THE FINAL BATTLE
Agathokakological (adjective): composed of both good and evil.
DAY 39, HOUR 5
It felt like I was floating on a bed of roses.
I was ethereal.
Light.
Warmth seeped into my bones, and peace radiated through me. I curled up around the source of heat. It felt divine. Pleasure and happiness bubbled.
“Report for the final battle. Repeat, all soldiers report now for the final battle.” Enchanted speakers blared, and sirens wailed.
I was wrenched awake.
The heat disappeared, and the room became a blur of movement as men scrambled to get dressed. At some point, the demons must have returned.
I sat up. Outside the window, the blizzard gusted in the darkness of early morning.
John pulled me to my feet. Luka handed me a pile of my folded battle clothes.
I sighed. I was getting awfully tired of going into battle.
Sirens flashed brightly.
Speakers repeated the directive with increasing urgency.
“How are you feeling?” Malum asked as he knelt at my feet and laced up my combat boots while I zipped up my coat.
“I feel good. How about you?” I stretched, leaning side to side. “Do you think the mating worked?”
Standing up, he said, “Maybe. I’m not sur—”
His lips parted with surprise as he stared down at me.
“What?” I asked as I rubbed at my face, wondering if I had something on it.
He hollered, “Everyone look at Arabella!”
The men paused getting ready, and one by one, their eyes widened with shock.
“What?” I repeated impatiently, but none of them said anything. Rolling my eyes, I stomped over to the destroyed bathroom.
I stared at my distorted reflection in the cracked mirror.
Sirens flashed.
Speakers wailed.
My fingers shook as I brought them up to my neck. The skin was uncomfortably cold to the touch, and I pulled my fingers away because they burned.
Shine refracted across the mirror.
A three-dimensional ice skull was tattooed across my throat. That wasn’t all. Just like Orion’s cherry blossoms, flakes of blue-white sparkling snow drifted across my skin.
Gold gleamed on the top of my ears and formed pointy caps that resembled fae ears.
Pinpricks of chill drifted down my throat and the snow danced along my collarbone as if it was carried on a wintery breeze.
“What in the holy sun god,” I whispered, and my breath was a frosty puff.
I’d actually done it.
I’d accepted the kings as my mates.
“We’re mated.” Malum’s baritone voice vibrated behind me, and I whirled around. Scorpius and Orion stood beside him.
All three of them were beaming.
For the first time since I’d met them, they appeared young and happy. Carefree.
“Do you feel any pain?” I asked as I looked over their healthy complexions, searching for a sign they were concealing discomfort.
White teeth flashed, and Malum said, “I feel amazing.” His mates—no, our mates—nodded in agreement.
John pushed past the kings and entered the bathroom. “If anyone cares, I also feel great.” His dimples flashed. “I need to test something.”
I opened my mouth to ask what he meant, but my question never got out. He gripped my face with both his hands and slammed his lips against mine.
Pinpricks of pain exploded across my spine, and I winced.
“Sorry,” he panted as he wrenched himself away from me. “Shit.” He looked over at his twin. Luka shook his head like he was telling John not to say anything.
Weird.
“Did you feel my pain?” I asked John, worry gnawing at my stomach because of the concerned expression on his face.
He waved his hand dismissively. “No. I didn’t feel anything. The kings were right, our bond doesn’t hurt anymore.” His smile dropped. “But it’s you I’m worried about.”
Relief filled me. “That’s amazing!”
John narrowed his eyes. “No, it’s not. You’re still in pain. That’s what matters.”
The dark circles had receded from his eyes and his olive skin looked healthy. Luka also looked much better.
I felt faint with relief.
The six of our souls were really connected. There was enough power flowing between all of us that my broken soul no longer corrupted the twins.
I wanted to cry.
John winked at me, then slammed his shoulder into Scorpius as he left the bathroom.
Scorpius licked his lips sensually. “I heard you got a skull.”
Those same lips had wrapped around Malum’s cock. They’d kissed Orion as he thrust into him from behind.
“Interesting, my little Revered,” he said. “We’ll see what you can do.”
I drew up to my almost six-foot height. “I’m not little. And we’ll see what you can do, Protector.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, the picture of male satisfaction.
Orion whispered, “You look beautiful, sweetheart.”
“You’re our ice queen,” Malum said reverently, like he couldn’t believe the turn of events.
They stared at me with adoration.
“We need to go!” John yelled with urgency, and the demons shouted in agreement.
Minutes later, I RJE’d with the remaining twenty soldiers back to the last settlement location.
Lavender light shimmered as the sun rose over the valley.
The snow fall was mild.
We climbed up the mountain where the X’s had been drawn. A few hours later, we crested the top.
A flat plateau sprawled between the mountain peaks.
Someone gasped.
Dozens of freestanding structures were sprawled across the flat plain. They were wide and low-roofed. Each one could easily house dozens of infected.
