Destroyed by Onyx (A Dance with Destiny Book 4) Read online

  “No, Jenevier,” Jezreel cried. “You must stay. Please… for me.”

  She couldn’t bear the tears in her friend’s lovely eyes, she embraced her fully. “I am so sorry,” she whispered.

  “You greet me as a Dragon Lord?” The King took one step closer to the hugging girls. “Are you the one they call… Naga? The one I’ve heard whisperings about upon the wind? Are you the bonded rider of the great Nilakanta, first of his kind?”

  “I am Kagi Naga.” She bowed again, in her half-praying manner. “And yes, Nilakanta is mine, as I am his.”

  “So it’s true, then. You are the delicious poison all races have been warned about.”

  “I am the same.” It hurt her heart to have to admit it so plainly.

  “I humbly beg you to stay and participate in our Celebration of Love for your friend and my son. We will heed your warning and honor your wishes. I only pray you do not think ill of us if we don’t treat you as a normal guest. Take it not upon your heart if we do not lavish our usual kind of attention upon you.”

  She released a relieved sigh. Her smile beamed. “Gratitude, Your Majesty.”

  And once again, after witnessing these strange events, Trelaina slipped away unnoticed.

  *****

  The celebration was indeed lovely. She couldn’t remember ever seeing Jezreel quite so happy, and never had she seen her smile quite so big. Her heart swelled at the love this noble race shared with one another. Their songs were the stuff fairytales were made of. The Elves danced and played as carefree children.

  Jenevier partook in the delicious meal with them, and drank more than her fair share of the divinely sweet wine. She danced only with Jezreel and Alastyn, although, King Dofarel did manage to talk her into one rather festive dance, one that involved no touching at all.

  She noticed Alastyn spent a great deal of time with Izadori—dancing, laughing, holding hands. She crushed the sharp pang of jealousy she had no right to feel and turned her attention back to the happy newlyweds.

  I cannot remember being surrounded by this much joy, this much love, this much merriment. My dearest friend is truly the blessed one of our pair. She sighed aloud with her thoughts.

  Alastyn plopped down beside her, breathless from the last dance, and noticed the dreamy look in her eyes as she watched the happy couple spinning around gaily to the magical music. He was entranced with her, as he always had been, and pulled her closer.

  “Jenevier, I have waited my whole life to hold you in my arms like this.”

  She watched as his handsome face drew nearer. When he closed his eyes, she gave in to his sweet wine-tinged kiss. She had kissed him in her dreams so many times. Alas, those dreams could never compare to the reality of this breathtaking feeling of euphoria. When they finally parted, he rested his forehead against hers and just smiled.

  “It was so much better than even my fantasies.”

  “I was just thinking the same thing,” she whispered.

  Their giggles were caused as much by the wine as by the enchanting kiss they had waited nearly twenty years to experience. He fell back onto the many pillows surrounding the seemingly endless banquet table and pulled her onto his chest.

  Without thought, Jenevier did the most natural thing in the world to her… she licked his neck. Only when she heard his breath hitch did she realize what she had done.

  When she finally mustered the courage to lift her eyes and meet his gaze, she gasped when she saw the intense passion burning wildly in those magical emerald orbs.

  “Nay, Brother. I have done you a grave wrong.”

  Her apology was cut short when he rolled her over and covered her mouth with his. In her heart, she only wanted this incredible madness to continue, but thankfully her mind won out.

  She gently pushed him away. “Forgive me, Alastyn. As badly as I wish it, I cannot. I belong to a jealous Angel, and I love him more than life.”

  “All is well, Jenevier. Fear not. Daichi has promised not to hinder our love, not if it’s what you truly want. The decision is yours, Milady.” He tenderly brushed the curls back from her forehead. “Will you love me for the pitiful few human years yet remaining to me?” He sweetly kissed the tip of her nose and smiled softly, adoration glowing in his lovely eyes. “Will you finally accept what was started between us so long ago? Will you allow those butterflies to swarm within you once more as you float amongst the stars while I hold you in my arms? This is my greatest wish.” His nose lightly brushed her cheek as he moved to whisper in her ear. “I was born to love you, Jenevier. I don’t know how I know, I just do. My soul knows. I’ve spent my life chasing you, desperately seeking you. Will you let me catch you?” He looked her in the eye. “Will you still your wings long enough for me to embrace you at last?” He kissed her again.

