Eighty-Three
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Samkiel
I snapped my fingers, hoping the gifts appeared as I’d planned. If sleep
had found Dianna, she should be deep enough now that it wouldn’t
wake her. Either way, it was the least I could do. I lifted the pendant she had given me and kissed it for good luck. I just hoped I was not stuck here too long.
I exhaled and summoned a blade, sliding it across my palm. I drew a large circle on the floor, placing runes around the perimeter in my blood. A few moments and it was complete, the wound on my palm healing.
The council hall was quiet, everyone working away upstairs while The Hand returned to Onuna. I’d instructed the council members to leave me unbothered and posted a few guards outside the main doors, just in case I was out longer than I hoped. Any interruptions could be dangerous. I rolled my shoulders to loosen the tight muscles before stepping to the center of the ring. I sat, curling my legs under me and resting my hands on my knees, clearing my mind and calming my body before speaking the sacred words.
My mind drifted first to her, always her, then a swift, great current swept me away.
“Y ou use a lot of power to come see me , god king .” T he voice wavered in and out, echoing all around me.
A chill shivered up my spine and touched my mind. I stepped forward into the massive white room. It went on forever in both directions, with no end or creature in sight.
“I know, which is why we must keep this trip short.”
“You loved my dimension once.” The room shifted, and I was back at the palace in our room. “But it seems your heart belongs to another now.”
The bed shifted in this phantom place as Dianna rolled from it. Only it
was not my Dianna.
“It does.”
The Higher One lifted one of her hands, running her fingers over her
face. “She is beautiful. Is she yours?”
“Yes.”
The Higher One tsked, waving one long red-tipped finger at me as she walked forward. “Wrong again.”
“Must you take her shape?” I asked, my stomach churning.
“Why? Is it distracting?” Her hand trailed over a thin lace robe, exposing the matching lingerie beneath. It was a set that Dianna had asked me to make for her. The Higher One was playing in my brain, using my memories to their advantage.
“You can not distract me,” I said, the room vibrating. “You are not her.”
“Pity.” The Higher One looked at her nails. “So the prophecy is true.
How sad.”
“Yes, yes, everyone is upset because I found someone I want to spend my life with. I grow tired of hearing it.”
“That is not the sad part.”
“What do you mean?”
The Higher One jumped onto the bed, placing one toned leg across another as it lay back. “You know the rules, nothing from me until….”
“What price do you ask of me for this information?”
The Higher One slid a hand across her thigh, then higher.
“If you cannot help me without that, our time here is done,” I said and turned to leave.
The Higher One laughed. “I’m kidding. I just wanted to see if you are serious, and you are. The Samkiel of old would have wasted no time accepting my advances.”
“I grow weary. What is your price, then?”
“I have no need for a price. I have seen, just like the fate has, what is to come. You are already about to pay a steep price, god king.”
“Am I to be punished because I went to Roccurem first? He speaks in prophecy and riddles. I do not need that from you.”
The Higher One sighed and rolled her eyes. “Roccurem was locked up
for a reason. The fate is fickle.”
My blood ran cold.
“Explain.”
“The fate wishes for the old prophecy, for her to love you, but the seed has already taken root in her chest, festered and nurtured by a creature made of darkness. She is quite beautiful, Samkiel.” The Higher One raised a hand and petted her face. Dianna’s face. “But she is evil.”
I took a step forward. “No, she isn’t,” I growled.
“To you perhaps, but the verge of madness she walks is thin, and what she is willing to do for the ones she loves has no known bounds. She would slaughter your very family if they raised a hand to you. Is that love?”
“Love?”
The Higher One cocked her head and jumped from the bed.
“Have you told her that you love her yet?”
I glanced down.
“You’re afraid,” she whispered in shocked awe. Then her laughter echoed in the room, bouncing around in thousands of different voices. “For eons, your name has incited fear into the hearts of your enemies, and they have hunted for ways to make you feel the same without success. Now this,” the Higher One indicated the shell of Dianna she was wearing, “frightens you?”
I didn’t say anything, my throat going dry.
The Higher One shifts into swirling formless mist, its true form, and screams, “Tell me! You seek truths. Give me this one!”
“Yes!” I yelled to the maelstrom of smoke whipping around me.
The cloud shifted, returning to Dianna’s form.
“Yes, I am afraid. She left so easily before. Even if I say the words, what’s stopping her from leaving me again? Or what if she does not feel the same? So yes, I am afraid. I fear not monsters or realms or anything really, but that, her rejection, she terrifies me.”
