fight.

Lance blasted the shadowy form of Tharix away from him with a torrent of air, and the monster shifted back into his corporeal form, landing on a wooden table across the room.

Lance turned his attention to the weapons hanging across the walls in racks, raising his hand to summon one to him. I shoved my power into his own, making him select my own sword and Azriel gave me a surprised look. By the stars, I had missed that blade, the metal obsidian, a twin to the white sword that had belonged to Merissa and was now in our daughter’s possession. We had forged these blades ourselves in the Mountain of Ignolia with the help of the most famed blacksmith in the land. They were imbued with our power, touched by the magic of our Order gifts too, and my chest swelled at the sight of Lance taking mine into his hand.

“You never even let me wield that blade,” Azriel pointed out and I shrugged, tossing him a grin.

“Touch the Hydra constellation to ignite the fire,” I called to Lance, and as if he had heard me, he did just that, purple fire bursting to life along its edge.

I groaned with longing to wield that blade just once more, possessiveness rising in me. But if it had to be wielded by other hands, Lance would have been high on my list.

“Cast him to nothing,” I encouraged, smiling in a mirror of Lance’s sinister grin.

“You’d better be watching, sir. Because this fight is for the Vegas,” Lance said, making my heart lurch, those words meant for me. He knew I was here, or at least suspected it and I moved to stand at his back, placing my hand on his shoulder to lend him what power I could.

“Oh, I’m watching alright, good choice,” I said with a dark laugh and Azriel moved to lend him power too, gazing at me with a soppy ass look. “Now remind me why the stars selected you as a match for my daughter.”

“Go on, Lancelot!” Azriel bayed.

Lance charged into the fight with a keen hunger, but I only managed to watch a couple of blows land before time swept me up and threw me forward into it, leaving Azriel with Lance.

A blur of images swirled around me of Gwendalina fighting the Shadow Beast out in a corridor above the armoury, her bravery boundless in her feat to destroy the monster that had kept her captive so long. I cheered her on alongside my wife, and when she plunged Merissa’s sword deep into the creature’s chest, I stood in awe of my daughter and her victory.

Before I could pause to question what might happen next, magic poured from the near-dead beast, and suddenly Gwendalina’s Elements were returned to her in an explosion of power that knocked her from her feet.

“She’s done it,” Merissa said, emotion thick in her words.

I moved to my wife, wrapping an arm around her, feeling sparks of my daughter’s supreme power make it here to us to dance against our skin.

When a beautiful Phoenix bird flew from that gaping wound in the Shadow Beast’s chest, and swept down into Gwendalina’s body, I all but broke with the joy of it. Her Order was restored, the power in her veins so tumultuous that the Palace of Souls was trembling with it.

When she regained her feet, she moved to finish the Shadow Beast and I urged her on, slinking closer at her back.

“Strike true, my little darling,” I growled.

But instead, Gwendalina noticed a collar of shadow bound around its neck and cut it loose.

“It was Lavinia’s prisoner too,” Merissa gasped in realisation.

“It is a monster,” I said in disbelief. “Kill it while you have the chance, Gwendalina!”

Time lurched again, throwing us into another room entirely and we arrived with Gabriel in the Royal Seer’s Chamber. Lance and Darcy ran to free him, and I urged them on, hoping beyond all hope that they could escape Lionel and Lavinia’s clutches this very day. Azriel materialised, following his son here and Merissa quickly told him of how Gwendalina had restored her power, leaving him speechless with happiness.

Gabriel reached up and clasped Gwendalina’s cheek, a smile lifting his lips and knowledge filling his gaze. “You did it.”

“She did,” Merissa sighed, and her relief brought a fresh smile to my lips.

“I did it,” Gwendalina confirmed with a grin, pulling Gabriel to his feet. “And now we’ve gotta go.”

“Yes, and you must make haste now,” I growled.

“No detours, just get out of here,” Azriel urged.

The Shadow Beast bounded into view and grunted in greeting, making a curse leave me.

“By the fucking stars,” Gabriel breathed as Lance moved to break him out of his magic restraining cuffs.

