Thirty-Five
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Dianna
I watched Cameron hit his wrist, causing a small snack to fly across the
room. Xavier bent backward, trying to catch it in his mouth. Ancient
terrifying warriors, my guards, were tossing snacks at each other like sixteen-year-old boys. I rolled my eyes, trying not to shift uncomfortably, the chains wrapped around me digging into my wrists.
“Dude, that’s five for five,” Xavier cheered happily.
Cameron snorted and ate the handful he had, and Xavier laughed. Their armor was new, formed of a dark material I didn’t recognize. The collars were upright, protecting their throats, and they had blades strapped everywhere. Smart.
“Hungry?” Cameron asked, looking at me as he reached for the bag Xavier held.
“Starved, but I don’t eat that,” I said, my voice cracking. I smiled, my canines protruding. The chains drained me more than I thought they would, and every time I moved, they cut deeper.
“Oh yeah? What are you hungry for? Samkiel?” Xavier asked.
Cameron grinned and shoved Xavier’s shoulder. “Yeah, that whole display was kind of hot. I won’t lie. But I doubt he would ever take you in front of anyone. He seems way more possessive of you than his previous
lovers.”
Xavier shrugged. “True.”
I forced a smile as they laughed. They wanted to get under my skin.
Fine, I could play that game, too, but I was way better at it.
“You know what I don’t get?” I asked. “You two.”
They stopped laughing and looked at me with identical expressions.
“Us?” Cameron asked with a smirk. “What about us?”
“Do you ever tire of pretending you don’t want each other?”
Cameron’s smile dropped, and Xavier looked like I had punched him in the stomach. His eyes darted too quickly toward Cameron, and he stopped mid-chew.
“I mean, it’s not like Samkiel or the others would care if you two finally took all that boiling tension and did something about it,” I teased.
Cameron laughed and shook his head. “Seriously? Your plan is to goad us over something that isn’t even true? Xavier is my oldest friend, and he has a boyfriend.”
“Oh, a boyfriend,” I mocked, a laugh spilling from my throat. “I’m so sorry. You’re right, completely off limits.”
Cameron stepped closer, holding the sides of his vest. “Don’t try to project the tension between you and Samkiel onto us.”
Cameron glanced over his shoulder. Xavier smiled and quickly nodded, but I saw it. I saw the emotions in Xavier’s eyes. I saw the want and need and knew I had hit home. However, Cameron was completely oblivious or in deep denial. I assumed the latter.
“Right, just friends.” I rocked back on my heels, my smile mocking as I looked between them. “Samkiel and I said the same thing, and I still blew him.”
Cameron’s expression hardened in annoyance, his smirk falling flat.
“You cannot bait us.”
“Are you sure about that? I baited one of you.” I shrugged my shoulders, looking toward Xavier, who had said nothing.
They stared at me, identical expressions of consternation on their faces.
Two dream eaters solidified behind Xavier and Cameron. The warriors sensed them, but it was already too late as they spun to confront the threat.
The dream eater’s mouths gaped wide, and they sucked what looked like wispy threads from Xavier and Cameron. It only took two seconds before they fell to the floor, unconscious.
Reggie came around the corner with his hands behind his back. The dream eaters moved aside, and he stepped over the sleeping Xavier and Cameron. Reggie lifted Cameron’s hand and placed it on a pad near the door. The bars dissolved, and Reggie allowed Cameron’s arm to drop before stepping inside. He carried a key I recognized, and I wondered how he had gotten it from Samkiel. He undid one wrist and then the next, my strength
returning in a rush of euphoria. The chains fell in an untidy pile on the floor, and I rubbed my wrists, relieving the bone-deep ache.
“The others are asleep as well,” Reggie said.
“You’re late, and I’m starving.”
“My apologies.” He nodded toward the dream eaters. “They were a little harder to find, given your recent activities, but they owed you a favor.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s pointless now. The map is gone.” I huffed a stray
piece of hair from my face.
“It is not.”
“What?”
“I’ll show you.”
I cocked my head to the side but didn’t question his claim. If there were a chance the map still existed, then I would take it. I stepped out of the cell and over the sleeping bodies, following Reggie. The two dream eaters hovered over the two celestials, their eyes rolled back and their hands extended. Cameron and Xavier twitched in their sleep-like state, swirls of wispy magic sinking into their heads.
“How many of the Baku did you bring?” I asked.
“All of them.”
A slow smile pulled at my lips. If they all came, this whole place would be sound asleep and none the wiser of my escape.
T he elevator door slid to the side on the top floor , and I paused before stepping out. The room was a disaster, as if Samkiel had been struggling to maintain control again. I had seen something similar so many times before in the blooddreams. Here, it looked like he’d tried to fix it the best he could several times.
“He is barely holding on, as you can see.”
