Forty
OceanofPDF.com
Dianna
M ountains far larger and jagged than I’d ever seen rose in every
direction, thick smoke rolling between the craggy peaks. I watched
as the last of the mortals dead walked from the cavern and into a castle carved from the mountain. The caves reminded me of those below Novas. Beasts circled high above, stretching and flapping their wings but staying close to the citadel of rock.
I glanced behind me and stopped, turning back to force him deeper into the cavern. “Logan. Your skin,” I hissed. His tattoos cast his skin with vibrant cobalt, the thin lines leading to even bluer eyes, marking him as a celestial.
“I cannot control it in some realms, and Yejedin must be one of them.”
“Fine, stay here, and I’ll kill Kaden.”
“Like fuck you will.” He grabbed my arm, and I fought the urge to rip his off.
“If you grab me again, Logan,” I hissed. “I will knock you out and leave you in this fucking cavern.”
He let go but didn’t back up, not this time. “You’re not going alone. I already told you that.”
“Well, you can’t come. You’re glowing like a freaky blue nightlight.
Every monster living here will spot you. You will only be in the way.”
“Maybe. But only if we walk through the front door.”
“Okay, well, what other way is there?”
He looked beyond me and down. I followed his gaze and groaned to myself. “Oh, you have to be kidding me.”
“Nope.”
I felt my lip curl, the smell from the river below crawling toward us.
“I’m not jumping into that.”
“Okay then, the front door it is.”
He started toward the castle. This time, I grabbed his arm, stopping him.
“You’re a pain in my ass. I should have killed you the second you showed up,” I hissed and moved closer to the edge of the embankment.
“Would have saved me a lot of time.”
But I hadn’t, and I knew why.
I like Logan and Neverra. They’re my friends.
Gabby’s words were always in my head, acting as my moral compass.
“Let me go first. Samkiel would—”
“Rule number one of this short-term partnership. We don’t mention his name or even talk about him.” I gave him my most intimidating stare.
He smirked knowingly, utterly unaffected by my death glare. “Why?
Does his name bother you? You said you don’t care about him. Seems weird that it would be an issue if that is true.”
My eyes narrowed into slits, and I shoved Logan into the river. I watched with satisfaction as he hit the water and went under, but I sighed when I could still see the blue glow beneath the current. When he surfaced, he looked up at me and flipped me off. For the first time in months, I smiled.
W e followed the walls beneath the castle , trying to stay out of the murky water. Our clothes clung to us, and my hair stuck to my face in slimy tendrils. We had emptied as much water as we could from our shoes so we wouldn’t alert anyone with the squeaking. I could use the heat I wielded to dry us off, but smelling like this place was a great cover to help
us stay undetected until I was ready.
“You hear that?” Logan whispered.
“Yes.” It sounded like grinding metal and a thousand machines working above us.
“He is building something. That’s why he needs the iron.”
“Yes.” The only question was what.
Logan suddenly stopped and went still. Shock and something primal and impossible to define moved across his face. His eyes dropped to his
hand.
“I feel her.”
“What?”
“Neverra. I can feel her. Here.” His skin glowed so brightly in the darkened hall I squinted from it. He spun in a tight circle, his breath coming in short pants. His eyes focused behind me, and he sprinted away, nothing but a blazing cerulean light in the gloom.
“Fuck,” I said and chased after him.
I caught him by the sleeve and spun him around. Samkiel’s best friend, his steady second-in-command, was gone. The territorial, possessive, celestial warrior stood in his place.
“Let me go,” he snapped, his blue eyes glowing as they bore into me. I tossed him against the nearest wall and pressed my forearm against his throat. He struggled, attempting but failing to break my hold. He was damn near feral as he tried to free himself, but I had been feeding enough that even The Hand wasn’t an issue.
“Think before you go charging into gods know what.”
“She’s here,” he hissed. “I have to get to her.”
I pressed him harder against the wall, the stone behind him cracking.
“And you will, but if you run in there without thinking, you will alert
everyone and get us all killed.”
“What if—”
“Logan.” I tried reason, pulling on that sliver of hope I used to carry. “If she has been alive this long, a few more minutes will not matter. Think.
What did Samkiel teach you?”
I hated saying his name, hated hearing it. It made the aching void in my chest stir, and I couldn’t afford to be distracted by that grief right now. I needed to be lethal, and the memory of him made me soft and weak. But if I allowed Logan to run in there, he could ruin everything for me.
