Chapter 46

With Adeena magic quelling around her, she was able to focus on Sophea, even as she continued heaving though nothing else was coming up. Somehow, she managed to move, making her way to the empress just a sob broke through her lips. Adeena helped her sit back against the side of her desk, keeping her steady even as her whole body shook.

She'd never seen Sophea cry before, but those broken sobs continued as she leaned her head back, eyes squeezed shut. Adeena hesitantly lifted her hands to her face, but then hers were reaching up to grasp onto them. Not to yank them away, but rather to hold as tight as she possibly could.

It was then Adeena noticed the cut on her fingertip...it was now bleeding red.

Malik, Kav, and the guardsmen shuffled behind where Adeena and Sophea sat but made no move after the chaos that had just ensued.

"Are you all right?" Adeena whispered then.

Sophea's tears continued trailing down her cheeks as her clear hazel eyes locked on Adeena's. "He's had a hold of me for so, so long," she choked out. "I couldn't...I tried everything..."

"It's all right. You're safe now. We both are."

She never thought she would be saying those words to the one female she'd despised for practically her entire life. Even looking at her now, the unease, the hatred flared within her just by seeing her face, but the tears were what had her pausing.

Almost silent footsteps made their way toward them. Sophea's gaze didn't leave Adeena's face, though, not until her sons knelt down on either side of them. Malik and Kav were just as shocked, just as wary as Adeena was.

"Can you ever forgive me?" Sophea asked then in an almost silent whisper. "After all I've done for so many years, the pain I made all three of you go through...can you forgive me?"

None of them could respond before her head dropped back onto the desk, exhaustion pulling her under.

"Get her to the infirmary," Adeena said, still staring at the empress even as she stood. She glanced back at the guardsmen, still watching her warily with their hands on the pommels of their swords, ready to charge the very moment she went to make a killing blow. "The healers need to make sure she's all right. She needs rest and then...then we'll need to talk to her."

It wasn't a guardsman who went to pick the unconscious Sophea up, though, but rather Malik. He gently took his mother into his arms, standing on steady legs, even though he was still shaken up. Kav was at his side, helping him readjust her so her head was cradled in the crook of his shoulder.

With the guardsmen leading the way through the palace, Adeena stayed at the back. Silence had swept through, though every face of the staff and other guardsmen lined the hallways they went down. At first, they thought the empress in the arms of the crown prince was gone, but then they noticed how her fingers were clutched on the collar of his jacket.

Adeena's heart was pounding so loud in her ears she didn't hear the gasps or whispers when everyone saw her face and her Lady in White attire. The realization was lighting up in their gazes, though, finally understanding that Lady Adeena Merlo and the Lady were one in the same. Even as they finally made it to the infirmary, the whispers followed and yet she wasn't paying attention, not when the two female healers immediately jumped into action as Malik set Sophea down on one of the cots. Kav closed the door and locked it while the guardsmen stood outside, keeping the nosy staff from peeking in.

She kept her distance as the healers went to work, not only making sure there were no physical or internal injuries but also that her magic was still intact. Adeena was doing the same, using her own to feel around Sophea's. She could still sense it, though it was still just a kernel of light within her after being beaten down into submission for so long.

But it was light magic, not the darkness that had covered her completely.

And her mind...Adeena had never been able to see into it like she could with everyone else. Now, Sophea's head was clear, the echoes of her pain and anguish still there. She remembered hearing how she hadn't always been the way she was over those last hundred and twenty-odd years, how she'd once been an empress everyone loved. Having been muddled for so long, Adeena was finally able to see just who the real Sophea was and not the empress she'd known and absolutely loathed. One who had been a loving mother to a young Malik, who made sure everyone in her kingdom had everything they needed, who wanted peace between the kingdoms in Laria.

As the healers made quick work over Sophea, finished, and then made sure she was comfortable even in her unconscious state, Adeena slowly made her way to the end of the cot. By then, both Malik and Kav were on both sides, holding her hands as they watched her breathe easy. Adeena, though, was still searching through her mind, seeing how she wanted nothing more than to fight with the darkness that had held her captive, how she hated everything it made her do...including what it did to Adeena and Cleo. The face Sophea had put with the darkness itself, the death god she'd made a deal with...his face was obscured in her memory. She couldn't even access their conversations or what happened when she'd come to him at the very beginning.

