Chapter Fourteen
Nuriela
Her screams tore through my soul. When the chanting stopped, when Aurora’s final act was completed, I ran to my mate.
Bodies littered the floor. Not all dead, most only knocked out.
The Kings would have ensured their safety.
We weren’t that lucky. Four young boys, no more than my own age, also lay among the bodies.
Aurora called them the Princes. She also said they weren’t to be harmed.
Lucky for all of them, my focus was only on one broken body on the floor.
My knees hit the marble hard, but I couldn’t feel it.
Tears blurred my vision when I took in her beautiful, mutilated wings.
Lailah wasn’t moving. I lifted her head gently into my lap.
The softest groan escaped her bloody lips.
Her eyes didn’t open, but the ghost of a smile traced those heart-shaped lips. “Nuri,” she whispered, her voice fractured and broken from the screams. “Memento vivre.”
Lailah’s final breath released from her body, and I shuddered, feeling her soul escape this earthly plane. I tilted my head back and screamed my heartbreak into the silence. She was gone.
Remember to live.
Lailah’s final words reverberated in my head like a death knell.
Life was meaningless without her. And she knew I would consider ending it just so I could join her among the stars.
But of course, even in death, she was ordering me around.
How could I refuse her final order? I pledged my life to hers, and I would not break that oath now.
The sound of footsteps caught my attention, and I whirled around, prepared to kill whomever was still standing. Rage burned within me, and it needed an outlet.
Joseph entered the room, carrying his two daughters. Their bodies were limp in his arms, sleeping heavily, likely given some sedatives to keep them calm. His face was an open wound, tears streaking down his cheeks as he looked on at Aurora and Lailah.
I barely knew the man, but Lailah told me enough about him. He was trustworthy. When his gaze turned to me, he stiffened, arms tightening around his living children.
My wings disappeared, and I raised my arms. “I mean you no harm.”
“Who are you?” he asked, his voice gruff with heartache.
My own gaze lingered on the broken lumen at the center of the circle. “Hers.”
“Nuriela,” he murmured. “My wife spoke of you. She said you might come.”
I huffed a strangled sound, something between a sob and a laugh. “Of course. How Lailah and I ever thought we could hide something from her, I’ll never know.”
Joseph smiled softly. “Do you want to come with us?”
“No.” I shook my head. He didn’t need to know my plans, and I needed time to grieve alone.
He nodded, an understanding between us. “This night is only the beginning.”
His words rang out in the silent room, and I watched them go without a response. After a few moments, I followed.
Joseph piled his daughters into an SUV and fled quickly. The Kings and their lame-ass cult minions would wake soon. I watched them go then followed behind, keeping myself hidden in the clouds.
Lailah said her sisters were the important players of this grand scheme. And only with their help would the war between our people end and this stupid human cult be defeated. A small part of me hated them. Why should they get to live and fight while Lailah died? How was this the right way to win?
Aurora’s final act officially demolished all connections between Stella Terra and this world, so not only was I unable to go home, but I was stuck living among the foul, idiotic humans who killed my mate.
Joseph Bronwen finally stopped his stolen car outside some tiny, one-stoplight town.
It reminded me of one of the outer villages back home.
Sometimes we influenced other worlds, like the creation of cities such as New Orleans, and sometimes daemons and lumens copied things from other worlds, like this tiny town.
While I hated being stuck here, I was mildly curious to see how the mortals settled their world in real life and not just pictures and stories.
Travelling between worlds was reserved for royalty, or the council members. Lailah begged her mother to let me, but Aurora always said it wasn’t my time. I suppose it was now.
Joseph parked in front of a church, and I watched from above as he guided Seraphina inside.
They weren’t gone long, but only Joseph came back out.
He was leaving his daughter? This was not part of the plan, or if it was, no one told me.
How could I keep up with both sisters when they were separated?
Joseph sped off into the night, and I decided to stay with the daughter he left behind.
Using my power to cloak my footsteps, I crept into the church.
Seraphina sat in a pew, quietly sobbing.
She wasn’t there long before a nun appeared from a door beyond the altar.
She rushed to the crying child and quickly ushered her away.
Seraphina was safe for now. Which meant I had time to kill. Starting tonight, I would train every day, analyze the humans. Stalk the cult members. Every secret they tried to keep hidden, I would uncover. I would take everything from them. And only with their deaths would I finally be able to rest.
My warrior, the wind whispered, and I could almost smell the lavender oil Lailah always smelled of. I would become her warrior. One who would not have to hide when death arrived, a champion willing to sacrifice everything.
“I will be the warrior you need, Lailah. And I will find you again in the next life,” I whispered the oath and leapt into the night sky.