“It’s okay. He’s on our side now. I think,” Gwendalina said, and dammit the girl had always had a fondness for wild creatures. I had taken the twins to the Celestia Zoo once and she’d been crying like the hounds of death were coming for her. She had only stopped when she’d caught the eye of the biggest, scariest beast in that place with so many claws and fangs, it could have murdered her in a hundred different ways, but she sat in my arms cooing at it like it was a puppy. “Or maybe it’s a girl. I don’t really know,” my daughter said.

“It’s not coming with us,” Lance muttered, and Gwendalina arched a brow at him.

“Firstly, do not boss her around,” I growled. “Secondly, you have a point.”

“It seems friendly enough,” Merissa said, moving closer to it and reaching out to pet its side despite the fact it couldn’t feel her.

“It is,” Gwendalina said simply and Azriel chuckled, clearly not disturbed by the idea of them adopting the thing. I was hardly surprised, considering he had found the darkest of creatures fascinating in life.

They argued on and the Shadow Beast turned to smoke, though now it was a pale grey colour instead of inky dark, and it moved to hover by Gwendalina’s shoulder.

“No,” Lance growled.

“Yes,” she retorted, and Gabriel got up, stepping between them.

“Ah, Gabriel will see sense,” I said.

“This really isn’t the time for marital bickering,” he warned.

“It’s not marital if we’re not married,” Gwendalina pointed out.

“We will be married,” Lance said in a growl, and Merissa let out a small squeal while Azriel shot her widest grin.

“Oh Hail! Think of the wedding. The bridesmaids all in deepest blue, an ice sculpture in the shape of a Phoenix,” Merissa gushed.

“They could hire a jazz band,” Azriel said excitedly, and I gave both of them a dry look.

“Says who?” Gwendalina balked.

“She clearly doesn’t want to be married,” I said.

“Says me,” Lance snapped and I rounded on him.

“Watch your tone, boy,” I snarled.

“I will wed you the moment this war is over,” Lance said, and I had a mind to clip him around the ear.

“He’s possessive. Now who does that remind me of?” Merissa sung and Azriel nodded, looking at me.

“Oh you will, will you?” Gwendalina narrowed her eyes at Lance. “We’re already mated, why would we get married too?”

“Again,” Gabriel cut in. “Really not the time. We need to go.”

Time shivered and we found ourselves following them out of the Royal Seer’s chamber.

“What will their wedding song be, do you think?” Merissa whispered to me.

“He hasn’t even proposed to her,” I scoffed. “There will be no wedding if she does not wish it. Besides, he hasn’t asked our permission.”

“And how is he meant to ask the permission of two dead Fae?” Merissa asked dryly. “Honestly Hail, you were just as uppity over this when Roxanya married Darius.”

“Don’t remind me,” I muttered. “Or I will think twice on letting that go. I would like to think that Lance would at least make an effort. Hold a séance perhaps.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Merissa said.

Lance spoke in a low voice to Gwendalina. “You will marry me.”

“You know, people usually ask someone if they want to marry them, not just command it,” she whispered.

“You’re already mated to me by the stars, what’s there to ask?” Lance demanded.

“Just because we’re mated doesn’t mean you get to skip a proposal.” Gwendalina shot him a sharp look and I smirked. Give him hell, little darling. “So you’d better ask really, really nicely the next time you bring this up. And I am making no promises that I’ll say yes.”

“Or that I’ll agree to it,” Gabriel tossed back over his shoulder, and I barked a laugh.

“Good boy,” I said.

“He’s so protective of his sisters.” Merissa smiled serenely, though apparently me being protective made me ridiculous.

“And since when do I have to ask your permission?” Lance asked in shock, and I revelled in that look while Azriel chuckled, simply enjoying the back and forth.

“I second that question,” Gwendalina called to him.

“Since I’m your brother, it’s my duty to look out for you,” Gabriel replied, taking a sharp left down a short hallway and they hurried after him with us in their stead.

Gwendalina scoffed.

“Darius didn’t ask your permission to marry Tory,” Lance said.

“That boy doesn’t know the meaning of respect, that’s why,” I muttered.

“I don’t recall you asking my father for my hand in marriage. Actually, I recall you kidnapping me to Solaria,” Merissa said, shooting me a look and I shrugged innocently. “All this asking is outdated anyway, I say. It’s down to Gwendalina whether she wishes to marry him or not, and the only person Lance need ask is her.”