  “Alastyn, you melt me.” She gasped out her words between deepening kisses.

  “We melt together, my love,” he whispered breathlessly.

  The wine had numbed her senses, but the heady feeling was slowly ebbing, clearing her heated mind. “You have awakened a long forgotten piece of my soul, sweet knight. It was hidden away, dormant, waiting especially for you.” She gently ran her fingertips across his brow, admiring his rare beauty. “You planted a fire within my heart the first night we met. Now, you have rekindled it with fervor. I fear I may not be able to live through these intense flames.”

  Then… she felt something, something physical, physically different, bizarre, akin to madness, feral madness.

  “Alastyn,” she rasped. “I desire you past controlling.” Jenevier ran her fingers into his raven locks and kissed him passionately, fervently. “Something’s wrong,” she whispered as she begrudgingly pulled her lips from his. “Something tastes…” She paused.

  Alastyn watched as her ethereal pink eyes narrowed, a confused look crossing her face.

  “What is it, my love? What are you studying so hard upon?” An unwelcome pit began to form in his stomach. “What did I say that would cause such concern?” He rose, pulling her up with him.

  She only stared at him, shocked. When she opened her mouth to speak, words wouldn’t come. A rumbling growl was the only sound she could manage.

  Fear crept into his heart. He grabbed her shoulders, shaking her. “Jenevier, you’re scaring me. Speak to me, Princess. What’s wrong? What has happened?”

  The music abruptly died away. The laughter ebbed with it as the ancient magical people gathered around to see what was going on with their new friends.

  Jenevier jumped to her feet, retreating several steps. Yet her ravenous gaze remained locked with his now terrified one.

  “What are you?” she whispered.

  “What am I?” he said, bewildered. “What do you mean?” He reached for her but she retreated further. “Jenevier, do not withdraw, my love. It is me, Alastyn, your first love and dearest friend from another life.” He stepped towards her, anxious tears burning the backs of his lovely emerald eyes. “Tell me what has happened. Speak now and crush this panic swelling within me.”

  “You are my Alastyn, yes. Yet… you are no man.” She closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. A visible shudder ran across her body. “I taste the blood of an Olden within you. What lineage do you claim, Brother?”

  “Lineage? Brother? What are you talking about? Jenevier, you know my family.”

  Alastyn moved toward her again, she stood firm this time, welcoming his advance.

  “You have known me for years, nothing is new about me.” His voice trembled. “Why this, why all of a sudden? And… what’s an Olden? Jenevier, have you completely slipped from sanity, my love? Have you been too long with the wine?”

  “Empress Naga.”

  She turned her wide, feral gaze toward the Elven King as he spoke. He saw well the raging inferno she was trying desperately to control.

  “Tell me what you glean within the human,” Dofarel said.

  Jenevier looked at Alastyn, tilting her head to the side, her mouth… watering. “I taste blo
od as old as the first man. I taste valor beyond compare.” She rolled his scent around in her mouth again, savoring it fully. “A richer, finer thing has never crossed my tongue.” She licked her lips, a seductive gleam now sparkling in her eyes. “I wish only to devour him wholly.” She took a step closer. “I want to taste this man as I have never wanted to taste anything in my entire life. I desire him past controlling. I now thank God my diet does not consist of human blood, for I fear I would not stop until he was drained completely.” She inhaled again, pulling his scent from the air. “A more delicious flavor than this man cannot exist, should not exist, throughout the universe.”

  Alastyn had held her burning gaze as she spoke. He now moved nearer, as did she.

  “Do not come any closer, old friend,” she whispered. “If you wish to remain whole, you will halt your steps where you are.” Still, she continued to slowly move toward him.

