A Tip of Balance Read online

“Mostly okay.” She shrugged. “I was worried sick about you, but I’m a lot better now. This connection of ours is an incredible thing. I think I would’ve lost my mind without it.”

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t blame you. I was already going crazy in that mansion, and now I’ve been reduced to this chamber. I can barely breathe. I think I’ll get claustrophobic soon.”

  Her eyes lit up as she looked at me. “That’s brilliant. You could do that!”

  “What, have panic attacks and suffocate?” I replied sarcastically.

  “More or less. It would be a good enough reason for Azazel to let you out occasionally if you ‘agree’ to help him,” she grinned.

  “He’s actually already offered to do that, if I join him.”

  “There you go! The seed is already planted!” She nodded enthusiastically.

  It took me a moment to process what she was suggesting. I was never a good actress, but the circumstances had never been as dire as they were now. I was a terrible liar, but I wondered if the prospect of my survival could influence and improve my ability to deceive, especially when the one I was going to lie to had the power to obliterate me with the snap of his fingers.

  I had to think about this long and hard. I hoped Damion would leave me alone for the rest of the night so I could carefully go over everything Aida had told me and figure out what the best course of action was.

  If I were to do as Aida suggested, I had to be smart about it. I only had one shot to get it right, so I had to calculate every step and measure every potential outcome.

  I also needed to be able to reach out to Aida safely, as she’d done with this projection. I needed her now more than ever.

  “Aida?” I said, my voice barely a whisper.

  “Hm?”

  “I’ll do it,” I decided that if they were risking certain death for me, I could do my part and set my fears and doubts aside, “but I need you to do something for me, too.”

  “Whatever I can do, sure!”

  “Teach me how to reach out to you like this.”

  She smiled gently, then nodded.

  I grasped the little thread of hope swirling around in my heart and wrapped it around myself, holding on tight so I could withstand what was about to come. Time wasn’t on my side, but my friends were, and so was Bijarki.

  I had to stay strong. I had to be smart. I had to keep myself alive and out of that glass sphere for my incubus. He was out there, and he was coming to get me.

  Phoenix

  As soon as night fell, exhaustion got the better of us all. One by one we retreated to our rooms and crashed into our beds, knocked out by the events of the previous day. The Daughter slept next to me, as she’d done since she’d first come out of her egg.

  I held her tight and drifted off, following the sound of her heartbeat deep into dream land.

  My dream took me back to The Shade. I walked through the Sanctuary’s courtyard, wondering where everyone was. I found my parents, Tejus and Hazel, sitting on the edge of a fountain, gazing at the crystalline water. Lucifer, our moody lynx, was prowling around, hunting small birds.

  I got closer, calling out to them.

  My mother was the first to look away from the fountain. Her gaze found mine and she raised her eyebrows with surprise.

  “Mom, it’s me,” I heard myself say.

  “Tejus,” she replied, addressing my father. “Look at this.”

  His dark eyes gazed at her and then locked with mine before he raised an eyebrow.

  “It’s happening again, isn’t it?” he murmured, letting a heavy sigh roll out of his chest.

  “What do you mean? Mom, Dad, it’s me. I’m back,” I said, confused.

  “Maybe we are losing our minds,” my mother replied, her voice low and trembling.

  “What’s going on here?” I asked, feeling the exasperation take hold.

  I’d seen this before. I’d dreamed about this before. It all seemed familiar and yet incredibly strange. I felt like I was watching a movie where I was the protagonist but no one had written me into the script. I didn’t feel like I belonged there.

  “Mom, Dad, come on. What’s wrong?” I insisted.

  They looked the same as I remembered them and yet, there was something different, something so subtle it could have easily been missed by someone who didn’t know them as well as I did.

  They were looking at me, but they didn’t recognize me.

  “Can you hear him? He’s moving his lips,” my father said, while my mother shook her head.

  “No, I never do. Who is he? Why do we keep seeing him?”

  “What in the world is going on here? Mom! Dad! It’s me! Phoenix!” I shouted, filled with anger.

