Kaleidoscope (Faylinn Series) (31 page)

Before I caught sight of them, Liam and Owen had shifted from where I bound them and were gaining on Kai. “Stop!” I demanded. And they did, but I wasn’t sure how long it was going to last. I couldn’t keep my concentration on them and watch Kai. Declan pulled back from Favner and drew his dagger, aiming it at Liam and Owen, securing their placement once more.

I had only taken my eyes off of Kai for one moment, but Favner had escaped his grasp and now stood toe to toe with him.

“Liam,” Favner bellowed.

My anger was beginning to surface. What a coward. I found myself walking toward them. “What, Favner? You can’t fight like a man? You have to use every power you possess to dominate in a struggle? You can’t fight Kai yourself?”

He shifted his stare from Kai to me. Never had a stare been so sharp. Then the back of his hand connected with my cheek and I fell to the earth. Immediately I knew why Allura hadn’t moved after Favner’s last blow. Numbness flowed from my head down through my limbs, paralyzing me, cutting off every breath of oxygen.

“No!” Kai shouted. “Get away from her!”

Wetness trailed down the side of my face, but I couldn’t move. I watched from the ground, only catching glimpses of their feet springing across the soil. The numbness gradually began to ebb and I clenched my eyes closed against the stinging, breathing in deep. I heard the clank of weapons. A gruff voice hollered in agony while another grunted in triumph, but there was no way for me to decipher which sound came from whom.

After gaining the strength to lift myself from the ground, I wiped the trickle slithering down my face. But it was no longer just a trickle. Crimson smeared my entire hand. I looked up and saw Kai and Favner in a swift dance as their feet vaulted from trunks and boulders, diving at one another, never quite making contact. Neither of them were marked or looked winded. I wasn’t sure that the grunts had come from them. I swiftly shifted my stare and discovered the other fight between Declan, Liam and Owen. Blood stained Declan’s sleeve, but he was still fighting fearlessly. He had overpowered two fae guards before. I prayed he could do it again.

After realizing I was smack-dab in the center of the action, I scurried back to get out of the way and watched the two battles unfold in front of me. Favner gained on Kai nearly landing a swipe to his face, but, thankfully, Kai was quick. He dodged every strike Favner made.

It was like a train wreck. I didn’t want to watch, too afraid of the outcome, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from them. My heart gave a jolt at every possible blow Favner tried to make, strangling my every breath. While absorbed in the struggle, I was suddenly aware that Favner wasn’t using his supremacy. Why hadn’t he been able to control Declan or Kai?

A cry tore through the air and Kai flinched back. Almost instantly blood seeped from his shoulder and Favner looked arrogantly victorious. I sucked in a breath of air. Then I heard the knife sink into Favner’s flesh and he dropped to his knees, grasping his stomach. Kai tore the dagger from Favner’s stomach and held it up to his throat.

Favner shifted his seething eyes to me and sneered. “You have
no
idea what you’re getting yourself into, little girl. If you were smart—” he choked and his voice grew weaker, “you’d back down now. Run back to daddy and let the grownups take care of the important affairs of our kingdom. This is bigger than you realize.”

“Shut up!” Kai shouted and shook Favner.

Favner snickered and turned back to Kai whose eyes were closed. “Why won’t you look at me, Kai? Look me in the eye,” Favner demanded. My heart tensed, clinching my breath. What if that was his only way to control him now?

“No, Kai! Look at me!” I hollered impulsively. “Look at me!”

Kai’s control waivered but he finally peered over at me, keeping Favner firm in his clutch. Our eyes locked. In that moment something passed in the space between us. A string linked our lives, intertwining every part of me that I never realized wanted to be touched by him. I wanted nothing more in that moment but for him to live. I could feel the Supremacy slowly dwindling, the connection gradually severing, but his eyes stayed fastened to mine. He was holding my heart and I don’t think he even realized it.

I couldn’t watch for fear of losing Kai’s gaze, but out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash here and there of Declan battling with Liam and Owen. I couldn’t use my Supremacy on them as much as I wanted to, as much as it pained me not to. A booming yell tore through the air, but I couldn’t tear my eyes from Kai.
Please don’t let that be Declan.

