They were on a plateau just outside of the unity gathering grounds, and Silvia let out a slow breath to stay calm. Talamayas had been clear about his intention to free her after this was all over, but she didn't want Jesse to get hurt. At least they were alone again. Tanya had gone on ahead at Jesse's insistence that he had something left to take care of in the area before he returned. It was suspicious to say the least, and standing across from Jesse alone in a secluded desert plateau had her nervous.

The wind blew his dark hair around him with the bits of sand, and his cool blue eyes were focused on her more than usual. Jesse reached for her, and she flinched as he pulled her toward him with her wrist. The pounding of her heart pulsed in her ears until she heard the click of the shackles unlocking, and she relaxed as he deposited them in his coat's inner pocket.

"What are you doing?" Silvia asked, knowing that if she were a normal mage, she would have fled already.

"Letting you go," Jesse said with a soft smile.

"Why?" Jesse had been so attached to her, so why was he doing this?

"Lorenzo was right. Tanya had no intention of letting you live long past the unity gathering, and I never intended to take you back either way. You spared my life, and I spared yours in return. That was the best I could do for you."

Silvia's heart pounded in her chest as she faced him. What did he mean, he'd spared hers in return? The only way that he could have done that was if she'd been in danger in the first place. If he had only ever intended to keep her until the unity gathering was over, then something had to have happened while she was here.

"What did you do?" Silvia asked in a low hiss, and Jesse's smile fell to a damn look of pity.

"Since it has already passed, I am not betraying my house in telling you. During the unity gatherings, the northern mages weaken their patrols because Tanya and I are gone, and it gave her a good opportunity to wipe them out. I'm sorry, Silvia. There is nothing left of the northern Void complex."

What? That wasn't...

A hand on her shoulder made her jerk back, and she spun to empty air. The touch resumed on her head with a light brush, and tears flooded her eyes as she realized Vice was there behind her, watching her to make sure she was safe. She wanted to hug him, squeeze him with all of her agony as she tried to hold herself together, but she couldn't give away that he was there. Instead, she turned back to Jesse who was regarding her with confusion on why she'd moved so suddenly.

What was she to say to him? She was angry. While she'd laughed and played games with this war general, his house had slaughtered the people she'd worked with for the last year. What had happened to Kopje? Was he gone too?

"So, you're letting me go with nowhere to go back to," Silvia growled, feeling much safer to say what she wanted with Vice at her back.

"I assumed you would return to your mate. From what I observed in my reconnaissance, he was not at that complex. It appears my initial assessment was right, as I now know who he is. I know it means little coming from me, but I don't relish knowing this causes you suffering. Protecting you was all I could do. I have no sway in Tanya's decisions. She does what she wants."

"Then why are you staying with her?" Silvia asked, tears dripping down her face.

"I'm a Zehir, Silvia. That's just how it is."

"Come with me!" she tried one last time, holding her shaky hand out. "Please don't go back to her and die by her side!" Vice squeezed her shoulder, and she shrugged him off. The man didn't want the Zehirs knowing what was coming for them, but she didn't want Jesse to die with them.

"Silvia, this is my life. I'm sorry that it has us on opposite ends, but I want you to know that if you need someone to protect you when Tanya comes for your world, I will do so."

"I don't need protecting," Silvia's voice dropped as Jesse stepped into her.

Vice's hand gripped her shoulder uncomfortably, but he released her as Jesse pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her head. The way he cradled her to his chest loosed more tears from her eyes, and she slammed her fist on his chest in frustration. A small gasp followed the action, but he was too gentle to feel accosted, and she dragged her fingers down the frills of his shirt in frustration.

"Jesse," she said into his shirt, breathing in the scent of pines one last time. "When my people come for your world, if you need someone to protect you, I will be there." Silvia leaned back, and Jesse gave her that damn pitying smile again. She wanted to just break his legs and drag him back with her, but she couldn't. "You should go." She pushed him away with the tips of her fingers, and he gave her a neat bow of his head before he slipped away into a dark relocation spell.

"Silvia, you need to guard your words," Vice warned, and she rubbed the tears from her eyes as she compartmentalized all of this shit for later.

"I know, Vice. I need to get my father and see if we can't save anyone from the northern complex. Will you accompany me? I have to do it before I return to Neil, or he'll never let me go. I will also be hesitant to leave if I have someone to lean on."

"Of course. I have already communicated with my brother who is with Tala waiting. I will let him know that we are going on ahead and that you are safe."

"Thank you, Vice. I need to see what we can do for the North first, and then I want to fall into Neil's arms."

"Very well. Forest is with Talamayas, and I have already asked him to meet us on the Void and Charge's border.

#

Black smoke billowed into the air from low fires that were still burning where the complex had stood. While the fires weren't large, antimagic walls burning from dark magic was not a pleasant scent. The worse smell was the decay, and she turned to tuck her face into Vice's chest on sight of the first splattered body in the grass.

"There are going to be many more, Silvia Copse. You did not have to accompany me," Vice said against her hair, his hand trailing through it though she couldn't see him. "We will report back what we find."

"No. I need to see this for myself." Silvia thought about all of her friends that she had to avenge, and she deadened her heart as she advanced.