  My mother broke down, crying as she hid her face in her palms. My father took her in his arms, holding her tight and dropping gentle kisses on her forehead.

  A shrill sound pierced through my dream, tearing it apart like a piece of fabric between two cruel hands. The image distorted itself, then collapsed. My parents and the Sanctuary disappeared. My mother’s sobs were a distant memory.

  I woke to hear the Daughter crying out, almost screaming in my arms.

  It took me a second to realize what was going on. I was still in my bed in the mansion, on Antara, a continent on Calliope, a planet in Eritopia, a galaxy in the In-Between. I was far away from my home and my family. No one in The Shade even knew I existed.

  The Daughter, who had been sleeping in my arms, had awakened. She was crying so hard I feared she would either explode or pass out. Her eyes were bloodshot, glowing violet, and her reddish pink hair fell over her bare shoulders.

  I cupped her face in my hands, trying to soothe her.

  “Hey, hey,” I said slowly. “It’s okay. I’m here.”

  “No! No, it’s not okay!” she cried out, tears streaming down her cheeks.

  I felt them on my skin, hot, wet, and filled with fear and grief. She was projecting her emotions outward, and I was picking up on each shade that she was experiencing.

  “I’m here, I’m here,” I repeated, beckoning her to look at me.

  She gazed at me and eventually regained enough composure to take a few deep breaths. I didn’t let go of her, constantly watching her, waiting for her to tell me what was wrong.

  “What happened?” I asked when she seemed focused enough to respond.

  “They came to me,” she sobbed, “in a dream. They came to me in a dream.”

  “Who came?”

  “My sisters,” she replied, swallowing back more tears and nearly breaking my heart in the process. I couldn’t stand the sight of her crying. It drove hammers into my soul. “They came to me in a dream. They said I committed a terrible crime.”

  It took me a couple of seconds to register what she was telling me. The Daughters had spoken to her before through her dreams. Each time they had spelled some doom. My stomach dropped. I feared I was about to hear something else that would further darken everything in my life at a time when it was already riddled with life-threatening challenges.

  I groaned, unwilling to deal with her capricious and often ominous sisters. Godlike or not, they sure knew how to pick the right time. Not!

  “What, um, what did they say?” I asked, taking a deep breath.

  “They said I interfered with the natural order of Eritopia. The Daughters have rules that they live by. Rules as old as they are and as old as Eritopia itself. They said I forever changed those shape-shifters, and that I altered their nature. They called it irreparable damage that will have long-term repercussions on the planet’s ecosystem. But I… But I didn’t know that. I just wanted them to stop hurting people!”

  She wiped her tears as the glow in her eyes subsided.

  “They said I did the unthinkable. A Daughter must never change the course of a species like that,” she added. “I didn’t know what I was doing, though.”

  “Didn’t you tell them that?”

  “I did,” she nodded vehemently. “I did. I told them, and they s
ilenced me. They said I was out of control and that punishment was in order. They said they would discuss this together and communicate their decision once it’s made. I… I couldn’t stop them. They didn’t want to listen to me.”

  I felt her emotions pouring through me. I closed my eyes and pushed out everything I felt toward her so she could feel the warmth and the love I had inside. She seemed to relax in my arms, and her shoulders dropped.

  “You’ll be okay,” I said. “Whatever happens, our bond is unbreakable. I will never let anything happen to you.”

  “What can you do? My sisters are powerful.”

  “So are you,” I smiled gently, then pulled her closer in an embrace. I wrapped my arms around her and held her tightly, hiding my face in her hair and breathing her in. My heart leaped with joy whenever she was close. How could I let anyone take that away from me?

  “I didn’t know what I was doing. I barely know anything I’m doing these days,” she replied. “Maybe they’re right. Maybe I’m a liability to everyone close to me. What if I get you all killed? I mean, Vita has already predicted it. I’m supposed to blow up, aren’t I?”

