Starlight(Pact Arcanum 4) (33 page)

C
HAPTER 50

April 2143; Elsewhere

Nick laid Rory’s body on the gravel of the crossroads, and strode forward to face the ghost of Luscian. “Hello, Father.”

Luscian inclined his head. “Nicholas. I see you took my advice after all.”

“The Grace said I could bring him back with his soul intact if you helped me.”

Luscian laughed. “Which I will not. So why did you come?”

Nick raised his sword. “To take your place.”

Luscian smiled widely, showing his fangs. He held out his hand and another sword appeared in his grip, the twin to Nick’s but the runes and flames were white. “I suspected as much. Very well. Take this sword from my hand and you will rule the Crown fully, for the first time. But don’t think I will let you have it easily.”

Nick circled to judge his opponent’s style. He had fought Luscian once before, but that had been a century ago and this was not truly Luscian.
Who knows what this shade is capable of?

Luscian waited calmly, his sword raised. “Attack, my son. I have all the time in the world.”

Nick leapt forward and stabbed at Luscian’s chest.

Luscian countered effortlessly, and the two of them began to spar for real. Blue flames met white repeatedly as sparks flew. Finally, Nick retreated, breathing heavily.

Luscian chuckled. “You beat me before by channeling the power of the Wind of Earth. Now you have only your pitiful skills to draw upon. You are no match for me.” Then he attacked in earnest, the flames of his sword moving in a blur of white light.

Nick was driven back, until he made a mistake and left himself open just slightly. Luscian thrust under his guard and drove the point of his sword into the left side of Nick’s chest.

The Daywalker stumbled back and fell to the ground, coughing blood from his injured lung.

Luscian stood over him in triumph. “Now I will take your sword to reclaim the Crown, and then, blood of my blood, I will take your body and Soulkiller will walk the Earth once more.”

“Not today, you won’t,” said Antonio, brandishing his slender blade.

Luscian turned away from Nick and studied the new arrival. “So you are the great Harbinger, whose blood is death. You destroyed the race that I created to serve me, boy. You will not kill me as well.”

He attacked, his blade singing as it rang off the spell-hardened steel of Antonio’s blade.

Nick lay on the ground, desperately regenerating the damage to his lung.

Antonio’s voice spoke in his mind.
“Get up, Uncle! We have to work together to take him!”

Nick finished the repair and got to his feet just as Luscian disengaged in apparent disgust.

The Nightwalker spat at Antonio’s feet. “Borrowed power, borrowed skills. Does no one remember how to fight with honor?”

Nick raised his sword again. “I saw something you said once in Rory’s memories. You said you were no slave to honor. Well, neither are we.”

Nick and Antonio attacked simultaneously, their movements timed in unison through the link that Antonio had forged between them. Slowly, they drove Luscian backward, and it was the Nightwalker who was on the defensive. Finally, Nick struck hard at Luscian’s sword, knocking it out of position just enough that Antonio could dart forward and stab the point of his sword into Luscian’s abdomen. The shade staggered as the wound bled pure magic instead of blood.

Nick prepared a follow-up attack but was brought up short when Luscian’s injury burst into flame. The Nightwalker screamed in agony and collapsed to the ground, the white sword falling point down to stick in the earth. As Nick watched, the form of his sire was entirely consumed, leaving nothing behind.

“I wondered if that would work,” said Antonio.

Nick stared at him. “What did you do?”

Antonio raised his free hand to show the healing slash across his palm. “I poisoned the blade with my blood.”

“But the Grace doesn’t work on the Firstborn!”

Antonio smiled. “The Redeemer’s power doesn’t work on the Firstborn. I guess the Harbinger’s does.”

Nick turned back to face the empty ground where his tormentor had lain. He shook his head in disbelief, then focused on the white sword protruding from the ground in front of him. “It doesn’t matter. I have what I came for.”

As he reached for the white blade, a telekinetic pulse knocked him off his feet. Dazed, he watched as Antonio walked forward and dropped his mundane blade on the ground. Understanding flashed into his mind and he screamed. “
NO!”

