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Kane
I sit in my chair, my fingers tapping against the arms. There is nothing but silence rolling through the halls of this great castle. I have lived 1000 lives, seeing 1000 deaths, and sat more times than I can remember in the stillness before the storm. The stillness, though, it brings an anxiousness, a stuttering fear that creeps along the underworld, blanketing everything that it touches.
Out of the window, the sky is darker than normal, and I feel as if it's reflecting my mood. Bolts of orange lightning crackle across the sky, and the air is still and shallow. Down below in the city, they sense the impending change. They lock their war-torn doors, hide in cellars beneath their homes, and wait. They wait, but they don't know what for. They wait, knowing that they may just be waiting for death.
I used to believe that the dissolving of the soul would be better than an eternity under a tyrannical role, but I'm wrong. Nothingness, a void of any emotion, a void of existence seems like a terrible waste. Maybe it's Briar and the love that she shows me. Maybe it's my humility, taking the beatings, losing my wings, being saved by a human. Whatever it is, it has changed me from the man I was when I first picked Briar up from her father's home. I am stronger, but at the same time, having Briar's soul connected to mine gives me a human side.
"Kane, come look at this," Briar says, standing on the balcony.
It makes me nervous every time she calls for me, as I'm expecting the worst. I leave my chair and head out onto the balcony. What I see stuns me. It more than stuns me, it fills me with something I haven't really ever felt before. It's something that I told Briar in the past is a human emotion. It's hope.
Standing in rows and rows outside of the gates are soldiers dressed in the armor of the King and not Drogaem, but me. At the helm, Willem, my mother, and Aiden stand ready for battle. Aiden stomps his foot and spreads his wings, signaling the troops into attention. The soldiers that Aiden has brought begin to repeat my army's Creed.
"From the deaths of the fires to the caps of the ice mountains, we serve our king from realm to realm with bravery, and we give our lives for the safety of this kingdom." Their arms and their fists clench as they pound them against their chest plates. "For the glory of Kane."
I was not expecting this, an oath of loyalty from my own brother and his troops. The same brother who wanted me dead along with Willem. Briar reaches over and touches my arm. "Kane, we have to keep Drogaem locked in the Castle. If he leaves here, he can command his army to march on my home and all the humans in the mortal realm. It's time for this to end."
She's right. I raise my arm high in the air, and the troops quiet. As loud as I can boom my voice, I yell the battle cry. "For the glory of our kingdom!"
With that, Willem and Aiden give the sign, sending the soldiers slamming into the gates of the castle. I quickly turn to Briar and grab her by the arms. "Get somewhere safe. I'll keep Drogaem in."
I pause for a moment, almost telling Briar that I love her, but it catches in my throat. I kiss her on the top of the head and run out, heading down the hallway. The battle begins, and I can only hope that by the end, we're all still standing.
Chapter 22
Briar
As soon as Kane leaves, I hurry over and open the bottom drawer of my dresser. I rip my dress off, pulling my dagger out of its sheath and setting it on the table. I pull on the leather pants that I had made months before and lace-up the tie in the front. Lilith helped me. She thought it would be something that Kane would like, but in reality, it serves a much bigger purpose. I lace the front of a black corset and tie it tightly before pulling my hair back in a ponytail and slipping on my boots.
Staring at myself in the mirror, I feel more like myself than ever before, and I'm ready for this battle. I grip the dagger in my hand and hold it tightly. I look like a warrior from the underworld, and even more so, I feel like one. I take the strap and tie it over my pants around my thigh, slipping the dagger back into the sheath. The sounds of battle cries grow louder, and I can tell that Willem and Aiden's forces have breached the castle walls.
Hurrying back out onto the balcony, I watch the fighting. Drogaem's forces are strong in numbers, but Aiden's are much fiercer. They whip through the soldiers, tearing them to shreds. To my right, Aiden's forces are funneling into the castle as fast as possible and Desona stands in front of the doors, waiting for every last one of them.
As Drogaem's forces charge, attempting to enter the castle as well, Desona, standing in a tight black dress, her wild hair blowing all around her, thrusts her arms out. She sends a spiral of energy that knocks the troops back. Before they can get up, she begins to spin her hands, magic rolling from her fists. She sings, but the language she speaks I do not understand. As her spell forms, one small glimmer of energy connects to the next building a perimeter all the way around the castle. When it connects, the magic shoots straight up in the
