Astarte's Wrath (20 page)

Isis, Sekhmet, every immortal one I’ve ever prayed to and those I haven’t—protect my friends
.

And then I’m sparking my Charge, enveloping Xarion and me in a cocoon of celestial blue. It takes nearly all my strength and concentration to cover us with the shield, and I can only continue to pray that Phoenix and Lunia provide enough resistance for me to get him clear.

And that they forgive me.

But they must understand this is what I have to do. Xarion has to be guarded at all cost.

We barrel through the storm that stirs ahead of our path. The sand bounces off my crackling field of Charge. I feel the blast of Leymak power as it webs over my defense. Silvery currents fizzle along the shield, but we push on.

The clang of weapons and strained shouts reaches my ears, and still I push on, heading for the nearest town. Only our three friends left behind aren’t enough to thwart five Leymak. Three of them blink in and out before us, firing white bolts that break down my shield with each impact.

Who is fighting the guardians? Why has Candra set most of her minions on us?

Three Leymak stand just feet ahead of us. We charge forward to break through their barricade of rippling sand. Like in the red land during the battle, it topples upon itself, and when I yank Xarion to the left to dart around, the sand rises up like a wall. My Charge fails, and we hit it straight on.

Knocked on our backs, I scramble to get to my feet as Xarion’s arm reaches around me, sheltering me. I curse at him under my breath.
I’m his protector!
But it makes no difference. White-illumed hands reach down and grab us, yanking us apart.

My binding calls out, causing a physical pain to splinter through me. I’ve been commanded to stay by his side, and disobeying that order—no matter what the cause—hurts, like fire ripping through my body. I crumple.

Xarion struggles against two of the black-clad Leymak as they pull him farther away. “Star! I release you!”

The pain ends, and I bound up, knocking my captor in the chin with the top of my head. He grunts and stumbles back. I grasp my sword. Angling the crescent blade before me, I stare him down. “Release Pharaoh Caesarion or I’ll end you.”

Wiping the blood from his nose, he chuckles. “I doubt that. Candra!”

My head whips around as Candra stalks toward us, her glowing silver eyes focused on me. Phoenix is being dragged behind her by a Leymak and
Nuri
. Phoenix’s face and hands are bloodied, his sword missing.

I glance between Candra and Nuri—his red-illumed hand anchored to one of Phoenix’s arms—and my heartbeat pulses in my ears, my blood pressure rising.

We’ve been betrayed.

But when I spot Lunia, my blood freezes. Icy poison slithers through my veins like snake venom—crippling.

She glides beside Candra, unrestrained, a sullen expression weighting her features.

“Lunia?” I say, barely a whisper.

She stops by Candra’s side as the Leymak halts her. “Did you think you were the
only
connection to the pharaoh?” Candra asks. “Or did you assume your friends were just as self-righteous as you? Maybe you thought they didn’t deserve the right to make their own choice in a matter concerning
their
futures?”

I don’t acknowledge Candra or her chiding questions. My gaze holds Lunia’s.

Lunia bows her head for a moment before pulling her shoulders back and lifting her head high. “There are no sacrifices too great when one deems to be a mother.” She circles a hand over her stomach. “Candra gave me a gift I couldn’t refuse.”

Chapter Eighteen

C
andra takes Lunia’s hand
and leads her to where Xarion is being restrained. And Lunia allows her, turning her back on me.

Betrayal crashes over me and drags me under like a tidal wave demolishing a city. Somewhere in my heart I knew how desperate my friend was to become a mother. Yet, I could never doubt her. I never questioned her loyalty, her allegiance to the Ptolemies. She’s never voiced a complaint over being a slave—I had no reason to fear she’d betray me. I should have spent more time comforting her and discovering her needs.

Though only Candra could give her what she truly desired.

I’m forced to my knees, my arms pulled behind me at a painful angle. I groan at the snapping of my joints.

Phoenix mirrors my position near Xarion, and guilt settles in my core. I doubted him. I couldn’t have been more wrong. He struggles against his captors, slinging curses and threats, regardless of his broken slavery binds. His gaze traps mine. Glowing fierce red irises hold my blue flames, and he nods. He’s with me till the end.

Candra walks into my line of vision, and I’m forced to watch as she runs her pale fingers over Xarion’s cheek. My stomach quivers with disgust. She stares down at him and tilts her head as she touches the scar running through his eyebrow. I’m going to break her fingers off one by one.

“So mortal,” she says, then turns to face me. “Why you would sacrifice everything for this one human, I’ll never understand, sister. You could’ve had as many as you wanted.”

I sneer at her. “That’s why I pity you, Candra. You’ll never understand, nor feel what it’s like to have one who desires you above all.” I glance around at her minions. “How pathetically
sad
that you have to use bribery to gain their devotion.”

White-hot anger flares in her eyes. She stalks toward me, her black layers airborne like sheer dark wings. Her sharp canines slip over her bottom lip as she smiles. Then she rears her blazing hand and backhands me hard across my cheek.

My head snaps to the side. My skin stings, and the smell of seared flesh wafts of my nose. Xarion’s angered shouts are muffled against the throbbing
whomp
.

Lowering herself before me, Candra kneels on one knee. Puts her mouth next to my ear. “Before Octavian bestows me with the scepter, I’m going to watch him murder your love.” She presses her palm to my forehead and I jerk, trying to break the connection as images flood my mind: the Leymak giving chase; capturing Xarion; beating Phoenix. “Then I’ll show it back to you in slow, slow motion.”

She yanks her hand away, her nails slicing my forehead as she turns. “Bury the Narco and Shythe,” she says, motioning between Phoenix and me. Then she snaps her fingers, and the two Leymak lift Xarion from his knelt position.

“No!” I scream.