“I know. And I’ll be taking it up with him beyond the Veil, but as we’re currently on two different planes, and I don’t plan on dying anytime soon, he’ll have to wait for the ass kicking I plan on presenting him with in the afterlife,” Gabriel said to Lance. “You, however, don’t get to escape me via death, so you’d better be nice as pie to me if you’re determined to marry my sister.”

“Ha.” I beamed at his stance on the matter, then time shifted, and my smile died a quick death at what I found waiting for us.

Gwendalina was in a furious battle with Lavinia, while Lance and Gabriel were locked in a fight with too many Nymphs to count, and Azriel kept with his son, calling to him in fear. Merissa and I flitted between watching our daughter and our son, the two of them separated and in so much danger it left me desperate and terrified once more.

Gwendalina fought with a skill that far outmatched Lavinia, but the power of the shadows was so great, she was a deadly opponent indeed.

My soul flashed into view before Gabriel while Merissa stayed with our daughter, and I spotted Lance hurtling between the trees, driving my sword into the hearts of countless Nymphs.

“Use the Hydra power in the sword!” I bellowed to him.

“He does not know how,” Azriel said anxiously.

Gabriel spread his wings, flying after Lance while Azriel and I took chase, keeping up with him by simply willing it to be so.

“Go on, Gabriel!” I cried, and I swear those words crossed the boundary to reach him, his jaw tightening with determination.

“Orio!” Gabriel called, and Lance glanced over as he slowed to drive his sword between the shoulder blades of a Nymph.

It turned to ash before him and my son landed at his side, catching his breath and bracing his hand on Lance’s shoulder. But lingering there for even that small measure of time allowed too many Nymphs to surround them, the rattles in their chests locking down their magic.

“Hurry,” Azriel begged in fear.

“Give that to me.” Gabriel snatched the sword from Lance’s grip.

Lance bared his fangs, turning to our enemies, ready to rip their throats out with nothing but his teeth.

“Stay close,” Gabriel warned.

“Ignite the Hydra fire within,” I demanded. “You must move it just so, let The Sight show you how.”

“Come on, come on,” Azriel urged.

Time flickered and Gabriel’s eyes flashed with knowledge as we made it back to him. He twisted the sword through the air in the right movement and I hollered my encouragement as purple fire raced down the length of it in a spiral.

“Yes!” Azriel shouted.

Time jolted again, but I clung to Gabriel, standing next to him, and turning my gaze on his enemies. “Destroy them,” I breathed.

Purple fire exploded away from the sword in every direction, and Gabriel yanked Lance against his side to make sure it didn’t hurt him. The tornado of savage flames carved through their enemies, turning the first rows of them to soot while the others ran for their lives, screeches of terror rising into the air all around us.

“Watch over them, I must go to my daughter,” I said.

“Of course,” Azriel vowed.

With their win secured, I turned my mind to Gwendalina, letting my soul dart away to join Merissa’s.

Gwendalina had Lavinia trapped on a hill beside the palace in a flaming orb of Phoenix fire. The Shadow Princess screamed from within, and my daughter spoke the words of a powerful spell, the magic of it cracking through the air like a whip.

“She’s cutting her off from the shadows,” Merissa told me, her eyes bright with hope. “Are Gabriel and Lance well?”

“For now,” I said, watching Gwendalina in reverence.

She and Roxanya were so much more powerful than even I could ever have claimed to be. It rattled the foundations of the kingdom. And if they could defeat the monsters who had to play dirty to get the upper hand in this war, then it would change the whole world. I did not want them on the throne simply because they were of my blood; they had earned it, had proven themselves worthy of it time and again. There were no truer queens than them.

Time shuddered and a horrid, shrieking roar pierced the air as Tharix joined the fight in his Dragon form, chasing after Gabriel and Lance. I tried to get closer to Gabriel, but time jolted once more and he and Lance burst from the trees, riding on the back of the Shadow Beast, leaving me speechless.

“Do you wish she had killed it now?” Merissa asked and I blew out a breath, unsure what to think.

Tharix tore after them in the sky, black wings descending.

