Thirty-Six
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Samkiel
M y father’s hand landed in the middle of the table. “And focus on
other things besides the spoils of flesh. You are king now, Samkiel.
You must use something else besides brute force to accomplish your means. Knowledge, my son, is more powerful than what head you can cleave from its shoulders or spear you can drive through your opponent.
Always try peace. If you strike first, you can never take it back.”
My head tossed from side to side. Some force was keeping me here, keeping me trapped in my dreams. I felt the tiny, serrated fingers digging into my brain, pulling memories from my skull. I was in a room where water dripped off the walls, a thick musty scent filling the air. No, not a room. A cave? I spun, my feet hitting the jagged rock floor. I stepped toward a hollowed-out doorway, an opaque orange glow emanating from it.
Beyond, I heard the slam of metal against metal—another battle. I shook my head, the voices calling to me, trying to take me from here. More loud banging came from the hall and the smell of… iron.
I promise not to leave your side…
Dianna. I spun toward her voice and left the dark cave room. I appeared back in Dianna’s room at the Vanderkai’s mansion. She sat on the lounge, her red gown flowing to the floor. I had made her that dress, and she took my breath away. She was looking up at me, playing with her fingers. It was a nervous tick of hers.
I lifted my hand and extended my pinky. “Promise?”
Pain flickered over her features. “I thought you didn’t want to promise anymore?”
“I am allowed to change my mind.” I nodded toward her hand, and she smiled. Yes, that’s what I wanted. I just wanted her to smile at me again.
She dipped her head and held out her pinky. I grasped it like a lifeline.
Stay with me, I begged, even though I knew my growing feelings for her were wrong. When she was mad and not speaking to me, it was more than I could bear. My emotions were new to me and slipped my control. I knew she felt the small bolt of electricity just as I did, and I felt it to my core.
“Yes, I promise.”
I took a step forward. I just wanted to see Dianna again, hold her, and
talk to her.
“It takes four of my best to hold him.”
I stopped. Hold me? That wasn’t a part of my memories with her. My nostrils flared, and my jaw ticked. Who would dare threaten to hold me?
That voice filtered through my brain. It was one I’d never heard before. The scene around me melted away, and then I was halfway across the world in another room. Only this time, Dianna was backing away from me, her hand slightly raised. My own voice caught me off guard. I turned, seeing myself stride in. He walked right through me, the memory playing out.
“You slaughtered hordes of Ig’Morruthens,” Dianna whispered, and I saw the one thing I never wanted to see from her: fear.
“Yes.” I nodded slowly, but couldn’t she tell? Didn’t she know by now that I would never hurt her? Didn’t she know I would allow no one to harm her? She was everything to me. How could she not see?
“Is that what you would have done to me in the beginning?”
My eyes searched hers, my heart aching. Had I fallen so far? I couldn’t lie to her. Maybe in the past. “If it were necessary.”
“Is it necessary now?”
“No.” It felt like she had slapped me. I would have preferred she’d attacked me. “How could you ask me that? You are not a monster.”
Not to me, never me.
A thick buzz filled my mind. My hands went to my head, and I gritted my teeth. Pain, sharp and icy, hit my subconscious, causing the room to shake. Power I had never felt before burrowed deeper into my skull.
“A thousand plus worlds he has seen, yet when he dreams, he dreams of
you.”
That voice again. Who was in my head?
I focused like I had been taught, breathing deep and slow. The room still shook as I concentrated, but my body twitched. It was a brief escape, but I was back in my room. The images were blurry, but I saw the four creatures above me. The hollows of their mouths were wide open, and their hands hovered above me.
Dianna walked toward me, her eyes glowing red. She had gotten out?
How? I jerked, trying to force my body awake. I needed to move, to get up, but I only managed to turn my head to the side. A figure with a hat stood on the other side of the room, but it was the one next to him that had a familiar feeling rushing over me when I looked at him.
Roccurem.
Yes, he had shown up in my room and tricked me. My head hurt once more, the pain forcing my eyes closed, but I could have sworn Roccurem looked at me with a knowing expression. His six eyes appeared, all opaque white, all glowing, yet no one moved. It was as if only I saw them.
“Not a monster, god king, only broken,” Roccurem whispered in my head.
