Chapter 55 Camilla
CAMILLA
“Why kill her?” I asked as the area around us tumbled into turmoil.
Was she not worried about the consequences of killing in cold blood, or did she just not care?
Her hair hung far past her shoulders, the dark waves dancing around her in the wind like a veil.
Her clothes indicated they had been there for at least a day.
The dark leather ensemble Samkiel no doubt made for her had a few straps that encircled her waist and crossed over her chest. They were lined with sheaths, but all of them were empty.
Dianna did not need a blade. She was a weapon made of pretty flesh.
“I’m sorry. Did I give you the impression that I am one to forgive and forget?
” Dianna looked at me as if I’d grown a second head.
“You do remember who I am, right? She had a hand in my husband’s death, a very large, manipulative hand.
There is no outcome where anyone involved gets to breathe in my presence. ”
My eyes widened, and I felt Vincent stiffen next to me. Husband. Samkiel. I glanced at her hand, and sure as day, a ring shimmered on her finger, the beauty and sparkle of the gem hypnotizing.
“Is that what you travelled this far for? Hunting the rest who wronged you?”
“Wow, Cami.” She whistled. “Not even an, I miss you. How have you been?”
She was stalling, and I assumed she was waiting for Samkiel to find us. I said nothing.
“Fine.” She clapped her hands together and pointed both forefingers at Vincent. “I’m going to kill him first. Well, I guess, I mean, I’m going to kill him again. Then I’m going to take you and that stupid medallion you have and get some of my peace of mind back.”
My heart stuttered. She knew of the medallion? But how? There was no way Nismera would let anyone know she had it recrafted, much less slip from her hands into another’s. She was too prideful.
My brows furrowed. “How do you know about the medallion?”
Her smile was slow and every bit the predator I remembered. “Move out of my way. Let me kill Vincent, and then we can all leave with the medallion in tow. Easy peasy.”
“No,” I said, squaring my shoulders.
“No?” Her eyes flicked behind me to Vincent and back before she scoffed in disgust. “Oh, you can’t be serious.”
“We have to fight for someone,” I said, my feet planted firmly in more than just my stance. “Something.”
The humor drained from her expression, replaced by something wild and feral. “I can’t let him live.”
I nodded. “I know.”
Something flickered in her eyes, and I thought maybe it was remorse.
We both knew what this meant for each of us.
War changed people, changed the world, and battle lines had to be drawn.
Sometimes they were carved so profoundly that they separated friends and turned them into foes.
Had Dianna and I ever truly been friends, this would change it, and we both knew it.
Either Vincent and I left together, or we died together.
There would be no other choice, and she knew it too.
“I never thanked you for bringing my sister’s body back to me, so thank you,” she said, her words soft as she shook the hair from her face. “But if you side with Vincent,” her tone changed, her eyes bleeding a bright crimson as her fangs descended, “I’ll take the medallion from your corpse.”
She lunged, but I was quicker. My magic whipped out, shoving her into the glass window to my left. The people who had been hanging far back, watching and whispering, screamed, and the true chaos began.
Vincent grabbed my hand, and we took off running. “We need to get out of here. Now,” he said.
I glanced back, but she wasn’t there … yet. “I agree.”
We sped up, cutting through back streets and alleys.
We heard screams behind us, and when I looked back, Dianna was closing the distance between us.
Her face was set with determination and anger.
My magic whipped out, tossing carts and food items at her, trying to stop her.
The last cart I aimed at her sent her sailing, and I grinned as Vincent pulled me around a corner and into a dark alley.
He stopped, and I slammed into his back.
“What are you doing?” I demanded.
“We need to split up.”
“Like fuck we do.” I pulled on his arm. “We stay together.”
Vincent shook his head, fear coating the air as he kissed me.
He pulled away and tenderly cupped my face.
“She wants my head. I can be a distraction, but you and the medallion must flee this city. I don’t know why they want it, and I don’t care, but Nismera cannot get it.