Sophea sucked in a breath through her nose, lashes fluttering as she began to rouse from unconsciousness. Her hands, still in her sons', gripped tighter as they shifted closer.

"Mother?" Malik said quietly, brushing back her dark hair. "Can you hear me?"

Kav, just as concerned as his older brother, watching their mother with eyes tight in concern. Adeena could see the dozens of thoughts running through his head, but there was one that was louder than all the rest.

If Kav had been conceived with the darkness controlling Sophea...did that mean he had the same within him?

No, Adeena wanted to tell him then. It wasn't the same. The darkness might have been dictating every thought and movement of hers for over a century, but it wasn't a part of her. It wasn't the same as it was for Adeena, Cleo, and their cousin's daughter Dessa.

Sophea's eyes slowly opened then, and she stared at the ceiling of the infirmary for several moments in silence.

"Mother?" Kav whispered to her.

She swallowed hard, still not meeting their gazes. "I tried so hard for so many years, but nothing ever worked. I couldn't get away, couldn't stop it."

Adeena moved forward on the side Malik was on, sitting on the edge of the cot as she put her hand over his. "It's over now. For both of us."

Never did she think she'd ever be saying those words to the empress who had made her whole life a living hell with only a few bright spots in the darkness. Never did she think she'd been the one comforting her.

When she spoke, her voice no more than a whisper, Adeena was the first one she actually looked at, her eyes once more filling with tears.

"He wanted you dead for so long," Sophea told her. "He almost succeeded...but he didn't realize how powerful you were in his own domain, even for being just four years old. And to bright your grandfather back with you...he raged when he learned he'd been bested by a child. That was the one and only time I was able to break through his hold, long enough to send you to the Guild to make sure you were safe from him."

The air in Adeena's lungs left in a rush. "Who is he, the death god? What's his name?"

She shook her head, squeezing her eyes closed as if trying to remember. "I don't...I can't remember. My head is still jumbled, and I can't..."

"It's all right. You can take your time," Malik told her, squeezing her fingers. "Can you remember anything else about him in the meantime?"

"Cleo," she choked out. She slowly sat up against the pillows with Malik and Kav's help. "The death god...he's been gone from this world for decades, but he's made his way back. He's the one who's on his way to Arloerin now that Cleo's back. He wants to finish what he started, knowing you, Adeena, will go to help her. Not only that, but Dessa is on her way, too. He knows that already and he can't wait to see her again. She doesn't realize she's going to be walking right into the start of a war."

Adeena and Kav immediately looked at each other.

"Cleo," he choked out, shifting to stand. "I need to get word to her. We need to..."

But Adeena stopped him with one sentence. "You need to send her a message...and then we need to get to Arloerin. Fast."

"Please go," Sophea told them. "I'll be...I'll be fine here. You need to get there as soon as you possibly can. He should already be there, ready and waiting. It's only a matter of time."

Both Malik and Kav surged to their feet but leaned down to kiss their mother's forehead.

Malik looked to Adeena. "We need to be gone within the hour. I'll have one of the stable hands prepare the fasts horses."

"And I'll get word to Arloerin," Kav said. His fury was almost palpable, especially when it was in regard to his mate's life. "Cleo needs to have every one of her guardsmen on alert, the Elite holding the palace..."

Adeena nodded to Kav, but instead of the fastest of horses like Malik suggested...

"I have another idea on how we can get there fast. Odanth. He'll be able to get all three of us there within a day or two. When he hears that Cleo's life and mine are on the line..."

Malik nodded furiously. "One hour. That's all we need to take. Adeena, you get Odanth. Kav, you get that message to Cleo. And me...it wouldn't hurt to mobilize Krahzaran troops in order to help."

"One hour," she repeated.

But as they turned to rush out the door, Sophea stopped them.

"Wait," she choked out.

Adeena turned, Malik and Kav doing the same on either side of her.

"I remember his name," she whispered. "It's a name he's used for centuries, one he got from another world where it literally means end."

They waited the three seconds it took for her to manage to say it.

"His name is Fin."