“You share flesh like feverish beasts, yet wonder if she loves you?” The Higher One laughed. “Pathetic.”
“Just because I meet her physical needs does not dictate love.”
“Over a thousand years, you let no one get close, and now, even with all that ego and pride, you’re insecure.” She laughed once more. “This is better than any trade we could have made. The great protector has a weak spot in his armor.”
“Enough!” I said, losing my temper. “I did not come for ridicule. Either help me, or I am leaving.”
The Higher One shrugged. “Fine. Ask your question.”
“The giant said a creature broke through Yejedin, where Kaden and the other Kings of Yejedin resided. I need to know why and what beast.”
The Higher One walked back and forth with a knowing grin on her face.
“You still see Kaden as a King of Yejedin?”
I shook my head, confused. “No, I know he is one of my father’s
generals.”
“Is he now?”
“What else could he be? Only the four kings could enter and leave their dimension.”
The Higher One held up a delicate finger. “Unless something was locked away with them. Something an old god wanted to hide. To forget.”
My gut lurched, and I swallowed the growing lump in my throat, knowing who’d broken that place open. I’d heard the whispers of the secrets but refused to consider any of the rumors.
“My father?”
That catlike grin returned as she spun back to me. “Bingo. We have a winner.”
“Why would he put his general there? Why would he protect the kings?
The only reason would be to unleash chaos so they could defeat us in the war.”
“It was not the kings he wanted to protect, but what Kaden had made.”
“Kaden made the Kings of Yejedin. Yes, I know that.”
The Higher One nodded. “Your father lied when he said it was the Primordials. The Primordials saw the raw power Kaden possessed and knew its potential. Unir’s power grew tenfold with Kaden at his side, and they recognized the threat level. They challenged him, and your father wanted peace, so he locked them all away.” The Higher One formed before me, still wearing Dianna’s face. She reached out, her fingertips brushing my cheek.
I moved my head to the side, avoiding her touch. She pressed against my jaw, turning me to face her. “Think, Samkiel. Why would he lie to so many he claimed to care for? Why lie in the first place? Unless what he hid was so very precious to him. Wouldn’t you want to hide that which you loved so much if the entire realm wished it dead?”
My heart thudded. “Kaden was more than a general to him?”
The Higher One nodded.
My hands fisted. “A lover?”
“No.” She smiled widely and shook her head, her dark hair spilling over
her shoulders. “A son.”
Son.
The word echoed through my skull.
Son.
My head reeled back, bile rising in my throat. “Kaden?”
“Is your brother.” A vile, cruel smile played on her lips.
Words did not come. My mind ran over a million and one scenarios before coming to a screeching halt. It all hit me at once. The portal, the power, his ability to create Dianna, heal her sister long enough to use her to control Dianna. He stayed far away from me because he knew I would sense and recognize the power so similar to mine. It was how he knew of the battle, The Hand, and about the Fall of Rashearim. Kaden was not the king I thought he was. No, it was so much worse.
He was my brother.
“How?” My voice sounded so far away.
“You are asking the wrong questions. Your next one should be about your other siblings. Siblings that still exist, maiming and destroying beyond the barriers of the realms you hold sealed.” The Higher One stepped back and raised her hand, holding up three fingers. “Unir had three children long before you, god king.”
“Three?” I choked the word out, holding my stomach. He hadn’t told me. No one told me. “My mother, she never said anything about my siblings. I didn’t know.”
The Higher One tilted its head. “Why would she? You are the only one
born of flesh, god king.”
“But you just said—”
“Unir’s power far outreached even the gods closest to him. He saw a vision of the Great War. Only he didn’t realize he would be starting it when
he made his precious children. The Great War happened because of them.
Unir formed a plan, a way to build weapons to destroy any threat once and for all. Long before you were ever thought of, it seems. But to create life without sharing life is forbidden. He proceeded anyway. He cared for the realms, his people, and others so much that he made a choice, and it ended up costing him everything. The universe takes its debts very seriously. You cannot gain that much without balancing the scales.”
I swayed, and my head began to throb, the shock and the power required to stay here this long taking their toll. But I had to stay. I had to know
everything.
“Tell me what happened next.”
The Higher One glanced at me and went on. “Unir made children, creating gods by spontaneous creation. He made some of light so bright it could blind, and others he carved from darkness itself. Three of them were so strong that he lost control of them. Three born from blood—one that sheds it, one that bends it, and one that consumes it.”
One that consumes it—that was Kaden. But who were the other two?