Antonio ignored him, and casually wrapped his hand around the grip of the white sword and pulled it free.

Nick climbed to his feet. “What the hell have you done?”

Antonio shuddered. “I can feel them, screaming in my mind. So much hatred, so much despair. How do you bear it?”

“Antonio, put it down!”

Antonio shook his head. “No, Uncle. I’m not letting you do this alone. Either you let me help you, or you let Uncle Rory die.”

“Help?” screamed Nick. “You’ll die! You call that helping?”

Antonio faced him with icy calm. “Either he dies or I die, Uncle. You have to decide. But no matter what you do, it won’t be your head on the block this time.”

“Tony, you can’t do this. Give me the sword.”

“No, Uncle. We do this together or not at all.”

“I’m not going to kill you!”

“Then you killed Uncle Rory for nothing.”

Nick stumbled backward as if he’d been struck. He swallowed hard. “No. I won’t let either of you die.”

Antonio smiled. “There’s no alternative.”

“Yes, there is,” said Lorcan.

C
HAPTER 51

Both Nick and Antonio gaped at Lorcan, standing casually next to Rory’s body, surrounded in a nimbus of blue light.

Nick took two shuffling steps forward. “Ruarc?” His voice cracked.

Lorcan smiled. “Hello, Nicholas. They said I couldn’t return to my own plane, but they never said I couldn’t visit an entirely different one. Clever of you to find a loophole.”

Nick ran to him and wrapped his arms around Lorcan. He laid his forehead on Lorcan’s shoulder. “You’re alive,” he whispered. For an instant, the entire universe stopped, and he wanted nothing more than to stay in that moment forever.

Then he raised his head and stared at Lorcan in suspicion. He took a step back.

Lorcan watched him impassively.

“No scent,” said Nick. “No heartbeat. No breath.
What are you?”

“I’m still Ruarc, as much of me that can exist in this form.”

Nick raised his sword uncertainly. “What are you talking about?”

Lorcan sighed. “I was dying. The White Wind made me a proposition. Leave life behind and join them, or live on in a crippled body. They also told me that if I went back, you would have lost today, but if I went with them, I might be able to influence the outcome. So I went with them. I stepped outside of time and saw the universe from the outside, the entire tapestry of time and creation laid out at my feet. It was simple enough to make a few changes to the design.” He glanced at Antonio. “Like creating an extra link between you and Rory so that you would hear anything the Grace said to him.”

Antonio’s eyes widened. “You brought me into this? Deliberately? Why?”

“So you would be here today, in this place. So that your blood would give Nick the edge he needed to win.” Lorcan held out his hand. “So that you would give me that sword, and everything that goes with it.”

Antonio looked from the sword to Lorcan’s hand and back. “You came for this? But whoever holds it will die.”

Lorcan smiled. “I know.”

Nick started at that. “Wait.”

Antonio stared at him. “Uncle Ruarc, are you asking me to let you die in my place?”

“Yes. Just as you planned to die in Nick’s place.”

“Uncle, I can’t just—”

“Rafael is waiting for you, Tony. Are you really going to leave him alone for eternity?”

Antonio’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Did you arrange that, too?”

Lorcan chuckled. “No.” He glanced over his shoulder at Nick. “There were any number of timelines in which Rory, Nick, and I were together or apart, but in every pattern, you and Rafael always found each other.” He turned to face Antonio again. “He’s your destiny, Tony. The destiny you chose for yourself, every time. Are you ready to throw that away?”

“What if I’m not ready to throw
you
away?” asked Nick.

Lorcan turned around and faced him. “You’ve already let me go once. Mourned and accepted my death. You just had the timing wrong.”

“But—”

Lorcan swept his lover up in his arms, whispering privately in Nick’s ear. “Nicholas, listen to me. I can’t go back with you. They might not even let me return to this plane to meet you. No matter what, you will lose me after today. Don’t let Sean die because you want me to live.” He kissed Nick’s cheek. “I have seen things you can’t imagine, everything the universe has to offer. I’m ready to face what comes next. Don’t deny me this. Please.”