A wave of guilt hit my gut. “I don’t care.”
Emotions flickered over Reggie’s face. Maybe regret or something else?
Fear? I shook my head and skirted the large sofa. Stacks of books and other items covered the tabletop. I sorted through the texts and clutter, looking for
the map. Reggie said Samkiel had restored it, and I knew he would keep it close until he could secure it out of my reach. I tossed a book over my shoulder, then another, ignoring the thud as they hit the floor. I felt Reggie watching me the whole time, waiting. My hand hovered over a thick book, shock rippling through me.
“Why does he have this?” I grabbed the thin strip of black and white
photos, drinking in the images.
“I think you know why.”
These were the damned photos from that booth. Something in my chest fractured at the memory.
“You’re terrible at blending in,” I whispered, popping another piece of cotton candy into my mouth. Samkiel glared at me. I suspected it was just his go-to expression. “You know people that go to festivals have fun?”
“This isn’t fun. It’s loud, obnoxious, and overcrowded. Why are you making that gesture with your hands?”
I stopped the random opening and closing of my hand as he rattled off everything that bothered him. “Oh, I am just imitating how often you complain. Listen, I know this isn’t wild drinking games or orgies on Rashearim, but you can at least attempt to have fun.”
If his fists clenched any tighter, he might have popped a blood vessel.
“How will me having fun make your acquaintance come any faster?”
I shrugged. “It won’t, but it would make me happy.”
Something sparked in his eyes, but I didn’t know him well enough to read his expression. Nearby laughter caught my attention. A couple exited a photo booth and exclaimed over the strip of images the machine spit out before hurrying away, pointing toward a large ride. I smiled, and Samkiel’s gaze followed mine.
“I dislike that,” he remarked, eyeing my grin. “It means you have some idea I will probably not like.”
My smile only grew, and he opened his mouth to say something. I didn’t allow him to protest before grabbing his wrist and pulling him with me. He didn’t resist like I thought he would. I let go of him as I stopped outside of the booth.
He studied the booth suspiciously. “What is this device?”
I snorted, inserting a few coins I might have stolen. “You’ll see.”
He started to protest, but I shoved him inside and pulled the curtain closed behind us. I spun and nearly collided with his chest. Okay, I hadn’t
considered his size, the small space, and how close we would be. He was damn near a giant, and our bodies were pressed close. I felt the flush travel through my body and turn my cheeks hot. What the fuck?
“You’re so hostile.”
I snorted. “Sorry. I wanted you in here before you could object.”
He looked down at me, and my heart thudded. Yeah, he was way too
close.
“What happens now?”
“Well, first…” I reached up. My fingers threaded through his hair, ruffling it. I tried to ignore how soft it was as he frowned at me.
I laughed, my arm half raised as a flash went off, startling us both.
Samkiel jumped, almost hitting his head on the top of the machine. I busted out laughing and almost dropped my cotton candy. There was another flash, and he glared at the source of the light. One of his rings vibrated as if he was about to draw a weapon and fight the machine.
I rested my hand over his, covering his rings. He looked down at our hands and then back up at me.
“It’s fine. I promise. It’s harmless. It’s just taking pictures,” I explained calmly.
“Pictures?” The flash went off again, and I smiled brighter. He looked damn near terrified.
“Yes. Look, like this.” I let go of his hand and lifted mine toward his face. He almost flinched back but stopped, his eyes darting to me.
I lightly grabbed his chin and forced his face toward the camera just as it flashed again. I didn’t know if it was the sugar rush from the candy or the great and powerful World Ender’s fear of a small photo booth, but I hadn’t genuinely laughed like this in what felt like centuries. There were two more flashes before the room returned to its dull glow. I placed another piece of
candy in my mouth as he stared at me.
“What?”
He shook his head as if he was in a daze. “Nothing, I just never heard you laugh before.”
I brushed my hair back and shrugged before leaving the booth. Samkiel followed. “Sorry, it was just funny.”
“Don’t apologize,” he said as I reached for the pictures that the photo booth produced. “It’s a pleasant sound.”
“My laugh?” I snorted and lifted the pictures. “Yeah, right.”
He didn’t say anything, just leaned over my head to look at the pictures.
“Now what?”
I turned and placed the strip of pictures into one of his jacket pockets.
Samkiel stayed perfectly still, but I could see the question in his eyes.
“For you to keep. So when you go back to your silver tower with your glowing goddesses and celestial army, you will remember that you made friends with an evil and wicked Ig’Morruthen while on Onuna.”
I smiled up at him and took another bite of cotton candy. He was quiet for a second, but another scream from a ride had him turning in startled alertness.
“I see.” He adjusted his jacket and took a deep breath before nodding behind me. “What other tortures do you wish to show me in this place?”
My smile was damn near wicked, and I could tell he knew he’d made a
mistake by the way he shook his head.
