Chapter 11
IT’S BETTER TO LOOK DEATH IN THE EYES
Seryn
“Pleasant dreams, Ryn-Ryn?” Breena wiggled her shoulders, a saucy smile on her face.
Heat scurried up my chest as we made our way out of the cave and navigated along the river. The sky was a peachy shade with wisps of brownish-blue clouds.
Even in the day, this place cast a nagging sense of unease. A sensation of being inside out. Off balance.
I kicked a cloud of dusty pebbles, and they flew into the orange water with a splatter. “Did you dream?”
Breena spun, walking backward as she spoke. “I did! Nice little outing with my gran. Thanks to Daddy Morpheus, eh?”
Offering her a small smile, I shrugged.
“Every living thing probably dreamed last night. No doubt Uncle Phobe knows his brother broke out of his rock.”
I still couldn’t fathom my father being the Ancient of Dreams. So much made sense now. It was like a shadowed veil had been lifted; strips torn away bit by bit these past months.
My ember. My parents. My heritage.
Head dipping, I took a shaky breath. “I’m a bleeding demi-Ancient, Bree.”
She walked in front of me, pausing abruptly, forcing me to stop. Gently, she nudged my chin up with the side of her curled pointer finger. “You are. And you’re still you. Just might make others piss themselves in your presence. Let’s start with Marek.”
I chuckled. “Something tells me he won’t be fazed.”
“Maybe he’ll be fazed when I finally stab him in his mireberries,” she muttered as we continued.
I snorted, whacking her on the arm.
“I’m not entirely sure you’ll stab his mireberries, Bree. Don’t you love mireberries?”
“I will stab you,” she muttered.
“You would never.”
She bumped my shoulder with hers. “You have me there, but not about stabbing your cousin.”
I chuffed.
We roamed in companionable silence, my thoughts drifting to Gavrel again.
Eyes softening, Breena glanced at me. “I’m sure he’s safe now. Eh?”
I nodded.
And he had to stay safe until we found one another.
I sighed. Was I that transparent? My shoulders slumped. Yes, I probably was. Or maybe Breena knew me that well. I was fortunate to have her.
“But are you?” The crooning voice came from behind us. Breena and I spun around, blades half-raised. Though we froze as soon as we saw her. “Safe, that is?”
The female’s golden-brown skin glimmered, rivulets of persimmon-hued water slipping over her torso. She was waist-deep in the river, sharp black nails trailing languidly through the current.
An intricate lattice of golden chains draped over her shoulders and chest, crisscrossing her biceps and barely concealing her breasts. Long, emerald waves spilled over her shoulders, gleaming wet in the dimming light.
My mouth worked before my mind caught up. “Are you … all right?” The words stumbled out, my tongue clumsy.
Breena’s grip tightened, her voice low and clipped. “Who the feck are you?”
The stranger’s eyes were gilded jewels, the pupils vertical slits of jet. She studied us patiently, body swaying.
When Breena and I took a step forward, so did she. The way her body moved was graceful, nearly imperceptible.
“You seem lost.” The tails of her S’s lingered in the air. “Let me help you. Pretty little things like you shouldn’t be wandering so deep into the Gloaming … not when so many would be tempted to keep you.”
Her words tugged at me. Both mine and Breena’s wrists slackened, daggers drooping as if our arms no longer obeyed. Every tilt of her head, each silken syllable, pulled me closer. I dared not look away.
Through the haze, my energy thrummed restlessly underneath my scar. If only it would let me be.
She blinked, and a semi-translucent, ocher film shuttered vertically over each of her eyes. Air caught in my throat. The female smiled, close-lipped, achingly inviting.
We both stood at the river’s edge now.
Then, all at once, the creature rose fully out of the water, and the illusion shattered. Her lower half unfurled in massive coils, a serpent’s body gleaming with every verdant shade as she glided toward us.
If this was who I suspected … fleeing would make things worse.
My iridescence fractured around me, body bracing against the oncoming strike. “Don’t run,” I barked.
“Wasn’t planning on it,” Breena shot back. “Echidna loves the chase. So, feck if we’ll give it to ’er.”
Breena agreed it was Echidna, then. The mother of many fabled Void monsters.
Breena’s halo erupted, and she hurled an orb of power at the beast.
Hissing, the creature twisted to the side, slithering onto the embankment. Her tail whipped out, sweeping our legs out from under us.
Breena toppled onto her backside with an angry snarl. I staggered but stayed upright—until her length snapped back, wrapping around me from thighs to chest within a couple of wheezing breaths.
I gasped, driving my obsidian blade into Echidna’s scales, but it only angered her, her coils crushing tighter and tighter.
My lungs constricted, and I couldn’t pull in enough air. Couldn’t concentrate on calling upon my gift. Didn’t know if my demise was rattling down my khorda bond.
Breena lunged forward, and Echidna’s hand lashed out, catching my friend in the chest with a sickening thunk. She flew back, her body crumpling like a doll on the ground, daggers skittering over the stone.
Grinning, the beast’s needle-like teeth were on full display as she rose. She lifted me high off the ground with her tail, bringing me closer to her gaping mouth.
Bloody fucking void.
I crushed my eyes closed.
I’m sorry, Gavrel.
“It’s better to look death in the eyes,” a rumbling male voice called.
My eyes snapped open, body stilling in mid-air. Echidna hissed, looking over my head. Air whooshed, and my braid whipped sideways.
“Or the teeth,” another voice, feminine and acerbic, added.
Metal flashed in my periphery. The serpent monster shrieked, her grip slackening. Near my elbow, her flesh and scales split vertically in a slurping tear. “Leave me to my meal, you blood vermin!”
Another glint of silver. Echidna hissed again, her tail uncoiling. She lunged into the river, blood trailing behind her. My body was weightless for a moment, and I braced for a painful landing, but jerked as someone caught me by the vest and lowered me to the ground.
Breena moaned, pushing upright. “You know I love an adventure, but this is getting ridiculous.” She snatched up her daggers and sheathed them, then raked a hand through her messy hair. “And who the feck are you two?”
Leathery wings folded behind them; weapons gripped tight, their blue-gray faces set in matching grim lines.
The male eyed me, one eyebrow raised. “Little Nightshade?”
The female’s lips puckered. “Look at her. Who else could it be?”
Breena stepped closer to me as if ready to stab first and ask questions never. The female drove her polearm into the earth next to her boots, lip curling to reveal an elongated incisor.
“Vryka?” I breathed. Immortal void creatures who sustained themselves on blood and flesh. Legends said they moved faster than the eye could track, and they had the strength to crush bones.
I should have been afraid, but they had saved us. And perhaps I’d met too many living nightmares to be shocked any longer.
The male’s nostrils flared, bulky shoulders rolling, neck cracking to the side.
“My name is Thesa,” the female replied, slinging her weapon across her back. Her wings flicked once before settling. She tipped her chin toward her companion. “My brother, Therrok. We were sent to collect you.”
They turned, heading back the way we had come.
“By who? And where are we going?” I demanded, following the pair.
“In the right direction,” Therrok growled.
“Why don’t you just fly us there?” Breena shot back.
“You have legs,” he answered flatly.
Breena smirked.
I touched Thesa’s shoulder. Her eyes narrowed, and I pulled my hand back. “Who sent you?”
“Your mother,” she said matter-of-factly.
My next breath whooshed out, heart hammering.
“Your commander is with her,” she added, marching on.
Breena laughed, tossing her gaze skyward. “Tyche, you sweet, beautiful wench.”
“How fast can we get there?” I pressed.
“As fast as your meager mortal legs will carry you,” Therrok declared.