CASPIAN
“IT WILL NOT bring him back.” The moment he spoke the words, Caspian knew they had been a mistake.
Anger, fury, unimaginable pain, flashed in her eyes. Nivian raised her arm, black crystals forming in her hand, surrounded by the swirling darkness of her powers. The pain and heartbreak had swallowed her whole, and now she meant to destroy him.
Caspian raised his hand in response, tempering his powers, just enough to shield himself.
Black crystal shards shot from Nivian’s hands at the same time as Caspian let his counter attack fly. Her powers blasted through his own, as easy as a hot poker through ice. He flung himself to the ground and rolled. A stone column exploded from behind, raining down around him.
Caspian managed to lift his head in time to see his attack hurtle toward her, striking her in the center of her chest. The remnants of his power threw Nivian to the ground. She landed, sprawling on her back, and remained unmoving.
He cursed and pushed to his feet, running to her side. He fell to his knees and lifted her head onto his lap. With shaking fingers, Caspian brushed the tangled hair off her unnervingly serene face. A few cuts marred her cheeks and blood already beaded along the abrasions. The cuts didn’t heal as they should have. He ran his gaze over her body, checking for more damage.
Nivian’s charred shirt clung to her raw flesh. She hadn’t even attempted to move out of the way.
He swallowed hard.
There hadn’t been a chance to aim, to soften the strength of his powers enough. Hitting her was the last thing he’d meant to do, he’d only meant to deflect her attack, slow it, so he could avoid being struck.
But there had been a moment of hesitation on his part. Shock, surprise, disbelief. Even in her grief, he’d never expected her to attack another Reaper. Let alone, him. He couldn’t imagine the pain she felt to make her forget their friendship, to blind her to what she’d already known. There were some things neither Reaper nor Hunter could come back from.
“Caspian?” Evander asked. The Reaper had silently walked up to his side without his noticing. “Is she… all right?”
No. Nothing was all right. But he didn’t answer. Caspian had no way of knowing how she’d react once she awoke, no way of knowing how broken she was.
He slid one arm under Nivian’s neck and the other under her knees, scooping her up as he rose to full height. Her body hung limp in his arms as if she were nothing more than a frail, life-sized doll.
Caspian’s heart wrenched within his chest. This Reaper… this woman—who had held his heart unknowingly since the day he’d first laid eyes on her in the marketplace all those centuries ago—was barely more than a broken thing. Shattered in a few short moments.
Somehow it had come to this; attacking each other over things beyond their control.
Fate had been cruel.
Caspian turned in Evander’s direction, dragging his gaze from Nivian’s face, and said, “Gather Holter and Finn.”
There was much work to do. They had a year. A year.
It should be more than sufficient time and yet, it felt as though they were already cutting it too close to the deadline.
Finally he looked up, taking in the destruction and rubble that surrounded them, and then… A young Hunter rubbing her head. Every nerve in his body pulsed once. He had not noticed her during the chaos of the fight. His mouth opened. There was something…
“Gather them?” Evander stepped into his line of sight interrupting the tangle of thoughts that wrapped around his mind.
Caspian blinked and cleared his throat. “Yes. Have them meet us at Nivian’s apartment in the city as soon as they are able. You as well, and… bring the Hunter as well.”
He gripped Nivian tighter to himself, then transported her away from the one sight that would break her irreparably to see upon waking. What had already transpired had already done more than enough damage. She would be furious with him, but he would gladly endure her wrath for no other reason than it would mean she was not completely gone.
The sparsely furnished, single room dwelling was dark and the watery gray light from the slowly rising sun provided barely enough visibility to see past the shadows. Caspian navigated his way around the worn couch and placed Nivian gently atop her bed.
He reached over and grabbed a threadbare blanket from the back of the couch, sliding it onto her unconscious form. The tips of his fingers brushed the strand of moon-pale hair off her forehead. He remembered when she’d had long, dark locks that spilled down her back in waves… but that was another lifetime.
