“Your Majesty… I… I did it for the empire…” she croaked, practically fighting the serum’s effect.
“Nonsense!” the emperor shouted, his voice thundering across the throne room. “I knew there was something off about you the moment Taeral and his crew mentioned your sudden amnesia regarding rosy fish sanctuaries. Yet I decided I’d need more evidence before accusing you. I should’ve known better than to cling to the hope that you might not be a traitor, after all.”
“Your… Majesty…”
“You helped the Hermessi! You helped the very entities looking forward to destroying us all,” the emperor replied. “Spare me the lies about doing anything for the empire. I’m not a fool, and I certainly wasn’t born yesterday!”
“You did it for yourself, Medina,” Lumi said, her extended hand clenching into a fist as she tightened her magic grip on the prime minister’s throat. “I bet Brendel promised you something. Probably the same thing she promised every other cult member… that you’d survive the ritual. That you’d be chosen to… I don’t know, repopulate these new worlds.”
“Yes,” Medina managed. “She did. She promised me a place in the future world.”
The Widow Maker laughed lightly. “Oh, honey… You’re all going to die if Brendel completes the ritual. Not a single one of you will be spared.”
Medina stilled. It looked strange, as she no longer fought the glowing noose or the truth serum. Her eyes lit up orange, and flames erupted from her skin, covering her from head to toe.
“There you are,” she said, her voice chillingly different. It wasn’t Medina speaking anymore. It was Brendel. She’d found us already. I’d hoped for a couple more minutes, at least, knowing that Kabbah was keeping her busy.
“We need to go,” Taeral muttered.
Medina-Brendel grinned as she pulled Lumi’s spell from her throat like it was nothing. The light ring snapped and vanished in a puff of smoke, and Medina-Brendel took a deep breath. “Did you really think you’d get to just walk off with Eirexis? My, my, aren’t you foolish.”
I sensed movement behind us. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Nethissis drawing the spell for interplanetary travel. Brendel couldn’t see what she was doing because of us, as we’d positioned ourselves in a tight double line.
The guards seemed to realize that Nethissis was trying to do something to help us, so they rushed around and flanked us on both sides, pointing their weapons at Brendel. The emperor cautiously moved back, putting some distance between him and the Fire Hermessi. We only needed a few minutes.
“Now’s the time to make yourself useful,” Raphael said to the Widow Maker.
“Why?” came his sharp reply.
“Seriously?” I groaned.
Medina-Brendel glowered at the Reaper. “Nothing you do will stop me.”
“Oh, dear, you’re as deluded as you were four million years ago,” the Widow Maker replied, sounding quite amused.
“I’ve been successful so far,” Medina-Brendel shot back, pointing an angry, fiery finger at him. “I will keep at it until the ritual is complete! I’ve proven myself, over and over! And Death… well, she can just sit back and watch,” she said, and shifted her focus to Taeral. “Now, hand Eirexis over, and I will let you walk out of here alive, Taeral. I’ve looked into you. I have to say, I appreciate your spunk. But you’re fighting against impossible odds. It’s time for you to give up and go spend what time you have left with your loved ones.”
Taeral scoffed. “You’ve looked into me? I guess you didn’t look deep enough, since you clearly think I’d actually hand over Eirexis. That’s not going to happen. Not after what we’ve just been through.”
“Okay. Then suffer the consequences,” Medina-Brendel said, bursting into her full fire figure.
The flames spread out from her feet, rushing across the floor in all directions, looking to consume everyone and everything in their path. The emperor was dragged out of the room by several guards, while Lumi, Riza, and Eva threw all the magic they had at the fire, building an energy barrier around us.
“How much longer?” Taeral asked, his eyes on Medina-Brendel.
“A couple more minutes,” Nethissis replied from behind.
The Widow Maker stepped forward and tapped the energy shield that Lumi, Riza, and Eva had built. Incandescent white tendrils spread out through it, strengthening its resistance to the devastating flames. He used his spare hand to push the remaining Cerixian guards as far away from us as possible. Flicking his wrist, he released a pulse that threw them backward. They scrambled back to their feet and left the throne room as the fire covered the entire floor—yet it was unable to get past the energy barrier.
The Reaper’s intervention was definitely welcome.
A loud bang made us all look back. The throne room’s double doors exploded into thousands of splinters. The smoke cleared quickly, revealing Fallon in the frame. His figure burned green, as he was still possessed by Kabbah.
“Hey, sister! Why’d you run off like that?” he asked, mocking Brendel. “I wasn’t done yet!”
“Stand back!” Brendel warned him. I had a feeling Medina was completely gone. Unlike Kabbah, Brendel had completely engulfed her body in orange fire. I could still see Fallon, and I knew Kabbah wouldn’t destroy him in the process. He’d said it himself. The vampire-fae hybrid was too precious to hurt.
Nethissis completed the interplanetary spell chant, and the light bubble grew around us. We moved closer together, still vulnerable to Brendel’s attacks. The Widow Maker walked toward Brendel, joined by Fallon-Kabbah.
“You won’t stop me!” Brendel screamed. There was something in the way she said it that made me think otherwise. She had not seen us coming like this. She had not expected us to be such a huge thorn in her side.
“Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard that before,” Raphael retorted.
“Sister, seriously. It’s rude to leave me on my own,” Fallon-Kabbah said, grinning at Brendel.
The Widow Maker gave us a quick glance, as the light bubble was completed around us, the spell humming. It lifted us off the ground, beginning its ascension. “I’ll see you kiddos on the Fire Star.”
Brendel tried to summon all her fire to come after us. The ground shook. The palace walls groaned from the strain of the natural elements. The whole place was about to go down, would soon be reduced to a pile of rubble—but it was too late.
The interplanetary spell shot upward and pierced the palace roof.
Clouds gathered, swirling around us. Lightning rushed across the sky, desperate to hit us. But nothing could be done, as enormous pillars of water and fire burst around us, marking a clear path for our spell bubble to rise.
“Inalia… Acquis…” Taeral murmured.
Two of Cerix’s Hermessi had resumed their roles as rebels, opposing the other two and helping us leave the planet in one piece. The interplanetary spell broke through the atmosphere, leaving all the chaos behind.
Minutes passed in heavy silence, until Lumi settled on the ground, pressing a palm against her chest, where Acantha’s pearl was hidden. She sighed, glancing up at the universe unraveling around us with its myriads of stars and colorful planets.
