Twenty-Four
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Camilla. Two Weeks Later.
E merald magic swirled around my extended hands, the small ring
vibrating against the table as I whispered the spell again. It stopped,
remaining perfectly still as the edge finally sealed. The last rune burned a deep emerald green before disappearing. Sighing, I dropped my hands and wiped my brow. This much magic in such a short time wore me out, although I wouldn’t mention it to her.
Her mood had been so abrasive, so aggressive these last few weeks, and I was too afraid to ask for even a small break. She didn’t come upstairs much anymore, staying in her wyvern form, feeding and waiting. I knew what was coming, and I hated that, in some part, it was my fault.
“I should have done more.”
The air stirred to my right, and Roccurem appeared. “You are worried about her behavior, too?”
I nodded, thumbing the ring in my hand. “She’s been erratic these last few weeks, to say the least.”
“I believe she has reached the point I feared.”
“She has been at this point for a while now. I think Gabby was the only thing keeping her from going off the deep end.”
Roccurem tilted his head. “Enlighten me.”
“She is so vicious and uncaring. So—”
“Don’t mistake her behavior, young witch. She is in pain. Grief is a powerful emotion that all beings handle differently. No one is the same. The god king sees it as well.”
I nodded and dropped the ring on the large mantle before turning to face the fate. “And I had a hand in that. I had hoped Samkiel would get to her,
reach her before it was really too late.”
“He was close, very close, it seems. The form she rests in now is a
precaution.”
“Why?”
“It helps her not to dream of the sister she lost and Samkiel. She feels anguish that he can reach her so well. She wishes for the pain she feels, and he eases it. Samkiel makes her feel something more. He makes her want things she doesn’t feel she deserves. Therefore, she lashes out more violently. She considers the pain she feels as punishment for what occurred.
The more time Samkiel is with her, the more of her mortality slips through, but Kaden hit a very fragile nerve. One, he knows how to strum perfectly.”
I swallowed the growing lump in my throat, my eyes darting to the dungeon beneath us. “About Imogen?”
The day Imogen came back was the day the tiny spark of life that remained in her eyes died. Darkness had followed her like a cloak since then. Dianna felt intensely for someone who worked so hard to subvert her emotions.
“Yes, but more.” He nodded toward the lower floor where she stayed now. “He only seems to remind her how alone she truly feels. Now she has no sister here to bring her back from a perilous edge, no one she trusts to confide in. Emotions of beings with such great power can be deadly to themselves, like poison. The Old Gods calcified and turned to stone. Some even took their own lives after battles. Depression is peculiar for beings of the Otherworld. I have learned from watching so many that grief comes in waves and patterns. It flows, ebbs, and returns, claiming its way through the chest, the heart, and the brain. It seeks what they bury, aching for release from emotions pushed down far too deep. The darkness she claimed when she took Kaden’s blood is only feeding her own beast. When she is around Samkiel, he makes her see, feel, and care. Only this time, I am afraid Kaden may have gone too far.”
“Kaden.” I nodded, the reality of the situation seeping in. “It was always so funny to me that he claimed to not care about her, yet he destroyed anyone who even attempted to get close to her.”
“It’s more than that. More than I am allowed to say, but in simplest terms, Gabriella was her heart, Samkiel is her soul, and Kaden has orders to destroy both. I am afraid he has accomplished his task.”
“How romantic.”
“Do you know the history of the Ig’Morruthens?”
I scraped up the remains of ash and cedar. “I can’t say that I do.”
“Their creation was forbidden. An ancient ritual crafted from the darkest form of magic and chaos to help end the war of wars. One ruled all. He was the first to shift, to walk on two legs. His blood could make harrowing beasts, and he and his kin were feared among realms. Some of his creations ruled beneath the ground, their forms so large they could block out the very sun. Some had no legs, others far too many. Kaden’s classification is very powerful. Before The First War began, they only created two because that was all they needed from his line. They ruled the skies above, giant winged beasts known as dragons by the mortals, although the name came from a word long lost. They were made to fight Primordials, Titans, and Gods and succeeded dangerously well. If a dragon took the field, warriors were not needed. One creature alone was destruction and ruin. Wings were heard from above, and cities were left in embers. You must realize how powerful they are, how strong, and how much I fear what she is going through.”
