Chapter 22
Dianna
T here it was. All the fire and hate came rushing to the surface when I saw him.
My skin prickled, and a wave of heat drowned me.
My hands shot out, thick flames spinning toward him, bellowing and snapping like the jaws of a raging beast, destroying everything in their path.
The acrid scent of burning metal stung my nose, but I didn’t let up.
Sweat was beading on my brow before I lowered my hands, some deep and feral part of me coming alive.
“So dramatic,” Kaden said, glancing at everything behind him I’d charred to ash and ruin. He shook his head and folded his arms, muscles straining his dark shirt.
I clenched my teeth, biting back a scream of rage and frustration.
It didn’t matter if I couldn’t burn him alive.
I would rip him to shreds with my bare hands.
I moved, swiping with my claws, aiming for where his face should have been.
My strike met no resistance, and I stumbled through him, catching myself on my next step.
I turned, looking at my claws, free of blood and flesh. “You’re not even here. Coward.”
He smiled, a single canine elongating as he looked at me. “I prefer survivalist. That power is dripping off you in waves, Dianna. I bet the creatures beyond this realm feel it and quiver.” He leered, his gaze dropping to my chest. “You see me, and your heart doesn’t even falter.”
I grimaced and snapped. “My heart doesn’t beat for you.”
“Oh, I assume it beats for him, then?” he asked, rubbing his chin.
“Reggie. Leave.”
“As you wish,” Reggie said and faded from the room, leaving me alone with Kaden, or the shell of him, at least.
Kaden watched the thick, black, star-filled mist of Reggie’s true form disappear. “You kidnapped a fate, and it listens to you? I’m so impressed, Dianna. I knew once you truly gave in, you’d be unstoppable. How did you carve him from Unir’s prison?”
“How do you know about that?”
Kaden only shrugged. “I know a lot.”
I sighed, smoke curling from my nose. “Why are you here?”
He grinned, trying to play coy and sweet. My stomach revolted. “Maybe I missed you.”
I placed a hand on my chest. “Aw, I missed you, too. Couldn’t you tell by the bodies I left? Maybe we should have an actual reunion.”
“Yeah?” he purred, taking a step closer. “Will you wear something pretty for me as you did for your World Ender?”
Pretty? My mind flashed through possibilities, wondering what he could possibly mean. Then it hit me. He was talking about the dress I wore in the garden at Drake’s, the one Samkiel made for me.
“You were there.”
He smiled. “Mirrors are the mortals’ greatest invention, and a passageway for ancient creatures, Dianna. I told you I have eyes everywhere.”
My lip curled in disgust as I replayed every place I had been with any sort of reflection. The memory of Sophie speaking into the mirror just before she attacked me.
“Don’t make that face. It’s only obsidian-lined ones. I made sure every member of my court had at least one.”
Dangerous. A beautiful, dangerous stranger I had met in a desert. A sand viper is what I’d thought of him, and that was precisely what he was. But everything Kaden did had a purpose, so he was here for a reason. He was either stalling or preparing to strike.
“Let’s not play games with each other, okay?
” I squared my shoulders and tipped my head a fraction higher.
“I’m no longer the quivering girl with nothing but a dagger strapped to her thigh.
Why are you here?” My voice was even and flat.
I folded my arms, the long sleeves of my jacket falling at my sides.
He wasn’t here, and I had no inclination to waste my energy on an illusion.
“No, you are definitely not, but I know you still have a pretty weapon between those thighs, don’t you?” He raised his hand, pinching his lower lip as he circled me, his gaze nearly a physical touch. “Powerful enough to make a god change his plans.”
I groaned, dropping my arms and tipping my head back. He didn’t have to be corporeal for me to know he was tense. I had spent lifetimes studying him. “Did I ever tell you how annoying your voice is? There have been times I wanted to rip my ears off my head rather than hear you go on and on.”
“You know, I never thought you’d kill Drake. I always assumed you two were fucking when no one else was around.”
“No, you were the one who needed multiple lovers to stay satisfied, remember?”
Kaden smiled coldly. “Or maybe there was another reason.”
“One I don’t care about.”
He was trying to distract me. But from what?
“I’ll ask again.” I sighed. “What do you want?”
He stopped before Elijah’s slack form, sliding his hands into his pockets. “You nearly took his head off with that twist. You’ve been paying attention to me, huh?”
Another distraction.
“Yes, Kaden. You killed my sister. We all know. Do you want to broadcast that once more? Or will you stop hiding so I can repay the favor?”