The red angry marks on her chest had already started knitting back together, but the healing remained slow. She had used too much of her power on Yeva, and on him. It would still be some time before she could heal completely.
He pulled the blanket further up to cover her injuries, until she appeared to be sleeping. Only the crease of her forehead and the frown tugging at her pale lips gave anything away.
From behind, Evander cleared his throat. Caspian stepped back and faced the Reaper waiting just inside the doorway.
“The Hunters are on their way.”
“Thank you, Evander.” He could hear the weariness in his own voice. The conversation he would have with the Hunters would not go well.
The young woman with short, blonde hair strode through the door, closing it with her booted foot. Her attention remained solely on the device in her hand, fingers dancing at almost lightening speed. “I called Holter and Finn, they will be here soon. I’m just sending a meeting alert to the others for when we’re…” Her words trailed off as she looked up, meeting Caspian’s gaze. “Done here,” she finished quietly, as if all her breath had fled from her lungs much in the same way his had done earlier.
Her throat bobbed and his eyes were drawn to the movement. The blonde Hunter before him held his attention captive.
He scanned her from head to toe, not finding anything overly unique about her. She was short by human standards and lithe, with sharp, bright eyes that peeked at him through golden wisps of hair that fell across her forehead. Though no longer than he’d seen on most men, it made her high cheekbones stand out and added to her femininity. Yet all together, everything about her, down to her very essence, commanded his attention.
“Glad you could make it here so fast, Azira,” Evander said, breaking her hold over Caspian.
Azira. Caspian let the name roll around his thoughts, trying it out. A strange but fitting name.
She gave a half smile. “Hey, I never thanked you for helping me back there,” she said with a tightness to her words.
“Any friend of Nivian’s, is a friend of mine.” Evander flashed a smile of his own in return.
A flicker of emotion shot through Caspian. One he’d not felt since… He turned to look at Nivian’s form. Since she was a Hunter.
“She was never meant to be yours.” Silas’s harsh words ran though his mind. Words he had long since shoved from his memory. Harsh, yet, ringing true if he searched deep down within himself.
Azira walked to the bedside. She glanced down curiously at Nivian, then slowly peeled back the blanket exposing her wounded chest. Azira’s head snapped up, panic stealing the color from her face. Rose pink colored lips parted then closed, pressing into a tight, thin line.
She took a small step back, dropping the blanket back into place. She froze, only her gaze snapped to the door as two male voices echoed down the hallway. Holter and Finn entered the apartment a moment later, their conversation dying on the air as they saw Azira’s crestfallen face.
There was no use in prolonging the meeting, not now that everyone had arrived. Caspian silently motioned for everyone to move into the kitchen and they obliged without a second’s hesitation.
Tension filled the air, thick and choking. He could feel the questions behind the wall of silence, threatening to burst.
All eyes fell on him. Waiting. Delivering the news wouldn’t be easy, and knowing exactly where to start was impossible. There was so much to say and not a single word spelled anything other than disaster and pain. How would the two men react to the news he was about to impart upon them?
Azira and Evander knew bits and pieces of information from what they witnessed from Yeva’s domain only hours earlier. Though, some of what he was about to say, they had no way of knowing or understanding. Everyone in the room needed to be informed of the finer details of the situation, if only because this small group would be paramount in pulling off what needed to be done to keep the balance intact.
And so much of it sat on Nivian’s shoulders.
Caspian fought the urge to look back at her. Undoubtedly, she was the only Reaper who could take on Silas’s power. But for now, she was too weak.
One thing at a time.
He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, swallowing once before trying again, “Thank you for coming so quickly.”
“What’s going on?” Holter demanded with a slight waver in his voice. His eyes cut to Nivian, then to Azira, Evander, and then finally upon him once more.
Finn rested a heavy hand on his fellow Hunter’s shoulder. His fingers giving a squeeze before dropping his arm back to his side.
