Tasting Darkness

“There’s just one more,” Darius murmurs as I stagger along, trying to keep up with him as he steps through the portal after portal while putting the wards back up. Darius wanted to infuse them with my magic this time to strengthen them. The exhaustion I was experiencing was excruciating. The amount of power I used had exhausted me, and I was becoming queasy and light-headed.

My wings were dragging across the ground behind me because I couldn’t figure out how to make them go away. Needing a break from the heavy weight of them on my back, I sat down on the moss-covered ground, my body felt like it had run a marathon. “One more. I promise that is it,” Darius says, looking down at me from where I sat next to the ward he had just set. “Just let me lay down for a second,” I tell him, and he sighs loudly. “We need to get the last ward back in place, then you can rest.” Darius murmurs as he leans down, scooping me up.

“Watch my wings!” I shrieked when his arm moved across my back. He k****s my cheek when I gasp to find them gone.’ Thank god,” I g***n, leaning my head on his shoulder as he steps through the portal to the last ward.

“I’ll do the last one,” he says, setting me down on the ground. The forest was eerie out here after the attack. It had me wanting to return to the castle and the safety of our room, our little bubble away from the chaos.

With each passing minute, I could feel my magic receding, burning out, and me along with it. It was like I had a power surge, then my body expressed it, unable to hold onto it.

Yet Darius’ power was still strong. Even Tobias’ was surging strongly through the bond, which made me wonder how? It made me feel weak and useless as mine dissipated. Sensing my question, Darius’s eyes softened as he glanced at me over his shoulder. “You need to build up stamina.

That was a lot of power. Your body will rid you of it to protect you. Tobias and I are used to magic, have learned to control it and preserve it” he told me and I chewed my l!p. It sounded reasonable, but still, I hated the loss and the empty feeling settling inside me. I still had magic, but nothing like I had at that moment.

“You’ll get your power back, Aleera. Until then, you have us.” Darius says, and I look up at him. “I still have power,” I tell him. He chuckles as if he knows something I don’t making me glare at him when he opens a portal.

Darius doesn’t elaborate either as he grabs me, stepping through the portal back to our mates who were still finding Phoenixes. He places me down next to Kalen. “Is the place secure?” Tobias asks, and Darius nods to him just as one of the recruits comes out with a few baskets to set the chicks in.

He places two beside us going to help the other men clean up. “I just don’t get how they got past the wards,” I said before yawning. Lycus made a strangled noise while scooping up another chick from the ashes.

I stared around at the devastation left behind from the attack and leaned heavily against Kalen, watching as everyone finished up what they were doing. “It’s not your fault. I don’t think your father would be stupid enough, and I think it has something to do with the Phoenixes.” Darius says to Lycus as he places another chick in the basket beside me.

They jumped and chirped inside it, trying to get out. I pet a couple of the squirming balls of skin and beaks. “What do you mean?” I asked, confused. “Fae are useless without magic or their mates. We can’t power share.” Darius states. “Or so most think,” Tobias says, winking at Darius, who smirks.

“Phoenixes can power share with any creature if paired. Therefore if killed they can be drained. Therefore, if killed, they can be drained or absorbed. We had an entire flock here. That kind of power would have been sensed here,” Tobias tells me.

“They probably thought they stumbled across something, not expecting to find us here,” Tobias said with a sigh, looking guiltily at Lycus. So it’s my fault, I thought bitterly. Phoenixes hate Dark Fae and are drawn to White Fae and, well, Harmony Fae. I was the reason they were here and the reason for so much death.

“Yep, they would have lit this place up like a beacon,” Darius mutters. “And once they sensed Darius’s power, he became the prime target until you manifested, whatever it was you did,” Kalen says, pressing his chin against my shoulder. Darius, Lycus, and Tobias watched me curiously.

But if they wanted answers, they were looking at the wrong person because I don’t even know what I did or how to explain it. “So, do you think they will come back?” I asked, unable to handle their stares. Darius’s men drop the last few chicks in the basket.

There were too many to count, with their big eyes and oversized beaks as they stared up at me hungrily. Ryze bounces across the grass toward us, plopping a chick he had in his beak into the basket.

“Good boy,” I tell him, scratching his head feathers while yawning. “Now they know we are here. It might be a deterrent, but it depends on how desperate they are for magic,” Tobias says, looking around at the forest surrounding the castle grounds. I blinked, trying to keep my eyes open.

I blinked, trying to keep my eyes open when I felt a strange coldness settle through me, and I g***n, knowing what was coming. I had burned out, and I heard Darius chuckle, making my eyes flick to him. A devious smirk was on his face. “She lasted longer than I thought,” vaguely hear Tobias laugh.

“Rest, Aleera. You’re gonna need it for when you wake,” Kalen whispers next to my ear, his breath on my neck makes me shiver and I feel his arms tighten around me. Then everything went black. Yet I was too tired to try to fight it, so instead, I succumbed, trusting they would keep watch over me while I was absorbed by the darkness.