His eyes scanned me from head to toe as he bit at the corner of his lip. “You really are different, aren’t you?”
My body shuddered, the Ig’Morruthen stirring and waiting to attack. “What? Do you want me to be sad? Cry in a corner? No, that girl is long gone. You made sure of that. I want blood. A fucking river of it.”
He strode forward, stopping inches from me, forcing me to look up to hold his gaze. “Gods, I miss you.”
“What do you want?”
“You.” He moved his hand as if he would touch my hair. “Always you.”
“Me? Or are you here about the ship at the bottom of the sea?”
Not even a hint of surprise crossed his features.
“I will admit, I am glad I am the only thing on your pretty mind. Is Samkiel jealous?”
He is a manipulator, Dianna. Don’t get distracted, my mind whispered. Don’t let him see you falter for a second, or he will eat you alive.
I swallowed, squaring my shoulders. “I don’t care what Samkiel feels. The only thing on my mind is killing you.”
He took a step closer to me, his eyes roaming. “And how will you do it, my pretty little vixen? Slowly? That’s not how I like it.”
“I know you’re moving iron. A lot of it.”
“Yeah?” A smirk made of sin graced his lips. “And did you have to spread those pretty little legs to find out?”
I made sure the smile I gave him in return was all teeth. “No, I did that for fun.”
“Fun or that raging bloodlust coming back with a vengeance? You know your true nature, and you have buried it for far too long. That hunger hits, and then you crave something hard and stiff.”
“Not always. Sometimes I prefer tongue,” I snapped back.
“You know you could come home, and I could take care of that?”
Home . That fucking word again. A void I would never fill because of him. I felt my nails bite into my arms.
“Let’s get one thing straight. I never had a home with you. My home is spread across the Naimer Sea because of you. Now, what are you making, Kaden, and why do you need so much iron?”
He twisted his head slightly and inhaled deeply.
“You still smell divine even from this far away. I would recognize that scent anywhere.”
Kaden stepped closer, but I ignored him, refusing to back away from him. I would never do that again. Incorporeal or not, my entire being raged at the monster of a man who made me.
“Is it for the weapon to kill Samkiel? The iron? You have the book of Azrael but haven’t used it yet. It’s been months.”
He reached out as if he could touch me. “Was your hair always this long? I miss the way it bounces when you—”
A small laugh left my lips, the pieces snapping together in my mind. “You don’t have what you need. You’re missing a final ingredient, and you’re stalling.”
His eyes flashed, and I knew I was right.
I stepped forward, invading his space for once and closing the remaining distance between us.
No longer the docile girl who bent or lowered her gaze in fear of him.
Never her again. “You know what the funny thing is? I don’t think you’re as evil as you want others to believe.
You collect these people and surround yourself with these creatures so you don’t feel so fucking alone all the time.
My guess? You’re just a damaged little boy who just wasn’t loved enough. ”
His eyes flashed bright crimson. “Says the woman so desperate to be loved, she conspired with and fucked the enemy.”
“Oh, I never fucked Samkiel. Got pretty close, though.” I let out a low whistle. “The things that man can do with his hands. I can only imagine the rest. Which, you know, I have.”
I added the last part, knowing it would cut him, and if I could hurt him even a fraction as badly as he had hurt me, so fucking be it.
I saw the jealousy flash in his eyes as he snapped his teeth. “Yeah? I think he is using his hands right now on his betrothed.”
It was always tit for tat between us. One always aching to hurt the other worse.
Only this time, I knew every pressure point and a way to make him wince in pain for once.
I knew I had gotten under his skin, and Kaden knew…
I finally registered what he’d said, and my thoughts scrambled, everything coming to a screeching halt.
Betrothed.
My control over the fiery anger that smoldered ceaselessly inside me snapped, and a volcanic rage bubbled to the surface. An emotion I was a fool to think I had any control over.
My head jerked back. “What are you talking about?”
Kaden’s triumphant smile made my stomach turn. He thought he’d won something. “Oh, you didn’t know? He and Imogen are destined to rule the twelve realms. Arranged marriage and all that.”
I said nothing.
“Hmm, I can’t believe he wouldn’t share that with you.”
My eyes narrowed. “You’re lying. I saw Samkiel’s past.”
“All of it? Doubtful. Even with your blooddreams, you’d have to consume him daily to get that, and by the look on your face right now, I know you haven’t.”
I shook my head. “No, you’re lying. You’re trying to distract me. I asked him.”
I fought to keep from cringing, realizing how ridiculous I sounded.