Fae (35 page)

Any minute Gormahn’s power would kick in and stop the bleeding.

Any minute
.

Neala was crying, he could hear her behind him shouting his name, he had to do something to reassure her, but it was impossible to get the breath for it. The bullet had hit his lung, if he tried to force the air he was going to choke on the blood.
Where the fuck are you when I actually need the power, Gormahn?

“Stop whining, Fae. Be silent.” Marik walked towards them, and Neala’s voice choked off. “I’m assuming he’s the one who helped you escape before? Well… I think we should show your friend
exactly
who you belong to.”

Marik opened his mouth to give an order, the hum in the air resonating in Kiernan’s ears as the power of the bands waited to act. Kiernan put a hand on the floor next to him and touched the edge of the sword.
Yes
. Just as Marik stepped next to him Kiernan grabbed the blade, the sharp edge digging into his palm, and then he shoved it up into Marik’s chest, under his ribs. A white-hot pain seared through Kiernan’s chest, over his heart, but he forced himself to grab the hilt of the sword and push it deeper. Marik looked down at him with a look of confusion, the gun thumping to the floor as Marik crumpled.

Then, everything went dark.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Ráj Manor, Caledon, Ontario

Neala couldn’t process what she’d seen, and it took her a moment to realize she was frozen with panic and shock. Marik had
shot
Kiernan, and he was bleeding, but then Kiernan had run Marik through with the sword. He’d
killed
him. She had to get to Kiernan, she had to stop the bleeding. When Neala tried to stand up the bands reacted instantly, sending pain arching across her back, and then her attempt to scream only doubled the pain.

Tears burned the edges of her eyes as she folded forward, stifling her urge to cry out so that the bands would stop. She lifted her head when the pain finally faded and she heard a slight rattle of breath come out of Marik.

He was still alive
.

His breathing was weak, he wouldn’t live - but what about Kiernan?

Her mind flashed back to their first real conversation, the one where he’d explained why he had never helped one of the Faeoihn. He’d said he
couldn’t
, that it would kill
him
to kill a master. Which was exactly what he had just done. For her.

No, no, no, no, no.

Neala slapped the floor next to her, unable to speak, or move from the spot, as long as Marik still lived. Kiernan didn’t react at all. Bending forward as far as she could while staying in the kneel, she found that the tips of her fingers could brush Kiernan’s boot. She tapped it, over and over and over.

Nothing.

Sitting back up she pulled at her hair. Her hands were streaked with blood and she was sure she had wiped some of it on her face when she had brushed her tears away. She mouthed Kiernan’s name and slammed her palms on the floor again. Still no response, and the bright glow of the bands on her wrists mocked her by pulsing a steady ache as they ticked away the last seconds of Marik’s life – and maybe Kiernan’s.

Neala tilted her head to the side, trying to still herself so she could look for a rise and fall of Kiernan’s chest. Bracing her hands against the ground she held her breath. Was he breathing? Had she imagined the faint movement of his clothes? Was that rattle in his chest or Marik’s? She felt a hitch of breath in her own chest as she cried silently. He had come for her, to save her. Even when he couldn’t just use his power to disappear with her, he had stayed, he had fought for her and killed for her. Not just her, but all the girls. Complete strangers to him, and he had saved all of them.
And for what
?

If Kiernan was gone, she’d just end up in some new hell. Alone.

Her hand gripped the disc on the necklace, and a pit opened in her stomach.
She’d never said she loved him
. Another sob welled up in her throat, coming out in a silent gasp of breath as tears ran down her face. She was so stupid, so fucking stupid. She’d had him with her for
hours
, why hadn’t she said it the moment she saw him? Why hadn’t she screamed it at the top of her lungs the moment she was awake and in his arms?

The bands disappeared.

The constant humming ache they had supplied disappeared with them, and the first sound that came out of her was a sob. She moved towards Kiernan, rolling him gently onto his back. His face was pale, his eyes closed, and Neala laid her cheek against his lips to check for breath. She waited, and waited – no movement of air against her cheek. Another sob rolled out of her as she pressed her fingers to his throat, digging her fingertips in, desperate for a pulse that she knew wasn’t there.