“Adiuro te. Fores claudo. Adiuro te. Fores claudo,” Gwendalina spoke her spell louder, the power building and snapping through the atmosphere, and I swear the hairs raised on my arms as the colossal magic swept around us.

“No,” Lavinia sobbed from within that sphere of fire, the spell binding itself to her and shutting her off from all shadows which were not already contained within her flesh.

“Finish her,” Merissa urged, eyes darkening with the oncoming death of the Shadow Princess, and hope blossomed within me at the prospect. “Make her suffer.”

A Dragon’s roar sounded off in the distance, and I turned to look towards the gates of the Palace of Souls, a glint of jade green scales in the distance telling me all I needed to know. Lionel and his bonded men had returned.

“Fuck,” I spat. “They have to go. Now!”

“Darcy!” Lance’s voice cut through the air.

The Shadow Beast bounded up the hill toward her with Lance and Gabriel on its back, and Gwendalina’s lips parted in surprise. I could see another soul sitting astride that beast too, Azriel Orion behind his son, his expression a mixture of wonderment and concern.

Tharix was in their wake, gliding along on dark wings with shadows flourishing from his mouth. Gwendalina raised a hand to fight and time skipped, bouncing us along and making me cry out in alarm.

We had to get back. We couldn’t leave them now.

When we managed to return, the Shadow Princess was gone along with Tharix, and a hoard of Nymphs were charging from the trees towards our family where Gwendalina sat on the Shadow Beast in front of her brother.

“The Dragons are here,” Gabriel gasped. “Go!”

Gwendalina used a whip of air to summon the dagger Lavinia had dropped on the ground, her thumb brushing the crimson garnet gemstone in its hilt before she tucked it into her waistband, cutting a hole in her shorts so the blade stuck through. I knew that blade; Merissa had gifted it to me long ago, and only now did I consider the possible value in the gemstone gleaming in its hilt. It had always felt so powerful, yet never once had I considered it might be a Guild Stone until now.

“Get to the perimeter, turn the Shadow Beast around,” Lance demanded.

“There’s no time,” Gwendalina said decisively, turning the Shadow Beast towards the palace where two ornate silver doors stood.

“You need to open them!” Azriel called to us.

Merissa ran to the doors and I chased after her as fast as I could move.

We threw our power against them, forcing the palace to bend to our will. They flew wide and the moment our loved ones were through, we locked them tight to buy them more time.

The Shadow Beast carried them down the hallways and we raced along beside them, gliding along just as fast and slamming the window shutters closed as we went. It was all we could do to keep them safe, and I swear the palace wanted that too, the whole place groaning and answering the call of our power but most of all Gwendalina’s, the shutters and doors and windows locking down across the entirety of the place. My daughter’s strength called out to us, bolstering our own power. The palace was alive with it, making the walls hum and buzz, this ancient place relishing the chance to worship her.

“That’s it,” Azriel cried, lending us his own power as it spilled from his soul into the walls.

They took a passage in the direction of Lionel’s bedchamber – which was just a guest room thanks to the palace, my wife and I keeping him firmly out of mine and Merissa’s rooms.

With the Nymphs left far behind and their magic returned, Gabriel and Lance took a moment to heal themselves, my son’s wing cracking as the break in it fixed and Merissa hissed between her teeth at the thought of the pain it must have caused him.

Gabriel healed Gwendalina next as she urged the Shadow Beast onward.

A clamour of Dragon roars sounded beyond the building, and as the beast reached the next landing, a flash of green scales beyond the vast window ahead made my heart judder.

Gwendalina cast an air shield just as the window shattered and Merissa and I sped forward, forcing the shutters to slam tight to keep him out. Magic rumbled through the palace walls, securing those shutters with a power that would only answer the call of my daughter now, and Lionel roared in anger as he found himself unable to break through.

They took another stairway, climbing ever higher and time threw Merissa, Azriel and I forward once more. The palace was angry now, like it was a beast of its own, and I swear Gwendalina had brought on a wrath in it that would not allow Lionel back between its walls. The magic was ancient and so thick in the air, it was like feeling the touch of my ancestors at my back, my power merging with theirs and making it mine to command.

“You shall not return to this palace, Lionel Acrux!” I bellowed, the words ricocheting through the walls.

