Nineteen
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Dianna
I placed my hands on my knees, trying to keep my lunch from coming
back up. Blowing out a breath, I stood. Fucking vortexes. I would never
get used to them. I summoned the forsaken blade to my ring and spun, taking in the swirling room. It looked just as it had when Samkiel brought me here, but I had a feeling that things didn’t change much in Roccurem’s little pocket of the universe. Stars whizzed by, the colors ranging from dark purple to an array of greens and pinks. An entire galaxy existed in this one room, but the scenery was not what I’d come for.
“Roccurem!” I shouted. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
I stepped forward, my nails elongating as I scraped them across the neighboring sky. It shimmered and bent as if trying to twist away, and I
smiled.
“Please, do stop that. It is painful.”
I lifted my nails, inspecting the darkened material that clung to them. I watched it crumble and float away before turning toward Roccurem.
“So, this place holds you and is made from you. Interesting.”
The matter that made the room swirled around his lower half like a thick coat blowing in the wind. He floated a few feet from me, his three faceless
heads spinning.
“Queen of Yejedin.”
“I hate that name.”
“Daughter of—”
“Stop.” I held up my hand. “Can we skip the names? It’s stupid.”
One of those three heads paused and jerked as if he laughed before resuming a counterclockwise rotation.
“You made it to me here without the World Ender. You are learning, and you are,” his heads stilled and seemed to stare at me, “evolving.”
“Thanks, I thought so too.” I clasped my hands behind my back and smiled, baring my sharp canines.
“You are here to end me as well, I suppose. For the death of the one you call sister.”
I nodded and rocked back on my heels. “Smart creature.”
“And how do you plan to accomplish such a task when the gods themselves could not extinguish me?”
I moved faster than even he could track, grabbing the swirling mass by his throat and lifting him. “I am a big believer that with the right pressure, anything,” I squeezed and felt his body vibrate, “can break.”
His three heads did not falter nor look away from me, but a swirling mass of hands grabbed at mine. A shimmer of a star blinked behind him, drawing my attention. It flickered, beckoning me like a signal to a ship lost at sea. I felt the need to stop for the first time since her death. Strange.
“Thousands of galaxies, millions of stars, and you get to see them all?
That’s impressive.” I tipped my head back toward him and studied his odd form. “Can you see her? Where she is?”
“Your sister rests,” one head said, and then another continued. “Far beyond here and far out of your reach.”
“Good. Good for her. Finally, she is far enough away that I can’t hurt her anymore.” I didn’t mean for that part to come out, but I couldn’t help it.
“Is that how you feel? You think you hurt her?” Roccurem, the single head I believed was truly him, asked.
I shrugged a single shoulder. “Doesn’t matter now.”
One of those heads seemed intent on watching me as the others went about their business. “How have you thought of killing me?”
I exhaled through my nose. “I thought about cutting your heads off one by one, then maybe seeing if I can set fire to that weird floating skirt thing you wear. You don’t really have any actual limbs, so I can’t cut those off, but I wanted it to be slow and painful, unlike her death.”
“You truly blame me?”
“I blame everyone involved,” I snapped at him. “You saw. You knew what would happen to her, yet you said nothing to Samkiel or me while we were here.”
“I told you everything that’s to come. You did not listen. Instead, you clung to The World Ender with defiance on your tongue.” I squeezed a fraction harder, and the head that watched me joined the others, continuing to spin. “Now look at you. You have come fully into your own power. You could burn stars, conquer worlds, all of it if you should wish it. And all must happen appropriately to ensure what’s to come.”
Unease flared in me. Roccurem caught my apprehension, and his heads stopped spinning. I let him go and put my hands on my hips. “For what’s to
come?”
“Your ascension.”
“My what?”
“I see different realities, one per second. No matter the reality, your sister was supposed to die in every single one of them. Some sooner than others. In this reality it is how it had to be for you to ascend to power. You were always the catalyst for worlds to burn.”