“You think she will destroy this world?”
Reggie’s lips formed into a thin line. “She has the potential.”
I nodded, dread eroding my gut. Reggie had seen it all as a fate, and I could tell he was worried. It terrified me to the point of making me sick. I leaned over the altar, grabbing the small stone I had crafted for her. I flipped it in my hand and looked it over again. “She wants this, and I know you
know what for.”
“A final decision.”
“Are you going to tell him?” His brow lifted as he regarded me. “I know where you go when you phase from here.”
“You are a very powerful queen. It seems Kryella’s blood runs through you more than you know.” Roccurem tilted his head toward me, his six opaque eyes alight.
“Kryella? The Goddess of Magic? I don’t think so.”
“You also have a long road ahead, witch queen. They will need you for what’s coming. I do apologize for what you will endure. Hold on to the light you find. You will need it.”
Dianna was right. It was as if he looked so far ahead and only gave us the bare minimum. Half the time, his words made no sense, but my gut churned, thinking about what he could see that would make him worry for
me. I glanced at him, wiping my hands along my side. “What exactly is coming?”
“Something far worse than Kaden, far, far worse.”
M y heels echoed against the ruined steps as I entered the temple ’ s lower level. Torches hung every few feet, the flames beating against the rustic temple walls. I wondered if this place was an old home to her, one she never told me about, or just something far enough away in the desert that no one could find it. Not even him. The stairway opened into a large, dark, empty expanse. I flicked my fingers open, and green flames danced against my palm. The darkness pressed in on me, and I stumbled. Bones scraped and rolled beneath my feet. I glanced down and wished I hadn’t. Skeletal remains were scattered, crowding the floor. Skulls, femurs, and rib bones serrated by teeth far larger than mine.
The back of my neck prickled, screaming at danger. Hot, scalding breath moved the hair atop my head. I raised my magic higher and turned, my heart leaping into my throat. The beast’s mouth gaped, revealing an orange glow of pure flame at the back of her throat.
“I finished it.”
Her massive jaws slammed shut mere inches from me, and I willed myself not to close my eyes.
She was massive, and all serrated plated scales jutting backward. The single claw on her thick heavy wings dug into the floor, supporting a massive lean body. Her hind legs were powerful, and a thick serrated tail wrapped around a half-crumpled column.
Dianna didn’t speak and didn’t move. She just continued to stare at me with those crimson gleaming eyes. The spikes and scales along the elongated reptilian form of the Ig’Morruthen shimmered with specks of blood. She exhaled, her snout inches from me, her breath bathing me in heat. A noise of agreement vibrated from her throat. It was a scare tactic, and I knew she could hear the erratic beat of my racing heart. She was so massive she could swallow me whole with one bite. My throat bobbed, and
a bead of sweat ran down my spine. Her head swung to the side, her sinuous body following, the ground shaking with every step.
A part of me ached for her. She had fallen so far in only a few short months. I had seen the videos and the pictures Kaden had his spies take.
She’d smiled at Samkiel at that festival with cotton candy and bright lights behind them and seemed so happy for once. When she was with Samkiel, I didn’t need my magic to see that she glowed. He woke something in her, powerful, primal, and necessary. And now it was gone.
She was now everything Kaden had wanted her to be: a perfect weapon, pure destruction, and merciless rage. This was the Dianna he wished for when Samkiel first came back. Honestly, I was lucky to have my head still.
I watched as scales, wings, and tail disappeared into the darkness.
“I-I need a week to recharge if we want to keep to the plan. I’ve been using too much to cloak this place, to make the stone and the ring. Just a week. Please.”
I expected a growl in response, flames to erupt from the far corridor, or even the room to shake and shudder. The only response I got was silence, and truthfully, that scared me more than anything.
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