They made it to Lionel’s bedchamber, and Merissa threw the door wide for them, the Shadow Beast moving so fast that it crashed into the four-poster bed, breaking it to pieces and sending the three of them flying from its back, while Azriel landed lightly on his feet, unaffected by their fall.

Gwendalina scrambled upright, immediately hunting through Lionel’s things.

“Stardust,” she called to the others and Lance nodded, shooting around the room with his speed and throwing every drawer out until he stopped before her again with a pouch in his hand and a grin on his lips.

“Why didn’t you say so sooner, beautiful?” Lance said.

“Show off,” Azriel smirked.

Gwendalina cracked a laugh, but it was lost as Lionel collided with the side of the building, his talons tearing through the stone wall so the whole structure shuddered.

“Get off of my palace, asshole,” I cursed, but more Dragons threw themselves against the walls to try and gain entry.

The palace groaned and I felt another blast of power roll through it, lending my strength to it too. One glimpse out the window showed Lionel’s servants and prisoners alike being tossed out of windows here, there, and everywhere by the magic of the palace. My soul quivered with the power of it all, starting to feel drained by how much of myself I’d given, and as I met Merissa’s gaze, I could tell she was exhausted too.

“Just hold on,” she demanded, and I nodded once.

“No force in this world will take me from them now. We will see them free this very day,” I growled.

“They are so very close to freedom, I can taste it,” Azriel breathed.

“Here!” Gabriel called, and I turned, finding him pointing to the wall. “There’s a hidden passage, it will lead us to the roof,” he said, his eyes glimmering with The Sight. “We have a chance to get to the wards above. But we have to go now.”

Gwendalina opened the passage Gabriel had seen there without needing our help, looking back at the Shadow Beast.

“Come on, beastie. Do the smoke thing,” she encouraged, and it quickly obeyed her, turning into a cloud of grey at her back.

“Remember it’s dangerous,” I called to her in concern, but she had clearly adopted the damn thing. And considering how it had helped them, perhaps she had made a decent choice, though it still worried me after I had witnessed the violence of that creature.

Time blurred, and suddenly we were in the sky, watching Gabriel and Gwendalina fly with the wings of their Orders while Lance was carried in Gabriel’s arms. They were fleeing for the wards high above the palace, and Lionel was on the ground, blasted there by a recent attack while his bonded Dragons flew to avenge him.

“Faster!” Merissa screamed, our hands locking as we chased them from beneath.

“Keep going!” Azriel roared.

Gwendalina cut through the wards with a boom that splintered through the sky and Lance tossed the stardust over their heads as Lionel roared in utter fury below us.

The palace was locked up tight and before they disappeared, Gwendalina cast a flaming Phoenix bird out of her fire, sending it down to fly above the Palace of Souls, singing their victory and perching on the roof in a mark of defiance. Then they were gone, stolen away into the safe embrace of the stars and The Veil dragged us back.

The three of us cheered, hugging each other and I kissed Merissa between breaths.

“They made it,” I said in utter relief, my feet landing in our rooms back in the Eternal Palace.

“I will go and tell Clara of their victory,” Azriel said eagerly, disappearing in a flash.

Merissa leaned into me, and we stood in the wake of all that power, the exhaustion lessening quickly now that we were back where we belonged.

“Our children are so remarkable, I wish I could tell them so myself,” Merissa whispered, and I kissed her forehead, not needing to say I felt the same, because she knew it to be true.

A tremor ran through the Eternal Palace, and I frowned as my mind turned to Roxanya, sensing something wasn’t right even before I looked for her. I couldn’t see her, couldn’t find her at all in the living realm, my soul remaining firmly rooted here.

“What’s going on?” Merissa murmured as she felt it too.

“A savage flame draws closer,” the stars whispered, something about the way they spoke making me think they might be startled. Though I had never once sensed emotion in the way they uttered things before now.

The whispers grew thicker, carrying everywhere across The Veil, but they spoke in a language too old for me to understand. The hiss and spit of their words was enough to tell me of their rage though.

Darius burst through the door, eyes wild. “Roxy is coming! She has made it to the ferryman, but she lives still. I need your help.”

“How can this be?” I said, confounded, but then the air shivered and we were thrown into the grand hall in the Eternal Palace as if the stars had shoved us there themselves.

