Winter's War (Her Guardians series Book 4)(9)
“I missed you, too,” I whisper, and he kisses my forehead before he steps away, our moment gone as we both walk over to the dark-blue ward. The ward is thick, almost stopping you from seeing the other side and the forest behind it.
“You touch and push,” Milo tells me as he flies over and Atti holds out his hand to Milo.
“You think I can walk through the ward?” I ask Milo, who nods his little head, making his hair bounce up and down.
“Demon, you,” he tells me, and I nod back, understanding what he means. I should be able to do this because it’s part of who I am. If the demon king can use that small part of me to control me, then I should be able to use it, too. I step forward at the same time Milo pulls Atti through the ward. I push my hands against it, feeling it pushing back like a sponge, but the more I push the further I can walk. I push and hold my breath, closing my eyes as I step through the ward. I gasp for air when I finally break through the other side, and I hear a loud shout.
“No!” the demon king’s roar seems to echo around my mind, and I hold my hands over my ears as darkness starts spreading in my eyes. My power starts rising, and I scream as I push it away, refusing to let it hurt anyone. Especially not my mate.
“Atti,” I whisper, feeling his hands picking me up and then the feeling of us moving, seconds before everything disappears into a familiar darkness.
7
Winter
“Winter,” a familiar voice says as a hand strokes my cheek, and I open my eyes to see my angel leaning over me. Dabriel watches me closely, his hair falling around his face and his marks glowing ever so slightly all over his skin. I’ve never spent a lot of time looking over each mark, seeing how they all resemble shapes, and they are difficult to look at for too long as it hurts your eyes. It’s kind of like looking at the sun. Dabriel has a white shirt on, and jeans, but they are crinkled, and he looks tired. I look down to see I’m wearing the stupid black dress still, and I’m lying on top of the covers of my bed at the Goddess’ castle. The bedroom is such a comfort to see, as much as being with one of my mates.
“Dab,” I say, sitting up, and he pulls me to him with a contented groan. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss his cheek, waiting only a second for him to turn his head and fully kiss me. I moan as he slides his hands into my hair, and his tongue gently wrestles with my own. This is everything, being here with him and being safe.
“You’re awake, lass,” Jaxson says from somewhere nearby, and Dabriel breaks away from the kiss, leaning back, so I can see Jaxson as he walks into the room. Jaxson looks tired, but so determined, as he walks over to me and leans down, pulling me off the bed and into a hug. I wrap my legs around his waist as he kisses me fast, then breaks away.
“I fucking missed you, don’t do that again. I can’t keep losing you like this,” he tells me. I run my hand over his beard that needs shaving and the messy hair that falls slightly into his face. He looks tired but still has the wild side to him, the side that makes him the very wolf I know he is.
“It’s not like I chose a family reunion, Jaxson,” I say, wriggling out of his arms, and he sighs as he lets me go. “How did the distraction go?” I ask him, looking him over for any injuries but not seeing any.
“I decided the best way to get his attention was to destroy half the castle, so I caused an earthquake and brought down the left side of the castle,” Jaxson says with a shrug like it was nothing when I bet that was some hell of a show of power. “The demons attacked, and we held them off, until the demon king got there. I went to fight him when he realised you had gone, and then the witches came and used their power to portal everyone out,” Jaxson tells me. I bet the demon king was mad.
“What happened to you? How could he take power over you, make you almost a zombie?” he asks me gently.
“He controlled me somehow; he got into my head and made everything go black.”
“Do you know about the witches?” Dabriel asks me gently, and I shake my head. I only remember the witch the demon king killed at that messed-up dinner. There isn’t anything else, just blackness and every time I try to think about it, it seems to slip away from my thoughts.
“Winter, he used you to destroy the crystal ward that protected the witches’ city. Then he brought his dragons in, and the island is destroyed,”
“Dragons? He used me?” I ask, shock making me feel sick.
“Yes, but it wasn’t your fault.”
“How many witches survived the attack?” I ask, and Jaxson hesitates before he tells me.
“About three thousand, maybe less as a lot are injured still,” he says, and I know that means thousands died in the witches’ city. A city full of people I’m meant to protect as I’m their queen, and instead, I let the demon king use me to destroy the ward that protected them.
“It’s not your fault, you know that?” Dabriel asks me, and I just look away. There’s silence between us all as I guess they don’t know what to say to me. It is my fault no matter what they say. I should have done something, fought more or tried to wake myself up. If I hadn’t been stupid in the first place, the demon king wouldn’t have even escaped.
“What do you remember, Winter? Anything you could tell us could help at this point?” Dabriel asks me, trying to give me a way to be useful.