It would be easy now to feel alone, thrust into a position with no one to turn to. Since his own creation he’d looked only to Silas for direction and council. Now, there was no one above him. But those of this close knit group surrounding him would make all the difference. Things had changed in ways he would have thought impossible in a matter of a few, short weeks.
“Yeva and Silas are gone,” he said simply, his voice rough as the words scratched their way up his throat.
“Gone?” Finn leaned forward, splaying his hands flat atop the table’s surface. “Where did they go?”
Holter rubbed the day old scruff on his chin. “Does this have something to do with the major shift in the balance that happened earlier?”
“What?” Caspian choked out. The balance had a major shift and he hadn’t noticed? His gut sank. He hadn’t thought that there’d been enough time for the balance to shift. Any damage occurred in that short time could have been catastrophic. But if that were the case, the Hunters would have mentioned it right away.
“Earlier, a major shift started without warning and just as suddenly, it stopped. We had reports coming in all morning from other locations all over the globe about it,” Holter explained.
Caspian wasn’t used to the icy grip of uncertainty that held all too tightly to every inch of him. He reached into his robes and wrapped his hand around what remained of the two ancients. He held his fist out for all to see, unfurling his fingers to show the two rune stones, one onyx, the other the color of quicksilver. “Silas and Yeva have destroyed each other. The shift must have occurred as their life forces were transferred into these stones.”
“How is that possible?” Holter croaked.
“What are you up to, Reaper? That isn’t possible.” Finn slammed a fist on the wooden surface. “We had a truce!”
Caspian embraced the anger. It was safe. It was familiar. It was something he knew how to deal with. When he spoke, he kept his voice calm and quiet, but still held the strength and dark power he was accustomed to. “There is no trick.” His fingers curled tightly around the stones, hiding them from view. “Silas and Yeva have died. I sliced their life threads myself.”
Finn opened his mouth to say more, but snapped it shut when Holter made a silencing motion with his hand.
Holter faced Caspian, his features drawn tight as if he were expecting more. “Why would you reap them?”
Caspian ignored the rash man, giving his attention solely to Holter. “Yeva went mad with power and Nivian, in an attempt to stop her, hit her with more power than she could sustain. Nivian’s powers became too strong without her realizing they continued to grow with the constant presence of Hunters around her. The possibility of it happening had never occurred to me.”
Finn spoke up, his words tight with the strain of holding back his temper. “If Yeva and Silas are dead, then how is the world not in the throes of destruction?” He waved a hand about to show that life remained as it always had.
“Because all that remains of their powers are held in stasis within these two stones. But it is only temporary. They will need to be transferred to the strongest of our respective groups as soon as possible. It is time for a new Fate Keeper and Guardian of Life.”
Caspian dropped his chin, avoiding the urge to look over his shoulder at Nivian. He could spare some time to allow her to pull herself back together, but the sooner they took care of this, the better. A year would pass all too quickly.
Caspian gave them a moment of silence for everything to sink in before he added, “There is… more.”
A shadow moved across Holter’s face as he looked behind him and took in Nivian’s sleeping form. Even Finn gave pause at the addendum.
“What happened to her?” Holter’s words came out strained. Two heart beats later, he froze. His chest still as if he were not a living being, but a life like statue.
“Holter,” Caspian began slowly, “I need you to listen to me.”
But the man had pushed past him and crossed to stand at Nivian’s side.
“What happened to her?” he asked again, moving the blanket that covered her down to her waist and staring at the ravaged skin of her chest tinged with the dark magic of a Reaper’s powers. Then, as if it hit him in a single brutal wave, he looked around. The slight twitch of muscles in the man’s face betrayed the conclusion he’d come to understand but not accept at the sight of Nivian, lying alone.
And Kain nowhere in sight.
“Where is Kain? Why isn’t he with her?” he demanded.
Caspian stood stone faced and waited until silence filled the room. “Holter, you must listen, now.” Each word was forceful and clipped and steady.
Holter spun on him, fire flashing in his eyes.