“Mother and father of the flames, a doorway parts, the souls of the dead will rush as one to seek the land of the living. If they cannot be stopped, all shall fall,” the stars hissed.

“And this our responsibility how?” I barked.

“Your daughter breaks the laws of old, bends the rules long ago set in place by the Origin as she walks here not in death, but alive with her heart still beating. You must thwart her in her path. Stop her from stepping through The Veil. This is your duty, do not defy it.”

“How has she done this?” Merissa questioned in dismay, but I held no answer for her.

“You must also hold the dead where they belong, or ruin shall come. A bodiless mass of hungry souls will unbalance what is so finely balanced.”

“We can’t let them get through to the living realm,” Merissa said, her eyes flickering in a way that said the stars had just shown her something terrible. I felt the stars turn their attention elsewhere, no longer focused on us while they no doubt looked upon Roxanya.

“Roxy is going to be here any moment,” Darius said urgently. “She wishes to try and break me out of death and return me to life, but I followed that path and learned the truth of it. For me to live again, someone I love must die, and I will never choose that fate.”

I looked to Merissa in shock then back to Darius. “Then what is it you wish for now?”

“A moment, that is all. To speak with her and tell her I cannot return with her. And to…give her the goodbye we never got in life,” he said thickly, heartbreak tearing through his eyes.

“Oh Darius,” Merissa croaked. “I’m so sorry. Of course we will buy you that moment.”

I gripped his arm, our decision made. “You will speak with her. Remain here and we shall forge a path to bring her to you.”

“You’ll be defying the stars’ orders,” Darius reminded me darkly.

“I am the Savage King. No one gives me orders.”

“What’s happening?” Radcliff appeared alongside Catalina and Hamish.

“Is Gabriel well?” Marcel murmured, arriving too in a glimmer of light, his form seeming far less corporeal than the last time I had seen him.

“He is, and he needs your help Marcel,” Merissa said urgently. “All of our help.”

“One of my daughters has made a passage here like the stubborn girl she is,” I told them all. “A door to the living will open. The dead will rush for it, and the entire world shall be unbalanced if we do not stop them.”

“Will your daughter get back to the living?” Marcel asked in concern.

“She will,” Darius answered. “I will make sure of it.”

“Then perhaps she might tell Gabriel to think of me from time to time?” Marcel asked imploringly.

“It’s not the time for this,” I barked, looking to Darius and placing a hand on his shoulder, unsure what might happen next, only knowing that now was the time to speak any unspoken words between us. “Darius…I shed you of the Acrux name.”

“Already happened,” he said. “When I married your-”

“I shed you of the Acrux name,” I repeated louder. “I am proud to call you a Vega.”

His next retort died on his lips, and I gave him a tight smile. “Say hello to my daughter from me.”

“And make sure she gets home safe,” Merissa demanded, moving forward to embrace Darius and place a kiss on his cheek. “We are so very proud to have you in our family. She has chosen well.”

“Now you’re just blowing smoke up his ass,” Radcliff commented.

“He has enough smoke to blow up his own ass,” I said, but Darius didn’t seem to be listening, a heaviness hanging over him that tugged at my heart.

I frowned, moving closer to him. “I am sorry you could not find a path back to life.”

“We would have given anything to see you return to her,” Merissa added, sadness burning in her eyes.

“Thank you for…trying to help me,” Darius said to her, hanging his head in desolation.

Catalina ran forward to hug him, kissing his temple, his forehead, his hair.

“Mom,” Darius complained, though he didn’t pull away.

“Just be careful,” she fussed.

“I will,” he vowed.

“I love you more than the moon and the stars combined,” she said.

“You were a dastardly duck upon our meeting, now you’ve shed your feathers, and oh how jolly proud I am to see the great Fae you have become,” Hamish gushed, knocking his knuckles against Darius’s cheek. “Revel in your moment with your beloved quail, then return to us as swiftly as a goose with its tail on fire.”

“I will.” Darius squeezed Hamish’s arm. Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the FɪndNøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

The Eternal Palace trembled, and the stars focused on us all again, sweeping us away and leaving Darius behind before we could say more. I was deposited in a hazy golden field, nothing here but mist and too-still grass. The sky above was dark, the stars glittering angrily from above.