Forest and Tide walked just behind, and ahead, Vice was scouting for any danger, his brother following with her as she trailed his path. There had been a battle here. Bodies of Zehir vampires shared space with the mages, some fallen over each other where one had pierced the other before losing their heads to an explosion of light magic.

It was hard to walk by them, the dead eyes of men and women she'd worked beside. Worse to look too closely. By now, bugs were climbing out of their eye sockets and carrion crows had eaten away at fingers and any open flesh. They didn't even fly away when she passed, greedily eating the innards of her people without fear of recourse. It was gruesome, but she had to know if anyone was left alive.

It was a hope that dwindled as she got closer to the command center with no sign of life yet.

There, a fire still blazed, consuming everything around it and snapping violently as she approached. Something about those flames was familiar, and she stepped closer than she would have otherwise. Vice grabbed her hand to keep her back, but she shook him off as she felt it, just the barest light magic threading through the spell, hiding itself like all infiltrator magic did. She stepped through the flames to a chorus of hisses from both Vices as they sensed a threat to her.

"Silvia!" Vice said through the flames, but she advanced to the corner of a fallen pile of walls.

Forest slipped through with Tide, likely sensing the same light magic that she did, and they convened on a pile of debris. Cradled in them, surrounded on two sides by antimagic walls and covered in a dome of flames that blended in with the carnage, Kopje lay with a few corpses that trailed him by a few feet.

"Kopje!" Relief flooded her as she collapsed at his side, and his eyes snapped open.

"Sil–via?" Kopje answered, lifting his head to show one of his eyes was sealed shut from a huge gash to his face. The man had several more wounds that needed immediate attention, and tears streamed down her face.

"You're going to be okay," she said, lying her forehead on the good half of his face and dripping tears onto it. "Dad, can you help me with him?"

Forest dropped to his knees and inspected the area he was crunched into. "This doesn't look good," Forest said with a frown. "One of the bars in the walls ripped open his side."

"I cauterized it as best I could," Kopje rasped. "I may have damaged things I shouldn't have to stop the bleeding. I was forced to destroy what was left of my eye as well to maintain pressure in my head. It's all right to leave me here, Forest Copse. I don't know a mage alive who can heal all of this. Even if you can, it's not worth the risk of digging me out and having them follow your light magic back to your complex."

"We can't leave you here after you struggled so hard to live, Kopje!" Silvia ground out.

"Silvia," Forest said, gently touching her shoulder. "I am skilled in healing and I'm not sure I can put him back together in any sort of sustainable arrangement with how he destroyed parts of himself just to make it this long."

"We can't leave him here!" Silvia raised her voice, and Forest slapped a hand over her mouth.

"Wren might be able to heal him," Vice said, and Kopje looked around to try and find the source of the voice. "The man has healed innumerable grave burn injuries over the decades. If we take him directly there, we might yet save him, but we have to go now."

"Don't the antimagic pillars block direct passage?" Silvia asked. "I doubt he'd make it through being dragged around the desert portals."

"What desert? What are you talking about?" Kopje struggled to move, but Forest pushed his shoulder back down.

"I can take us directly," Vice said with hesitation. "He'll understand."

"Then take us. Kopje can be pissed all her wants, but I want him to live!"

"Vice!" Forest yelled as several vampires surrounded them. They had crept up silently and so quickly that they'd had no time to prepare.

Vice moved on them with mind bending speed, ending the first in a flash of blood, but the other two backed up and circled, raising cautious shield spells. They picked up quite fast that Vice was invisible and the Sol general couldn't use magic while hiding. It wouldn't take much more than a whisper from them to get reinforcements, and as soon as Vice was visible, they'd pounce. Any light magic would draw allies like flies to the corpses, so they were stuck.

A burst of blood and bone had her cringing back as dark magic exploded from nowhere and ended both of the vampires simultaneously. They all tensed and waited to figure out was going on until a mist settled in the field and formed up into a man she knew well but was hoping she'd never have to fight. Or would she have to fight him? Jesse had just murdered his own men.

"You have minutes," Jesse said with lowered eyebrows. "The use of Magic will have alerted Tanya. I didn't see anything if you flee now."

"Let's go," Silvia said to her allies, avoiding Jesse's gaze as best she could. She couldn't bear to look at him in her current state. It would only end in more tears.

Vice shimmered into view to cast the spell to Talamayas' territory, and ghostly lines of a transportation spell crawled through the grasses. They gave her a chill. It was magic, but it didn't feel right, as if it was pulling up from a place that magic shouldn't be drawn from. Forest lifted Kopje as best he could on his shoulder, and they were wrapped in what felt like the hands of the dead, reaching for something to drag down with them.

"Come with us!" Silvia begged one last time, but Jesse put a hand on his hip with a smile.

"Sorry, Silvia, I can't. Go now." Jesse gave her a small salute and tears lined her eyes as the magic stole them away.

