Kissed by Krista Street

Chapter 22

~ AVERY ~

The world was a frozen sea of unmoving fairies and supernaturals, stilled and suspended objects, and lifeless wind as I flew over the fae lands’ countryside.

I’d left the goddess’s body at the palace. I couldn’t take her with me, not for this. She’d shown me where Lord Godasara was. I knew I had to get to him now.

His forest army was being created as we’d spoken in my dream, an army of twisting limbs, thick tree roots, and endless power.

Nothing would stop him. Nothing could stop an army made and controlled by an elf lord, which meant that I couldn’t let him grow any stronger.

Verasellee’s power pulsed inside me, the strength of the goddess infusing speed into me as I raced across the fae lands, aiming to cover the journey in a few short hours.

The forest Verasellee had shown me in the dream that the elf lord was hiding in, was the same as the deep, dark forest that surrounded the Elixias Mountains where I’d been held prisoner and where three SF members had lost their lives.

But while he had the forest at his beck and call, and an army being constructed from the vast trees, I had the power of a goddess inside me. It would be me against thousands, but only one of them needed to be killed.

If I could defeat Lord Godasara, his army would fall and this realm would be safe.

As long as I was able to keep time frozen, I would win. The elf lord’s head would roll just like his warlocks’ had done.

And then all would be well.

∞     ∞     ∞

Sweat trailed past my ear as I moved like the wind. I covered the hundreds of miles in a blurred sprint as fields, forests, and villages whizzed by me at dizzying speeds.

It took hours, though, to reach the Elixias Mountains. I didn’t have access to any portal keys, otherwise I would have transported that way before I’d stopped time, but I wasn’t like Bavar. I didn’t have wealth and riches at my fingertips. I knew I could have asked him for one, but what if he’d tried to stop me?

I couldn’t take that risk.

Despite having the power of the goddess humming through my soul, my legs were aching.

Because I wasn’t a goddess.

I was barely more than human. Even though Verasellee’s power flowed through my veins, my human body wasn’t used to such taxing demands. Blisters flared on my feet and my muscles screamed in agony. Having Verasellee’s knowledge on how to control her power meant I could keep time frozen, but only as long as I could withstand it.

You have to keep going. Push past the pain. Don’t stop.

I told myself over and over again that failure wasn’t an option. I buried the pain, pulling strength from deep inside me to withstand the wrenching demands I was requesting of my body, because I had to reach the elf lord.

A dark sky and three full moons bathed the northern land in silver light when I reached it. I followed an instinct as old as time. While I knew the elf lord was in the Derian Forest, I didn’t know precisely where he was hiding.

So, I called upon the goddess to guide me. Even though I wasn’t dreaming, I still felt her presence. She hummed in my body, through my mind, and entwined with my soul.

She and I were one, a living, breathing entity, and together we would right the wrongs that Lord Godasara had committed.

I realized the second I reached the Derian Forest that it was possible I was too late. I came to a careening halt, my muscles screaming in protest.

Because the once lush, vibrant northern woods that stretched for miles upon miles in this remote area in the fae lands, were now mostly barren and empty. Only in the distance did any trees still stand.

It looked as if a giant had swept his hand across the majority of the land, gripping trees and yanking them from the earth, his vengeful fists inflicting the temper and the power of a god.

My mouth gaped when I took in the devastation. The elf lord had taken everything. He’d taken it all.

Bare dirt. Giant holes. Raped land. That was all that remained. The once flourishing, ethereal Derian Forest was all but destroyed.

I have to find him.

I dashed into a sprint again, although my legs weren’t as fast this time, and my heart was beating so fiercely that it felt as if I could faint. Sweat slid out of every pore of my body, and exhaustion made my limbs numb.

But I wouldn’t stop.

The world continued to stay frozen. My grip on the goddess’s power hadn’t failed, yet I knew my body was weakening.

I was so tired. So ungodly tired, but I only had to hold on for a little bit longer.

A great screeching and creaking sound came from the west. Shock rippled through me, and I slammed to a stop, chest heaving and lungs aching. Had that been real?

The sound came again.

But how? How had I heard that? Time was frozen. There should be no sounds.

I paused, still breathing heavily, as I turned toward where the sound had come from.

It came again, that sickening crunch of cracking and splintering wood.

There.

Movement from the northwest caught my attention. Movement? Shit.

I watched as a giant tree was ripped from the ground in a part of the forest that was still intact, before it was twisted and gnarled into figures that resembled demons from another realm. My jaw dropped. Thousands upon thousands of branch-like soldiers stood waiting nearby, ready.