“Kiernan, please, Kiernan, wake up! Wake up. GET UP, DAMMIT!” She shook him, but he didn’t move. Her hand found the bullet hole and she started to rip at the clasps and zippers that held the jacket on him. When it was open she grabbed the knife at her side and simply cut the shirt open. The bullet wasn’t the problem, it was about three inches below his heart, and survivable, especially for an immortal. No, the problem was the dark sword mark over his heart, completely wrapped in the vines that spread from his shoulder.

His curse
. Gormahn’s guarantee of obedience.

“NO! This
can’t
be happening, Kiernan, I fucking love you! I
love
you, I love you, please, you can’t leave me… this didn’t mean anything if you leave me!” She was screaming at him, hitting his chest, even though he couldn’t hear her anymore. Tears burned paths down her cheeks as her mind filled in what would happen next for her – she could run, but eventually someone would find her, claim her, and she’d be trapped again. No hope for freedom, or anything good ever again.

Always with the memory that she’d lost the only person to ever love her.

She couldn’t do that. She wasn’t that strong.

Reaching over Kiernan she picked up his gun. She was no expert with it, but she understood the basics. Point, pull trigger. She lifted it and put the still warm end against her temple. She probably,
hopefully
, wouldn’t survive a headshot. Closing her eyes she gripped the gun harder, her finger pressed to the trigger, and guilt swelled inside her as she tried to get the courage to pull.

Eltera
.

“DAMMIT!” Neala screamed, dropping the gun to her lap. She sobbed, screaming with futile rage. Then she looked up at the ceiling, her chest a hollow wasteland that the goddess had to be able to see. “Eltera, if you’re still there, if you still see me and know me, if you have
ever
loved me like a daughter… release me from this! Release me from my pledge to you! Please, just let me go, because I can’t, I can’t do this anymore.” She gripped the gun in one hand, her other hand moving down Kiernan’s arm until she could interlace their fingers. Neala squeezed her eyes closed and lifted the gun to her temple again, breathing in, and out. She was shaking, a lot, or – no,
she
wasn’t shaking at all. A boom of thunder cracked over the house, and it made her take her finger from the trigger as the floor shook beneath her.

“Oh, Neala, of
course
I still love you.” That voice. Neala’s eyes snapped opened and she looked up to see Eltera towering over her, a look of sadness etched into her impossibly beautiful features.

“Eltera?!” Neala’s voice cracked with disbelief.

“Yes, my daughter?” She reached forward and her hand pressed against Neala’s cheek, a humming sensation filling her as the golden light that radiated from the goddess touched Neala’s skin.

“I -” she started sobbing again, the pain in her chest too overwhelming, “I can’t keep going. Not without him. I can’t do this for another two thousand years, or more. I’m sorry, I want to be strong for you, I’ve tried to be strong for you, but I
can’t
go on without him.”

“I had never planned for you to be without him.” Eltera removed her hand from Neala’s cheek and leaned down to rest it on Kiernan’s chest. “But I had to know if he was the right one, if he would, in fact, sacrifice everything for you. I had to know he deserved you.”

“What?” Neala sat back, confused. “You - you
knew
about this? You knew he would kill Marik? You knew he’d
die
trying to protect me?!”

“I sent you a warning to prepare you.” Eltera’s speech was calm and straightforward, which infuriated her even as Neala’s mind jumped back to the dream of blood pouring from the mark on Kiernan’s chest. Of course the goddess would send her a jumbled, confusing, abstract message, and assume it was clear. She couldn’t just show up in her head and say ‘
Hey, Kiernan is going to kill Marik when he steals you back
’, that would be too easy, too literal.

“But why didn’t you
stop
it?!” Neala screamed, and when Eltera’s eyes lifted to hers they glowed gold and fear quivered in her stomach, reminding her to be respectful. Adopted mother or not, Eltera was still a goddess, and her tolerance for insolence was practically non-existent. “I love him,” Neala whispered meekly and the short-lived irritation on Eltera’s face melted back into compassion.

“I know you do, and it took so much effort to bring you two together.” Eltera was glowing more brightly, the light diffusing the edges of her so that Neala had to blink against it. “I had to kill your last master,
not
an easy feat when I had to use you as a conduit and make sure my power didn’t kill
you
as well. Then I had to send the right idea, at the right time, for Kiernan to check on you so he would have the urgency to go to you and rescue you. So many moving parts when working with mortals, so many decisions to affect.”

