Chapter 76
Dianna
N everra landed outside the palace and placed me on my feet, both of us swaying with exhaustion.
The Irvikuva had chased us through the building.
We’d made it out, and Neverra had shot into the sky.
A flurry of wings had followed, the creatures screeching their frustration and hatred as we made our escape.
We entered the main foyer. Samkiel and I had christened each room, leaving a path of destruction in our wake. After we untangled ourselves from each other, we put the house back to rights.
“Thanks for going with me, Neverra. Even if it was a complete waste.”
I plopped on the couch and sighed.
She sat down, angling her body toward me. “I wouldn’t say it was a complete waste,” she said, pulling something from her back pocket.
She handed me a thick stack of folded paper. I gave her a puzzled look but took it from her. She watched as I unwrapped it and scanned the documents, shock hitting me when I saw my family’s name.
“How?” I asked breathlessly.
“I grabbed them as soon as we heard the commotion. I hope some of these are what you need.”
My arms went around her before I realized what I was doing. Her laugh was soft and filled with surprise, but she hugged me back.
“Thank you.” I released her and sank to the floor, spreading out the pages she’d snatched.
Neverra joined me, and we searched through the documents.
I let out a small cry of victory when I found a bundle that contained my family’s birth records.
Neverra leaned close as I read through them, my breath hitching when I came to the lineage.
“What does that mean?” she asked, her brow furrowing as she focused on the records that listed my mother, father, and Gabby but not me.
I flipped to the next page and found a separate document used in Eoria and eventually across Onuna—a right of ownership for a child that wasn’t yours.
It had my name neatly written across the top.
I placed the pages down, my stomach twisting.
“It means,” I swallowed and sat back, “that Tobias was right. I was adopted.”
Neverra’s eyes widened. “Oh.”
* * *
I sat on the couch, chewing on my thumbnail and staring at the neat stack of papers. Such a small thing to define my life, or was it even my life? I had no idea. A million and one thoughts ran through my mind, all screaming and hateful. One last hurtful barb Tobias had thrown at me.
Neverra had finally left to clean up and check on Logan, but I’d had to force her to go.
She hadn’t wanted to leave me alone, but I didn’t want the company.
So I did what I always had when something happened.
I retreated inward, where I could protect myself behind my impenetrable scales, teeth, and claws.
There, I was safe, even if they were only mental right now.
I showered and threw on one of Samkiel’s shirts.
It engulfed me, his scent bringing me comfort.
Back on the couch, I pulled my thighs to my chest and rested my head on my knees, wrapping my arms around my legs.
Who was I? Mer-Ka wasn’t my name. Dianna wasn’t my name.
Who were my real parents, my real family?
And why did no one tell me? Gabby looked like me. I knew it, but maybe I was wrong.
The wounds on my heart had just begun to heal, and now it felt like they’d ripped open again.
They festered, and that cold, unfeeling rage threatened to overwhelm me again.
Pain speared through me, and I struck out, toppling the table and scattering the papers across the floor.
Lies. My whole life had been nothing but lies.
This was just another one, but it felt so much worse.
My chest ached like it was seconds away from caving in on itself.
I heard the now-familiar whistle of a god riding the wind.
I had not realized it, but subconsciously I listened for that sound.
My gaze snapped to the window, and as I tracked the silver light across the sky, the devastating and destructive rage eased.
A cooling calm settled over me, a balm against my aching heart.
The beast inside me felt him near, knew we were safe, and decided to rest instead.
My first instinct was to hide the documents, but Samkiel wasn’t Kaden.
He wouldn’t be mad at me. He wouldn’t punish me for seeking this information.
Samkiel would never make me feel less than, but he would be upset with me when he found out I’d gone to Onuna without him and ran into the damned Irvikuva.
I took a shuddering breath. In the intimate moments we had spent over the last days, we had made promises to each other, both spoken and unspoken.
We had promised to talk and turn to each other in times of need.
I picked up the papers and righted the table.
Hearing his armored boots against the stone floor, I set the documents on the tabletop and went to meet him.