  “How can you speak thusly to me, Jenevier?” He took another step. “You are my every other memory, my love,” he whispered. “I have desired you with every piece of me, with every thought, with every breath, since the moment our eyes first met. I now see that same hunger burning within you, consuming you. I know what it is you feel. The same has burned within me the whole of my life. I have longed for this day above all others. Finally, the day has come when you can no longer deny me. The blessed day when you can no longer defy the pull I have over you.”

  He continued to move slowly toward her, yet she halted her advance.

  “Something great is meant for us, tiny Angel,” he said, holding fast her burning gaze. “It’s something bigger than the two of us alone, something historic, world changing. I have always known this, you have always known this. Our time has come at last, my love. The day our destiny is finally revealed. No longer can it be denied. The blessed day of us has arrived.”

  Kias stepped in front of him then, blocking his way just as he reached her trembling, frozen form.

  King Dofarel placed his hand upon Alastyn’s shoulder. “This explains so many things, my boy. I wondered why my daughter was so drawn to you. I wondered why you kept showing up amongst my people.” The old King smiled.

  “What are you saying, Dofarel?” Jenevier eyed the Elf warily. “Tell me what it is you’re hiding within your heart. Do not toy with me in this.”

  “I would never have guessed it without your gifts, Empress. I will share with you what I believe to be true.” He turned to face Alastyn. “You carry the blood of the first man. You are descended from the noble bloodline of the original Kings. Your great valor and tremendous heart are born naturally within you, for you are the son of the Kings of Old, the last to walk among us. You, my son, are an Olden. Does your father yet live?”

  At the question, tears filled his enchanting green eyes. “No, sir, he does not.”

  “Kias, Izadori, what you both proclaimed to me, back at that little rose-covered cottage, now rings truer than you could have possibly imagined.” He held up his arms and proclaimed loudly. “The days of men and Elves are once more. Centuries have we waited, but no longer. All hail the rightful King of this realm.” Dofarel held out a glowing wand, lightly touching Alastyn on the forehead. “All hail Alastyn, rightful King of Ashgard.”

  Their cheers were thunderous. The very leaves shook with excitement. Joy seemed to ring forth from every living creature, resonating throughout the ancient forest.

  Jenevier quietly stepped back within the trees—shaking all over, gasping for breath—as the happy Elves surrounded her stunned friend.

  Alastyn caught Izadori up in his arms, spinning her around. That night, Mangladune was filled with immeasurable joy.

  Slipping through the trees, Jenevier came out to stand near Jezreel. “Farewell, sister of my heart,” she whispered. “May you always know love, may you always smell roses, and may you be blessed with a hundred children as mischievous as you were.”

  The two girls cried and hugged and tried their best to squeeze a lifetime of goodbyes out of their last few moments together. Kias approached them, placing a hand upon each.

  Jenevier turned to him, hugged him fiercely, and then quickly stepped away. “Take care of my fair sister, brother Kias. I hold you accountable for her happiness. If she sheds but one tear, I will feel it fall bitterly upon my heart. I will tear through your precious trees and exact payment for her sorrow from your pale flesh, Onyx Eyes.”

  Kias only smiled and bowed to her. “As you say, Milady.”

  She kissed Jezreel one last time before she disappeared into the darkened forest.

  Strong hands grabbed her, pulling her back against a hard chest, holding her firm.

  “Were you truly going to leave without telling me goodbye?” he whispered into her curls. “After you promised, swore, and vowed, no less. This seems to be a dreadfully bad habit of yours, lovely Empress.”

  She smiled softly, turning in his arms, touching his tear-stained cheek. “Alastyn, my first love, your blessed destiny was revealed to you this night. I was told that my birth was to fulfill an ancient prophecy of this land. A wise Angel told me I was created to teach the King of Ashgard how to love… then I would leave this layer in his most capable of hands. I know now that King was you, Alastyn. You are not meant to stay bound to me. You are meant to live long and produce many of your kind.” She kissed him lightly on the lips before she stepped back, holding up her intricately tattooed hand before him. “Alastyn, King of Ashgard, last of the Olden kind, I unbind you from me. Your heart is free to love as it will, no reservations or restraints. Go, valiant knight, proclaim your heart to the maiden whom you truly desire. May you live ten thousand years in health and love and blessed light.”

