Ashiyn lowered his gaze, clearly struggling with emotions he did not want to show. “I missed you. Even though I did not know what I missed. There was always something out of place.”
Soryn reached to take Ashiyn’s hand, his tone light and free. “Well, here we are. I am forever with you now. Our masters are dead; no one can hold us apart now. We can be together in any way you wish.” Soryn hesitated, searching his friend’s eyes. “Is it all right if we are lovers? I can be just your friend again if that is what you need.”
Ashiyn scoffed a little. “We’re both too old to worry about that, aren’t we? And that was Rhadamanthus’s ideal, not mine.” Ashiyn reached to trail his fingers along Soryn’s cheek as he spoke. “What is your desire, Soryn?”
Soryn marveled at such a gentle touch from such a brutal man. He closed his eyes, his voice a whisper, “I want to be at your side until this world ends. I want to give you the love that you always deserved but was stolen from you. I want to turn you from the course Rhadamanthus forced you on and bring you back to who you are meant to be. I want to help you save this world.”
“You want to save me,” Ashiyn corrected, as he frowned.
“It’s only fair, my King. You did cause an apocalypse to save me,” Soryn reminded him softly.
Ashiyn looked back over their dying world, his expression grim. “Your life is still not a price I am willing to pay for this world. Come, let us go back inside for now. We have a lot of time to make up for.”
Soryn raised a brow when Ashiyn started back inside. “What about Seraphine?”
“She’ll just have to wait. I gave her a room, and she’s busy ordering the Nthir around as she redecorates,” Ashiyn snorted, amused. “Come on, before I change my mind.”
Soryn blushed and scurried after Ashiyn.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Ashiyn stood on the roof of his castle. He could see the army lined up on the shore across from his moat. Their standards were with crossed axes on the yellow and red checkered background. They belonged to a neighboring kingdom. He had tried to court the princess once years ago, and they had held a grudge ever since. Ashiyn shook his head. Troops mounted on horses could not fly. The idiots should have brought griffins. Illusion was the only flying horse in this world and Ashiyn had created him.
The army leaders rode back and forth on the cliff side trying to find a way to cross. Movement beyond them caught Ashiyn's eye, and he raised his gaze to look over the plain. He bristled when a cluster of bright blue griffins landed behind the first army. King Errance had finally gotten around to sending his response.
What does it matter? One army. Two. With me you can slay them all without breaking a sweat.
Ashiyn twitched his hands as the sword's words echoed through his mind. "I should let my armies take them. Why waste my own effort?"
An arrow flew through the air and skittered across the stone to land at his feet. Ashiyn stretched out his hand and used his magic to draw it causing the ripped note to fly into his hand. Ashiyn cleared his throat and opened it to read.
He only made it through the first spiteful paragraph about how he was a fiend. Skimming the rest, he saw that it called for his surrender so he could be tried for his crimes. He crumpled up the paper.
Sparks rose from his hand as his magic set the paper on fire, then he hurled the growing fireball back into the midst of the army as his answer.
Men scattered. The fireball did not hit any of them. They turned and shook their weapons at him and shouted, making quite the clamor.
"So noisy, they are." Ashiyn shook his head. Then he stretched his hand out toward the army. He recited words both ancient and forbidden. The ground behind the army cracked, and Ashiyn's monsters crawled up from the depths. "Drive them into the sea," he commanded, as he crossed his arms again.
The flood of monsters charged at the armies of men. The griffins took to the air to avoid them. The men from the nearby kingdom fought fiercely, but one by one they started sailing over the cliff's edge. Either driven off or tossed over by the monsters.
The griffin army, on the other hand, decided the best way to deal with the situation was to attack him directly.
"Problems?" Soryn asked, as he joined Ashiyn.
"Be a good mage and knock those birds out of the sky, would you?" Ashiyn glanced at his friend.
Let them come! I thirst! Sithaar demanded.
Ashiyn ignored the sword. He wanted to see what Soryn was truly capable of.
There were at least a hundred griffins flying toward them at battle speed.
Soryn rolled his shoulders, then raised his arms to the sky. The words he mumbled were unfamiliar to Ashiyn. The sky above them roiled with sudden dark clouds. Then lightning danced from griffin to griffin.
Ashiyn watched both men and griffins crash against the sharp stones in the moat below. It didn't take long before a dozen large serpentine bodies slithered through the rocks. "You surprise me, Soryn. I didn't expect you to kill them."
"Attacking my King's castle is an act of war. The world is better off without that sort of foolishness." Soryn turned to bow to him and said calmly, "I came to tell you that dinner is served. We would be pleased if you would join us."
Ashiyn watched the serpents below clean his moat until the last corpse disappeared below the angry waves. Then he