“So you
did
kill Nikola?” Neala asked, still a little surprised to have it confirmed even though she’d guessed it herself.

“We both did in a way, Neala.” Eltera’s voice echoed in the hall, lyrical and powerful. “I may be locked away, I may be Gormahn’s slave, but I have
never
abandoned any of my Faeoihn. In a way I am always with you. I love each of you, and my plan is to give you all the happiness you deserve.” The light grew blinding, and out of it came the echo of Eltera’s words, “Starting with you, Neala.”

The light disappeared and Kiernan gasped. He sat up straight, coughing and wheezing, and his eyes were wide – and
green
. Neala let out a sob of disbelief, and when his head turned he immediately cupped her face and kissed her hard. Neala’s heart was pounding, the tears on her cheeks suddenly happy ones as she thrust her hands into his hair to hold him against her.

He was alive, he was alive, he was
alive
. She pulled back, and though she probably looked like a wreck from the fighting, the blood, and the crying, she smiled and let the words tumble from her.

“I love you! I love you, Kiernan, and if you
ever
try to leave me again I’ll beg Eltera to bring you back again just so I can kill you.” Neala laughed through most of it, so overwhelmed by the joy of having him with her again that she couldn’t even say the threat seriously. His wide grin took her breath away before he kissed her again; their lips pressed so hard together it felt like they might bruise.

“I love you too, Neala.” He spoke the words against her lips, and then he looked down at his chest, running his hand over the place where the bullet had gone in. That was when she noticed the ouroboros, a serpent eating its own tail, surrounding the dark sword on his chest. A symbol of ends and beginnings, of the power of nature and life. Eltera’s symbol. The vines were still crowding the sword, but Kiernan was breathing – he was alive. He had seen the new symbol as well, tracing his fingers across it. “But…
how
? How am I -”

“Hello, Kiernan.” Eltera cleared her throat and smiled down at them both, and when Kiernan turned and saw her he almost choked. He scrambled to get into a kneel, bowing his head.

“Goddess, I -”

Eltera waved a hand at him, cutting him off. “It’s okay, Kiernan. Relax, we have some things to discuss and I do not have much time.”

He took a deep breath, but the tension didn’t leave his shoulders as he slowly lifted his gaze to Eltera’s face. “Goddess, Eltera, I, …did you bring me back?” His voice cracked as he asked the question, and Neala reached over to grab his hand as emotion swelled in him.

“Yes, I did.” Eltera smiled at him. “Neala called out to me for you.”

Neala smiled when he looked at her again, and she was still shocked by the vibrant green of his eyes. “I couldn’t live without you.” His smile lit her up from the inside, pure joy filling her up like a balloon. She brushed her fingers across his temple. “Your eyes are green.”

“What?! How?” Kiernan looked back up at Eltera and she smiled.

“A side effect of placing my mark on you. By blocking the poison from the Ebon Oak, I’ve also blocked you from Gormahn’s control, apparently that means your eyes have reverted back as well.”

“
That
is what this does?” Kiernan laid his hand over the ouroboros, looking to Neala in shock before turning back to the goddess. “He can’t control me? He can’t kill me?”

“No, Kiernan. He cannot. Although you were doing a fine job resisting him all on your own.” Eltera winced, and the ghostly outline of the manacles appeared on her wrists, linked by an ethereal chain. She took a shuddering breath, not even acknowledging them as she raised her eyes again. “I brought you back, and I have placed you under my protection, but it was not
just
for Neala. There is a deeper purpose.”

“Of course.” Kiernan straightened his back and cleared his throat, “Eltera, I will do anything you ask of me, my life is yours.”

“Hmm, well it
has
been a long time since I have heard a pledge like that.” Eltera’s smile broadened, and her eyes flicked back to Neala. “He is delightful, my daughter. I wonder though, would he be willing to leave
you
if I asked?” Kiernan twitched and looked over at Neala. His eyes were wide, tense with the painful idea, and her chest ached too because she had no idea why Eltera would even ask that after everything they had been through.

Then he grabbed her hand.

The moment their hands touched Neala gasped as the bands appeared again, blindingly bright for a moment, a dull ache burning up her arms until the pain settled back around the bands.