Unchained (Men in Chains Book 3) (38 page)

Stay with him until he’s gone.

Shayna didn’t look at Marius, but kept staring down at Daniel’s dissolving face.
I won’t let him up until there’s nothing left. Ashes to ashes.

Marius, weak from having turned over his power, sat on the stone floor several yards away.

The air battle had resumed the moment he’d cut Daniel’s throat.

Quill lay gasping for his last breath, Adrien’s chain around his throat. Lucian had beheaded Lev and flew toward Marius, a dagger in hand. He stood over him, waiting, moving in a protective circle. “I can feel that you’ve sent her all your power.”

“She’s keeping Daniel in place and the light is doing its work.” Marius couldn’t take his gaze off her, in part because it helped to keep the power flowing. And right now, Shayna was doing the most important job in this entire cavern.

Daniel’s body twitched now and then but otherwise he’d stopped moving. And still Shayna kept her foot in place.

“Lucian, I need to stay focused on Shayna. Tell me how Gabriel and Rumy’s troops are doing?”

“They’re steadily tearing away at Daniel’s army. The northern section is completely subdued and a portion of the eastern part of the arena. Another of Gabriel’s regiments just came in. And another. This will be over soon.”

CHAPTER 16

Shayna didn’t take her eyes off Daniel, even though the sight and smell nauseated her, and she kept her foot hard on his torso.

But though she watched Daniel disintegrate, her inner gaze looked well beyond the emerging skeleton to the women who would soon be set free from the Dark Cave system and one day hopefully returned to their lives.

Marius’s power was like a wind inside her, blowing constantly and filling every part of her with strength. Daniel had tried several times to rise up, but her foot, and the power she streamed, was more than enough to keep him in place.

At last she felt Daniel’s life force completely fade, like smoke disappearing into the air.

Still, she held her position, holding him down even when his bones appeared. What did it take to truly destroy evil? If she lifted her foot, would Daniel rise suddenly, despite the fact that his bones were beginning to crumble? Could he even bring his ashes back to life?

Since she didn’t know, she wasn’t taking any chances.

And still she waited.

She waited until she began to feel Marius’s power shift direction. And even then, she waited until she felt his arms surround her. “You can remove your foot now.”

Nothing remained beneath her stiletto except a thin layer of ashes. “Are you sure? Once I’d taken in your power, I could feel what he was. He would have succeeded if not for you and your brothers.”

“And you.”

She glanced up at him, turning slightly. He levitated her into the air, moving away from the sunlight. “Wait, you were standing in the sunlight for a couple of minutes just now, when you were holding me?”

“I felt I was safe because of our bond. Apparently, your humanness protected me, which isn’t the usual case.”

She searched his eyes for a long moment. “Is it over, Marius? Really over?”

“What do you hear?”

She realized the arena had grown completely silent. She turned, casting her gaze in a circle as Marius turned her so she could witness the aftermath of the battle.

Gabriel and Rumy were in the center of the arena stage, standing beside Adrien and Lucian. Shayna saw that there were an awful lot of dead warriors everywhere, but new forces entered the building, many of them with white medic vests. The cleanup had already started and the dead were being carted away on stretchers, thousands of them.

She moved with Marius to stand with his brothers and Gabriel and Rumy, the latter of whom took one look at her chest then surprised her by removing his black shirt and handing it to her. He then got on his phone and requested a new shirt for himself.

“Thanks,” she murmured, putting it on and quickly buttoning it up to hide her exposed cleavage. She also worked to smooth down her hair, knowing that something about the experience had caused it to fly around. Glancing at her feet, she reached down and unbuckled the uncomfortable stilettos then kicked them off.

Marius brought her close again, and she shifted to slide her arm around his neck. All the men were now watching the patch of sunlight.

Together they’d accomplished the impossible and she’d been a big part of it, something that pleased her human soul more than she thought she’d ever be able to communicate to Marius.

I get it.
His voice was a quiet, soothing sound within her mind.
Remember, I can still feel what you’re feeling and I understand completely.

