A Kingdom of Bloodshed

*¬*Chapter Twenty Four*¬*

Quiet enters my head for a moment as I watch Fawn and Thea tumble over the edge and fade from view. But then I'm rushing forward, aiming for that ledge with a roar. "No Kaz," Ryder dives for me, knocking me out of the way and I snarl at him.

"Get off me. We need to save her. Thea is down there. My mate is down there!" Raven reaches us next, her eyes soft, "We know Kaz but none of us have wings or know how to fly. None of us would survive that fall. There's nothing we can do for her. I'm sorry."

I don't want to accept it, I don't want to acknowledge that I just watched her plummet to her death.

The two males who were here before us turn to face us and smirk at me, "I guess her blood was spilled after all. Even if we lost one of our own."

Fin's face turns dark with anger, but he says nothing. I on the other hand, I'm filled with rage.

Shoving Ryder off me, I strike the two males, my magic ripping from me in sharp spears; it hits them in the chest, going straight through them.

I watch as their face go from shock, to pain, to relaxed. Their lives slipping from them before their knees give out and they fall; lifelessly to the ground.

Heaving a breath, I blink. Looking at the carnage I just created. Normally I'd feel a sense of guit, but not today. Today I am oddly satisfied with what I just did.

I have no room for guilt when my mate is gone.

The weight of that finally hits me but I don't have time to let it fully sink in because my brother comes crashing through the trees, riding Persephone. His blood horse snorts at us, her red eyes flashing in the fading afternoon light.

"Hello all." He crows. I snarl again, hating him more than I ever have in our entire lives.

"You." I seethe. I'd race for him, but I don't know what that godforsaken horse is capable of. My brother knows it too. He laughs.

"I'm sorry about your mate, Kaz. I really am. I liked her. But alas, I needed her blood to find that crown so I can wake Xavier and rule this world. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go collect what I came for and be on my way."
I see red.

I'd love nothing more than to slit his miserable throat.

Marching towards him, I pause beside the blood horse and glare up at him. "You will get what's coming for you, one day Augustus. I swear it." Normally my brother would laugh or smirk, not intimidated by me in the slightest, but right now; in this very moment, his skin pales slightly and his eyes widen. He knows I mean it.

One day, I'll get him.

Clearing his throat, Augustus shrugs before clearing his face then turns and strides towards the side of the cliff we're facing. His horse sure footed and knowing the way to the bottom.

"Can't we just fold to were we want to go?" Fin asks quietly. His words send hope sparking through me. "By the gods... yes we can. Why didn't I do this before?"

But the others don't look convinced. "Kaz, we've been up here for a while. She's probably already hit the bottom. Whether we folded or not, you have to accept that Althea is dead."

Snarling, I turn away from them, standing at the edge of the ravine that she fell into and stare down at the mist and fog. By some chance I was hoping to see her holding on with one hand but she's not.

Thea truly plummeted to her death. My chest hurts at the thought.

Something cracks within me, I think it's my heart. My knees give out and I kneel there, at the edge of the world and weep.