Chapter 52
Petra
Miles’ eyes were still that familiar shade of midnight, but a blue light gleamed in the centers of his pupils. They were locked on me, but he didn’t see his friend, his queen. He saw an enemy. Prey. He didn’t speak. He didn’t move. He simply stared, his features hardened and empty.
I tore my eyes from Miles’ familiar face that now belonged to a stranger. I wanted to demand answers from Malosym, ask him why and how. But I knew why and didn’t need to know how. Malosym was how.
“Where. Is. Cal?” I repeated my question again, but this time my words were laced with so much venom, they stung when I spoke them.
“Why would I have any idea where he is? He became all but useless to me the moment he laid eyes on you. Pathetic, lovelorn bastard.” My nails bit into my palms as he spoke.
“You know, I’d actually been aiming for Cal back in Eserene.
I managed just to nick his head. Not enough for my power to latch on to.
I suppose it was my own fault for missing him.
I’d encouraged all that training for the Royal Guard.
Must’ve made him quicker than the training his brother received for the Cabillian military.
But it wasn’t too big a kink in my plans.
You keep them both close.” He stared over at Miles as if he were admiring his own work.
“He is an extension of me, a fragment of my power outside my own body. A beautiful, beautiful thing.”
“Miles,” I tried, my voice firm. He had to be in there somewhere, just like Ludovicus had been when his soul had been sacrificed to the Sanguilite. “Snap out of it, Miles.”
“There is nothing for him to snap out of . His soul is long gone.”
Unless he’d sacrificed Miles’ soul to the Sanguilite, I refused to believe his soul was anywhere else but right here. Maybe it was hiding beneath the rot and decay, but it was here, and I could heal him.
I reached for the blade at my thigh, cursing when I remembered I’d left it sheathed on my nightstand, forgoing all weapons.
My eyes landed on a chalky-white seashell half-buried in the sand, and I snatched it up, pressing it between my thumbs until it cracked down the middle.
One quick slash of its sharpened edge against my palm and I was stepping forward.
Malosym didn’t protest. He simply observed. “Come on, Miles,” I whispered, resting my bloodied palm against his cheek. “You’re still in there. I know it. You need to get back to Cielle, remember? And your brother, Cal. Remember them?” Where the fuck was Cal?
“Do you want to hear about the moment I knew he no longer belonged to himself?” Malosym asked from beside me. “The moment I knew he belonged to me?”
I didn’t fucking care what Malosym had to say. I reached for Miles’ hands, smearing my blood across each of his palms before I moved on to the little strip of exposed skin at his neck. Something had to work. “Come on, Miles!”
“Who do you think was the one who secured me in my cell? Or, should I say, secured me just tight enough so I could slip out as soon as I had the power to do so.”
I stilled. My muscles went rigid. No. No. He’d…freed Malosym. Miles. He’d been the one to let Malosym go.
The realization resounded through me. Cal had been wrong. He’d been trusting and loving and wrong . Miles hadn’t been in complete control like Cal had assured me.
I stared at Miles, at the man who’d set fire to my entire plan, and waited for the hatred to bloom, for the animosity to take hold.
But it didn’t. Not toward him, at least. The anger and resentment had bloomed and taken hold long ago with one target, one source of every ounce of pain I’d ever endured.
My movements resumed as I reached for Miles’ cheek again, his hands, his neck. Maybe my power would have a delayed effect like it had in Eserene. That was all this was. It was going to take a few minutes for Malosym’s power to leave Miles’ body.
But a low chuckle sounded from beside me. “Prove to her you’re no longer the man she knew.”
It was less than a second before Miles’ palms were against my shoulders and I was flying backwards, sailing through the air.
My limbs flailed before the sand rushed up to meet me, my teeth slamming down on my tongue as I landed on my back with a hard thud .
I clambered to my feet, blood filling my mouth as I found Miles’ stare no less blank than it had been before he’d laid his hands on me.
Malosym spoke to Miles, though he looked at me, his features pulled up in amusement. “Restrain her.”