“You have to control your emotions, just like he taught us. Think first, not on instinct or drive.” The dull, empty ache began to pound. “Breathe.
Center. Focus. Core. Okay.”
I took a deep breath, making sure Logan watched me as I inhaled through my nose and held it before releasing it through my mouth. I moved
one hand in the now familiar pattern from the top of my head to my chest before pushing back again, just as Samkiel had taught me. All the while, I held Logan’s gaze, willing him to listen. “Now, you do it.”
He leaned his head back and relaxed. I let him go, and he took a deep breath, running through the small centering ritual before he pushed away from the wall. The frantic need left his eyes, the lights on his skin easing to a soft glow. I could still see the need to follow the pull, to run blindly in his search for her, but now he had a handle on it.
“Better?”
He nodded and took another deep breath. Satisfied he had himself under control, I turned and headed back the way we’d come. I lifted my hand, summoning a flame to help guide us as Logan fell into step beside me.
“He taught you that, too?”
I said nothing for a long while, trying to keep that empty ache from dragging me under. And a lock on a door in a house rattled.
“Yeah.”
“It was a mantra his father taught him.”
“I know.”
I felt Logan’s eyes bore into the side of my face. “When did he teach you?”
“It doesn’t matter.” I shook my head, needing to change the subject. I didn’t want to talk about anything that would derail me from my mission.
“What happened back there? It was like you were a whole different person.”
He glanced at me and seemed to understand that I didn’t want to continue to talk about Samkiel. “I can hear her, feel her when we’re close, but what you saw back there, in its most basic terms, is my need to protect her. I would do anything to accomplish that. It’s an instinctual reaction. My body takes over, and I have no control.”
I frowned and tipped my head. “At all?”
Logan shrugged, taking in the narrowing of the cavern walls. “We had a fight one time, like every couple. I don’t even remember what it was about, but we were in the kitchen arguing, and she didn’t realize she had her hand so close to the burner. I placed mine beneath hers before she could make contact. Mortal flames don’t hurt as much, but I would never let anything happen to her. Not if I could help it. I’d do anything for her. That protectiveness is one of many perks of the mark.”
“You mean the Mark of Dhihsin?”
He nodded. “I can feel her now that we are closer. She’s cold and alone
and hungry.”
“Can you hear her thoughts?”
“Yeah. We share everything. That’s why it has to be a soul tie for the mark to appear. The closest equivalent in your language would be a soulmate, mate, or fated love, the one person who is your equal in every way. That’s how the old gods spoke of it. The mark appears once the bond is completed and only disappears in death. It was a crime punishable by death to kill someone’s soul tie, but that didn’t stop it from happening. It was a convenient way to kill both. The surviving mate wouldn’t physically die at first, but they would eventually succumb to a broken heart. They just… stop.”
“Oh.” A shudder of disgust went through me as we ducked under a hanging slab of rock. “It sounds terrible.”
“It’s a bond on every level, and in every way, two beings can connect.
Have you ever heard of the story of Gathrriel and Vvive?”
I shook my head.
“It is the first recorded incident of the mark. When chaos first erupted, everyone fought for their place in the realms. Gathrriel was a powerful warrior wounded in battle and on the edge of death when Vvive found him.
She swore on her blood, body, and soul, praying to the Formless Ones, the ones before creation, to save him. That was when the mark appeared. It was the first soul tie, and it sealed them together in every way possible. She saved him that day, saved the world, really. Dhihsin was the child of Gathrriel and Vvive, hence the name. It was a way to honor their love and one of their greatest joys after the challenges they’d faced. Some of the gods discounted the mark and thought it defied nature.”
Logan glanced at me as if this story was a legend passed down like a bedtime story for fools in love.
“That was the beginning. Your life becomes their life, and your power becomes their power, and so on. Sometimes I feel as if…” Logan paused, looking at his hand and the mark on his finger. “I hope I am keeping Neverra alive. Some of us share the same life force. Maybe I’m healing her.
I don’t know.”
I glanced at him as he flexed his hand. “Maybe you are.”
I didn’t know why I wanted to give him that bit of comfort, but perhaps that was what he needed to hear because he glanced at me and smiled.
We were quiet for a while, his words playing over in my head. To love someone so much, you create a mark that transcends time. Gabby would have eaten it up. What would it be to have that perfect person designed just for you? I knew Gabby loved that stuff. She loved watching it and reading about it. Gabby loved love, or maybe just the idea of it.
