Chapter 5 #4
A small smile danced across her features before her brows drew together. I knew that look. It was one of many I had memorized, and I knew what she was thinking.
“Don’t mistake my words.” I took a small step toward her, the dirt beneath my boot crunching.
“I want to help you. You don’t have to be alone.
You don’t have to go through this tremendous grief and loss alone.
This, killing them, isn’t the way to heal any of it, and once all that anger and grief wears off, you’ll be left with nothing but an empty void. Trust me. Please.”
Dianna paused. It was a slight one, but it ignited the ember of hope I carried within my chest, hope that she was still in there.
“I trusted you once. When we were on Novas, I trusted you when you said that Kaden wouldn’t harm her.
You said she was a tether, so I listened.
I stayed and waited with you, and I…” Her eyes closed tightly as if willing some deep part of her closed.
She took a deep breath, and her eyes snapped open the next second.
“There is no version of this where anyone involved stays alive, but you know that already. You know that I’m going after Kaden. ”
I nodded. “I also know what you have to do for the strength you need to do so. What you must consume and how long it’s been since you last partook. I know what that will do to you. What it’s already done.”
She smiled again, the crimson of her eyes flaring a shade brighter. “Yes, because you know your enemies, right? The treacherous Ig’Morruthens. They are the one thing the gods feared. The one thing designed to hurt them.”
“There can be another way. I know it. I’ll help you as you helped me.”
“Okay.” She shrugged a single shoulder, the curve of her lip lifting. “Kill them.”
“What?”
“You want to help? Help. Kill them. Right now. Start with Ethan. Make sure Drake sees and then kill every member of his coven. Save him for last, so he knows how it feels to lose everyone.”
“Dianna.”
“Do it.” She lifted her hand toward them, waving it. “You want to help? Help me.”
I didn’t speak.
“That’s what I thought.” She took a step forward, her voice barely a whisper. “Because when it comes down to it, there will always be a line, just like you said. You on one side, me on the other.”
“It doesn’t have to be.”
“Doesn’t it? Doesn’t this remind you of the first time we met?
When I snuck into the guild. Did you know I wasn’t even supposed to be at that meeting?
I was supposed to look for the book with Alistair and Tobias while you all attended downstairs.
But I couldn’t help it. I wanted to protect her so badly that I strapped a dagger to my thigh and went in.
As soon as I stepped foot in that building, I was overwhelmed.
I didn’t even have to look for you. I could feel you through the walls. ”
She closed her eyes, swaying slightly on her feet as if tasting the air between us. I clenched my hands, trying to stop their trembling as her eyes snapped open, their depths a swirling blood-red mass that centered my very world.
“You are pure, blinding energy. You make my entire being tingle. Do you feel it too? Do you feel me?”
I cocked my head, staring at her. Come to think of it, I didn’t, and she knew it. The pull I felt toward her led into the forest.
“You’re distracting me.”
Her lips spread into a slow smile. “You know me so well.”
The trees behind her shook, and her form in front of me vanished in a swirl of green magic.
A mighty scaled head rose above the trees, several horns jutting back, protecting the massive skull.
Its jaws gaped wide, an orange glow blooming deep in its throat.
I had a second to react, a second to decide who to save, and a second to succeed.
A roar of flame shot from its mouth, decimating everything in its path.
I grabbed Logan and portalled, reappearing several miles deeper in the forest. The explosion erupted behind us.
Heat licked at my skin, flames engulfing the jacket I wore.
I stood and tossed it off. The mansion burned, a smoke plume reaching for the sky.
The deep glow of flames peeked through the canopy of trees.
Coughing sounded from the other celestials.
I had used just a portion of the incantation my father had taught me eons ago to force them away from the mansion.
“Get the others out of here,” I ordered.
I started back toward the burning mansion. The forest around it screamed as the trees broke and burned.
“You’re insane.” Logan grabbed my arm. “I can’t leave you.”
“I will be fine, Logan.”
“You saw her? Do you feel that heat? It’s hotter than before. She’s stronger, Samkiel, and I can’t lose you, too.” I knew he was coming from a place of fear and lack of sleep, the logical part of his brain in survival mode.
“Have you forgotten that I am truly immortal and also fireproof? Her flames do not harm me. You are in danger, not me.”
Logan looked at me and then glanced at the mansion, a glint sparking in his eyes. “Do you remember Shangulion?”
My brows furrowed before realization clicked in. “Yes.”
“I have a plan.”