Forty-Five
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Dianna
I could do this. I didn’t need Samkiel or anyone else. Even as the familiar
thoughts echoed through my mind, a part of me whispered back what a
liar I was.
You can’t do everything alone, D. I winced, Gabby’s voice drowning out everything else.
That’s what she’d always said, and Neverra had just thrown it in my face. The same way Samkiel had on that damned boat. I took another shuddering breath, my body and lungs burning. No, I couldn’t do this right now. I had to think, had to find a way. This was my path, and I was destined to walk it alone.
I watched as Tobias's massive body slithered across the stone floor. I had to think, had to figure out a way to hurt him. If only… It hit me then. I remembered something Samkiel had taught me back at Drake’s when we
were training.
“Remember, everything has a weakness.”
I rolled my eyes and leaned against the bo staff. Annoyed was an understatement, but it only seemed to amuse him. He had wanted to train every day since he apologized. I think, in his own way, he was trying to make up for how he’d sided with Drake and Ethan, but I was still hurt and wounded, even if I had no right to be.
“Dianna, are you even paying attention?”
I tilted my head. “To you? Hardly ever.”
Whatever amusement had danced within his eyes disappeared, replaced by a somber expression.
I stood upright and grew serious, leaning the staff against the wall. The quicker this was done, the quicker I could… what? Go to my room to sulk and avoid him? Mature, Dianna, real mature.
“Okay, everyone has a weakness. You know, except for you gods with immortality.”
“Doesn’t mean I don’t have a weakness.” His gaze held mine. “Give me your hand.”
My fingers curled into a tight fist. I relaxed my hand immediately, but I knew he’d seen. I didn’t know why his stupid comments hurt me so much, but they had. Ignoring the flicker of pain in his eyes, I held my hand out. He grasped it and lifted my fingers to the thin scar at the hollow of his throat. I felt him swallow as if my touch affected him, but I knew that couldn’t be right. Samkiel did not want me, and who could blame him?
“Everything has a weakness, even gods. I got this scar from a hateful goddess long ago. If I weren’t immortal, it would be a weak spot.” I pulled my hand back, and he took a step away, forcing a smile. “Makes it easier to cut my head off, I suppose.”
I clasped my hands together, holding in the heat from his touch. “You probably shouldn’t tell evil Ig’Morruthens things like that,” I half-joked, glancing back up at him.
“Well, when you see one, let me know.” He flipped my staff toward me with the end of his, and I caught it reflexively.
“What about the giant scary beasts from your past? Even them?”
“Especially them. If they are soft, it’s an illusion to make you think you can get close to them. You will need to strike at their eyes to kill them. If it’s a scaled beast, they usually have a soft underside where they bend or move.
The trick to killing them is getting close enough before they rip you to pieces, but as I said, they have a weakness nonetheless.”
The world came rushing back, and I truly looked at Tobias, studying him. He stood, his mighty body coiled and his eyes glowing as he spotted me. He threw his head back, the spikes of his crown quivering as he laughed. His heavy body hit the ground, readying for a charge. But I’d seen my target. Beneath the thick plates of scales, I’d seen a pure orange glow— a soft spot. Triumph blossomed in me.
Tobias came at me, and I leaped out of the way. Logan and Neverra shouted my name, but I waved them off. Tobias collided with the far wall, more stones falling from the ceiling. He shook his head and hissed, taking a
moment to recover. This building was too small for his size to be an asset.
Two reanimated winged corpses descended on me, and I dispatched them quickly, sending them back into the arms of death.
The undead attacked Logan and Neverra. If I’d thought Xavier and Cameron were a deadly duo, they had nothing on Logan and Neverra.
Every move between these two was as effortless as a perfectly choreographed dance, familiar and beloved to each of them. They bounced off each other, their swords striking, leaving bodies in pieces. Now I understood, seeing it with my own eyes, why The Hand were so feared. All of them together, plus Samkiel, would make a deadly force.
“What are you doing?” Logan shouted at me. I stood, ignoring the tremble in my legs and the demands of my body to feed it.
“I have a plan,” I shouted back, and Tobias’s massive head swung toward me, weaving hypnotically from side to side.
“I’m going to hold you here until Kaden returns and then make you watch as we cut those celestial bitches limb from limb,” Tobias hissed as he coiled, preparing to strike.
A new plan surfaced in my head and one I needed to thoroughly piss him off for.
I shrugged, my shoulder screaming. “You can try, but I figure they'll last longer than Alistair ever did.”
His eyes tightened into thin slits as those lips curved back. He let out a deep sibilant hiss and charged me head-on, mouth agape.
“Dianna!” Neverra shouted as I leaped at Tobias and was swallowed whole.
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