Chapter fifty - two - finale part two

"You just never stop, do you Ambrose?" Fury ripples from Erion's voice as my head spins and I claw at him. "I should have made Lorcan kill your whole family that day."

Anger builds up in my chest, but I can't release it as his fingers tighten around my throat.

"You corrupted Freya's mind."

I thrash underneath him.

"You ruined everything by siding with the shifters."

My lungs start to ache.

"Lorcan became too weak because of you." His eyes now burn with emptiness. "And now? You will be the one at fault for creating the war."

Clawing my fingers at his hands, I strangle out the word, "no," And gain some strength as I say, "You and the queen already did that."

He glares at me, hazel eyes, wrathful, as his grip slips the slightest and I take the chance to drive my leg into his abdomen. He lets go in an instant, and I gasp for air as he falls to the slide, releasing a low grunt from his lips.

With the hideous burn of his fingers imprinted on my neck, I rise to a seated position and try to recover as I spot my blade at the end.

Stumbling on my hands and knees, I reach out for it when Erion yanks me back by the hair, grabbing the blade before me as I cry out with a wince.

*I need to—*

"Erion!" Darius shouts, stalking through the dust as I lift my eyes to him, but Erion hauls both himself and me up, pressing the edge of the blade against my neck.

Darius halts, glancing between the dagger, me, and then Erion.

My breath stops short, and in an instant, I look for a loophole as Erion chokes out a laugh, and I grimace with displeasure at the sound of it.

"Darius *Halen*," he announces it with a taunt to his voice. "The despicable stepson. And the one shifter that even after I brought Lorcan here, he'd always say how much he missed him." He croons with a malignant edge. "His brother Darius."

Darius's hands curl into a tight fist, and that only makes Erion nudge the blade further into my skin."You turned him against me."

"I turned him against *all* of you." The pride in Erion's words is sickening. "And like the naïve boy he was, he believed everything because I'm the one who was the father he craved, the one who turned him into the creature he is now... a half-dragon, half Rumen."

Darius hadn't known that. Even so he does not react. "A man like you does not deserve the title of a father."

"Then, kill me, thief," Erion seethes, and the pressure of the blade eases from my neck as he shoves me toward Darius. "Kill me like you did with his father!"

Darius catches me by the waist, his grip tightening and I turn to look at Erion as he spreads his arms out at the sides.

He's smirking, daring Darius to do it.

Darius's gaze sweeps across my neck, darkening on a particular spot and as if I feel it, I run my fingers along my skin, drawing back blood onto the tips of them. When I look up, Darius's eyes aren't on me anymore.

"He'll only hate you more," Erion taunts, and that smug grin of his remains even as Darius considers his words. It's the first his face is impassive until his lips lift into a cold smirk that's brutal for anyone that ever dares cross him.

"Well," he says, "It's a good thing I adore to be hated." He approaches Erion, shadows crackling within his hand at the side as he studies the sudden cowardness washing over Erion despite my blade in his hands. "Send my regards to Aurelia, General."

Aurelia?

Erion's brows furrow, like he recognizes the name as he whispers, "Aurelia," to himself.

"My *mother*," Darius grits out, and a weight pushes down on my chest.

Erion must have been the one to kill his mother all those years ago.

Recognition dawns on his face as Darius raises his hand. Shadows form into blades, except a rush of ice sweeps past my spine, and I look to my right.

Lorcan stands there at the edge of the wall aiming an arrow toward Darius.

I only hear the constant shrieks from others muffled now as Lorcan glances at me, and though his expression is solid, unmoving, his eyes share a charge of regretful emotion.

Wait—

"No!" The word sounds too weak from my lips as the second I say it, the arrow springs out of the bow, and instantly I squeeze my eyes shut with terror holding me captive this time.

The sound of someone choking on blood freezes me.

*No, no, no.*

I open my eyes, but shock creeps all over me as the sprayed blood on the floor doesn't come from Darius.

Shifting my gaze to the general, his mouth gapes wide open as he clutches both hands onto his neck. An arrow pierces through his throat as he collapses to his knees, and blood pours through the gaps of his hands.

He looks at Lorcan. Betrayal fires up in his wide eyes as he then slumps, no longer moving.

Lorcan killed him.

He must have heard everything.

He didn't cower.

I glance toward Lorcan, not knowing what to feel as he lowers his bow and stares at Darius and me.

He nods once, signifying truce, and I start to smile.

But it hardly lasts a second as the Rumen leader breaks through one of the walls.

I shout a warning, but it's too late. Time slows, and my voice echoes into a gasp as Lorcan spins toward the Rumen, its sharp taloned wing scatter out, puncturing him through the chest.

My feet take off as the strength of the wing sends Lorcan smacking against another wall. Picking my blade up, I sheathe it while Darius darts toward the Rumen with whorls of fire. Right as I reach Lorcan, I collapse with him onto the floor. His bow tumbles out of his grip, and with a panicked gaze, I press my hands against the blood splurging from his chest.

My brows knit as I take my hands off, thinking I've healed him as I did with Darius back at the dungeons but... nothing.

*Why—why isn't it working?*

"I'm sorry," he rasps, the rose tint of his lips now seeps with blood from his mouth.

I shake my head. "You can say that to me later. Let's just get you out of here." I search around, looking for Darius, but he's on the other side, fighting off the Rumen.

*It's fine. Lorcan has part dragon in him. He will heal, he will heal, he will—*

"I lied—" Lorcan's whisper draws my attention back to him. Pale, he's too pale. "I lied—"

My head shakes again, but before I can speak, he grabs my wrist, prying it away from him as he places something within my hand.

I stare at him, my lips parting as I look at my palm.

The sun.

My carving.

Orange hues from the flames behind lighten the light wood now turning red with Lorcan's blood.

"I need—" He wheezes and when I look at him, my throat hurts. "I need you to tell Darius to go after his wish."

He's saying goodbye because he thinks he won't survive.

No... I refuse that idea, no.

"You can tell him yourself," My stubborn voice fails me as he smiles for a little while before his eyes become dim, and within seconds they close.

A numbing pain takes over me. I don't even register the cries of the Rumen. Whether it's dead. "Lorcan?" I say, my voice quavering as I grip his other hand and shake it. "Lorcan, wake up—wake up—" My breaths come out fast and short. No tears form, but everything surrounding me, from the crackling fires to the grunts of others fighting, becomes a blur. "*Please?*"

No movement occurs.

So, I shout his name this time when an arm comes around my waist from behind, attempting to pull me up. I instantly know it's Darius, but I struggle against him, breaking free for just one second as I scramble back to Lorcan.

I shake his chest.

*Wake up, wake up, wake up.*

An arrow from a Venator lands straight at my side, but I do not care for it.

"Nara," Darius says, his arms now cross around me and even with such command to his voice, it's also breaking.

He's breaking but I'm losing it.

"No," I say and grab onto him to try and yank him off, but his grip is unyielding. He starts dragging me, and I press my heels into the ground and say the same word over and over, '*no, no, no.'*

Lorcan's body lies so still ahead of me and each time further from view.

I blink, and then it's my father, my cottage, Idris hauling our crying mother away.

It's all the same.

My head falls back onto Darius's chest, tiring from thrashing in his arms, and though my chest burns, I still don't cry. I can't even as I close my eyes and everything becomes a shadow of what once was.

**Authors note: We still have a couple of chapters left in this finale stay tuned! I will explain more about book two in the final FINAL chapter :)**