  “Not on my watch you’re not,” I persisted, constantly projecting my feelings into her as I felt her soften further in my embrace. “Whatever they want to dish out, we’ll face it together. You’re much better than your sisters, anyway.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked as I laid us back in the bed, our heads sharing the pillow. She looked up at me, and I dropped several kisses on her forehead. I was willing to do anything to make her smile again.

  “You have a natural sense of right and wrong,” I replied. “Forget the rules. You didn’t want one of us getting hurt. You thought you were doing the right thing. That’s something that your sisters don’t understand. We’ll have to make them understand, that’s all.”

  A minute passed as she sniffed and thought it over, her finger drawing invisible circles on my chest while I held her close.

  “How do we make them understand that, Phoenix?” she whispered.

  I looked her in the eyes and gave her a reassuring smile before I dropped a short, chaste kiss on her tender lips. Her taste lingered for long enough to make me kiss her again, this time deeper. My tongue found hers, and we lost each other in a perfect moment hidden beneath cotton sheets in the middle of a summer night.

  She quivered against me as my hands moved up her back. I pulled my head back to gaze at her and run my fingers through her hair. Her lips glistened in the moonlight, sending heat waves through my veins as my heart rate picked up.

  “We face them together. We talk to them. I won’t let them hurt you,” I said. “That’s the only certainty I have right now. I will not let anyone hurt you.”

  I wholeheartedly meant it. I was ready to do anything to keep her safe. I cradled her in my arms, and she closed her eyes, her breathing becoming slow and even. She was exhausted, and so was I. Soon enough, sleep found us and took us away.

  I’d worry about the Daughters tomorrow, after a good night’s sleep.

  Jovi

  The Maras were exceptionally fast and efficient in getting themselves organized for war. The ten wards that Jax had as a Lord joined us outside while the others mobilized in and around the white marble fortress to keep the Destroyers at bay.

  “They haven’t dealt with this many Destroyers in quite some time,” Jax said as we watched them move like shadows through the woods. “They can do it, though. We’ve been reduced to this little patch of land for a long time. Unless Azazel brings in an entire army, the Maras of White City will stand.”

  “He’s been too busy taking on the citadels,” Hansa replied. “You were small game to him for many years. Now that he’s learned of the alliance of the rogue nations, however, he will pay more attention. It’s only a matter of time.”

  “True, but for now this is still an advantage to us. It gives us enough room to get our people out of here so we can take the war to Luceria,” the Lord of Maras said.

  “What will they do once we leave?” I asked.

  “They’ll fan out through the eastern woods, splitting up into smaller groups and getting as close to Luceria as they can. They will then wait for my signal. When we charge Azazel’s castle, my Maras will be there to fight.”

  I nodded slowly, looking up at the night sky. It was clear and dark blue, myriads of stars casting their soft light down along with the moon. I got on my indigo horse, and Hansa got on the other one. Zeriel, Jax, and his ten wards had their beautiful white mares with contrasting long black manes.

  “I counted at least fifty Destroyers chasing us earlier,” Zeriel said. “Are you sure your Maras can keep them at bay, Jax?”

  “Do not underestimate the power of mind-bending,” he replied with a raised eyebrow. “We may not be able to incapacitate the Destroyers fully, but we can plant enough confusion in their minds to make them chase shadows in the opposite direction. The more of my people that come together to push such thoughts, the stronger the illusion.”

  “As long as it gives us the path we need to reach Grezzi’s camp, I’m good,” Hansa replied.

  “We should go now,” I said. “If the Destroyers have already found the lagoon, chances are Grezzi’s people are in imminent danger as well.”

  “The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can meet my Tritones at Stonewall,” Zeriel added.

  Jax looked around one more time, watching the rest of his Maras disappear into the woods as distant hissing echoed from the south. He clicked his teeth, and his mare shot across the sand headed north.

  We followed closely while his wards fanned out and kept several yards’ distance as we entered the dark forest. We took one of the less-traveled paths, a sinuous and narrow little road flanked by tall ferns and thick purple trees with giant crowns obscuring the sky above.

