Chapter 497: Death Of A Legend
No. This couldn't be happening. Ahbi was immortal. But even as I stared down at the hot wetness on my trembling hands, I heard her groan, her body trembling ever so slightly, pulling my attention from the life leaking from her to pool on the floor.
"Grandmother!" My life with her flashed through my head, the short and tempestuous relationship we'd shared. How she'd manipulated me, my sister. My father. Forced me to stay on Demonicon and fight for status, all to create a situation where Dad would have no choice but to accept Second Seat. Her powerful will, pure political soul, all of it.
Forgotten. Animosity fled, anger, all that had gone on between us prior to this moment. I reached for her yet again as I rolled her sideways, my world in a slow motion horror film of desperation, until she collapsed on her back, face turning toward me. The light of four moons shone through the window, lighting her eyes, though the life in them faded fast. Her fire died even as I watched, my hands searching her body, struggling to find the source of the giant pool of blood staining the front of her robes.
"Sydlynn." Her hissing whisper ended in a gasp as I fumbled over an impossibly large rent in her chest, through her elegant robe, through her flesh. I flinched from the touch of the wound before clamping my already drenched hands over the gaping hole on the right side of her chest. How was she still alive? Bubbles escaped through my fingers as her laboring lung gushed hot liquid over my skin. The scent of charred meat and fabric rose from the hole in my grandmother, tainted with the heavy tang of magic.
"Hold on, Grandmother, stay with me." I think I was sobbing. It was hard to tell as I fought to keep her blood inside her with my hands and my magic even as my mind reached for Dad. But Ahbi's wards, her safety and privacy, were too strong for me to break through, so old and with so much power invested, they didn't need her to sustain themselves any longer.
Even with her dying in my arms.
"Sydlynn." Softer this time, but more insistent. Magic was getting me nowhere, the taint of whoever hurt her rebuffing all of my efforts to heal the horrible wound. I tried to rise, to run for help, my mind fighting me as panic jerked my attention from my grandmother to the door and her guards. Where were they? Why hadn't they protected her?
"Help!" My voice warbled as I tried to scream while Ahbi's hand grasped mine and her nails dug in, the connection between us tacky with her blood as she pulled my focus back to her.
"Listen." Flames flickered in her amber eyes, face collapsing as she faded from me. But her heart, her soul, refused to quit until her message was delivered. "Thought it was you. Witch magic."
Oh. My. Swear-
Ameline.
This is what she meant. Ameline tricked my grandmother into thinking she was me. And then attacked her.
The. Bitch. Would. Die.
"Find her." My hand burned under Ahbi's grip, an amber tinted glow flaring between us as her hand tightened, the twitch of dying reflex and absolute refusal to fail. "Avenge me." I cried out in agony as what felt like a lance of pure fire raced up my arm and jabbed me in the heart. Gasping for air, I collapsed over Ahbi's body, tears blinding me a moment as much as the pain. I blinked them away, chest heaving as the hurt eased, my lips brushing her cheek as she smiled, a tiny smile. "So proud," she mouthed.
And was gone.
A heartbeat of silence followed before I hitched in a breath of disbelief.
And then, a giant column of magic burst from her chest, rising into the darkness of the room, lighting it with the glare of a harsh Demoniconian sun before the power spun into a tornado of blazing fire and shot through the door, shattering the heavy wood in every direction. I ducked some shrapnel, hunched over Ahbi to keep her safe, though she no longer needed such protection.
Would never need it again.
Her personal wards hummed their own discord of agony and began to shatter, bursting into tiny flames around me as the power she'd given them followed her death. Fireworks of exploding shielding cascaded over me, sending me to once again fall over my grandmother in a vain attempt to protect her fallen body.
I gasped for air, unable to move as the last of the wards died with her, rocking Ahbi's body gently, frozen by shock and, to my surprise, real grief over her loss. She was a hard-assed politician, but she was also my grandmother.
I almost missed the ghostly shape as it lifted from her cooling flesh, rising in a fog of amber magic, winding into its own mini twister of burning energy before slamming into me, rocking me back away from her empty shell. Demon magic raced through my veins, flooding me with power, her personal power. Ahbi's magic left to me, in the end.
It was a struggle to sit up as my demon roared and swelled inside me, gathering the new magic to herself, fighting for possession of my body. Her rage battered my mind, her need to find Ameline and tear her apart so powerful she drove me to my hands and knees, trying to force me to stand before Shaylee and my vampire corralled my demon and allowed me room to breathe.
Not much room as I bent over Ahbi and kissed her forehead, resting my cheek there a moment while I gathered my thoughts.
I should have known the thundering magic of Demonicon rushing to find its new host would finally draw attention, but my mind simply wouldn't pull together in any coherence. Not until Pagomaris and a flood of Guards thundered through the shattered entry into Ahbi's suite, skidding to a halt and staring at me with open horror, all of them.
"Ruler!" My grandmother's faithful aide wailed the title as Pagomaris rushed forward and collapsed beside Ahbi. She sobbed herself when she finally accepted the loss, knowing in one look at Ahbi's damaged and empty body, her Ruler was gone.
"Pagomaris," I whispered, reaching for her, only to have the normally kind and efficient demon pull away from me with fury written all over her face.
"Sydlynhamitra," she half-snarled, half-sobbed. "What have you done?"
***
