Chapter 3 #2
I refused to obey. Dianna was behind me in a second, grabbing me by the back of my neck and forcing me to the table. How had she moved so fast? She hadn’t even disturbed the air. Steely hands forced me down, and my ass hit the chair. She reappeared on the other side.
“There. That’s better.” She cocked her head, scanning me. “What’s wrong, Cam Cam?”
Cam Cam. My nickname. Only she used it, and I hadn’t heard it in ages. “Where is all that witchy badassery? The snark and magic. Where’s the one who tricked me? The one who stood there while she died. Hmm?”
I swallowed. “I didn’t think he would do it. No one did.”
“Really? ” She chuckled softly. “You know him as well as I. So, let’s not play the I’m Innocent game. You know what happens now. You all do.” She leaned back, plucking at a long gold chain necklace. “But it’s okay because you have something I need.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know where he is. He left after it happened. He opened a portal when he heard… Tobias and him, they left.”
She leaned forward, and the room went dark. The doors behind her closed slowly, the creak from the hinges sending a chill down my spine. Her eyes glowed, lighting up the room. They were nearly as bright as her smile. How much had she consumed to have that much control?
“Oh, I don’t need you to find him just yet.”
“Then what do you need?” My question hung in the air, and I regretted it almost immediately.
Her smile grew, her canines on full display.
It seemed she wasn’t trying to hide the Ig’Morruthen anymore.
I remembered when she would religiously check the mirror to ensure her reflection still portrayed the mortal shell.
Now it seemed she had lost that part of her, too.
“More power.”
My eyes scanned her face, and I squared my shoulders. “If we are going to skip the formalities and not lie, as you put it, your power far outweighs mine. You have Kaden’s power running through every part of you, plus you’re feeding again. With all due respect, you’re wrong. You don’t need me.”
She clicked her tongue, wagging a finger at me. “That’s where you’re wrong. I’m not dealing with just Kaden. I’m dealing with Samkiel and his legion of celestials who all believe in peace, love, and fuzzy feelings. Any of who would be more than happy to show up when I destroy everything . ”
Now my heart thudded. “What do you mean?”
“I messed up.” She placed her head in her hands and shook it. “I assumed he was like Kaden, you know? He wouldn’t care what I did. There were times when Kaden wouldn’t talk to me for weeks. I was wrong about Samkiel, but I don’t understand why. We didn’t even have sex.”
I swallowed, saying something I hoped wouldn’t get my head chopped off. “You know people can care about you without having sex, right?”
Her eyes lifted, and any hint of humor was gone. She placed her hands flat on the table. I didn’t know what I’d said, but a flicker of emotion passed across her features. She quickly buried it. I would have missed it if I hadn’t been looking at her.
“All I’m saying is, he’ll try to stop you.
He will stop at nothing to get you, and not like Kaden.
We’ve all seen the way Samkiel looks at you and how he is around you.
Kaden had people watching the minute you left.
Kaden wants to possess you, but with Samkiel, it’s more than that, and a part of you knows it. ”
I waited for her to snap, correct me, or maybe lift a hand and set me on fire, but her response was completely unexpected.
A forced smile curled her lips. “That’s lovely. Anyway, with that being said, I need you to make me something.”
I blinked. This wasn’t Dianna. Whatever broke when her sister died changed her on some deep level. She really didn’t care? I slid a tad bit of magic beneath the table. It hit a wall before ever reaching her and screamed. I hissed, yanking it back into me.
“Very well.” I tossed my hair over my shoulder, trying to maintain the facade of being unbothered, but it was slipping.
Dianna’s lips curved in a small smile, and she waved her hand at me. “Look at that. See, you’re already helpful.”
I lowered my gaze, eyeing my nails as I ran one thumb over the other.
What choice did I have? Fight? Even if I did, I knew I couldn’t stop her.
I knew what Kaden truly was, and I had no chance.
I’d hoped she would kill me quickly when she arrived, so I wouldn’t have to speak the next part aloud.
It would have been better for her to find it after she’d reduced me to ash, but if I kept it to myself now, it would be so much worse when she discovered what I’d done.
I took a deep breath and blurted, “I have her body.”
The room stilled.
“I took it after it happened. They left as soon as they heard your cry. I think every Otherworld creature heard it. Even from miles away, we felt it. Power rippled through the world when you screamed, even if you didn’t realize it.”
