Seduced by Darkness (The Seduced Saga)(34)

He collapsed, holding his bleeding neck as it healed.

I had to take advantage of the moment while he was injured. I flew over to his staff.

"No!" He yelled. "No!"

With a loud roar I knocked the Orb off his staff and it crashed to the stone floor, cracking into shards. Blue magic leaked through the cracks, dissipating in the wind. As it did, the Emzara he'd controlled regained their own will. They were free.

"You no longer have an army, Talon. It's just you and me now."

"I still have much I can teach you," he said. "I'm the only one who knows the secrets of your powers."

He sprouted wings and flew into the sky. I matched him in speed, grabbing his wing and pulling down. "You have nothing left to teach me, Talon. You never did. The answers were in me all along. You kept them from me. You are the reason my abilities stalled." I could see it all, then. How his meditations and guidance kept me blocked from my core. How it was his interference that kept me stunted and unable to reach the full potential of my power. He blinded me, locked me out of my gifts. But now I was free.

I'd never needed him.

He'd needed me.

He screamed as I tore at his wing. He slashed at me with a razor sharp talon and I dodged him.

"Give up, Talon. You can't win."

He smiled. "Oh Rose, I don't have to win. I just have to make sure you lose."

Screams from below pulled my attention to the ground. The earth erupted in vines and trees. Children, mothers, families were being choked alive with Talon's power as Talon wriggled out of my grasp.

"You will lose everything and I will regain my strength, Rose. I will still have my vengeance! It's not over!"

I had to choose. Save the people below, or capture Talon. No. There was another choice. I would end this.

Using everything in me, I shot up toward Talon. Extending my claws, I grabbed him around the throat and tore him open, flesh splaying open under my paws. He died instantly, and as he did, all his power evaporated. The vines receded. Trees disappeared.

His bloody, ripped body fell from the sky, crashing to the ground as I landed softly next to him, my claws dripping with crimson, my body glowing silver.

A stunned silence swept the Forgotten City.

I searched the crowd for the face that mattered most to me.

Derek.

He looked proud.

The fighting stopped the moment Talon died. There weren't as many dead as I'd feared, but still many wounded when Talon pitted them against their own kind. Against each other.

A surge of bloodlust washed over me and I raised my head and howled.

Nephilim and Emzara moved aside as the Twilight Queen, now free, walked through the crowd.

I waited. Still. Unafraid.

The Queen bowed to me and I watched, stunned, as everyone in the Forgotten City also bowed.

"You have become The Gray Watcher," the Queen said, still on her knees. "Protector of the Nephilim. Bringer of Peace."

The chanting started low, in whispers, but grew, as they all called for The Gray Watcher.

I shifted easily back into my human form, my body now covered in a dress of gray and white fur, my skin still glowing a pale silver. I knew I'd never struggle to shift in and out of form again. I was one with my animal guides.

I sent a trail of golden light from my hands and swirled it around Seraphina. I needed to see her true heart before I did what I knew I must.

I took a step to her. "Rise, Queen Seraphina. Your people need you. Your people need their Twilight Queen. I have seen into your heart, and though you have been led by fear, you still hold to goodness, to rightness, to justice at your core. Find that truth in you again and you will be a great leader of your kind."

She rose with a slight nod of her head. "Thank you, Gray Watcher."

She turned to her people, wings outstretched, arms raised. "I have failed you once, but I will not fail you again. This is a new day, a new dawn of peace for our people. Forgive me and follow me. I vow here and now, I will protect you and lead you."

The people cheered for her, and the golden glow around her spread to the whole of the city.

"You need not hide from my rule any longer," she said. "Our people will be great once again. We will be free."

She looked around the crowd and her eyes settled on Drake and Sam, who had found each other and were holding hands.

"Come forward, Drake Davis, son of Beleth, and Sam Davis."

I could tell my friends were nervous, but I knew they needn't be.

When Sam and Drake stood before her with Beleth at their side, the Queen smiled at them. "Forgive me for the way I've treated you. Any misdeeds you have committed are forgiven for now and always. You are both welcome into the Court of Sunrise and Nightfall as full members of the Council."

She turned to me and nodded her head. "Rose, The Gray Watcher, I extend to you the same offer."

A few Nephilim gasped.

The Queen smiled. "We have never allowed someone not of our kind into our Court, but you are The Gray Watcher, and in your blood you carry the spark of Nephilim. Stay and be my right hand."

I bowed to her. "I'm honored by the offer, but I belong at Elysium, where I will help keep peace in my small corner of the world."

The crowd erupted in cheers as they once again took up the chant of The Gray Watcher.