The size of the village was shocking.
No one spoke as we all processed the sheer impossibility of our task.
There were only twenty of us.
Angels spread their wings wide and crouched as they prepared to take to the sky. The assassins were shadowy blurs as they darted back and forth like they were preparing to race forward into battle.
Sadie sliced open her palm and her blood levitated into the air. The shifters formed a protective circle around her.
Everyone was ready to die.
“No,” I said.
Sadie looked over at me with confusion.
“No,” I repeated louder.
Not again.
I’d almost lost her once, I would not make the same mistake.
Pushing my pipe between my lips, I turned to the twins and said, “If we lose control, stop us. Use force if you must.” The Necklace of Death pulsed under my clothes. “We’re all connected, and I have a gut feeling you’re the only ones who won’t be entranced.”
“What?” Luka furrowed his brow with concern. “No, we will not—”
I hugged him, and he went quiet.
I mumbled into his neck, “As long as my heart is not eaten, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry. Just don’t let us hurt anyone we shouldn’t. Please.”
Luka hugged me back tightly, and another body wrapped around me.
“What’s going on?” Knox asked.
The twins let me go, and I turned to the leader of the angels. “Everyone needs to stay back and stay out of our way. I advise that you climb back down the side of the mountain and wait it out.”
“Why would we do that?” Rina scoffed.
I rolled my pipe between my lips and exhaled Horse. He settled onto my shoulder in a plume of smoky feathers, his long regal neck turned away from the angels dismissively.
“The High Court ordered us to use our mate powers.” I gestured to the kings.
“And what’s that supposed to do?” Rina asked haughtily, but her eyes gave her away. They flashed with fear.
She’d seen what the kings had done in the Legionnaire Games. She knew exactly what I was referring to.
The kings looked at me grimly.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Sadie’s ruby eyes glowed with concern.
I nodded. “Climb down to safety and hide. We’ll handle the last of the ungodly.” The unspoken, otherwise we’re outnumbered and could lose the battle, hung in the air between us.
She stared at me for a long moment, then nodded and gestured to her mates. “Let’s go down and wait it out. Aran can handle this.”
My stomach knotted. I rubbed at the black fabric which covered my neck and concealed my new tattoo.
I hope she’s right.
Cobra narrowed his eyes at me like he wasn’t going to obey, but at the last moment he shook his head and followed Sadie. “Don’t get yoursssself killed,” he hissed as he stomped past.
“Don’t question our ability to protect our mate,” Malum snapped. Scarlet flames danced across his head.
Cobra bared razor-sharp fangs at him, then disappeared over the edge of the mountain. The assassins were a blur of shadows behind the shifters.
The angels remained.
“You should go,” I repeated.
“Angels don’t run and hide,” Rina spat. “We’re staying.”
Whatever. I tried.
Cracking my neck back and forth, I focused on the village full of infected.
I pushed my pipe between my lips and inhaled enchanted smoke.
“Are you ready?” Scorpius asked with a grim expression.
“Yes,” I said, before I could change my mind.
Cherry blossoms swirled off Orion’s neck, a pink pretty in the lavender sunlight. They traveled through the air and circled around the structures.
I tensed my muscles.
Click. Click. Click. Click.
The gold hardware on our ears floated upward and separated into shards of a crown.
Unlike last time, the kings’ eyes didn’t darken.
Ice talons exploded from my fingers. Scorpius’s and Orion’s talons looked the same, but Malum’s had changed.
They were made of fire.
Malum tipped his head back and said, “As the Ignis from the illustrious House of Malum, I invoke the power of my mates.” He pulled the wickedly sharp dagger from his neck. He stared at me as he said, “As the crowned King of the Sun God, I invoke the power of my mates.”
My skin prickled with power.
It was intoxicating.
“Venimus!” Orion sang. “We came.”
I braced myself for the trancelike state—it never came.
Scorpius grinned as he realized and bellowed, “Vidimus! We saw.” The eye tattoo on his neck looked around and his milky blind eyes glowed brightly.
It was Malum’s turn to speak, but I tipped my head back, and sheer power ripped through my chest.
On instinct, I yelled, “Interfecimus! We slaughtered.”
Ice shot from my fingers and formed into a staff. It touched the ground and towered high above my head. A skull sat on the end, and Horse settled onto it. His feathers gleamed with shades of red and gold.
He was corporeal.
I gasped with delight.
Horse opened his long beak and cawed, the sound toe-curling and vicious.
Malum shouted, “Vicimus! We conquered.” He held the dagger above his head, and flames poured off him, filling the air.
Ice burst from my fingers and rose to greet his heat.
The lavender sunlight disappeared. Gray clouds rolled in and snow whipped furiously.
The blizzard had arrived.
“The day of wrath is here,” Orion sang loudly in his sweet, poisoned voice. White-blond hair floated alongside cherry blossoms. He winked over at me. “The day of wrath is upon us.”