It was the most sickening transportation spell she'd ever been in, and it wasn't made any better by watching Jesse fade in front of her. As soon as they exited the spell, she gasped for air and collapsed on the floor. She was surprised to find Vice on it with her, on his knees and visible with a dead look in his eyes. Was he okay? Reaching out her hand, she made to touch him, but the other Vice stopped her hand and cradled it in his where he stood next to them.

"It's all right, Silvia. The spell taxes him. He'll need rest. Someone wake Wren!" Vice called, and several vampires stepped to the side as Wren walked through the door.

"I'm already up. Tala said I might be needed. What happened?" Wren came to them, his long red hair tied up just over his shoulder, and partially shading half of his face, but by the time he was at their side, Kopje was full blown panicking.

"This is the Sol territory!" Kopje let out in a worsening whine as his eyes widened, looking around him at all the easily identifiable dark-haired, tan-skinned vampires. Falling forward, Kopje grabbed his chest as if it was tearing apart.

"Sleep," Wren said with a small spell on his fingers, and Kopje fell.

Forest caught him and sighed as he looked to Wren. "I can't heal his wounds. We were hoping you might be able to help."

"General Shan, carry this man for Forest. His slumping like that can tear his wounds worse."

"Always love being at your service." A man with long black hair and their standard desert attire came forward, grumbling, but he carried Kopje nonetheless. For just a moment, the man's dark eyes passed over hers, and he gave her a smile she remembered. This was the man who'd been on the border when she'd wandered that morning so long ago. Vice followed after him, his younger brother in his arms, and he gave her a small bow as they headed off to the infirmary.

"Was it wrong to bring him here?" Silvia looked up to her father, and he shrugged his shoulders.

"The man is an infiltrator from the north and I'm sure he's lost men to Talamayas just as others have. I would have never contemplated Talamayas as a potential ally without Neil's insistence. The man has a different face for his enemies that is vicious. Saving Kopje's life is one thing, but maintaining his livelihood another."

"Well, he can curse me till the end of his days if he wants after this is all over, but for now, I just want him to live." Silvia ground her teeth, feeling as if she'd betrayed him for a second time. "I'm going with them to make sure he is okay. Is...um....Neil here?" Silvia asked, and Forest smiled.

"He's around. A bit exhausted from the unity gathering, so he might not have sensed your presence. You can find him after you see to Kopje," Forest assured her.

"Thanks."

Silvia ran after them and caught up in the tiny infirmary. Vice set his brother down, and Shan deposited Kopje on an open bed. There weren't many, since Talamayas' own didn't often get hurt and anyone else here would be in the dungeons. There was little need for an infirmary to him.

Wren's magic working was difficult to watch. Sure, the sunken pockets under Kopje's eyes lifted, but the scar on his face, even healed, left him with a huge gash in his face to cover the other scar that had marred his cheek years ago. His right eye would never come back, no matter how much magic Wren had. It was just gone. The man would be half blind for the rest of his life and Silvia lost her face in her hands.

There was nothing she could have done, but it felt like she'd betrayed him in not being here. If she'd been here, she'd have been slaughtered along with them. Jesse had taken her to save her, but it just seemed wrong that she was the only one alive because she'd pitied the Zehir general enough to let him pass back home.

The final part of Wren's healing was the worst. As he progressed from the most important parts, the brain, heart, and the one lung that wasn't punctured, he finally advanced to the burned-shut gash in Kopje's side. With magic, Wren reopened it and blood pooled in the wound until Wren put magic pressure on the flow and slowly closed the gaping hole. That took some doing. It was minutes of skin crawling together with the bottom of a lung and the end of a few ribs. By the time Wren was done, Kopje's strained breathing and look of agony calmed in his sleep.

"Will he be okay?" Silvia asked.

"Should be if he's not dead yet. It might take a day or so for him to wake up, and after, he'll need a magic infusion if he wants to cast magic any time before next week. Kopje is a fighter and hung on with everything he had, but he'll be weak for a while."

"Thank you so much," Silvia hugged Wren, and he let out a breath of surprise but pet her hair.

"You don't have to thank me. I'd have saved him even if he wasn't your friend. It's just in my nature," Wren said, his grey eyes shining with affection, and she punched him in the arm. Under his laughter, she knew that he was just trying to make her feel better.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"Well, Neil is here, but he hasn't come to greet me. My father says he's tired and may not have noticed, but I know that he's wrong. Neil knows I'm here, but he didn't come to my side."

"You worry too much, Silvia. Neil is likely worried that you will push him away and is hiding. After all, you were just captured by an enemy vampire and forced to give him your blood. It might be that he doesn't want to overwhelm you. According to Forest, Neil hasn't stopped talking about you since the day you left."

"Why were they even talking so much? The last I knew, I sent my father to give Neil a message, and now they share gossip about me like teenage girls?"

"From what I hear, Forest took Neil in when he was torn apart by your loss. Your father has been very good to him and supported the man you chose. That is something I admire about Forest, his commitment to his family even when it is something he is not used to."

"Sounds like my dad, I guess." Silvia blushed, the tiredness finally weighing her down.

"You needn't worry that Neil doesn't want to see you, Silvia. He does. Just go to him." Wren pushed her up encouragingly, and she smiled as she waved and headed to find Neil.

To find her mate.

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Word Count: 3437