“The others saw what Unir could do. Seeds of doubt spread about the powerful children that he made, and gods turned against gods. Unir hid his children, locking them away. All but one, and that one has lived under your nose for a very long time. In an attempt to bring peace, he sowed hatred and jealousy from those he’d created. Jealousy because true love came and bore fruit. A child so filled with light that it solidified their hate. You are that light. Your birth began the Gods War, and your death will unleash chaos itself.” The Higher One shrugged, picking at her nails. “I guess your name holds more merit now than ever. That’s kind of funny, huh?”
The room spun, my mind trying to process everything while balancing and holding onto this plane. I grabbed my head, willing myself to stay, blood dripping from my nose. I wiped it away and stood straighter.
“I just didn’t see. I thought he meant her. This is how the world ends.
But it wasn’t her. It was never her.”
The Higher One looked at me curiously. “Who? Your amata?”
My heart stopped.
“My what?”
“Your amata. You know, this beautiful being,” she said, gesturing toward the facade of Dianna she wore. “You know, I really thought The
Order killed her as an infant, but here we are. Kind of funny, huh? She’s
definitely your type, though.”
My entire world shifted.
The Higher One grinned. “You truly didn’t know? It explains why you two have been so ravenous in your lovemaking and probably fighting. It’s that mark trying to form and seal itself, bind your souls by any means necessary. Why do you think her fire doesn’t burn you? Your lightning, your power, are they not the same? Thunder is only heat expanded. Nature always makes you in pairs, sometimes more. I mean, you are the creation to her ruination. It’s synchronicity.”
The words shattered my very soul. I had one. It was Dianna. It was always Dianna. Every thought, every feeling I had for her since the day I met her, why she touched every part of me, why I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Everything fell into place as if I had found a key to a puzzle, and everything finally made sense. It was deeper than love in mortal terms.
Dianna was part of my soul.
The Higher One went on as if she hadn’t just unveiled something so important and special.
“I am surprised it took this long for you two to come together. You were both locked in the same realm. I really thought they would separate you further, especially since fate works for the One True King.”
Fate. My head snapped toward the Higher One.
“Roccurem works for Kaden?” I was seething. This entire time? Rage flared in my blood, the tattoos on my body igniting with silver. He had been close to Dianna the entire time. The room shook, pain piercing my eyes and burrowing into my skull.
The Higher One laughed and shook her head. “Oh gods, no. Roccurem works for your father. The other two Moirai work for the One True King.”
The other two Moirai? The fates. Roccurem’s siblings.
“They’re still alive?”
The Higher One nodded playfully, taking on more of Dianna’s mannerisms. “Yup.”
“This whole time, I have been lied to like a child. Important life-altering information kept from me. Why?” I hissed. Warm liquid dripped from my nose, my head throbbing as my body tried to force me back.
“It doesn’t matter now. It’s too late. The equinox crests soon.” The Higher One moved, appearing in front of me. She reached out and grabbed
my hand, holding it up to examine it. “And I do not see the mark upon your finger. It seems your time has run out. I guess he really did do it.”
I yanked my hand away. “Do what?”
The room spun as I shook my head, fighting the pull of my body to wake me up. I took a step back, my vision blurring.
The Higher One stepped closer, her form bending.
“I cannot tell you how excited I am. How excited everyone is that you are finally going to die. You see, I was merely a distraction to keep you immobile while The Order worked. Because once you’re dead, I am finally free. We all are. Your father locked a lot of us away, trying to preserve a future for every living being. All he ended up doing was creating a legion that would destroy everything he sought to protect.”
My body bent, my knees hitting the floor. My shoulders ached as my arms were wrenched wide, held taut as if heavy chains clamped my wrists.
The Higher One glanced up, her hand reaching toward the tall white ceiling. “I miss the cosmos.”
“What is this?” It was a demand, not a question. The room trembled as my powers surged, trying to come to my defense.
The Higher One stepped in front of me, its image of Dianna melting. It dissipated into its shapeless, darkened mist, its voice echoing all around me.
“The real tragedy is that you have no allies, false king. You never did. I guess you and your amata are alike in that way, too.”
The room shook as my mind, my being, slammed back into my body. I tried to sit up, a sharp, violent pain piercing my skull. I forced myself to turn, trying to push to my hands and knees, stopping when chains clattered against the polished stone floor. A rune-sealed circle encased me, my wrists chained, the other ends melded with the floor.
“Great. You’re awake. Now we can begin.”
My head snapped up, and for the first time, I noticed Elianna and the rest of the council standing outside the circle.
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