  I kept my crossbow loaded and ready as we galloped through the woods until we reached the clear stretch of sand leading up to Grezzi’s camp. Fires blazed in the distance, thick columns of black smoke rising into the night sky.

  A heavy weight dropped inside me as we got closer and noticed the fires were too big.

  “Something’s not right,” Jax muttered.

  He slowed down. We brought our horses beside him while the wards went ahead.

  “None of the scouts are out,” he added.

  I squinted and got a better look at the camp. My jaw nearly dropped when I realized that I was looking at the site of absolute carnage. Incubus bodies were scattered all over the beach in pools of silver blood. I could see Destroyer spears pinning most of them down, while fires consumed the others along with their tents.

  “They’re dead. We’re too late,” I said and got my horse to move.

  The closer we got, the clearer the image. There were dozens of dead incubi. Only the charred remains of Grezzi’s camp left. The wards circled the area, looking for survivors. I had never seen so much death in one place. It turned my stomach inside out, but my instincts kicked in and a surge of adrenalin pumped through my body keeping my senses sharp and my mind focused.

  “Help,” I heard someone croak from below.

  I jumped off my horse and managed to pull out a surviving incubus who was injured and stuck beneath two dead ones. Hansa joined me, pulling the healing supplies out of her satchel and applying a piece of dry cloth with a smelly paste to the incubus’ wounded shoulder.

  “You’ll be fine,” she said to him as he rested his head in her lap, his silvery eyes filled with awe and gratitude.

  “Are there others?” I looked up at Jax, who scanned the camp.

  “Yes,” he said, then jumped over several corpses to pull out another survivor.

  The wards started looking through the remains, helping others out from piles of rubble and dead comrades. I didn’t see Grezzi anywhere until Zeriel emerged from behind one such pile with a heavy incubus wearing a solid silver armor.

  “Grezzi!” Jax exclaimed, then rushed over to help Zeriel bring him tow
ard Hansa and me.

  I removed more healing packs from my satchel and handed them to Zeriel, who applied them all over Grezzi’s deep cuts. His breathing was ragged and heavy, and he blinked rapidly, trying to keep himself conscious. He’d lost a lot of blood, and his left arm was burned, but he seemed to have a good chance of survival, given the circumstances.

  “Grezzi, what happened?” Hansa asked while Jax stood up, looking down at him.

  “Destroyers. We were betrayed,” the chief incubus replied, squirming as Zeriel pressed a wet cloth against a deep cut on his thigh. “Most of my soldiers escaped through the woods, though. I need to call them back out. The others weren’t so lucky.”

  “How long ago?” Jax frowned, his eyes searching the dark woods bordering this part of the beach. The ocean lapped at the shore, noisy and foamy as the high tide came in.

  “Less than an hour, I think. They headed south above the water. I guess they were going to hit the lagoon next. We pretended to be dead, stuck beneath the bodies of the others who were dead or dying,” Grezzi said, stricken with grief.

  “Sverik betrayed us all,” Hansa replied.

  “I knew it!” Grezzi spat, suddenly overcome with fury as he tried to get up, but Zeriel held him down to finish treating his wounds.

  “Stay put,” the Tritone king said. “You’re in no condition to stomp around like an angry Deargh!”

  “That bastard got many of my incubi killed!” Grezzi was seething. “I knew he shouldn’t be trusted! No one gets on Azazel’s bad side and then leaves in one piece! He lied! He betrayed his people! I will burn him alive!”

  “You’ll have to wait your turn,” I shot back as I wrapped another incubus’ arm in a clean bandage. “He’s on all our to-do lists. He got my cousin kidnapped, one of our Oracles.”

  Grezzi froze, his eyes wide as he realized the implications of my statement.

  “You mean to tell me Azazel has another Oracle?” his voice faded.

  “We have the other two and a Daughter of Eritopia. The rest of us are out here and in the other corners of Antara warning our allies. We cannot meet at Mount Agrith anymore. We’ve chosen another safe place. Stonewall,” I replied.