On the other hand, I had seen love up close and personal. Kaden taught me it was just a dream made by children. Everyone lied, cheated, or sold out their so-called loved ones for the right price. It wasn’t real in my world, but maybe it was in Gabby’s. She’d wanted a soul tie. She’d told me as much, and maybe that had been Rick for her. He was just a mortal, yet he’d fought to the death to keep her safe when I couldn’t.
“You didn’t know all of this?”
Logan’s voice pulled me from my thoughts as we crawled over a slab of overturned stone. Water dripped from the ceiling, and the humidity continued to grow.
I shook my head, keeping my eyes forward and putting one foot in front of the other. “How would I know? They don’t exist for creatures of the night.” I kept my face expressionless, feeling the beads of sweat running down my back. “I will never have a mate.”
Even if by some miracle I did, it was probably Kaden. Another way for the universe to laugh at me and mock my miserable soul. He was just as cruel as I.
“Everyone does,” Logan said, “and they always find each other.”
I snorted, “I’m sure they do.”
“I am telling you the truth, Dianna. It doesn’t matter the distance or time. It’s inevitable, even if it takes a thousand years or more.”
“Please.” I rolled my eyes so hard I was afraid they’d get stuck. “Don’t tell me you think Samkiel’s my mate.”
Logan shrugged. “I don’t. We all know his amata died, but you two are something.”
“We’re not, trust me. You’re just as confused as him to think otherwise.
Samkiel and I hated each other the moment we met. We only managed to get along because we made a blood deal while I held you hostage. Then we were forced to work together to keep my now-dead sister alive.
Remember?”
Logan’s smirk grew a fraction. “Uh-huh.”
“Besides,” I went on, “I was just the first action he got after locking himself away for a thousand years, so of course, he is a little bit obsessed, but that doesn’t make it real.”
Logan stopped, and against my better judgment, I did, too.
“Logan, I swear if you charge after her again, I will knock you unconscious,” I groaned, turning toward him.
Logan just stared at me, his arms folded.
“What?” I sneered.
“Gods, you seem so physically strong, but you bury your emotions deep so you don’t have to feel anything for him, for anyone. Does it help? The lying to yourself part? Or does it make it worse?”
A fireball flew from my hand, hitting him in the shoulder. It bounced off his shirt and fell to the ground with a hiss. He laughed.
I glared, not seeing even a single mark.
His eyes caught mine as he brushed a hand down his shoulder. “Samkiel made us fireproof clothes after the incident at the Vanderkai’s mansion.”
A growl vibrated behind my fangs. “That’s fine. I can rip your throat out with my teeth.”
Logan squared his shoulders and placed his hands on his hips. “Oh, so it doesn’t help then.”
“Oh, you can’t be fucking serious, Logan. What future do you see for us, huh? Even before the killing? A good fuck here and there, maybe, but long-term? I’m not like you or them or even him.”
“Ah, so you have thought of a future with him?”
“That’s it.” Talons replaced nails as I growled.“I’m going to kill you.”
Logan held a hand out, stopping me as I advanced. “Just answer me this. It’s not like anyone’s gonna know, anyway. This is a suicide mission, remember?”
I narrowed my eyes at him as he emphasized the last word.
“Just tell me if you’ve thought about it, even for a second.”
Light flared from beneath a door so deep in my mind I flinched. The door shook and rattled, screams echoing through my head. I clenched my hands so tight my claws drew blood.
“I didn’t, okay?” I snapped at him. “Just drop it.”
His lips twitched. “Okay.”
“And stop smiling like that. It’s fucking creepy.”
He laughed. “Okay.”
Turning back to the tunnel, we said nothing for a long moment. The only sound was our feet moving across the stone ground. Flames danced in my hands again, lighting the way. The silence didn’t last long, broken by the whirring of machines and grating of chains.
I held my hand up, stopping Logan. I extinguished the flame in my hand as we arrived at the mouth of the tunnel. Heavy footsteps came from above, and we moved in unison, pressing against the wall.
“Can you do what you did before? Where they can’t see us?”
I shook my head. “Maybe for myself, but it took too much power with you. I’m still learning and need all the extra I can muster to kill Kaden.”
Logan nodded and peeked around the corner. He kept pace with me, both of us hugging the wall. We continued on the winding path beneath the building until the noises and footsteps drew closer. A square wooden door was carved into the ceiling above us, and I noticed several others down the path. There were no steps or stairs, which told me exactly where we were.
Sewer. I swallowed my disgust and tried not to think about it.
