“Come on,” I growled, turning from the view of that horror show and gritting my teeth in determination as I moved towards the door, fully intending to head down there and rip every single Nymph and follower of my father apart in a bid to rescue my friends’ families.
But I only made it a few steps when the sound of an Atlas ringing cut through the air and I looked around in surprise, frowning at my nightstand where one of my old spares had been left, still plugged in and clearly forgotten.
Max went to stride past me, but I caught his arm, my skin prickling with the feeling that that call was important, and for a moment I swear I could hear the stars whispering amongst themselves all around us.
“It’s Gabriel,” Caleb said as he shot across the room to check the caller ID and he answered it before we could register our surprise at that.
“Darius?” Gabriel barked as Cal put the call on speaker and we all moved closer as I answered.
“We’re all here. What is it?”
“The Burrows are under attack and your father is here,” he said urgently and any last remaining shred of hope that I’d been holding onto withered and died with those words. “Lavinia must have planned this. I didn’t see it coming until they were already here,” I could hear the anguish in his voice, but that didn’t make the news any easier to bear.
“What’s happening?” I demanded, the beast beneath my skin writhing with the need for blood.
“His entire Nymph army and his Dragon guard are attacking,” Gabriel said quickly. “We’re meeting them in the open field and the twins are leading the charge. I think Lavinia lured you away from here to turn the odds in their favour.”
“Or to trap us,” Seth growled and my hand tightened into a fist as I considered that. The Councillors had clearly been here for a while which meant that message Cal had received had never come from his mom. “They want to add us to that shit fest down there.”
“Fuck,” Max breathed in agreement and a growl rumbled through my chest.
“I’m still not leaving without my family,” Caleb said firmly, and my heart felt like it was being ripped in to two directions because as much as I understood that, I needed to get back to that fight, I had to be there to stand beside my girl, and I needed to be the one to take on my father.
“Fate is twisting too fast for me to keep track of it,” Gabriel said. “But Darius, you need to return now or Xavier will die. His fate is set unless you can change it. He’s gone up against your father, but I’ve seen his fate, he can’t win. I’ll leave you to decide on the rest, but Darius - you only have six minutes.”
The call cut out as the sound of screams filled the background of it and I looked up at my brothers in horror as the magnitude of how spectacularly wrong this had all gone pressed down on my shoulders like an endless weight.
“Go,” Max commanded. “We can stay here and save our families. Your brother needs you.”
The others nodded their agreement and I lunged at them, wrapping them all in my arms and crushing them against me as we embraced for what I feared could be the final time.
“I have loved you all like family from the day that I was born,” I said firmly. “No matter how this plays out, know that.”
“We love you too, brother,” Caleb replied and Seth howled mournfully as I pulled away, taking the stardust from my pocket and grabbing a fistful of it for myself before tossing the bag to Max.
“We’ll throw you to the border,” Max said, shoving me back towards the twisting staircase which led to the roof, and we raced up them at a fierce pace.
“Good luck,” I said, taking off in a sprint and launching myself from the edge of the parapet just as Seth and Max threw a blast of air magic out to catch me and hurl me away from the manor at a ferocious speed.
I crashed through the barriers which prevented travel via stardust at the edge of the property, and threw the glittering substance over my head in the next breath, the stars whipping me away from Acrux Manor and sending me straight into the heart of the battle.
I emerged above the fight, the clash of magic and swords clanging below me as the rebels fought against my father’s army with the ruthless need to survive which all Fae held deep within their hearts, their weapons flashing with Phoenix fire.
I shifted as I fell, my enormous golden Dragon form tearing from my body as I locked eyes on my father, the asshole snapping his jaws at Tyler who was flying with Sofia on his back. Tyler put on a burst of speed, and my father gave up on him, turning and diving towards the ground. He landed with a tremendous thud and my heart lurched with terror as I spotted him closing in on Xavier in his Pegasus form sprawled in the mud. My brother tried to get up, but Father slammed a clawed forefoot onto Xavier’s side, his beautiful Lilac body pinned beneath the bulk of the jade green Dragon who I despised above all other things in this world.