She kissed his cheek.
And you’re feeling the same way.

I am. I feel …

Honored?

Marius squeezed her waist.
Exactly. Honored to have been able to finally rid our world of this monster.

Shayna waited in the arena with Marius. Cleanup continued with precision so that corpses left in a steady stream and the cavern slowly emptied out. The familiar steam-cleaning happened at the same time, purifying the bloodstains from the stone.

She wasn’t sure why, but she wanted to stay until the very end, a sentiment Marius shared with her.

Occasionally, she’d glance down at the pool of light and watch as even the ashes continued to be eaten up by the light.

When the arena was empty at last, she glanced down once more and spoke aloud. “Marius, look.” She gestured to the sunlight. Only a few specks remained.

“Unbelievable.”

Both Adrien and Lucian added the same sentiment.

“He’s gone now.”

Somehow, even the air felt cleaner.

*   *   *

When the last of the cleanup crews were taking care of the few remaining corpses, and the regiments had returned to their respective continents, Gabriel and Rumy drew close, both hovering in the air with ease.

Marius held Shayna close. Even though she could siphon his increased power and levitate alongside him, he didn’t want to let her go.

He smiled as he met Gabriel’s gaze. “What happens next? Because I have a feeling this is only the beginning. Am I right in thinking you probably already have a government ready to fall into place?”

Gabriel nodded. “And a new set of laws. We’re adding a representative Senate as well. Corruption will always be part of our world, as it is on human earth, but we need a law-making body to at least hem in the unsavory elements. We must either dismantle the Ancestral Council or set different regulations in place on who can serve and how they get there—maybe by Senate appointment. And yes, I know, bribery will take a lot of people far. But if we’re careful, we’ll see some progress that will protect not just our own civilization”—here he shifted his gaze to Shayna and nodded—“but the human world as well.”

“So I’m curious,” Shayna began. “How do you plan to create the Senate? Will there be a voting process or do you already have a group of ‘elders’”—she used air quotes—“who will be choosing the first candidates? And is this based on geography and cavern systems, or something else?”

When all the men started chuckling, she drew away from Marius enough to ask him with raised brows, “Are my questions inappropriate?”

He laughed. “As usual, you just have so many of them.” He gestured to the arena. “And the timing might be a little off.”

Shayna lifted a brow. “Oh, I see what you mean. Me and my damn curiosity. And would you look at the size of this cavern. And Marius, you won’t believe what’s below. There were dozens, maybe hundreds of rooms, like an enormous office building.”

Gabriel said, “Yes, there are hundreds of rooms below, possibly thousands. I’ve had my men checking. There’s a massive dormitory where the slaves who run Daniel’s organization live. This was the heart of his operation, right here, and you were absolutely right, Shayna, about the women being separated out of the Dark Cave system based on IQ tests. The smartest landed here. And yes, I can see that you have a few more questions you’d like to ask about Daniel’s operation, but I have a question for you, if you’ll allow it.”

Shayna loved questions. “Of course.”

He glanced at Marius and his expression softened.
Do I have your permission?

Marius knew what Gabriel meant to ask, and for some reason he was okay with it. He’d have to open the dialogue with Shayna soon enough, but he thought it might be a good thing for her to understand that he wasn’t the only one who valued her.

He nodded and Gabriel shifted his gaze back to Shayna. “Here goes. Do you think we might be able to persuade you to stay in our world?”

Marius felt Shayna grow very still in his arms, a pensiveness that brought his own heart to thudding heavily. She turned to Marius. “I think that’s something Marius and I need to discuss, probably at some length. Do I want to stay? Part of me does, absolutely. But should I stay? That is another question entirely.”

Rumy smiled. “You’d be so welcome in our world. I want you to know that. We’ve kept our world separate from yours because of Daniel and because we need to find a way to govern ourselves better before we tackle a serious connection with the human world. But we’ve always had humans who’ve come to live here, to be with us, to embrace our cavern-based society. So please don’t feel like you’d be the only one. You’re not. Besides the women you met at my villa”—he jerked his thumb in Lucian and Adrien’s direction—“just look at these two.”