“That’s our way in.” I pointed up, and Logan grimaced.
“Is that what I think it is?”
I nodded. “Listen, you and I have both disemboweled creatures. This is
nothing.”
Logan didn’t look convinced.
“Okay, I’ll go first. Just give me a boost.”
“Absolutely not.” Logan jumped, taking the cover of the hole with him.
“Rashearim men!” I cursed, clenching my fists. “Always the fucking heroes.”
Logan’s head appeared in the hole he had made. “All clear.”
He lowered his hand to help me, but I swatted it out of the way and jumped. He scrambled back out of my way. I landed in a crouch and stood.
Logan leaped to his feet, brushing gods knew what from his pants, and looked around.
We were in the middle of a dimly lit stone room. Even with the heat of this realm, this room felt cold and desolate, but I didn’t have long to think about it. Something grabbed me painfully by my ponytail, yanking me off
my feet.
“Trespasser!” a voice roared behind me.
“Dianna!” Logan yelled.
My body hit the stone wall, and pain took my breath away. I heard Logan groan as he crashed through the wall next to me.
I gasped, trying to catch my breath. A giant creature stomped toward me. Its arms, chest, and legs looked hewn from stone with a face made of the same. Hollow pits took the place of its mouth and eyes. It roared at me, and I jumped to my feet, summoning the forsaken blade. It threw its fist at me, but I ducked and brought my sword up. The creature’s arm fell to the ground with a thud. It roared its fury and charged. I sidestepped, extending my blade as it ran past. The ground shook as it dropped to its knees. There was a moment of silence, and then its head rolled to the side and fell to the floor.
The hole in the wall shook as Logan jumped into the room, his tattoos glowing vibrant blue.
“Dianna, you have to—” He stopped, his blade half raised, and watched as the decapitated creature turned into a heap of dirt and rocks. “Oh, you got it.”
I frowned at Logan. “What are you doing?”
“I was going to help, but you didn’t need my help.”
I shrugged. “Golem, right? Go for the head.”
His brows almost connected as he placed his hand on his hip. “How did you know that? They are ancient. Way before your time.”
“I read about them in a book.”
I didn’t tell him which book or that it was when Samkiel and I first broke into the council library. There was no way I would have wasted that opportunity. I’d researched every monster I could find when we weren’t sneaking looks at each other.
Logan and I strode to the door. I called the sword back to my ring and peered around the corner. The hallway was empty and sweltering hot. I motioned to Logan to follow me but to stay low.
We could hear the machines but no footsteps rushing our way. I thought someone would have heard the fight, but it seemed I was wrong. The hall curved to the left. We rounded the corner and stopped, straightening to our full height.
The hall led to a balcony. Beyond the steel railing, orange and red sparks shot upward. We weren’t in a mansion, a castle, or a home, not by a long shot. No, we were in a factory.
Overhead, massive metal wheels turned, grinding against each other, and pipes of all sizes covered the walls. Logan and I leaned over the balcony railing. Below, several large, worn oval cauldrons bubbled with something that looked like lava, but it glowed orange and gold. Tiny winged creatures tapped and nipped at each other, communicating in a language I didn’t recognize as they manipulated the pots.
They seemed too small for the task, but they tipped and moved the pots around as if they weighed nothing. The tiny creatures dumped the molten liquid, and it rushed down a narrow passageway to fill giant molds. The small beasts pulled a lever, and a heavy metal plate slammed down. When it lifted, a ghoulish creature lifted a black blade, shimmering with a sickly blueish tint with a serrated tip.
Weapons. That was why Kaden needed the iron.
“It’s only one ingredient.” Santiago’s voice rang in my head.
“He’s making weapons,” Logan whispered, shaking me from my thoughts. “Enough for an army.”
My breath hitched as I watched the conveyor belts carry sword after sword out of sight.
“More than an army.” I turned to Logan. “This is the part where our
little partnership ends.”
“What? No.”
“Go find Neverra.”
He looked at me like I was the crazy one. You would never know he had been charging headfirst into battle earlier. “I will, but we can do that together. There are way too many creatures here for us to split up.”
I raised my hand, keeping my voice as low but serious as possible.
“Logan, stop. I am not your friend or teammate, and I am not part of your little celestial family, but your family needs you right now. This is my problem, and I have to end it.” I reached into my pocket, pulling out a small obsidian stone. I grabbed his hand and placed it in his palm. “Find her and use this.”
He glanced down at the small stone in his hand. “What’s this?”
