Maybe Fate: A Novel (New Adult Paranormal Romance) (46 page)

“
Then
why are you here today, if not to make my dreams come true?”
she whispered, stepping down towards us.

The
Corpse King moved suddenly, his arm extended in front of me like a
blockade. “You began this fight, Canendore. You chose to exact
death in an attempt to
stop
fate.”

The
tall woman hesitated, eyelids drooping like she was ready to go back
to bed. “Valenforth, you are mistaken. If she had stayed a
corpse, WE would not be at risk. Do you truly wish to go down this
road, to end us?”

“
I
do,” he said, words hot as coals. Looking up, I saw his lips
twist into a cruel sneer.

Around
him, an energy as terrifying as the Queen's, as horrific and wild,
began to swell.

Standing
there with them both, my hair in goosebumps so intense they hurt, I
wondered if I was in the presence of true gods.

What
else could they really be? What were gods, if not this?

Valenforth
exploded
,
sending me falling backwards into the hard, shiny floor. Gasping, I
skidded on hands and knees.

My
hair fell across my eyes, blocking some of my vision as I looked up.
It would have been nice if it could have hid everything.

The
Queen and the King, they fought like beasts.
No,
I
thought in wonder,
they're
like a storm come to life.

I
could make no sense of it. They looked like pure, rippling beings of
energy. One black, one blue. I didn't know which was which, they
both reminded me of something I had seen before.

A
drawing penned in a dark tome, depicting a creature that resembled
spilled ink.

This
is what they look like. This is the twaelins' real form, their
source.

Wide-eyed,
I wished I could make my legs move. Instead, I crouched in that
throne room, staring at a battle no human should ever have
witnessed.

The
blue being crushed against the charcoal one, slamming it into the
floor. Bits of the walls broke, the place smokey enough that it was
hard to see what was breaking.

“
Stop,”
I whispered, covering my mouth. “Please stop.”

The
creatures twisted, choked each other, but finally the one on top—the
vision of deadly cobalt—seemed to grow.

Gawking,
I watched as it became Valenforth again. Below him, lying in a heap
of blood and black glowing chunks that were no longer graceful or
beautiful, was the Queen of Dreams.

Valenforth
looked at me, crouching triumphantly over her body. His eyes were
feral, dangerous; when he waved me over, I didn't move.

“
Come
here, quickly,” he begged me.

With
tremors rocking me, I found myself stumbling over to him.
How
am I walking? I'm so scared, I'm amazed I haven't fainted.

I'd
never fainted before, but if it was going to happen, now seemed the
time. Standing there, looking over her broken body, I wished for it.

“
Now,”
he said to me, moving away. “Touch her, and end this. End all
of this, Gale.”

Her
eyes found me. Shockingly, she smiled. “Listen to him, child.
Go on. I've... been a fool, thinking I could change fate.”

Looking
down at her, at the radiant blackness peaking through the damage in
her body, I tried to find my voice. The first attempt, only a
crackling noise came.

Calm
down, calm down!

“
Why?”
I asked, a simple word that meant so much. “Why did you want
me to die? I would never have come here if you hadn't killed me.”

Her
eyes flashed, then dimmed along with her bitter smile. “I see
now. If I had never sent Nethiun to meet you, maybe I wouldn't have
set things in motion. I thought I had so much control over this,”
she chuckled. “How wrong I was. Death is what has come for me,
but child,” she said softly, motioning me down.

Unable
to resist, I dropped to my knees beside her. Her hand lifted,
perfect nails touching my arm. In a quick motion, she pushed my
fingers into her ribs, through one of the larger wounds.

Her
scream was ageless, traveling through me,
into
me.
Sitting there, the energy boiling in my belly, coursing through my
fingers and down my arm, I felt the familiar tingles.

Red
eyes, eyes like blood, stared up at me as they began to fade. “My
death... is on my hands... for trying to utilize a concept like
free-will,” she said, struggling while I stole away her life.
“But I... was
not
the one who killed you, child.”

I
felt confused tears on my face, black arcs of power rolling from her
body, into mine. With her words, my memory cleared in a single
burst.

Ethlyn's
face, his arm in my stomach like mine was in Canendore's. His
babbling words, his crazed mannerisms.

The
Queen wasn't the one who had murdered me. It had been Ethlyn all
along.

I
know who made me forget.

