Seduced by Darkness (The Seduced Saga)(30)

"I have to maintain order," she said. "I can't allow anyone to break the laws or chaos will ensue."

I stepped towards her as Beleth and Talon approached from behind. "I know you're scared. And I know you care about your people. But you have to listen to me. This isn't the way. Tyranny is never the way."

"Release me!" she screamed, spittle flying from her red lips.

"We will, if you free my husband and leave us be!"

She slumped in her golden cage, her violet eyes wide. "If I let him go, you will leave? You will free me and leave and never return?"

Talon screamed. "No! She cannot be allowed to live!"

I turned to him in shock. "This isn't what we planned."

"But it is what I planned," Talon said, raising his arms.

Vines broke through the gold and black marble, pushing through the new cracks, tearing open the floors as they caught at my feet, climbed up my legs, entrapping me and all of us in a living prison.

The vines used by the Beast.

And reality sunk in. I could see the truth dawning on Rose's face in the same moment.

Talon was the Beast.

Beleth's hands transformed to blades and he cut through the vines growing to hold him. For a moment it looked like he would free himself, but then Talon shifted into the Beast, giant and full of power.

He lunged at Beleth just as Beleth cut through the last of the vines and tore open Beleth's stomach and chest with his giant claws.

Beleth fell to the ground unconscious, too injured to move. "Beleth!" I screamed, my throat raw, tears burning my eyes. He couldn't be dead. He was family. Our family.

The spell keeping the Queen trapped began to fade as Rose lost control of her power and vines rose up to trap her as well.

Talon had us all at his mercy.

Talon walked to the Queen, his teeth dripping with saliva as he bent his head toward her neck…

I was closing my eyes, knowing this was the end for us, when Derek exploded into the room and ran over to us, shifting out of wolf into man, with the Emzara who kidnapped us by his side.





THIRTY





Play The Villain





DEREK





And what’s he then that says I play the villain?

— William Shakespeare, Othello




I SHIFTED BACK into wolf form the moment I saw Talon attack the Queen. The Emzara was already lunging at the Druid, sword in hand, fast as lightning. The Emzara knocked Talon back, and I pounced with claws drawn before Talon could regain his footing.

I could feel Rose with all my senses but couldn't allow myself to be distracted by her in that moment. We had to defeat Talon before he could hurt anyone else. Before he could kill anyone else.

The Emzara and I were the only ones left to fight. We circled the Beast so we could attack together, surrounding him.

As I lunged forward to bring him down, a vine broke through the ground and grabbed my leg, slamming me against polished and broken marble. I growled and used my claws to tear the vine off my leg as the Emzara lunged at the Beast with his sword, wings shifting in the air as they fought.

But the Beast tossed him out of the sky like a rag doll, knocking him hard against a wall. I could hear the bones breaking.

I prepared myself to attack again, but when the Emzara's helmet fell off I faltered.

I paused.

Stunned.

"Ryder?"

Ryder looked up at me, still very much alive, just as Talon used his powers to trap us both in his prison trees.

"You cannot win against me," Talon said to everyone. "I have spent decades becoming strong enough to avenge my family. My family who were killed by the Nephilim. Wiped out. Everyone but me. And so I feed and grow stronger on the blood of paranormals, the bastard children of the Nephilim, until I was strong enough to defeat the true threat. Now, the Twilight Court belongs to me and I will destroy all the Nephilim."





THIRTY ONE





Unknown Fate





ROSE





My soul hath her content so absolute

That no other comfort, like to this

Succeeds in unknown fate

— William Shakespeare, Othello




I WATCHED IN horror as Talon defeated my husband and… Ryder! Ryder wasn't dead. Derek didn't kill him. The relief of knowing this was short-lived.

Talon yanked on the hair of the Twilight Queen. "Where's the Orb, bitch?"

She spit in his face. How did I go from trying to defeat the Queen to rooting for her in the span of an hour?

Vines dug into my skin the more I struggled. I hadn't quite wrapped my head around this. Talon had turned on us. He wasn't the man I thought he was. He couldn't help me master my powers. He was using me. Using us all.

He was the Beast.

I felt sick. Betrayed. Hurt beyond words. But there was no time for my pity party. No time to wallow in that at all. Not with the storm of death happening around us. I realized I'd spent too long in worry, in self-doubt, in crippling neglect of my powers.

Time to end this.

Talon didn't wait for the Queen to give him the answers he sought. He searched her body and pulled out what he wanted. The white Orb glowed in his hand and he cut his wrist and dripped his blood onto it. It glowed red, bright and fast, and then settled back into white. Talon flung his head back and let out a shriek more animal than human. "Emzara, you follow me now. Come! Join me! I am your new King. Your new Master."