All at once, Miles was charging toward me, his feet moving preternaturally quickly over the sand. He may no longer be the one inhabiting his body, but my heart couldn’t reconcile that this wasn’t Miles, couldn’t bring myself to conjure my flames against him.
He had no such qualms about me and his shoulder landed firmly in my chest as he took me to the ground.
He was so much larger than I was, and even though my movements were still slowed by the shock coursing through me, it was clear his size was his biggest advantage.
My blood still glistened on his face, taunting me as his hands closed around my wrists, his thighs squeezing my middle and pinning me to the sand.
“You remember when you tried to teach me to fight in the forest back in Cabillia?” I fought the words out as I twisted and wriggled beneath his weight.
“You wanted me to prove I could protect myself. Remember?” There was not a flicker of recognition in his eyes, not even a ghost of the man he was.
Fuck, fuck, fuck ! I finally gained enough control of my senses to conjure a spark in my palms, but my wrists were still painfully locked in his grasp.
“Well, I can protect myself. I’m just sorry I couldn’t protect you.
” I jutted a knee up, managing to land it against his lower spine, and he jolted enough for me to yank my right hand free.
A burst of fire rushed forward from my palm and collided with the leather stretched over his chest. Back he flew, his face unchanged but his hand instinctually moving over the charred material that quickly burned away to the skin beneath.
Tears burned in my eyes as flames burned my hands. I cast those flames through the air, catching Miles in the same spot once again. Still he wore that blank expression, even as he batted at the flames beginning to engulf him completely.
Malosym’s eyes were on Miles, enraptured as the flames grew larger, as if this were nothing but entertainment. My heart ached to summon a rainstorm to put an end to his suffering. This isn’t Miles , I told myself. Not anymore. Miles is dead.
But Malosym cast his own hand out, a bolt of blue flame landing against Miles’ chest, and my flames were extinguished like they’d never even burned at all.
Miles’ leathers were singed and charred, the exposed skin beneath angry and bubbling.
His face, however, was fixed in that same hardened, emotionless expression.
A silvery-pink expanse of the scar Malosym had left across his chest in Eserene was distinguishable, even beneath the newly formed blisters.
With another nod from Malosym, Miles launched himself at me again, but I didn’t come to play this fucking game.
Just before Miles’ body made contact with mine, I tapped into my storm, a gust of wind streamed from my hands so strong it was like he’d crashed into a wall.
His feet slipped in the sand as he railed against the air.
The same wind that had saved him from falling to his death in the Widow’s Sea was keeping him at bay now.
My teeth gritted, my hands shaking as I strained to keep the wall of air in place. Why the hell hadn’t I practiced this power more? But before I could chastise myself for that oversight any further, Miles was suddenly gone, the wind immediately dissolving the puff of black smoke left in his spot.
I loosed a breath as my hands fell to my side, the wind dying as I turned to Malosym, only to see two Occulti demons sprinting toward me from behind him.
They were in their true form — their most powerful form, all snapping teeth and merciless strength.
It took two bolts of fire each to send them flailing to the sand.
I couldn’t revel in the small victory for long though, because two more demons materialized from nothing.
Down they went, some obliterated by fire and others torn apart from the inside.
Three more followed, then five, each of them meeting a brutal end.
I opened my mouth to scream that we were supposed to do this alone, but the barrage kept coming. It took little effort to decimate the swarms that were growing in number, but they simply didn’t stop. And all the while, Malosym stood to the side, enjoying the show.
A group of thirty came charging at me, each of them landing in a crumpled heap in the sand.
My hands were raised and ready for the next attack, but none came.
I cherished the respite, knowing it would soon come to an end.
“I can do this all fucking day, Malosym,” I taunted.
“You want to capture me, you’re going to need a lot more than a handful of Occulti. ”
“I thought as much. But if you want to kill me, you’ll have to catch me first.”
In a flash of that eerie blue light, he was gone.
But I wasn’t alone for long, because a familiar sound echoed down the beach.
I didn’t need to turn toward its source to know what I would see — a massive, insurmountable crowd of Occulti heading straight for me, about a mile away.
I forced myself to face the oncoming horde, a small tide of relief rising in me when I saw there were no drivas.
Yet.