Marie Harte - Aftershocks

“I agree.”

Her brows flew up. “A first for you, eh? Agreeing with what’s right, even though it comes out of the mouth of a Darkling?”

“You’re no Darkling, Blue,” he murmured, studying the shadow of her long, black hair. “You’re the mother of all things Dark.”

“Thank you.” She smiled through her teeth, and he felt a measure of relief to see them white but blunt, a steady contrast to ‘Sin Garu’s monstrous canines. “Now as I see it, ‘Sin Garu won’t be happy until he has you in his sights and control, unable to do more than watch your world come crumbling down around you.”

Her eyes glowed, and he fought to ask the question that burned. Did she wish for his demise as well? How much could he trust her against a fellow Dark Lord—her brother, in fact?

“I think the best course of action is to throw a possession spell.”

“And leave my body virtually naked to attack? Forget it.” Arim waited to see what she’d say next. A possession spell? As if he’d let himself become that vulnerable in front of not one, but two Dark Lords. No way in hell.

“It has to happen that way, Arim. You heard Cadmus’ vision. Now it makes sense to see your eyes looking out through Ellie’s.”

“Try another one, Lexa. Why not simply convince your brother that we’ve changed our minds and want to hand over Tanselm all wrapped in a bow? Because that will happen before I trust you again.”

“You stupid, stupid man.” She paced, surprising him with her aggravation. As she mumbled under her breath, she seemed to come to some conclusion. “Take my hand.”

“What?” Touch a woman that could kill with a thought? Willingly take the hand of his enemy?

“Just do it,” she snarled. “I’ll show you I speak the truth. Use forschwa .”

The forscwha spell would render all her safeguards void, giving him access to any and all portions of her mind he wished. For her to even offer such a thing was unthinkable. A definite willingness to play nice. Unless it was all a bluff.

“Fine. Stick out your hand.”

When she did, he muttered the incantation and raised his own shields, still not trusting the lying little witch. But when he clasped her much smaller hand in his, he saw she spoke the truth. From Lexa’s perspective, the only way to achieve victory over ‘Sin Garu, and the only way for Cadmus to come out of the situation alive, would be to follow Cadmus’ vision to the letter.

Bemused at what that might mean, Arim didn’t end the spell when he should have. Another scene, one he hadn’t consciously asked to see, suddenly flared at the edge of Lexa’s mind.

Lexa returned happily from the Great Hall, eager to share her newest spell with her mother and father. Except Muri and Esel lay bloodied and beaten, lingering between this world and the Next. Poor little Sercha lay dead, mauled as if by an animal. Fighting the energy of death with all her might, Lexa called on her Dark powers and tried in vain to save her family. Fury, misery and fear made her crazed when she failed, and she tore what remained in the house to shreds, her Darkness blowing through the Light she’d found with her foster family.

Arim was the first to find her hours later. Covered in their blood, she reeked of Darkness, of death and its negativity .

Arim saw only the Dark aura and the guilt on her face. The horror and grief he’d expected to see had been replaced by rage and menace, as well an itch to cause harm in kind. And he saw that the accusation in his eyes had shattered her heart into pieces.

He withdrew from her mind and ended the spell, prodding her in her weakened state to forget all that he’d seen. Not able to deal with their past now, he promised himself to revisit it in their future—one he swore he’d make sure they had an opportunity to explore, if for no other reason than to finally put the past to rest.

When she roused from her spelled stupor, he became all business. He agreed to the possession spell, having concluded the same from Cadmus’ vision. The only problem with such a spell was that it could be extremely dangerous for the host.

“Ellie assumes the role of host?” He rubbed his chin in thought and blinked in surprise to see Lexa fixated on him so intently. “What?”

She flushed and glanced at her nails. “Nothing. Just wondering how you intend to convince Ellie this is necessary. To date, you’ve treated her like an outcast simply because she’s part Djinn and houses Darkness within her. Do you realise what you’ll be asking her to do? I doubt she’ll be able to withstand so much Light within her for more than a few minutes at most. The pain will be excruciating, especially if you have to work magic through her body.”

“I know.” He also knew how opposed Cadmus would be to the idea. But the plan was solid and could work. With Arim appearing weak and in the grip of Lexa’s control, ‘Sin Garu would be unprepared for the power of Ellie’s attack.

Lexa considered him with an odd look. “You do understand you’re going to have to put your body in my hands. And if you should die while you’re in possession…”

“I’ll never be able to return to it, trapped in the host’s body. I know. I just hope Ellie loves my nephew as much as you keep insisting she does.” He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, aware he’d come to a crossroads of sorts. For the first time in over three hundred years, he would have to trust Lexa Van Nostren with his life, and that of Tanselm’s.

He opened his eyes and looked at her, trying to see her with the Light within him. Unfortunately, she remained a vague shadow, too far beyond the Light to reach with his power. Mysterious, powerful and sexy as ever. Even after all these years, she affected him like no other. Despite the situation, he could feel himself reacting to her nearness. His magic surged at thoughts of crossing energy with her.

She eyed him warily but kept her ground. “How do you want to play this?”

“Meet me at MornMountain in an hour. Take care not to alert anyone else to your coming.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s obvious. Anything else?”

“Don’t make me regret trusting you, Lexa.”

Her eyes froze over, and he could feel the cold snapping at him as she stepped into his personal space, her face a breath from his. “Don’t make me regret helping you , you sorry bastard. If anything happens to Jonas or Ellie, I’ll personally feed you your balls for breakfast.”

Her cold leeched into him and numbed his nose and cheeks. Arim couldn’t help but grin. “Such drama, Lexa. I see Jonas has been rubbing off on you.”

She scowled and vanished, a whisper of Dark that carried the bright blue of her eyes away in a blink.

Arim released the protective spell around him and took a moment to regroup. He always felt so damned unsteady around that small woman. Knowing he had better things to do than worry about that particular Dark Lord, he teleported back to his sister in Tanselm. Yet before he broke the plane of time and reached his sister, he hovered between phasing and stared in dread at the warriors and sorcerers guarding his sister.

To a man, every warrior on guard stood frozen while Lexa knelt over Ravyn’s still body. His readied to attack when he recognised the healing chants pouring from her mouth. Shocked, he could only watch Lexa kiss his sister on the mouth, blowing the healing power of Dark into Queen Ravyn’s soul.

Colour leeched away some of the white keeping his sister so still, a definite improvement in her condition. Lexa wavered as she stood. Shaking off her weakness, she cautiously glanced around her and vanished. The guards awakened as if nothing had happened, and Arim finished teleporting into the room. He checked on Ravyn and saw that her injury had begun to heal, though it remained a battle to bring her all the way back to good health.