I was thrust back into my subconscious so fast that it felt like I was falling. I landed on my knees in some dark, empty room and heard a scream so loud, so painful, and full of grief that it shook the world around me. It was every nightmare and fear I had, from Rashearim to Dianna leaving and back. It all bled together, creating a void inside me. I covered my ears. The screams were ancient and all-consuming, with such despair that they filled up every inch of the hollow space inside me. I screamed along with it, trying to release the pressure. It felt like my brain was attempting to escape my skull, but I kept fighting against the creatures that held me.
“What’s happening to me?” I shouted to the swirling room.
“They are called the Baku, god king.” Roccurem’s voice was far away and distorted as if he hid from them too. From her. “A race evolved from
the Deskin, the dream eaters.”
“How can they hold me?”
“They cannot. I am helping them keep you detained.”
“Why?” I shouted, the lights beneath my skin beginning to hum. I felt them rising toward my eyes, my power, thick and heavy, threatening to
consume them. I would kill them all.
“For her.”
The lights died, and the room stopped shaking. I looked around the dark empty space, the screams and howls ending.
“For her?”
“I need her to see and feel before the One True King comes. Otherwise, there will be no realm left, even for you.”
My head throbbed as I struggled to my feet. I didn’t see Roccurem or those six milky white eyes. I saw nothing but darkness. One True King? I ground my teeth, the power threatening to rip me back into the nightmare.
“Where is he?”
I would tear Kaden limb from limb for what he had done.
“She is close to finding him.” Roccurem solidified, regarding me and the room curiously.
My heart thrummed. “I need out of this. Dianna can’t fight him alone.
Not a King of Yejedin.”
“If she chooses the wrong path, I am afraid she will fight many battles alone, god king.”
Fear ripped at my gut, and my throat constricted when I realized Roccurem would not help me. He was going to let this happen. “Why are you doing this?”
“She must choose for herself without intervention, or her purpose will
not be pure.”
“What does that mean?”
“Let her choose, god king.”
“Choose death?” I nearly shouted. “She will die if she fights him. Die,
Roccurem.”
“Perhaps.”
Icy fury swept through me, sharper than steel. “Let me out of here,
Roccurem.”
“I cannot.”
“If she dies, I will shred you to atoms.”
“I am aware.” He glanced up as if listening to another world. “There is a mortal saying. If you love something, set it free. If it comes back—”
“I do not have time for riddles or technicalities. Release me.”
Roccurem’s six eyes opened, and he looked at me. “Love is such a dangerous and powerful emotion. The gods curse it, for it has power.
Empires have fallen for it, reduced to sand and scriptures. Worlds have
burned for it, and they will once more. Love has the power to touch even the untouchable. Use it.”
His form shimmered and vanished. I roared in frustration, power hot and blinding shooting from me, lighting this darkened room in shades of silver and white. I dropped my hand and saw that I’d had no effect on this illusion. Fuck. I scanned the space they had trapped me in, searching for a way to escape. I needed to get to her. My breathing became erratic as I ran from one area to the next. No walls, no door, just an endless empty expanse and haunting pieces of memories. Fuck. I was going to lose her. Fuck. I had to think, had to try. I took a breath, drawing air in slowly, then releasing it.
“Do not run off emotions, Samkiel. It makes you careless. Think.
Think,” I murmured to myself.
Then it hit me. Dianna’s voice floated through the thick of them. A memory. A way out. Something she had said months ago.
“I believe with enough pressure that anything can break.”
I had already attempted to use my powers to no avail, but maybe I
hadn’t used them all.
“Love has power. Use it.”
My hands brushed across my chest, right above my heart. The slightest flicker of flame glowed within me, and I reached for the light. A kernel of power danced across my palm, a small precious piece of her fire. It was the part of her that had crept past every defense or curt word, the part that held me during feverish nightmares. The part that warmed me, forcing me to live again. Her. It was the piece of her I clung to, filled with the hope of what
could be.
I unleashed it.
Light, pure and blinding, shot from my eyes. The darkened room erupted in flames as I shot up, shoving past not just the barriers of this room but into reality. The dream eaters jumped back, but it was too late. They screamed as the light from my eyes cut through them, their bodies erupting into ash. Smoke and debris floated through my room. A thick slash, orange embers sparking at the edges, cut through my wall. The ceiling now had a fresh hole, the cold winter air rushing in.
The entire city had gone dark, but I could hear the low hum as the power tried and failed to turn back on. I rose from the bed in one swift motion, needing to find the others but stopped when I noticed the ring on
my bedside table was missing.
She’d been here.
