SWNOVELS Chapter 67
The explosion of light in the sky made the battle below stop. Everyone stared at the sky. Somehow, everyone knew what this meant.
The Terpolites who followed Enliatu turned to Tara for their orders. She told them to surrender, so they did. Leo ordered his own troops to stand down, and they did so with relief.
With Enliatu gone, the battle was over. No questions asked.
From what Leo could tell, only himself, Carmin, Kek, Colt and Tara knew exactly what had taken place. Knew exactly what that explosion meant. That both Amneris and Enliatu had been destroyed in the explosion.
Oh Gods, who was going to tell Hathy? A look at Colt told Leo he was out of the picture which meant . . .
Nikki came toward them, a grin on her face. She took one look at him and it vanished. Nikki puled Leo into a tight hug. He buried his head against her neck. She was in charge now, at least until they got back home. By the time they pulled apart—barely—the others stood around them.
Carmin was in the process of telling Dan, Jay and Zoe what had taken place. They passed the news on to Ray, Ema and Kayla, each with their own degree of shock. Colt was taking it the worst. He hadn’t moved from that spot in the mud, even when Dan put an arm around him.
Hathor was the last to arrive. “Please tell me we won’t be doing that again,” she said.
They all looked at her.
“What?” she asked. Hathor looked around, confused. “Hey, where’d mum go?”
Leo took a step forward. “Hathy . . . You see—”
“Where is my mother?” She took a shaking breath. “Don’t you dare lie to me, Leo, where is she?”
He glanced to where the final remains of the explosion slowly faded, then turned back. “She’s gone, Hathy.”
The girl shook her head. “No. She’s immortal. She can’t be gone!”
“She used all her power,” he said. “No one could survive that.”
Hathor took a step back, her body shaking. “You didn’t stop her. Why didn’t you stop her?”
“I tried—”
“You didn’t try hard enough! You didn’t try hard enough and you let her destroy herself!” She jumped back when he tried to take her hand. “Don’t touch me!”
There was nothing he could say. Nothing would make it better. The poor girl had just lost her mother and he was the one to tell her. Of course she hated him.
Colt put an arm around Hathor. She cried against him. Without looking up, he said, “I’m going to take her home.”
All Leo could do was nod as Colt led her away. The others followed.
When they reached the edge of the no-teleporting zone, Tara, Kek and Liam took their people back to Terpola. Jay and Ema went with them to make sure everyone made it and help transport bodies of the fallen.
Leo watched as his warriors vanished, leaving only himself and Nikki standing on the edge of Erostah.
The Shifter took his hand, entwining their fingers. “Now what?”
Amneris’ last words to him rung through his mind. Do me a favour, she had said. Just ask the damn girl out already.
Leo gave his friend a sidelong glance. “Do you want to go to dinner with me?” he asked. “Not now, but sometime in the near future.”
Nikki smiled. “Sure.”
Before he could question the decision, Leo leaned down and kissed her.
When they pulled apart, Nikki was blushing like crazy. “I’ll – uh – I’ll see you back at the house.” She teleported away.
Leo shook his head with a laugh. Classic Nikki.
Something above caught his attention. Something falling through the sky. Whatever it was, it was coming closer. Closer.
“Oh, fuck!”
Leo dove to the side as the object hit the ground, yelping as he was blasted from his feet.
A small hole appeared where he had been standing. Leo looked down, eyes widening at what he saw. Amneris’ necklace and Enliatu’s ring! They’d survived the explosion. How was that possible? Oh well.
Leo retrieved the objects. He pocketed the ring but held the necklace in his palm. He brushed his thumb over the diamond. “Well,” he said to it, “I asked her out. Now you can stop making fun of me.”
With those words, he teleported back to Lapide.