“If I’m going to die I want you to look me in the eye as you do it. No cowering from me,” Favner goaded. I watched Kai’s arm shake. “Your father couldn’t kill me either. You would make him proud.” The tone in Favner’s voice almost sounded caring, like he could have a heart, but it was weakening. “You turned out to be a coward just like him. It’s too bad I killed him so he couldn’t see how much like him you are.”

With every confession Kai’s eyes drowned, being pulled further and further in the water, farther and farther away from me.

“I looked him dead in the eye as I did it too.” He snickered breathlessly, no trace of remorse in his voice.

Kai’s composure was cracking. At that confession I knew it was all over.

“Kai,” I breathed as his eyes sunk to the bottom.

He unlocked our gaze, but not before a tear fell down his cheek. His grip on Favner must have weakened because suddenly Favner was on his feet a few feet away, ready to fight back.

“I only made him suffer for a few minutes until he bled out onto the forest floor,” Favner taunted. “His heart kept fighting—even with the dagger still in it—as he repeated your mother’s name over and over, begging for the mercy of your family.”

“Ahhhhhh!” Kai eyes grew wild as he flew at Favner with his dagger raised.

Favner dove to the side toward his dagger lying in the leaves, flipping and landing on his feet. The unadulterated determination in Kai’s eyes scared me. He was not deterred by Favner’s renewed energy. With Favner’s heartless words, I now only feared that Kai’s judgments might be skewed by his hatred. He tore through the space between them at lightning speed, slashing viciously.

Although Favner had gained some strength back, he was obviously still injured, unable to swiftly escape Kai’s attack. Favner wasn’t as agile or as precise in his combat as they circled around one another. He sliced only air as Kai dodged all his attempts to strike. Favner cried out, clutching his bleeding stomach with his last attempt to wound and Kai saw his opening.

I heard the slice and a faint thud as the body dropped to the soil. A shiver coursed up my spine and I turned my face away.

Another gruff yelp echoed through the trees, but I couldn’t look. I was frozen.

It was done.

I let out a suffocating lungful of air and looked up at Kai, kneeling on the ground over a motionless body. The woods spun around me, shades of green and brown blurring into one. But Kai’s hunched figure remained front and center.

Kai gradually got to his feet, trembling as he did so, looking down at Favner’s lifeless shape. He cocked his head back and cried out, forming the most unbearable sound. It echoed far and wide. Tree leaves rattled. Branches creaked. The wind howled with him. My heart couldn’t handle it.

He unhurriedly peered over at me and let out a heavy sigh, slowly blinking his eyes. “My queen,” he breathed, attempting to pack the title with his typical arrogance, but not nearly hitting the mark. His head lowered. At first I thought it was in shame, but his stance was off as his torso bent forward.

Was he
bowing
to me?

After a moment he lifted his head to me. Tears welled up in my eyes when he gazed back at me. Anguish coated his beautiful indigo eyes. But before I could go to him he bolted into the night, nothing but a Kai shaped hole in my heart as evidence of his existence.

“Kai!” I called out to him hopelessly. I made a move to follow, but pulled myself back to the present and raked my eyes around the grove.

Blood seeped from the corner of Declan’s mouth. His chest rose and fell as he breathed heavily, having miraculously overpowered Liam and Owen. Their bulky figures sprawled out on the ground, red splatter painting the moss and leaves like a horrific mosaic.

I reached Declan and set my hand on his arm, but kept silent. My unspoken touch quieted him and he turned to me. He gently wiped the blood from the side of my face before I found myself instantly immersed in his arms, enclosing me in his warmth, his head resting on top of mine.

“Are you okay?” he whispered.

I nodded into his chest, unable to find the words to speak.

We stood there under the protection of the trees that were no longer daunted by Favner, holding one another, searching for relief. Where was the relief?

Declan pulled back and looked at me, tucking a wave of hair behind my ear and tenderly held my face. He opened his mouth to speak, but then his eyes rested just beyond my shoulder.

“Allura,” he gasped and stepped around me. Declan stumbled over the ground, visibly not getting to her as fast as he wanted and finally dropped to his knees at her side.

Declan gently rolled her over, carefully brushing her tangled dreads from her battered face. “Allura,” he pled for her to respond. “Please, Allura, open your eyes.” Though her face was bloodstained and her eyes were swollen shut, she looked like an angel. “Allura, please. Don’t die on me now.” His voice cracked.