Candra waves her hand through the air. Blackness swirls as she forms an entrance to the aether. I look at Lunia. Pray she regrets her actions and stops Candra. Does anything to help. But she doesn’t meet my gaze. Rage sears my chest. I spark my power and thrust a powerful pulse of Charge into my arms.

My captor’s hands meet my attempt with matching power, his hands flaming white as they block my attack. Using his free hand, he aims at the sand and it begins to stir, creating a hole.

Panic seizes my senses. They’re going to bury us in the desert. Xarion is going to be taken away from me. Killed.

A shout sounds out, and I look up to see Phoenix grappling with his Leymak captor, Nuri positioned to attack. His eyes are wild. The cords of his neck bulge. With a thunderous stomp, he ignites the ground, and a high wall of Flame travels along the sand. Nuri screams as he’s surrounded by the fire.

Hope crests within me.

With a guttural cry, I slam a heel into my captor’s foot and yank an arm free. Quickly, I cast of stream of Charge toward the sand. The crackling blue current liquefies the grains, then hardens it into a glass casing around his feet. I jab my elbow into his rib cage and he falls backward, trapped. But not for long.

I surround my arms with lightning blue and blast a bolt into his chest. He convulses as I kneel next him and grip his head. With a hard twist, I snap his neck. He fades out of existence.

I lean back on my heels and take a deep breath, just for a second to center myself. The wind sends sand and debris spiraling, and I hunker low, clawing my way toward Xarion.

Phoenix grabs his foe by the neck, sinking his sharp teeth into his throat. A sickening crunch bites the air as Phoenix rips his head to the side, coming away with flesh and blood; the Leymak’s power source. The Leymak falls to the earth, and Phoenix spits the flesh out.

As I near Phoenix, he reaches down and grabs my hand, helping me to my feet. Our gazes meet in understanding before we race toward Xarion.

Candra stands next to the black vortex of the aether as it yawns open. Her eyes widen when she locks on to us charging through the storm toward her minions. “Kill them!” she shouts.

Lunia backs up a step, her head bowed. She won’t fight us. Instead, she latches on to Xarion’s arm, taking one of his captor’s places so that he can meet us in battle. I cringe at her cowardice.

My gaze shifts to Xarion, and he smiles. While the two are trading places, he drops down and unsheathes a dagger from his ankle. He drives the blade into the Leymak on his left as Phoenix grabs the one on his right. Candra screams and bolts toward us, knocking Lunia to the ground.

Chaos surrounds the fray as sand rises in the whipping wind. I’m blinded from the fight between Phoenix and the others. Focusing on the one I’ve tackled, I drive my fist into his face. Nuri’s burnt head snaps sideways and he spits red. Then he looks me in the eyes before catching my arms with Flame-engulfed hands. His power surges through me, scorching. I’m unable to move as he throws me off and climbs on top, trapping my wrists above my head in his heated grasp.

“I’ve always wondered what it’d be like to fuck a Shythe,” he snarls. He growls, exposing his canines, as he pushes my shift up my thighs with his free hand. Heat blazes along my skin where his hand travels, and I kick my legs. He bears down harder.

“I may not be there to witness it—” I grind out. “But your race will answer for this.”

He laughs as his knees force mine apart. I try one last time to buck him off.

The weight of his body is suddenly gone. Xarion wraps his arms around Nuri’s shoulders and falls backward.

I scramble to my hands and knees.

“You’ll never touch her again,” Xarion seethes. Then he drags the blade of his dagger across Nuri’s neck, through his power source. Nuri gulps for air, the wide gash bleeding a river of red over his swirled ink. His body jerks one last time and he falls still.

Xarion’s chest heaves. His bloodied face looks more beautiful than I’ve ever seen it. He begins to stand and I bound up, determined to save him back.

A blast of silvery power hits Xarion’s chest and I scream as his body is flung feet away from me. Candra glides toward him, her body suspended by the high winds, her toes dragging through the sand.

Curses fall from my mouth as I stumble to get to him, but she blocks my path. Latching on to his arm, she yanks Xarion up beside her, her illuminated fingers clutching his throat. “Call off your mutt, Star.” She nods toward Phoenix. “Or I’ll kill him now. Octavian requested the pharaoh be brought in alive. But he’ll only be slightly less contented to see him brought in dead.”

I search the chaos for Phoenix. He’s fighting the last one of Candra’s minions. “Phoenix!”

His blazing hand halts mid-strike, his other fisting the Leymak’s black tunic. When he spots Xarion trapped in Candra’s hold, he releases his foe. The Leymak drops to the ground near Lunia’s feet, gasping.

I look at Candra. “I’ll find you.” I swallow, sand scraping my dry throat.

“I know,” she says, backing toward the black portal. “I’ll have the scepter. And I’ll be waiting.”

Xarion’s eyes hold mine as Candra leads them closer to the aether. His body is paralyzed in her grasp, her coils of silvery power wrapping around his body. My feet beg to move—but I know she means her words. One step, and she’ll unleash her power into him.

Phoenix sidles up beside me, his body bathed in blood and limp. “It doesn’t end here, Star.” I try to nod, to believe his words, but I’m stiff with fear.

With one last look of shame, Lunia grabs the fallen Leymak and helps him stand. Then she wordlessly disappears into the blackness with him.

Candra gives me a sly smile as the aether reaches out, swathing her in dark spirals of mist. Then she’s gone.

Xarion’s gone.

The black void wavers, shrinking.

At once, Phoenix and I start toward it. His feet dig into the sand, kicking up grains behind him. He’s faster and pushes himself ahead. With a grunt, he lunges. He vanishes into the aether just as the black haze smokes out.

I shout and dive for the last of the dark wisps—and hit the desert sand.

“No! Gods!” I lift my hand and grasp at the dark mist as it fades to nothing.

Chapter Nineteen