Chapter 22
LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER
Gavrel
As we neared the bottom, a whirring sounded far above. My gaze snapped up. A billow of blackened haze cradled a descending amber glass platform.
Two forms were scuffling atop the conveyor, shadow and prismatic light battling for dominance.
I stilled, the heel of my palm pressing into my scar as the chaos continued around me.
I felt her before I saw her.
Saw her arms windmill, glowing dagger clutched in her hand, and a ribbon of iridescence sucking in Melina’s dark halo.
She teetered on the edge, and a burst of shadow slammed into her.
My heart stilled in that moment before gravity claimed her—before she toppled off the thick glass. Everyone and everything else disappeared.
Her scream ripped through the pit, colliding with the bellow that tore from my very core. “Seryn!”
My sword sheathed, I lunged toward the abyss, desperate to break her fall, but before I could leap, Thesa plummeted, her wings tucked tight and her features hardened into single-minded resolve.
The muscle in my chest nearly seized as the vryka snatched the back of Seryn’s vest mid-air. Their forms jolted like puppets when Thesa’s wings snapped wide to slow their descent. Thesa’s grimace deepened with effort. Pip peeked out, latching onto the end of Seryn’s plait.
Wearing a look of relief and determination, my fated focused on the guards still scattered around the edges of the pit. Seryn flung her dagger out, and the blade embedded itself with a meaty thud into a demon’s chest. She called it back, aimed, and lobbed it into another’s eyeball.
Again and again it flew, a deadly blur carving a path of ruin until she was so close I could almost reach her.
Her glacial-blue eyes met mine at last, burning with unguarded joy and fierce relief. I jumped down from the path, landing in a crouch on the wide stone slab at the heart of the churning reservoir.
Thesa released her into my arms. I pulled Seryn against me, her warmth searing into my chest as she shuddered, breathing my name. My pulse lurched back to life at hearing her voice.
Seryn nodded at the vryka, eyes shining.
“Mind your female, Commander,” Thesa called out before rocketing once more into the fray. I could’ve sworn the corners of her lips curved, just slightly.
With one hand, I cupped Seryn’s jaw, the other locked around her waist. “Little Star.” My words trembled at the edges.
“I found you,” she whispered. “And how fucking dare you make me actually go to the Nether Void to do it.”
A laugh spilled from me, all the tension I’d shoved deep down bubbling over. She grinned, staring at my dimple before roaming over my face. Tenderly, her fingertips traced my split lip, then brushed over my cheeks.
“You’re hurt,” she growled.
I pulled her closer. “It’s nothing.”
Her palms pressed against my chest, heat seeping through the torn fabric. My eyes locked on hers, and for a breath, the battle above—the nightmare we were living—fell away. Time stilled.
My star.
My mouth crashed against hers, pain pinching my lip. I welcomed it. Relished it. The pain meant I was alive. She was alive. In my arms.
Her fingers fisted into my tunic, clutching me as if I might fade like a figment of her imagination. Her lips moved with mine, desperate and claiming.
I squeezed her waist, aching to become whole with her.
Body.
Mind.
Soul.
Breathless, she broke away just enough to run her fingertips over my stubble. “Never sacrifice yourself again.”
“You know I can’t make that promise.” My thumb brushed her cheek. “When it comes to you, I’d gladly tear my heart out.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead.
Her eyes narrowed, and she huffed a small, trembling laugh. “Then at least consider every alternative first. I rather like your heart where it is.”
She tucked her cheek against my chest, and I savored the feel of her for a moment before the scene around us started reemerging.
Shouting, broken bodies, and flashing ember.
Blood and shadow and gore.
A growing shade seeped over us and the landing across the basin.
I tucked Seryn behind me as the conveyor settled with a whoosh over the magma, creating a bridge between us and the stone ledge.
“What a touching reunion,” Melina scorned, smoothing her messy strands. Her whole face curled with disdain as she looked at Seryn.
Breena and Maya rushed down the ramp, stepping over the smashed husks of defeated guards. They positioned themselves behind the Elder, their skin bloodied and soot-covered.
With her smoky energy wavering around her, Melina ran her tongue over one incisor and turned leisurely to the side. “Together again at last. Maya, it’s been too long.”
Maya snarled at the Elder before her gaze flicked past me.
Dazzling iridescence, so out of place in this dark realm, spilled over my shoulder. Seryn moved forward, her aura swirling furiously.
“It hasn’t been long enough.” And before her last word, she thrust her palms out, not waiting for the retort that tipped Melina’s tongue. Seryn’s halo latched onto the Elder’s, slurping in the dark fumes.
Melina’s eyes widened, and she backed away, her hands pushing against some unseen force. Or perhaps trying to untangle her gift from my khorda’s. Melina’s body jerked, and she dropped to her knees, joints cracking against the amber glass.
In awe, Seryn’s mother stepped closer, but halted when Breena flung her arm across her chest, eyes snapping up.
Then everyone’s attention followed, except Seryn’s. My fated grinned, consuming Elder Harrow’s power.
The demons slipped into the shadows and tunnels like scurrying insects, leaving their broken comrades scattered across the solid surfaces.
A swirling black smog plummeted down, its tendrils scratching the opal walls.
Raspy, wet clicking echoed through the space as if the cloud was made of frenzied tomb beetles.
I grabbed Seryn’s shoulder, and her halo quivered. She looked at me, and I tilted my chin up. Finally, she lifted her gaze, noticing the commotion above. Her mouth parted, and we edged back as far as we could without tipping off the slab.
Seryn’s ember pulsed, drawing in a few last smoky wisps of Melina’s power like threads being pulled from a tangle. The corners of her mouth curled as energy swirled above her palms for a heartbeat, then instinctively she pressed the fragments against a new amulet at her chest.
My brows scrunched when the suspended black stone morphed into amber as the stolen energy sank into it, then blinked back to ebony, quivering faintly with its new occupant.
Her gift released Melina’s, and the female slumped, breathing hard, her complexion sickly pale. The Elder glared at my fated, eyes burning with fury.
She was lucky Seryn hadn’t taken the rest of her ember, and her life with it.
For now.
A chill poured over us, and I braced against whatever was approaching.
In an explosion of soot and shadow, Phobetor landed before us, one knee and fist touching the stone. The Ancient of Nightmares slowly looked up, a wicked grin seeping across his wide mouth, his shadows slithering around him like besotted snakes.
I grabbed Seryn’s hand. Her breaths were shallow and uneven, each tugging at something deep inside my ribs. But her chin lifted, and her jaw set, refusing to smother her gift. It glimmered around her defiantly.
Ancients, I would never get enough of this woman.
I narrowed my eyes at her uncle.
“What is the mortal saying?” He rose slowly, a nightmare creeping out of the darkness. “Like father, like daughter.”