“Yeva attacked Nivian, but Kain threw himself in front of her power and took the brunt of it.”
Holter’s face shifted to confused, then understanding. Yeva would need much more power to inflict injury upon a Reaper than one of the Hunters. No, Nivian’s injuries were not made by a Hunter, a simple glance would tell anyone as much.
“She was hit by another Reaper, not a Hunter,” he argued.
Caspian had no understanding of the pain his friend would feel once it all sank in, but he was not heartless and he felt for him. “He was injured beyond the ability to heal, even for a Hunter.” He emphasized the last part so there would be no doubt that his orders had not been made from a malicious place. “Nivian had to cut his life thread.”
Holter took slow steps closing the space between them, each one as if his muscles were laden with stone. Shaking hands lifted to grip the edges of Caspian’s cloak, and he made no movement to avoid him. “What has she done?” Tears pooled along the lower edge of Holter’s lashes. “I will destroy her for this.” His voice was guttural and raw.
“No,” Caspian growled, “she is the last one on this earth who would take his life if there was the slightest chance he could have survived.”
Holter bowed his head and let the tears fall. The others looked away, giving him what small sliver of privacy they could. “His life thread faded into the ether, it will never be renewed…” the man sagged.
Caspian lifted his hands to cover his and took them from his cloak. “No, my friend, it did not fade.” This was one thing he could give him. A few words that could ease a small part of his breaking heart. “Nivian had been carrying the watch Silas had given her when Kain was assigned as her mark. She captured his life force. It is safe. I promise you I will treat it with more care than any other before it.”
“Do not lie to soothe me.” Holter stepped back and snapped a finger in Nivian’s direction. “She would not be injured if what you say is true.”
Caspian let out a slow breath then said, “After she sliced his life thread, she became inconsolable. She attacked me.” He hesitated, trying to push the emotions down that threatened to flow over and flood him. “I did not mean to strike her, but I was… unprepared for such a reaction. I miscalculated and struck her.”
Throughout all of this, Evander and Azira had kept silent, soaking in the bits and pieces they hadn’t already known.
“I can’t… I can’t be here now.” Holter stumbled toward the door mumbling more to himself than anyone. “How can I possibly tell Aurelia?”
Finn rushed to Holter’s side and gripped the man’s arm to steady him. Without looking back, he spoke to Azira, “Stay and report back with any more details. I will take him home.”
“Yes, sir,” Azira said, barely above a whisper.
“My Lord, how is it possible to create new Fate Keepers?” Evander spoke after the two Hunters had left, slamming the door behind them.
“Silas has put a plan in place,” was all Caspian said. He would not admit that he was still uncertain of what that plan was. The answers would be held within the pages of the Tome of Fate. They had to be. Silas would have instructed him otherwise if they were not.
Caspian strode over to Nivian and took a seat on the edge of her bed. He stared down at her and wondered when she’d become someone so different than the young woman he’d known so long ago. He lifted a hand and brushed a knuckle across her slightly bruised cheek, already most of the way through healing. Thank Gaia.
“I have no right to ask the two of you this,” he spoke to Azira and Evander without taking his eyes off Nivian. “But I cannot stay by her side, and I don’t want her to be alone when she wakes. Will you—” his voice broke.
Azira placed a palm on his shoulder. He resisted the urge to lean into her but finally met her eyes when her small fingers guided his chin up so he was forced to look into those endless depths of blue.
“We will take turns watching over her. She is our friend as well.”
A ghost of a smile formed on his lips. “Thank you.”
The one fact he didn’t need a greater power or even the Tome to tell him was that whoever took on these powers would need to be prepped, their powers stretched farther and farther until they were able to absorb them without being destroyed. Nivian could absorb Silas’s power without problem, but now, without Kain around, it would take more effort and would come at a high risk of failure.
They had no choice but to try. And he was ready to use every last Hunter on this earth to create a new Guardian of Life if he had to.
His gaze slid over to the small blonde at his side as he swallowed the lump that formed in his throat.