Samkiel saw me and stopped. I didn’t know why I was nervous. Maybe it was that I’d never had someone to share anything with besides my sister, and now I was raw knowing she wasn’t truly my sister.
Samkiel’s helmet melted away, revealing the beauty of his face. Gods, I could barely comprehend what I felt for this man. He looked me up and down, curiosity and sparks of silver glinting in his eyes. “It’s yours,” I said, touching the hem of the shirt.
“I see that. I think I might prefer this over the small lacy items you wear, but only slightly.” Samkiel closed the distance between us in two long strides and bent to kiss me. I turned my head, shaking it.
“Hey,” he cupped my chin, turning my face toward him, “don’t do that. Don’t pull away from me. We are not going back to that. Kiss me, Dianna.”
I pressed my fingers to his lips as he leaned down again, stopping him. I looked up at him through my lashes and whispered, “I did something.”
His brows drew together as he mumbled against my fingers, “What did you do?”
I dropped my hand to his chest and looked down, staring at the bright armor. “You can’t get upset.”
His voice dropped an octave. “I make no promises.”
I sighed and met his gaze. “I went to Onuna again.”
“Dianna.” His eyes flared pure silver as he stood up straighter. “Who took you?”
I waved him off, unfazed by the power display. “It’s not important.”
“We talked about this. Dianna, you could….”
I didn’t know what he saw in my eyes, but his words trailed off, and he fell silent. I held out my hand. “Will you please sit with me?”
The silver in his eyes died, his protective anger dissipating, leaving behind only worry.
He nodded and took my hand, his larger one engulfing mine, the metal of his rings and armor cool against my fingers.
I led him to the living room, and we sat, angling our bodies toward one another.
Samkiel still wore his armor as if he were so comfortable in it that he didn’t notice, or he was so focused on me that it wasn’t a priority.
“I had a dream last night,” I said, picking up the papers that screamed my reality.
“Oh? Is that why you kicked me?”
My smirk only lasted a moment, disappearing as I placed the documents between us.
“Tobias said something to me in the cavern, but so much had happened that I didn’t pay it any attention, or maybe I buried it.
I don’t know. Maybe I didn’t want to believe it, but last night after…
well, you know, I slept, really slept. I dreamed I was in this dark place, and then I heard all of these voices. It sounded like many beings chanting.”
“Chanting what?”
I placed the paper right side up and turned it toward him. He leaned forward, scanning it, a hint of confusion tightening the corners of his eyes.
“That she’s not mine. These papers say that she isn’t my sister.”
He picked up the document to better read it.
He didn’t say anything, but when he looked up at me, I saw a flicker of anger had returned to his eyes.
Even a week ago, that would have devastated me and sent me scuttling back behind walls to safeguard my heart, but whatever had shifted between us had given me insight into him.
Samkiel was not mad at me; he was mad because something had dared to hurt me.
He would lock me away and protect me from the world if he could.
“If this is real, if what I’m dreaming is real, then I saw something else.”
Samkiel waited.
“I saw a blood-red moon on a world that wasn’t this one or Onuna. I mean, it could just be my brain because Kaden had the werewolves looking into lunar cycles. So, of course, why would I not dream of moons? But there was another word whispered. The same word—an equinox.”
“Equinox?”
My shoulders slumped, and I twisted my fingers together. “I don’t know what it means, or even if it is important, but there were these figures in my dream.”
Samkiel went unnaturally still. “How many figures?”
“Three. I couldn’t see their faces, but they wore crowns.” His jaw clenched, and I knew him well enough to see worry darken his features. “You’ve seen them too.”
“I have and the blood-red moon.”
I didn’t ask why he hadn’t told me, nor was I mad. These last few months had been pure chaos for both of us, but we were united again. We could talk about this stuff again, and that gave me some peace.
“Okay, so we share psychic dreams now, too? Add that to our list of weird.”
His lip twisted in amusement, but then he grew thoughtful, rubbing his hand across his chin.
“Neverra said that when she was in Yejedin, she had heard mention of a big happening. It could be this equinox. But we have checked, and no rare celestial events are happening anytime soon. Nothing powerful enough to fuel a ritual.”