Doors slammed open, and hundreds of infected poured out of the structures into the unforgiving snow.
Scorpius tipped his head back to the sky and bright light shot out from all three of his eyes.
The white flames above the infecteds’ heads flickered green, then midnight black.
Orion sang, “Your souls have been found lacking. You have committed a heinous crime against bodily autonomy. Redemption is not possible. You will be exterminated.”
I raised my ice staff.
Slammed it down onto the rocks.
CRACK.
Horse raised his wings wide and screamed into the storm.
Temperatures plummeted. Lower. Lower. Lower. Lower. Winds intensified.
Visibility was nonexistent, but I didn’t need my eyes to see.
I could feel the location of every infected person. Their souls were corrupted by the foul ungodly.
Scarlet flames leaped and rose higher off Malum, and his warmth cut through the ice storm. The twins stepped forward and stood beside the flaming king.
Malum spread his arms wide, and his heat sheltered all of us from my cold.
The ungodly weren’t so lucky.
The blizzard was merciless.
My limbs tingled with awareness—I could feel every flake of snow that covered the mountain plateau. It was rapturous. I was free.
I tipped my head back and laughed as the weather raged.
I was the storm.
The power was intoxicating.
I felt like a god.
The temperatures kept plummeting. The infected died from the un-survivable cold, then ungodly ripped from their carcasses. The monsters flailed helplessly as snow piled around them.
Colder. Colder. Colder.
Crack. I slammed my staff down on the rocks.
Just like the claws adorning my hands, the snowbanks covering the plateau turned razor-sharp.
Every snowflake transformed into a serrated blade.
Crack.
Hundreds of ungodly were sawed into pieces.
Instant death.
Horse shrieked into the wind as he flapped his majestic golden-red wings. I tipped my head back and yelled with him.
The blizzard raged.
I needed to test every living person’s soul; I needed to cleanse all the realms of darkness; I was reckoning incarnate; I was here.
Someone yelled something at me, but I couldn’t hear them above the wind.
Turning, I faced the angels who were frozen in place.
I’d start with them.
Almost black flames flickered weakly above the angels’ heads. They weren’t fully corrupt, but they were close. Far away, down the side of the mountain, eight warm bodies were frozen still, and three of the souls were also nearly irredeemable.
A smirk twisted my frozen lips.
I didn’t believe in redeeming the impure. I would execute them to save the pure.
“Stop! You don’t want to hurt them,” Jinx’s voice screamed inside my brain. I smiled because she was wrong.
I did.
Horse flew off my staff and settled onto my shoulder.
Someone bellowed something in my face and shook me, but I barely noticed.
I lifted my staff and—flames slammed against me.
The world burned.
Scarlet fire.
Everywhere.
I staggered back as the numbing cold retreated from my limbs. I slowly came back to awareness. Tiredness hit me like a hammer, and my knees gave out.
Two people caught me.
“You’re okay, sweetheart.” Orion knelt in front of me, and his lyrical voice washed over me like honey. “You did amazing.”
Scorpius knelt beside him. A tattooed eye was wide with worry as it stared at me.
“Good girl,” Luka whispered in my ear, and I realized the twins were holding me upright.
Flames danced around all of us.
The warmth intensified as Malum stepped closer. Fire poured off his hands onto me.
“I conquered,” he said. “I conquered you, my Arabella.”
Malum’s eyes widened. “That’s why you fell asleep each time we practiced. You were never meant to stop me. I was born to stop you. You’re the powerful one. It has always been you.
Scorpius tipped his head back and laughed. “This entire time, she’s been the blizzard—that’s my killer.”
I tried to smile back, but my lips were numb with cold.
Sheer power strummed through my veins.
I was frozen.
“Go to sleep,” Malum whispered, his flames surrounding me in a cocoon of peace. “We’ll take care of you. You did so well.”
Sleepiness dragged my eyes lower and made my limbs heavy.
Horse shifted on my shoulders.
He was also on fire.
He nuzzled his cheek feathers against the side of my face, then pecked like he was giving me kisses. He chirped three times, and it felt like he was saying “I love you.”
I kissed his feathered head gently.
He looked at me with adoration.
Scarlet flames trailed across his feathers, and he disintegrated into ash. The storm carried him away.
I blinked frozen lashes in horror.
A tear froze as it streaked down my cheek.
“A phoenix,” John whispered with wonder.
It hit me.
I understood.
Mother had set me on fire until I was incoherent. The High Court had mutilated my soul and I’d lived a colorless life—but suffering didn’t define my existence.
I didn’t struggle to control my power.
I was power.
Horse and I would rise from the ashes.
We would survive.
I yawned, and in the space between consciousness and sleep, the meaning behind Lyla’s warning, “You must embrace the dragon,” became clear.
It had been me all along.
I was the dragon of the House of Malum.