My heart dropped, and whatever was left of it shattered.
“So, you’re saying no matter what it’s my fault?”
My breath hitched. I really had killed my sister. The room threatened to swallow me whole. A blade ran across my already bruised and beaten heart.
A cut so deep I wanted to scream, but nothing came.
“You mistake my words. Gabriella fulfilled her purpose just like you will yours one day. The universe will have its balance one way or another.
That is how it has been and always will be.”
My eyes cut toward him. “You saw all of that?”
“Yes.”
A new plan flickered to life in my mind. One that may benefit me far more than his death would.
“Your mind is changing, planning, plotting. I can see the tides of your thoughts redirecting your path.”
I nodded, glancing around the room. “You are right about one thing. I have changed my mind.”
I raised my arms, flames shooting out and ripping at the walls of this prison. Roccurem jerked as if in pain, the swirling dark mass taking the brunt of my power. I pushed harder, the flames growing, lighting the place in shades of bright orange and red. The walls shook, and his heads spun so erratically I feared they would pop off. The room smelled of burning flesh
and ash. Roccurem screamed, an aching sound that whipped like the wind, but I didn’t stop.
I pulled the flames back when the room turned a dull shade of gray, and ash filled the air. The glowing stars were dead, and whatever illusion this place held had died with them. I approached his hunched form, my heels the only sound in the silence. I kneeled beside him, his flowing mass shriveled
and clinging to him.
“What did you do?”
“I freed you,” I said and stood. All three of his heads turned toward me in shock. “This place isn’t you. It is just an illusion to keep you chained.
They locked you here for thousands of years because of Samkiel’s father.
Well, he’s dead, and you are no longer trapped. No more prisons, Roccurem, for either of us.”
He seemed to register what I said. His form shook as he rose and floated once more before me. He looked around and then back at me. Long ago, I wished for someone to free me from my chains to Kaden. No one came, so instead, I grew claws and fangs and freed myself. Roccurem couldn’t, so I
would be his claws.
His freedom.
“I don’t feel…” His voice trailed off.
“Burdened?”
If he could have nodded in this form, I think he would have.
“Good. Now you will belong to me.” A slow possessive smile curved my lips. “Understand?”
“You freed me just so you could bind me to you?”
“Don’t worry. It won’t be forever. Help me find Kaden, and you’re free to go.” I raised my hand, a ball of flame bursting to life on my palm. “Say no, and I will continue until you match your old room.”
“Not even the gods could kill me.”
“Well, lucky for me, I’m no god.”
“No.” He seemed to register what I said with newfound respect. “No, you are not. Although your chemical makeup has similarities, you are much worse. You follow no one’s rules, not even the laws of nature. You will be a problem across the stars.”
A corner of my lips lifted. I swear he made no sense half the time. I shook my head and smothered the flame before placing my hands on my hips. “The stars don’t concern me. I want one thing, and you’re going to
help me get it. I have scorched half of Onuna, killed, and hunted, yet Kaden is still out of my reach. Why can’t I find him?” I raised a hand before he spoke. “And no vague answers, please.”
His heads spun once to the left and twice to the right as if they were having their own private conversation. Once they settled, they all focused on me.
“You already know the answer. You just refuse to speak it.”
My shoulders drooped. I had thought it was impossible, but impossible seemed my new norm. “He is not on Onuna, is he?”
Roccurem only stared at me.
“How is it possible if every realm is sealed?”
All three of those heads cocked toward me. “All realms are sealed.”
I growled and took a step forward. “What did I say about vague answers?”
“You are running out of time.” Roccurem shook his heads. “The One True King comes.”
My heart sank. Fuck. I forgot that time moves differently here. I’d gutted one of Samkiel’s precious Hands, and the others had run home crying. Dammit.
“Fucking, Samkiel.” I grabbed the vial from beneath my shirt and spilled three drops of blood to return home. I looked at Roccurem and lifted a brow. “Ready to go see the world?”
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