More souls glittered into existence; Azriel, Serenity, and Florence.

“What ho?” Florence gasped. “The stars have wangled a worm in my ears, speaking of a dastardly door. They wish for me to don my armour and fight like a fair lady!”

“Then you shall, dear Florry. We shall fight together like peas born in a pod.” Hamish nodded to us all and gleaming golden armour fell over us, cladding tight to my chest, a helmet slamming down on my head.

“Fucking stars.” I looked up at them but as a glittering golden sword appeared in my hand, I felt slightly less angry at them.

“Each strike cast by the celestial swords will make a soul fall into slumber,” the stars hissed to us all. “Strike many. Strike all.”

More chosen souls appeared around us, Felisia and her pride along with old kings, queens, ancient warriors and hundreds of other souls the stars apparently deemed trustworthy in taking up this fight.

Radcliff spun his sword in his grip, shooting me a fierce look. “Good to be back in the game, eh?”

Azriel moved to join me, eyes alight. “I have waited many years to fight alongside you again, Hail.”

“And you, dear friend.” I smiled, looking to my wife, taking in the way the armour hugged her curves and her eyes lit with a ruthless hunger for the fight. The stars were stoking the flames of our hearts, wanting us to want this. But I didn’t need their encouragement. I would fight as a Fae in the company of his kin, for family and the world we had long left behind.

The moment Roxanya arrived here, I would fight for her to have time with Darius too, forgoing the commands of the stars. One wordless look with Merissa told me she was ready to forge a path for her the second we got the chance, but we did not dare voice our plan again while the stars watched us so closely.

A dark Pegasus came galloping across the field with Reth and Clara Orion riding it, a line of mares following at their back. Armour clad them just like ours and the Pegasus reared up before us in a show of glitter and bravado before planting its hooves.

“A door opens as it once did long ago!” Reth yelled. “Follow my lead. And keep your eyes from the gateway to the living once it parts. Resist its call, it is stronger than you can ever imagine.”

“You’re not in charge here,” I barked, and he turned a smile on me.

“Oh, but Savage King, I am the man who almost lived,” he said like that was supposed to mean something, then he cried, “Yah!” and charged away down the line of warriors.

“She’s almost here,” Merissa exhaled and a gasp left me at the tumultuous power that roared at my back.

As one, we turned to look, the air peeling apart behind us and revealing a rip right through the atmosphere, creating a gateway between worlds. Blinding light poured from that gateway and its call was so potent, I nearly dropped my sword and ran for its beckoning glow, but Merissa caught my hand, squeezing and reminding me where my feet belonged.

“You and I have fought many fights together,” she said as I met her gaze, my love for her so fierce that the temptation at my back dwindled to nothing. “Let us fight this one for all those we left behind.”

There was nothing for me beyond that door anymore, no body awaiting my soul, no place for me to reclaim. If I crossed through, I didn’t know what I would become but I knew I could never again be what I once was.

The ground quaked and I dragged my attention away from the captivating creature before me, finding the entire horizon blazing with the shimmer of thousands of souls. They came as a blur, souls colliding with other souls in their haste to reach that door and it took everything I had to ignore the call of it too.

“Ready?!” I bellowed to the warriors around me.

“Ready, sire!” Hamish cried, and the answer was echoed by the rest of them. “Into the baked blundercake we go!”

“We’ll buy them their moment the second she arrives,” Merissa murmured to me.

I nodded, and as one we moved, running to meet our enemies, swords raised and battle cries tearing from our throats.

The first souls spilled against us, and I swung my sword, casting five of them into slumber at once, their souls sparking away to some unknown palace within The Veil. Azriel took down four more and Merissa’s wings burst to life as she took off, slicing the sword through the crowd and taking out a whole hoard of desperate souls in one go.

My Hydra bellowed, descending from the dark sky above and starlight ran over it before fire billowed from its jaws. It was no longer purple as it should have been, but purest gold, not harming the swathes of souls it seized, but sending them all into a star-bound sleep.

Florence swung her sword in a wide circle and she spun with it, spinning and spinning like a tornado as she took out soul after soul with her mildly crazy yet entirely effective attack.

Marcel’s form seemed more solid as he fought with renewed purpose, flying after Merissa as they carved down the souls in droves.