I looked up. The small smirk she’d worn mere seconds ago had slipped from her face. Her jaw tightened, her expression reminding me so much of the World Ender. Did she not realize how deeply they were connected? Did she not feel it? And now she wanted my help to avoid him while she tore Onuna apart.
“I know in your culture there are rites that must be performed, and I didn’t want Kaden to have... to have her body. I didn’t want Tobias to raise her and attempt to hurt you even more. Besides, it was a simple spell to preserve her.”
Darkness, thick and heavy, gathered in every corner, sucking the very air from the room. Dianna’s eyes bore into mine, and I knew she had been looking for her sister and had come up short.
I met her stare as she whispered one word. “Where?”
I stood from the table, her eyes never leaving mine as I raised my hand.
A wall shifted behind us, a door appearing in the far corner.
I headed toward it, and she stood to follow.
We walked down the narrow hall, the silence between us oppressive.
Emerald flames lit in the sconces on the walls as we passed.
The hairs at the nape of my neck stayed up with her at my back.
My body screamed danger, yet I kept going, one foot in front of the other.
The hall opened up into a large room. I twisted my wrist, and more magic hopped from one torch embedded in the wall to the next.
Jars of bones and feathers rested on the shelves.
A discarded, half-torn painting of my home covered the far back wall.
Ancient art and relics I had collected littered the room.
I stopped at the entrance and moved to the side as she walked by. The flames on the walls bent away from her as she passed. There, in the center of the table made of stone, covered by a thin sheet, lay Gabby’s body.
Dianna ripped the cloth back, and the world stopped.
I expected a yell, a wall of flame, violence and rapture. My breathing quickened. I expected my head to hit the floor, separated from my shoulders by one of her blades. I expected her rage and vengeance, but what I got seemed so much worse.
Dianna stood over her sister’s body, her eyes never leaving her face.
She raised a single hand and lovingly brushed Gabby’s hair from her colorless face.
I saw Dianna’s nostrils flare and knew reality had slapped her hard.
The spell I’d cast helped, but I could not stop death, even with all my magic.
“In my culture, they say only a shell remains when you die. The soul leaves, taking every part that makes you who you are with it. You are welcomed to a great paradise of light and love. There’s no more pain or worry, just paradise.
” She ran a hand over the other side of Gabby’s hair as if trying to put it back in place. “She’s so cold.”
Dianna’s eyes never left her sister, not a breath or flicker of emotion marring her features.
I clasped my hands together and pressed my knuckles against my lips, swallowing back tears at her pain.
The room went deathly still, tendrils of darkness reaching from the shadows, drawn to her and her agony.
Dianna reached out again, brushing the hair away from Gabriella’s face.
“I thought at first that maybe I was wrong. Maybe it was a terrible dream, and I could still find her, you know? How stupid is that? Even after I felt that mark sear my palm, I had hope, but seeing her like this?” She placed a kiss on her forehead before straightening. “I really have no one left now.”
“I—”
Roaring flames engulfed Gabriella’s body, and I gasped, forgetting my words of comfort. Dianna stood silhouetted against the angry glow, both hands extended, fire pouring from her palms. I stumbled back, shock washing over me as the sister she loved so much burned between us.
She stared into the crackling flames, their tips reaching, seeking more fuel. I feared my home would burn with us in it, yet as I watched, they never once licked the ceiling. She controlled them, the heat and the intensity.
“I buried my father. I buried my mother. Now, I will bury her.”
Dianna didn’t move. She just stood in front of the burning pyre.
Phantom pains shivered over my sides, chest, and throat as I remembered the clawed beast that had attacked and nearly shredded me only a month ago.
I tried to keep my spine straight, but every cell in my body screamed for me to strike out, defend myself, or run.
She felt so much like Kaden now, every dark and sinister power she’d inherited from him etched into her skin.
“Fear isn’t a good smell on you, Camilla.”
I swallowed and tried to regain my composure. “You’re different. Everyone can feel it.”
Her eyes met mine through the flames, the stench from the burning body turning my stomach. “Good.”
“I’ll make what you want.” The words came out a tad quicker than I meant them to.
“I know you will.”
The crackling of the fire and the smell were too much, even for me, and I turned to leave.
Dianna called after me, “I’ll need an urn and one other thing from you before we begin.”
I turned toward her, my heart racing. “Begin what?”
She glanced at me, the flames illuminating her dark silhouette.
“Dismantling an empire.”