“Good gods,” I whispered.

Lord Godasara was nearly finished, and he was strong enough that he was moving in frozen time. His power was growing.

Only a few trees remained planted as the elf lord himself walked slowly toward them, his arms swishing through the air as if in slow motion, before he dropped to his knees and scribbled more runes in the earth.

His knees.

My heart pounded even more when I gaped at his reformed legs and arms. As I’d seen in my dream, he’d already healed. Shiny, taut green skin covered his new limbs. I stayed out of sight, clouded in the goddess’s power and breathing hard as I tried to form a plan of the best way to attack him.

If he saw me, I would be at a disadvantage. I’d been counting on him being completely frozen, even if he could still talk or watch me. The fact that he was moving changed everything.

With a sluggish wave of his hand, the trees responded—uprooting and forming into new soldiers. Lord Godasara was moving faster, even though his movements were still slow. But he was still able to mobilize his army.

My lips parted, the breath rushing out of me, as a wave of fear coated my insides.

Lord Godasara’s power had always amazed me. When everyone else had been completely frozen both physically and mentally, he’d still been able to watch me. At times, he’d even been able to speak to me. It defied all odds that any creature was allowed to wield the power he had.

As if he had the power of the gods himself.

I didn’t know who the elf lords descended from. Nobody did. But given what I was seeing, he had to have blood from the gods in his veins.

I now understood why all of the other fairies in this realm had sought to destroy the elf lords. They were too strong. Their power was too great. With power that rivaled the gods’, they had absolute control.

And that power had never been used for good.

The difference between the elf lords and the gods and goddesses of the fae universe, was that the real gods, the true gods, did not want to rule over the fairies.

But the elf lords did. They commanded their power like a weapon, slicing and hacking apart anything that dared defy them.

Shock rippled through me as I carefully crept closer to where he worked. For the first time since leaving the palace, I wondered if I’d made the right choice. Maybe I should have asked Wyatt and Squad Three to join me. Maybe we all should have traveled here using portal keys. Maybe we should have fought this battle together.

But then I remembered the three SF members that had died for me at the base of the mountain just south of here. And the SF members and Fae Guard who had died at Shrouding Estate. And the innocent fairies who had died at the Hog’s Head Inn when the elf lord made his first attack.

So much bloodshed had been spilled to save me. And for what? Who was I to demand that kind of sacrifice? Why should anyone give their lives when I was capable of ending this on my own?

No. I knew I could do this. I wouldn’t regret my decision. Even if I died here, right now, fighting to save this realm, it would be worth it if Lord Godasara was destroyed.

My soul twisted when I thought of Wyatt, of leaving him here without me.

Mate.

I’m sorry, I whispered to him internally. I will try to get back to you, but I’m so sorry if I can’t. Please forgive me if it comes to that.

I took a deep breath, then moved in a blur until I was closer, directly behind Lord Godasara. He still wasn’t aware of me. I’d been careful to stay out of sight.

Rage trembled through my limbs as I watched him create another batch of his army.

Gods, he was strong.

Even though my hold on time was intact, he still moved so much faster than he should’ve been able to.

I crept behind him, moving as quietly as a mouse. Raising my hand, I reached for the sword strapped to my back that I’d taken from one of the royal guards back at the palace. One clean swipe through the neck would kill the elf lord. I only had to reach him.

I slipped the blade free. The movement sent a ripple through time.

Lord Godasara’s head whipped up, and he spun around.

I froze.

No. He’d done that so fast, so quickly. How could he be moving that fast?

He grinned, his lips pulling up in a slow-motion saccharine smile. “You’ve certainly made this easy on me.” His words were spoken haltingly as if they too were being said in slow motion. “I thought I would have to hunt you down, but instead you came to me.”

He glanced over my shoulder, a scowl forming on his ugly face. “Where is the goddess? Where have you put her?”

“You will not have her. Just like you will not have me.” I tightened my grip on the sword, looking for an opening.

He laughed. “Who do you think you are to try to wield her power? Only those as great as the gods can do it.”

“So you think you’re a god?” I stepped closer, hoping that our conversation would distract him enough that I could cleave his head in one swift blow.

A dark laugh erupted from his lips. “I will be a god after I sacrifice you for the power inside you. I will rule this entire realm. It will be as it was when my kind had control of these lands with an iron fist. Except now there is only me, so I will command all of it.”

“Not if I have any say in it.” I tightened my grip on the sword. Only a few more feet. Just a few steps and I would be within striking distance. I inched toward him more, my feet sliding along the dirt.