“It’s something Camilla made. She said it could create a rift, but only for a little while. I think she hoped I would change my mind after I killed Kaden, but I never planned to use it for me. I was going to send Neverra back. If he were going to kill her, he would have already.”
Logan’s face scrunched as if he couldn’t believe what I had said.
“Why?”
“Gabby liked you both. You were kind to her and protected her when I couldn’t. You gave her a home. I owe you.” I didn’t lie this time, and I hoped my voice didn’t break as much as it felt like it did.
“You were going to bring her back to me?” Logan nodded, closing his hand around the stone. “Gabriella was right about you. You are amazing.”
He leaned forward, grabbed my face, and pressed a kiss to my cheek.
I pushed him away. “Ew. Don’t get emotional.”
He snorted as I wiped my cheek. “What are you going to do now?”
“I’m going to destroy it all.”
Logan didn’t move, but I could see that he was torn, his protective instincts being pulled in two directions. He looked past me, his eyes going distant and his expression twisting as if in pain. He reached out and gripped my shoulders. “Be careful, Dianna.” He ran past me, his footsteps fading down the hall.
I turned back, watching as more of the dead, controlled by Tobias, emptied another shipment of iron into the cauldrons. I took a few steps back and stretched out my arms, inhaling deeply. I pulled on that kernel of power deep within me, the part I had been feeding and fueling for months now.
The part I saved and honed waiting for this exact moment, and I let it burn.
Dark mist swirled around my feet and crawled up my body, scales replacing my skin. As my form grew, my arms shifted into wings. Thunder cracked, rage and ruin unleashed.
Light illuminated our small room in Eoria. The storm hit just after our parents tucked us into bed. I craned my neck to see out the window, watching the light dance across the sky. I loved it, and Ain hated it. She hid under her covers, jumping when another large crack echoed across the sky.
I jumped out of bed and hurried to her side.
“It’s so loud.” She curled up even tighter.
“Dada says it’s the season for it.”
She yelped as another loud boom cracked. “Don’t you get scared, Mer- ka?”
Thunder ate up the sky outside. “Yes, but you know what I do?”
“What?” she whispered, her voice small.
“I imagine a room with all these doors where I can lock the scary monsters away. Then I’m not scared anymore. I imagine a stronger version
of me locking the door and taking over. I pretend I am that, and then I can do anything.”
Rain beat against the roof, and she trembled harder. My hand reached out, moving the strands of her hair from her face as she glanced at me. I still remembered when Mama had her, how much smaller she was then. I remembered Mama asking me to watch over her, too, because I was a big sister now.
“It will be okay, Ain. I promise. No thunder will get you.”
She swallowed, hugging the covers tighter. “It’s not thunder. Dada said
it’s the gods fighting.”
“He doesn’t know everything.”
She peeked out at the growing storm. “What if they are coming for us?”
“Don’t worry.” I said, her gaze snapping back to me “I’m here. I won’t let anything happen to you, and if they try to get you, I’ll kick their butts.”
“You can’t say that word,” she whispered, but I heard the giggle.
“I won’t tell if you won’t.” I tugged on her blanket. “Now, come out of there.”
Lightning flashed in the room, illuminating us both. She slipped her small hand out and extended her pinky.
“Only if you pinky promise to keep me safe,” she said.
I linked mine with hers and slipped into bed next to her. “Pinky promise.”
Fire erupted from my throat, blasting a hole through the roof. I launched my body into the air, my tail whipping behind me, propelling me up. My form was larger than before. Every kill, every drop of blood had created the damned beast Kaden had so desperately wanted. And the one he would soon regret.
The balcony railing fell, crushing all beneath it. Wounded creatures screeched, their cries following me. The steam and smoke billow around me, my wings forming eddies in the air. This was the place he hid, the place he held her. I threw my head back and roared before tucking my wings close and plummeting toward the ground. I would leave nothing but ruin in my wake. Flames made of wrath and agony blasted from my throat.
I incinerated the factory and everything inside it. Creatures covered in flames ran, but there was no escaping me. A few attempted to fly away, but they fell from the sky, screaming. I was fury and desolation. Vengeance and hate. Beginning and end. I was death incarnate. Smoke billowed up in a
dark, hateful cloud. My wings beat against it, propelling me higher. I circled and passed. The sound that left me surpassed my mortality, past my grief and pain. It was a hollow, beckoning, wretched challenge that shook the
world.
A war cry.
OceanofPDF.com