“Radcliff – summon your Dragon!” I yelled, turning to look for him.

My gut lurched as I found him facing away from the battle, sword loose in his grip as he stared at the gateway to the living.

“Radcliff!” I bellowed, slashing my sword through another line of souls.

He started walking, feet dragging at first then moving faster, his sword slipping from his fingers entirely.

I cursed, turning from the fight and sprinting after him as he made a bid for the door.

“Radcliff – stop!” I roared.

“Just one more day,” he cried. “Or a week perhaps. A month even. I never had long enough there; I’m owed it!”

I ran faster, powering towards him, reminded of my Pitball days as I prepared to take him down.

He was a fast motherfucker, but I was gaining on him. He put on a burst of speed, hand outstretched, not looking back as the glow of the doorway lit him in purest white light.

I slammed into him, the two of us rolling across the grass before I managed to pin him beneath me. Then I slapped him across the face, and he blinked hard.

“You do not get another chance at life,” I growled.

“It was seized from me too soon – I never got to leave my mark like you did!” he bellowed, fighting me, and I shoved my weight down on him, but he was damn large and his fist crashed into my side.

I grabbed his face in my hands, forcing him to look me in the eye. “We are lost men. Life is not ours to claim. But you can make your mark here.” I forced him to look at the surge of souls, the endless tide of them slamming into the line of warriors. Some were slipping past the line, and Merissa swept down on them fast, swiping her sword through their souls.

“We need you. Your Dragon could give us the upper hand,” I implored. “You can be the hero of the living world, even if they never learn of what you did here this day. But you must make the choice, Radcliff.”

He glanced towards the door, a groan of longing leaving him.

“I feel it too,” I swore. “I want to go back there more than you can ever imagine. My family has lived their lives without me, and I wish every day for more time with them. But we do not belong out there, dear friend.”

His throat bobbed and slowly, agonisingly, he pulled his gaze from it.

His Dragon bellowed in the heavens and came diving from the sky. Its fire was touched by starlight as it opened its jaws and let all hell loose on the souls, scattering them from this field and sending them away to sleep.

I shoved to my feet, pulling him after me and clapping him bracingly on the shoulder. Together, we ran back to the fight and Radcliff picked up his sword before launching himself into the fray.

I hefted my own blade higher, preparing to re-join the battle, but then my gaze hooked on a figure appearing within the light of the holy door across the field. And I knew in my heart it was Roxanya. Just steps away from making it beyond The Veil.

“Merissa!” I bellowed, and she landed beside me in the next moment, gazing towards our daughter as the battle raged on at our backs.

“I want to go to her,” I said in pain, taking a step forward. “Just for a moment.”

Merissa stepped after me. “I want that too, Hail, more than anything. But the stars won’t allow this for long, and she may only have time enough to spend with one Fae here. It should be with Darius.”

I growled, knowing it to be so and my Hydra roared in the sky at the pain that truth caused me.

“Then let us forge a path for her that the stars cannot touch,” I breathed, our hands interlinking as always.

Our power burst from us, tearing away in a flare of golden light that collied with the door and started threading a path for our daughter. It was a tunnel built of love and light, and the moment she stepped into it, the stars screamed, and the ground bucked beneath us.

I gripped Merissa’s hand tighter, watching as Roxanya travelled along the path we built for her, taking her all the way up into the sky and on towards the Eternal Palace where her true love awaited her.

Tears glinted on Merissa’s cheeks and dripped to the ground, and I realised one had escaped me too. Our pain bound with our love, and no matter how deeply this angered the stars, they didn’t come for us. Our magic was too great, our love too pure. But it was more than that, it was our sacrifice that truly kept them at bay. Our vow not to go to our daughter ourselves, and we paid the price of this act against the stars in the terrible ache that burned deep through our chests. We were one in that moment, Merissa and I, two parents making an atonement to the stars in our suffering, which could not be denied by them or any other.

The two of us turned to take up our places in the battle once more, to keep these souls away from the door and the passage we had made for our daughter.

Whatever Roxanya had done to reach this place, I prayed it had not cost her too much. But I knew The Veil would not get its chance to seize her yet, because Darius Vega would not let it be so.

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