He smirked. “What do you think you’re going to do with—”

I lunged toward him.

His eyes widened, and he stumbled back.

My sword hit the earth, but I whipped it back up, my movements as fast as lightning. I circled him again, prowling around him, waiting for my next opportunity to strike.

“Do you really think you’re going to kill me?” He laughed, his words no longer sounding like they were uttered in slow motion. “I don’t know why the goddess picked you. What are you? A human? A barely passable witch? You’re not strong enough to command her power, but I am. And everybody will see that after I take it from you.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?” I struck again, springing toward him with the sword raised, bringing it down toward his neck in one swift arch.

He sidestepped at the last moment, but barely, and hissed when my sword grazed his shoulder.

Dammit!

I retreated, circling again, my heart pounding so hard it felt like a bass drum.

“Stupid girl,” he whispered. The skin on his arm knitted back together, sewing up like an invisible needle and thread had carved through his flesh.

He glanced at the wound, and it was enough time for me to strike again, but a blow came from behind me, sending me to my knees. I pitched forward, my grip on the sword nearly loosening. I rolled at the last second and turned horrified eyes behind me.

A branch-like soldier stood, its limbs moving sluggishly, but they were still moving.

Lord Godasara was growing even stronger. He was able to move his trees.

No!

The rest of the forest army were moving inch by inch, sluggishly and nearly still, but they’d moved far enough that one of them had reached me from behind without me seeing it coming.

Another dark laugh came from the elf lord. “What was I saying about you being a stupid girl?”

I jumped to my feet and shot a blast of the goddess’s power at the tree.

The tree exploded. Bits of tree fell slowly toward the earth as if moving through water.

The smile on the elf lord’s face died.

“What were you saying about me being a stupid girl?” I swung my sword, moving it high and fast.

A flash flew from his fingertips.

I gasped, my sword arcing toward him. At the last moment, I ducked, rolling out of the way as his spell shot past me. I landed hard, the sword clattering out of my hand.

His spell hit the soil, sizzling into the ground. It carried with it a hint of sulfur. Oh Gods. It was the same spell that had bound the goddess’s power inside me.

I somersaulted to the balls of my feet, my legs aching in protest, but I managed to grab the sword again.

He lobbied more spells at me, throwing them out one after another.

I dodged. Leaped. Jumped. Rolled.

With each paralyzing spell the elf lord threw, his movements became faster, his power growing, almost as if the longer he commanded his power the greater its strength became.

With horror firing through my veins, I realized it would only take a whisper of his spell hitting me to render me weak and powerless again. If his spell landed on me, it would release my hold on time.

And then he would win.

I sprang to my feet and called upon the last reserves of my strength. I had to strike him now and end this. I summoned the training that my body had apparently once learned.

With a forceful surge, I lunged and swung, coming at him faster and faster. Every spell he threw, I dodged. Every tree he called upon couldn’t move fast enough to reach me.

The triumph in his eyes dimmed, hatred taking its place. “You can’t win this.”

“I believe I am.” But sweat was pouring from my face. With each swipe of my arm, every slide of my feet, I’d grown more tired. The goddess’s power sparkled inside me, steady and strong, but my human body was failing.

No. End this!

I pulled power from deep inside me, the last wells of my inner strength. Lightning swam through my veins, and energy coursed through my limbs. I was a walking goddess, a living, breathing incarnation of Verasellee, and I would not fail.

My sword arced toward his neck again, the movement sure and strong.

The lord’s eyes widened. “Did you know my army has already entered the city? As you fight here, I’m taking the capital, and with it, your mate. He’ll be dead even if you beat me.”

His declaration sizzled through me, the shock of it making me fumble. My sword missed.

His face split into a grin just before a spell shot from his fingertips. The scent of sulfur rushed past my face, tickling my cheek, like a breeze had caressed my skin.

No!

My hold on Verasellee’s power snapped, and the world abruptly began turning again. His spell tingled against my cheek, not fully penetrating me, but seizing my immediate attempts to stop time again.

I struck forward in one last desperate attempt to kill the elf lord.

He sidestepped my strike, laughing the entire time. The sound was so dark and deep.

And then the army came alive around him. The trees groaning and creaking as they formed into thousands of rows of twisted creatures, bent wood, and snarled splinters. They moved steadily and with strength, no longer encumbered by my hold on time.

And the army was ready to do his bidding.

A grin streaked across the elf lord’s face, his eyes glowing with malice, as my stomach turned to ice.