“How do you feel about bumper cars?”
“Are you alright?” Reggie’s voice ripped me from the memory and back into the real world. I wiped at the tears gathered in my eyes and the moisture on my cheeks. I shook my head, trying to calm my emotions.
And a lock on a door in a house rattled.
“Peachy.”
My power flared, and I watched the flame eat away at the photos. Our smiling images turned dark, burning to ash. I wiped my hands, the dusty particles falling to the floor. I could feel Reggie’s gaze on me, but I ignored him and continued my search. The map sat on the table, underneath the book he’d tucked the photos in as if he’d placed it there for me. I grabbed it and shoved it into my back pocket. Reggie said nothing as I wiped one
sleeve across my face again.
“I need my ring.”
“Perhaps he keeps it close to him?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, still searching the table.
“Well, it is a part of you, yes? Therefore, I do not see why he would not keep it close to him.”
I hadn’t thought about that, or maybe a part of me had, and I just didn’t trust myself to be near him one last time. I wanted his last memory of me to be this betrayal, this final blow to him and his friends. He needed to just let me go.
Fuck. My heart ached, and I tried to push those damn feelings back down, but they threatened to swallow me whole.
I strode toward the bedroom where I could feel both Samkiel’s and the dream eater’s power, Reggie at my heels. A massive bed stood in the middle of the room, two large dressers covering a good portion of the walls. A large window looked out over the tops of every building in Silver City and the clouds that rolled in between. It was a room fit for a god king.
Samkiel lay in the center of the bed with four dream eaters surrounding him. Two stood on the right and two on the left, holding hands as they fed.
It looked as if they had placed him there. I wondered if the dream eaters had moved him to contain him.
“It takes four of my best to hold the World Ender,” the leader of the Baku, Garleglish, said.
I came to its side, folding my arms over my chest as we watched Samkiel toss and turn, a pained expression on his face. My heart twisted, and I had to fight my instincts to make it stop.
“You came,” I said. Like all of them, the leader of the Baku was bald with dark-speckled, pale skin. He wore a long black trench coat with a thick hat. “I’m impressed. I never thought you’d betray your precious Kaden.”
“We follow those in power, and you, dark queen, are dripping with it.”
He looked at me when he spoke, and I suppressed a shudder, watching the slit of his mouth move.
I gave him a small smile and stepped closer. He swallowed hard, and I could smell his fear. I liked that. I stepped past him and walked toward the bed.
I ran a hand across the sheets. “Sure. It wouldn’t have anything to do with the severed heads I left on your doorstep as decorations, hmm?”
“I would prefer the rest of my family to stay alive, yes.”
My eyes narrowed. “Smart.”
Samkiel twisted again on the bed, a small moan escaping him.
Nightmares. That’s what the dream eaters had incited to feed from, and I knew Samkiel had plenty.
“A thousand plus worlds he has seen, yet when he dreams, he dreams of you.”
My head snapped toward Garleglish, and he closed his mouth, glancing away.
I knew I shouldn’t get closer, but the part of me that remembered the feel of him pressed against me didn’t care. The beast inside me seemed to purr as if it wished to say goodbye to the man we both had grown so attached to. So, against my better judgment, I moved and sat next to Samkiel on the bed.
I ran a hand over his face, his skin clammy and pale. A piece of his hair stuck to his forehead as he tossed, and I brushed it away. He calmed, my touch seeming to soothe him.
“This would be a reasonable time to say goodbye,” Reggie said. “If this is the path you choose.”
“This was always the path.” My hand shook as I threaded it through his hair the same way I had coaxed him out of nightmares before. Only this
time, I was the cause.
Gods, I was a monster.
Another reason in a long list of many why I couldn’t stay and be his. Or he mine.
I leaned forward, not caring about my audience or the pain that threatened to crack my chest wide open. My hand traced the curve of his face, following the path to his jaw. Warmth and the softest prickle of stubble greeted my fingertips. My heart lurched. That damned face. The same face that, against all my fury and bitter rage, I still dreamt of. How could life have been so cruel as to show him to me, tease me with even the slightest possibility of a future, and then spit in my face with a cold and brutal reminder? He and I were not the same. Not an epic, sweeping tale. Not one of the romantic stories Gabby so loved, but enemies. One born from light, the other crafted from darkness.
Samkiel was right. The universe was cruel.
My eyes stung, holding back emotions I didn’t want to process. By the time Samkiel woke up, I would be long gone. I didn’t know why, and I knew I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t keep from pressing my lips to his. It was a soft, quick goodbye kiss to the man who, regardless of everything, kept trying to save me.
“Maybe in another life,” I whispered before pulling away.
As I lifted my head, I noticed my ring on the bedside table, the intricately designed bone material of the forsaken blades gleaming darkly in
the low light.
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