Declan shattered right before my eyes. Strong, collected, stable Declan was crumbling and I didn’t know how to fix him. As he rocked a broken Allura in his arms he let out a crushing sob and whispered a repeated plea. “Please, please, please. . .”

I wanted to pull him away, to hold him and make the scene around us disappear. But all I did was stand there and pray to whatever God there might be to bring her back to him.

There was a reprieve when she groaned faintly. Her eyes trembled, struggling to open. Tears trailed from them, clearing through the grime on her cheeks.

“Allura,” he breathed in relief at the token sign of life. “Thank the fallen fae.” He held her to him, cradling her in his arms as she quietly whimpered. She weakly brought an arm around his neck, holding him closer to her in return. Their intimate grip on one another felt like a private moment so I silently stepped away. There was more between them than he had led me to believe. I knew that now.

There was nowhere for me to go. Everywhere I looked I was reminded of what had just taken place, reenacting the fighting and slashing over and over again. I scoured the surrounding trees with my eyes, willing Kai to return. Maybe he would hear my silent plea and come back to me.

“Where’s Kai?” Allura’s voice rasped. I turned back to them. “Where’s my brother?”

“He’s okay,” Declan assured, running a hand down her cheeks and wiping away the tears, careful not to touch the gashes marring her face.

Was that what he called okay?

Alive? Yes. But okay?

Allura sluggishly scanned the dead bodies around us to confirm Declan was telling the truth. “Where is he?” she insisted.

Declan gave Allura the short version of the events that transpired, starting when she passed out. I didn’t hear any of it as I zoned out. I couldn’t bear to hear the details repeated now. I had been there and watched it all play out and yet it felt unreal. Had that all just happened? It felt like a lifetime while it took place, but now it felt like a vivid nightmare.

“I should go find him,” Declan murmured.

“I’ll go with you,” Allura said, trying to get to her feet and failing, wincing from the pain. Declan caught her and wrapped his arm around her to steady her, taking all of her weight on him.

The look on Kai’s face and the heart wrenching sound he made was burned into my brain. It played over and over in my mind, like a merciless broken record. Now was not the time to bother him. “Let him be,” I said quietly. He would need time. He deserved time.

Declan met my eyes and nodded respectfully.

A reverence blanketed the forest, quieting all the nature surrounding us. A look fell across Declan’s eyes as he gazed at me, realization setting in. He smiled kindly then humbly took a knee, helping Allura kneel beside him. Allura lifted her mouth, trying to make an effort to smile.
What were they doing?
Their eyes lightly closed as they bowed their heads.

To me.

Favner was gone. I was Queen of Faylinn.

It was all over.

And yet it was only the beginning.

D
eclan agreed it was best when I told him I needed to take a few days to recuperate and collect my thoughts after it became official. My inauguration to officially become queen was tomorrow. Or what did Declan call it? Faylinn didn’t call it an inauguration. It was a. . .a Dawning. As in the start of a new day. I was the start of a new era. My Dawning was scheduled for tomorrow morning.

I didn’t hear from Kai after that day. He never came back to our spot. I worried about him. Though I knew he could take care of himself, my heart ached for him. How did you pick up the pieces after something like that? Learning about the reason your father no longer lived by your side, then looking into the eyes of the man who did it and taking that same action against his executioner. How did you put yourself back together? What if he couldn’t?

Declan and I met on a daily basis as he filled me in on the happenings of Faylinn since Favner’s take down. There was rejoicing and festivities of celebration, but soon that would end and guidance was going to be required. He told me of the talk of the fae as my existence became public. There was excitement, but mainly skepticism, which I knew would come. I was preparing myself for the booing and gnashing of teeth. I accepted it. It didn’t make it any easier, but I accepted it.

“Declan, why couldn’t Favner control you or Kai? It was as if his supremacy wasn’t effective anymore.”

His aqua eyes looked at me kindly. “As soon as you decided to acknowledge Faylinn as yours, it became yours. You became the rightful controller of Supremacy. I think the only reason why Liam and Owen obeyed Favner was because they didn’t know and they had been loyal to him for so long it had become second nature. The rest of us became free the moment you accepted us.”