Nick pulled away and regarded Lorcan with tears in his eyes. Then he reached into his shirt and lifted a chain from around his neck. Dangling from it was a plain gold ring. “You left this behind.”

Lorcan smiled sadly. “I needed the spell you cast to follow your life to this plane, or I would never have found you.”

“Then it’s time you took it back.”

Lorcan took the ring. He slipped it off its chain and carefully returned it to its place on his left hand. “I’m sorry I won’t be there for your wedding.”

Nick smiled. “You’ll be there. In spirit.”

Lorcan leaned forward and kissed Nick on the lips. Then he shifted his gaze to Rory’s body. “I don’t know how much time I’ll have once the Crown is destroyed. I might not survive long enough to say goodbye. If I don’t get the chance, tell Rory that I loved him, and I will be waiting for you both when you finally join me.”

Nick said nothing, only nodded.

Lorcan walked back to Antonio. “Give me the sword, Tony.”

Antonio reversed his grip and held the handle of the blade out to Lorcan.

Lorcan grasped the sword and took a deep breath as the unholy power of the Crown flooded through him. Then he walked back to Rory’s body and knelt at his side.

Nick went to his knees on the other side, and laid his palm over the gaping wound in Rory’s chest. He looked at Lorcan. “Ready?”

Lorcan laid his palm on the wound next to Nick’s. “Come back to us, Leshir,” he whispered.

Nick steeled himself against the rush of power boiling through his mind. “Rory, I forgive you.”

An inferno of bright white light exploded from his palm, and the wound in Rory’s chest closed immediately. The light suffused the body, giving it a harsh glow.

He felt the Crown fighting him, as he reached out for Rory’s soul. He drew more and more power into the summoning, and felt the Crown shudder. “Ruarc!”

Lorcan gritted his teeth across from him. “I’m trying. It won’t let go!”

The two of them locked wills in the agonizing battle between the Crown and the Grace.

A high-pitched shriek cut through their minds, thousands of souls torn free from their servitude in an instant. The cross brands on Rory’s palms burst into radiance, casting the entire scene into sharp relief.

The Crown shattered, the screams turning into howls of triumph. Only one didn’t flee the crumbling prison, caught in a web of blazing light. It dropped toward them, a comet falling into the sun. Nick and Lorcan were thrown aside like leaves before the wind as it blasted past them.

The two swords, white and blue, exploded into incandescent shards of light and disappeared.

The cross brands in Rory’s palms flared into unimaginable brilliance, as if he clutched twin stars in his hands.

Then they went out.

Silence reigned.

Nick pushed himself to his knees again and crawled back to Rory’s side. Opposite him, Lorcan struggled weakly to rise.

The absence of sound was broken by the intake of Rory’s first shuddering breath. He opened his eyes and stared at the sky. Sitting up, he looked around, and saw Nick. Rory leapt to his feet and backed away, eyes wide, turning to look for an escape. Then he went still as he saw Lorcan lying on the ground, smiling at him.

Nick crawled to Lorcan’s side, and grabbed his limp hand. “Ruarc, you did it! You won!”

Rory knelt on the ground next to Lorcan and gingerly took Lorcan’s other hand. “Leshir?”

Lorcan brought both hands up to his lips and kissed Rory’s hand, then Nick’s. “I love you both. Forever. Always remember that.”

Rory stroked his free hand along Lorcan’s cheek. “You came back, didn’t you? To take the hit for Nick.”

Lorcan’s expression grew strained. “Goodbye, Sean, Nicholas. Remember me, and I will never leave you.”

Rory squeezed hard on Lorcan’s hand. “May God grant you safe passage through the Gates of Morning into everlasting light.”

“Don’t forget about us on the other side,” whispered Nick.

“Take care of each other for me,” Lorcan answered. “I’ll be waiting.” After a moment, his gaze drifted and his features went slack. The blue glow around him gradually died, then his body grew transparent and finally faded away entirely, leaving their hands empty.