I growled, the lights in my room exploding as I portalled out and into Logan’s room. Empty. I spun and blurred through the building, breathing a sigh of relief when I found him and Vincent. Logan writhed in pain, the circular mouth of the dream eater standing over him wide open, a vortex of energy swirling within as he consumed the energy he’d ripped from Logan’s nightmares.
Vincent lay near him, another dream eater hovering over him. I summoned an ablazed weapon and rammed the blade straight through its skull. In the same movement, I withdrew the sword and flung it at the one that tried to retreat. Their bodies burned in a flash of flames, ash floating through the room.
Logan and Vincent jolted awake. Tears streamed down Logan’s face, his chest heaving as he raised a shaking hand and stared at the mark on his finger. I knew what Iassulyn they’d sent him to.
“Samkiel?” he asked, looking between Vincent and me. “What happened?”
“Dream eaters,” I said, looking down the hall. “Get up and search the building. Help the others.” They nodded and jumped to their feet.
I needed to check on Cameron and Xavier. I needed to make sure she hadn’t hurt them in her escape. The whole building seemed to be in a sleep- like state. I passed multiple bodies, but I could hear their heartbeats, the rhythms steady, and I knew they were asleep, not dead.
With every step I took, lights burst overhead. The heavy metal door wouldn’t slide open. I slashed at it, the ablazed weapon slicing smoothly but not making a big enough hole. The vibration rang through me as I kicked at it. The lights flickered wildly with each strike, rage spilling out of me in waves. I was panting when the door finally gave way, the hinges screeching when the mangled piece of metal flew into the room.
The cells were empty, the bars to hers gone. I passed Nym, her crumpled form lying on its side. The puncture wounds in her neck told me Dianna had fed before she’d left. Two more dream eaters stood over Cameron and Xavier in the far corner. I raised my hand, energy coalescing at the center of my palm. I focused and then released it. It hit the one above Xavier, blasting him into a thousand particles. The one above Cameron glanced up, his form shimmering before disappearing into thin air. I ran, sliding to my knees next to Xavier. I grabbed his face, gently tapping his
cheek. Cameron rose to a crouch and screamed, not realizing he was no longer trapped in the nightmare.
“Cameron!” I snapped, infusing power into my voice and breaking through his terror.
“What the fu—” He stopped as he focused on Xavier and me.
He scrambled to Xavier’s other side and glanced at me. “Why isn’t he waking up?”
I summoned the blade to my ring before lifting his body and cradling his head. My free hand glowed as I pressed it against his forehead.
“Dream eaters will make you see your worst nightmares, forcing you to remain under enormous pressure while they feed off the agony of your memories.”
I didn’t need to look at Cameron to know his face had paled. We both knew what Xavier dreamed. “The sovverg cave.”
I nodded.
Sovvergs were long burrowing worm creatures that ate and ripped through flesh as fast as they moved. Kryella had sent Xavier and a few others on a mission soon after he was made, and they had ended up in a sovverg cave. Xavier lost much at the bottom of that damn cave before I found him.
“Wake him up,” Cameron demanded, panic lacing his voice.
I nodded, the power emanating from my hand and into Xavier’s head, sending light into his darkness, guiding him out. “Kryella told me of the nightmares he’d had since that incident. I knew where the dream eaters had taken him.”
Cameron’s hands hovered over his fallen friend. “You saved him before.
Do it again.”
His tone caught my attention. There was a strange flicker of emotion buried in his voice. Not just worry, but something deeper. It was a topic no one addressed because Cameron was nowhere near admitting his true feelings. So I dismissed it for now and propped Xavier up.
I called the power back into my hand and lifted him to his feet. His breath came in loud gasps, and his body trembled. “Hey, you’re fine.
Xavier, you’re here.” I patted him on his shoulder as his eyes adjusted to the
room and reality.
“I saw.” He panted.
“I know, but you’re not there.”
“No,” his voice cracked, a shine filling his eyes, “I saw her.”
Before I could address the tear in his voice, Vincent and Logan ran in,
skidding to a halt beside us.
“What happened?”
“Baku, a subspecies race of the Deskin. They form nightmares and feed off the pain.”
Xavier pulled away and straightened his knees, letting me know he could stand on his own. Cameron came to his other side, and he waved him away too, but I didn’t miss the look of pain on Xavier’s face. Vincent came further inside, Logan at his heels. I turned to the empty cell behind me, looking at the tangled pile of chains on the floor. There were no burn marks
on the wall or them.
“She got out.”
“Not just that,” I sighed and put my hands on my hips, this truth far worse, “Roccurem let the dream eaters in.”
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