Chosen Legacy (Book Five of the Chosen Universe)

Chapter Fourteen

ZELL

He'd made a terrible mistake. Zell would typically never admit to such a thing, but this had been... Unexpected. Lily had indeed taken to being evil, just as he'd seen. The powers she'd been entrusted with suited her, but the last thing Zell had expected was for her glorious rage and hatred to be directed at him.

It's Zedd all over again, he thought. When he'd tricked Zedd into turning evil, Zedd had figured out too late that Zell was actually the cause of the vision he'd seen. As soon as he was free from the flames, he'd attacked Zell, and when Galaxia had shown up, he'd literally stabbed Zell in his back to send her a message that Zell couldn't be trusted. Although he'd believed Galaxia was still clueless to his true motives, she'd understood and warned the other Chosen. That had ultimately led to Zell's temporary demise.

Zell hadn't been able to control Zedd. He'd been destined to be the strongest of the Chosen, and turning him had been Zell's way of preventing that, but Zedd had simply become an unstoppable force of evil who absolutely despised Zell with everything he had. Now, it seemed, history was repeating itself with Lily.

She is not of Lord Xylon's line. She'll never gain the sort of power Zedd did, Zell told himself. Of course, he couldn't know that for sure. Xylon had been an incubus from a large and powerful family. His brothers reproduced often and there was no telling if, somewhere along the way, their offspring had crossed into Lily's family tree. He hadn't considered the possibility, so he'd never bothered to look into where Lily came from.

"You're nearly healed now," the Alchemist said as she continued patching up the many stab wounds Lily had given to him. She had ordered the others to leave so she could help him privately.

"Thank you, Eva Leigh," he said. "You have such a way with medicine..."

"You require energy to finish healing yourself. It is a pity your battery is no longer with us."

"Raffitty surprised me. I believed his will to survive to be too strong for him to leave us." He sighed. "Bring the child to me."

"The child?"

"Mora. She has had time to recover her energy. I shall drain her."

"Do you intend to kill her?"

"Not today. Mora is still of use to me... However, I need the energy only a child can possess to give me strength."

"Of course, Great Zell."

"Eva Leigh, my dear... How is Felina?"

The Alchemist paused. "You care?" She finally asked.

"Of course I care. Felina is by far my most loyal Alliance member. She was injured while trying to protect me."

"She lives. Her head was gravely injured, and her spine took a fair amount of serious damage, but the Warlock is working on healing her with some of my potions." Zell knew the two Eltarians shared a psychic link and she was getting the update directly from him. "She is conscious. The first thing she did was try to find you, but the Warlock stopped her from trying to move. He knew it would only further damage her spine. She is calmer now, but still asking after you."

"After my energy returns, I will go to her. It will calm her to see for herself that I am well."

"I shall fetch Mora." The Alchemist left. She returned shortly after with a terrified Mora behind her.

"Great Zell?" Mora asked in a small, frightened voice. "Is... Is my punishment over?" He hadn't let her out of her room since she'd tried to help Kimberly escape.