Adrien nodded. “And I hope you’ll have a chance to speak with Lily before you make a final decision.”

“Claire as well,” Lucian added. “They’ve both heard a lot about you and want to meet you.”

“I’d like that,” Shayna said. She then smiled. “I might even have a few questions for them. Imagine.” Because she laughed, the men joined her.

With the arena now cleared out except for the cleaning crews, neither Marius nor Shayna could resist taking a quick tour of the extensive network of administrative rooms below. Marius kept them in altered flight the whole time so that they could pass through walls with ease.

When he reached the extensive dining hall, thousands of women were there celebrating the demise of Daniel’s operation. Rumy had already taken charge and had flown in dozens of cases of champagne for the event. Paper cups might not have been as elegant as glass flutes, but it didn’t matter. Daniel was dead.

Rumy promised to meet up with Marius and his brothers, as well as their women, for a shared meal. They needed their own celebration for what had begun as a terrible ordeal four hundred years ago and was now at an end.

*   *   *

After having seen the full scope of Daniel’s Himalayan infrastructure, Shayna held tight to Marius as he flew her back to the Pharaoh system. She felt changed in a way she really didn’t understand, except that Marius’s power had taken her over. She’d even shifted into altered flight for a few seconds all on her own.

As he touched down in their guest suite and she caught the scent of the ancient tablets, she didn’t know what she should be feeling. Mostly she felt dull, as though all the terrible things that had just happened along with the visual impact of the battle in the arena had laid a veil over her mind and heart.

“I’m feeling so strange, Marius.” She stepped off his booted foot, enjoying the cool feel of the tile beneath her now bare feet. She was safe with Marius. No one could get to her here anymore. Only Daniel had been able to, but he was dead now as well as his powerful sons.

She felt beneath her arm then turned her back to Marius. “Can you get this out of me?”

“With pleasure.”

Marius had to us a sharp knife and it hurt like hell, but Shayna was relieved when the device was out of her. Of course, she healed up in a few seconds because of Marius’s power, but she finally felt as though the last of the connections to Daniel had been broken.

She could breathe. “I guess I just can’t believe it’s over. All of it. Finished.”

Without thinking, she moved into the room with her computer and a few of the clay tablets spread out on the adjacent worktable. Marius followed, though he remained in the doorway, leaning his shoulder against the stone surface. She knew he was watching her and waiting, but she couldn’t exactly figure out which thought to have first.

She crossed to the tablet broken on the floor and picked up the pieces, cradling them in her arms. She turned to Marius to make her confession. “Absolutely without thinking, when Daniel showed up I threw this at him. But they’re really heavy. It missed him by two feet and landed in front of him.”

She placed the remnants on the table. “I can have this repaired.”

Marius moved toward her and put his hands on her shoulders. “No one is going to care that you broke this tablet. No one. And I’ll see that it gets repaired. You don’t have to worry about that.”

Her throat seized all on its own. Gabriel had asked the only really important question and she didn’t know how to answer it.

She turned toward him and settled her hands on his arms, just below the shoulders. “I want to stay, but—”

“You’re having doubts, a lot of them. I can feel it.”

“Marius, I want to say something and I need you to really hear me and believe. Apart from whether I decide to stay with you or not, I’m in love with you. I swear I fell hard even when I thought you were a hallucination. I don’t honestly know how that’s possible because I’ve never been a big believer in love at first sight. Not really.

“And over the past several days, since we’ve been together, you’ve proven yourself repeatedly. I trust you with all my heart—more than any other man I’ve ever known.” She drew in a deep breath, then swallowed hard. “But the work I do isn’t just a profession, it’s a calling, maybe in the same way you were called to battle on behalf of your world. I just can’t feel good about walking away from the commitments I’ve made. Does that make sense?”

Marius had grown very still and for the first time since she’d held the blood-chain in her hand, she couldn’t read him, she couldn’t sense what he was feeling.