Looking
up, I saw the giant smile on Valenforth's face. It was too big, it
almost split him from ear to ear. It was the expression of someone
who had finally had the victory they'd wanted, chased after, for so
long.

And
he'd manipulated me in order to get it.

My
sob escaped me, I couldn't stop it. I wanted to rip my arm out of
her, but it seemed stuck, stealing the last of her body away like a
grim black hole.

In
the air above us, I heard a shout. Tilting back my chin, salty water
on my lips, I saw Nethiun.

He
looked down with his opal eyes, witnessing me destroy his Mistress.
I expected some reaction, but not the one I got.

With
a great grimace, he dropped to the floor with his arms around his
waist. Crying out, he roared with such a fierce pain it made me
freeze.

“
Nethiun?”
I asked, too soft to be heard.

The
man I loved, he looked at me in confused despair. He was trying to
speak, but kept doubling over.

Beside
him, Ethlyn appeared. The sight frightened me, I was sure Nethiun
was too hurt to fight back.

The
long haired twaelin crouched, but he was talking with concern to
Nethiun. Empathy contorted his face as he grabbed the blonde's
shoulders.

I
don't understand anything anymore.

“
What's
happened?” I asked, looking from their faces, to the last
black bits of the Queen that didn't even resemble a body.
“Valenforth, what's...?”

“
I
told you,” he said flatly, moving towards the pair of
servants. “I want all the twaelin gone. I meant that.”

Hearing
him say it, thinking back on how easily I had gone along with his
plan, I felt naive.
I'd
forgotten entirely about Nethiun. If I hadn't, I would have argued
against the idea of killing... the idea of...

Looking
down at the Queen, seeing nothing but droplets of black, I
understood. “She was Nethiun's source. Oh God, oh God. Oh my
God. Oh, oh no, I—I—I...” My words babbled
endlessly.

“
Yes,”
the Corpse King called to me. “The source twaelin are where
servants get their power. Without us, they cannot exist as separate
entities.”

I
was moving, but I didn't remember getting up. Shoving past
Valenforth, I knelt beside Ethlyn as he cradled Nethiun's head.
“Nethiun!” I screamed, my throat hoarse from crying.
“Please, no, don't die! Not after everything, not after I've
come back to life! I only just remembered you, and everything, and
I... this can't happen, please!”

I
caught Ethlyn moving in my peripheral, but I didn't look up. My
blurry vision was fixed on the face of the man I cared about more
than anything. “Nethiun,” I sobbed, pushing my cheek to
his forehead. “I love you, I love you, so please, don't...”

How
terrible, to only utter those words now as he dies,
I
thought in self-loathing.

Resting
against him, I felt the faint hint of his life pulse. In my ear, he
spoke; tender and fragile. “Truly?”

Startled,
I sat up, surprised to find him smiling at me. A smile like the ones
I had once hated, and now, couldn't dream of living without.
“Nethiun, stay with me, I—”

“
Shh,”
he hushed me. Wincing, he grabbed for my hand. I linked my fingers
tight. “I never expected to hear such a thing. I love you as
well, Gale. In a way I never knew was possible for anyone, my kind
or otherwise. Now, listen closely. You won't walk out of here alive
unless you kill him.”

Glancing
up, I saw Valenforth standing some yards away. Ethlyn was
approaching him, hands clenched by his hips. “Kill him? He
already asked me to do that, I... I don't care what happens to him,
just you, Nethiun!”

Ethlyn's
voice rose above everything suddenly. His stance was wide, ready to
attack the Corpse King. “You never told us what would happen
if you, the source twaelin, die! How could you trick her, trick us,
like that!?”

Sighing
loudly, Valenforth stared his servant down. “You, who
complacently agreed to death, who chased the serenity it would
bring... now you're chastising me for not speaking about
this?
I wasn't positive this would happen. No source twaelin has ever been
destroyed like this before.”

Destroyed...
like this? Surely he meant not destroyed at all?

“
If
I had instructed Gale to kill you directly, would
that
have been more to your liking?”

The
rage twisted Ethlyn's face, his body tight as he pointed back at us.
“She would never have agreed to destroying Nethiun, and you
knew that! I thought—I thought maybe, in the end, with his
Mistress gone, they could...”

“
Could
what?” he mused. “Live happily ever after? Was it not
clear
what my goal was?”

I
stared at him, felt Nethiun's grip weakening in mine. He was fading
fast, I didn't know what to do.