  His smile was as bright as the sun. He embraced her so tightly she could barely breathe.

  “I wish only for you. You are the only maiden whom I truly desire. I don’t know what you were trying to do just now, but there is no way you can unbind me from you. Daichi gave me permission to ask you for your heart. I have, over and over have I pleaded. Alas, you have denied me yet again. I am only blessed with a farewell because I know you too well, Milady. I knew you would run. I will not force you in this, not anymore. But know this. Deep within my soul, there is a prophetic inscription burned thereon. It speaks of you and I together, Jenevier, not separated.”

  The bitterest of all tears dripped from her trembling chin. “But… I now belong to Daichi. He is my Blessing.”

  “He is, yes. I can see why God made him the way He did—magnificently glorious and supremely terrifying. Only one as awesomely designed as Daichi could ever be able to handle you, Jenevier. I wish you all the happiness in the universe. You take the largest piece of my heart with you when you go. So promise to carry the memory of me in an honorable place within you always, as I will you.”

  Her tears burst forth in earnest. Ignoring the danger, the burning need to devour him, she flung her arms around his neck, hugging him with every ounce of her being for the very last time.

  “I will always love you, King Alastyn. Never forget that.”

  “I know, Empress Naga. We are of like-mind in this.” He held her with all his strength, with all his heart. “Will I ever see you again?”

  “No, old friend, my time here is done. To remain or return would only bring harm. If the future ever changes concerning this, I will come to you with all haste. If it is so ordained, I swear… I will not hide from you, dear one.”

  “So you say.” He smiled, giving her a knowing wink. “When you return, for I know you will, come to the palace in Wrothdem. Meet me there and speak your heart concerning me. Even if I am old and gray and deaf, tell me if we’re still fated, still cosmically connected.” He kissed her one last time, deeply, and then turned from her.

  Jenevier watched as Alastyn’s regal form and raven curls grew further and further away. Izadori ran to him and jumped in his arms. Cheers and laughter filled the forest.

  Her heart swelled at the sight of her two dearest friends. Both so happy
now, both so richly blessed.

  “As it should be,” she whispered.

  When she turned to go, Trelaina was standing behind her. She almost ran face first into the Elf girl. Before she could even draw a breath, the vengeful Elven woman blew a magical dust in her face and sucked the air out of her lungs.

  Jenevier felt herself leaving her body, felt her life floating out between her frozen lips. Yet she was powerless to stop it.

  As her essence, her celestial blessings, and her very soul was pulled from her lungs and into the other woman, all the color drained from her frozen body.

  Trelaina stepped back and smiled. She felt the Angel coursing through her. She inhaled deeply. Her smile was wicked, devilish, spawned in the very pits of hell. Trelaina knew she now had the power to destroy Jezreel and claim Kias as her own.

  She looked victoriously at the tiny woman they had all called Empress… swaying empty before her.

  Jenevier was completely absent color. Her hair was as tarnished silver, her flesh, the color of the moon, and her sapphire scar was now as glittering clear crystals. Only the tattoo covering her hand and the one sapphire curl were contrast. They were a void of ebony, blacker than a moonless night. Trelaina looked into the Angel’s once magical pink eyes and saw only the resemblance of snowflakes against a blackened sky.

  “Don your priceless wings, Angel,” she whispered. “Fly into the transporting cloudbank. Once inside, your wings no longer work, they will hide from you. You will fall into another realm, upon another layer, minus all things you once knew. You won’t remember this place and you will never return to the land of Ashgard.”

  Jenevier stared blankly into the night as the Elf whispered her heartless instructions. She swayed, blinked once, and then took to the skies.

  When she fell, great was her fall. She lay unconscious in the rocky center of the massive crater her dark despair had caused.

  *****

  At nearly the same instant Jenevier entered the clouds, the sky exploded over Mangladune.