You’re strong enough to stop her or break that thing. ”
“No,” I said, wrapping my hands around his wrists and tugging. “I can’t do this, any of this, without you.”
“Camilla.” His thumb swept across my cheek. “You are one of the most powerful women in any realm, and you can do anything. You have more power than I think either of us truly realizes.”
“And we both know what that power can do, how isolating it can be. Vincent, I don’t feel alone when I am with you. I can’t be alone again.”
Something painful, brutal, and beautiful flashed across his face as if hearing those words healed some small damaged part Nismera had used, tortured, and nearly destroyed.
He took my lips in a hard, quick kiss, his hands cupping my face.
“This isn’t the time or place, but I know I don’t deserve you.
I don’t deserve your protection.” Tears filled his eyes, and he nodded before checking behind us again.
“I love you. I think I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you in that dress.
And because I love you, I can’t let you die for me. You have to leave me.”
His words ricocheted through my chest, making me bleed. They weren’t just words. It was as if my body felt them, as if they crawled across my skin and wove themselves into the very fiber of my being. They became a part of me, changing me forever.
Determination made my magic react, hatred whipping it into a frenzy.
He was bound to Nismera with no chance for a life of his own, and the last few weeks had been nothing but us running for our lives, hiding, and trying to keep that damn medallion I’d made out of her reach.
I refused to leave him. He’d fought for everyone but himself his entire life, and all the while he struggled against orders he couldn’t say no to.
I was done with it. I cared for Dianna. Truly, I did, but if she wanted him dead, then I’d die with him because he loved me. He loved me. He loved me.
“I’m not leaving,” I stated, conviction ringing in my voice.
His eyes softened, and he rose. Wrapping his arms around me, he pulled me to him, sheltering me against his massive body, and I knew without looking we were no longer alone.
“Really, Cami,” Dianna said as she stalked forward, her black leather pants and top covered in splotches of yellow and red fruit. “You could have anyone in the world, and you choose him? A traitorous, backstabbing, conniving fucking rat.”
I stepped in front of him, facing her, green magic limning one hand, then the other. Dianna’s mouth formed a thin line.
“You don’t know him.”
She scoffed. “Oh, but I do. He’s me, and I am him, and we don’t change.”
“You did for Samkiel.”
Her smile was tight as she said, “No, I didn’t. I’d still rip anyone to pieces for him. That’s not change. It’s a redirect.”
She leaped, and my magic shot out like a whip, aiming for her.
She ducked around me, claws extended. Vincent summoned an ablaze weapon and brought it down.
I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t the sword that formed in her hand or the silver gauntlet on her arm. She caught my astonishment and smiled.
“I got some new tricks,” she said, blocking Vincent’s strike and tossing him through the side of the building next to us.
I heard him scrambling in the rubble, and Dianna strode toward the sizable hole his body had made in the wall.
Determined to give him as much chance to recover as I could, I rushed toward her, my hand raised.
Dianna spun, her hands snapping out to grip my wrists. I felt the delicate bones groan.
“Cami, you’re good at magic, but you were always shit at hand-to-hand.” Dianna tsked.
Her forehead slammed against mine, headbutting me hard enough to send me backward and into the river.
Cold water enveloped me, the icy chill soaking into my bones as I plummeted into the depths.
My ears rang as water filled my nose, the weight of my clothes and the current pulling me toward the bottom.
I struggled against the water’s hold, fighting my way back to the surface and taking deep gulps of air.
There was no way I was going to leave him.
Light flashed above the river, and I could hear the sounds of fighting mixed with the metallic clang of blade against blade from the riverbank.
But it was the hiss of pain from the man I loved that had my eyes shooting wide.
The green of my magic illuminated the river as I rose from the water.
Dianna was right. I was good at magic, damn good.
My feet had barely left the water when Dianna’s head snapped toward me.
She crouched over Vincent, her hand over the heart I’d helped heal, and I lost it.
I threw my hands out, green, vine-like magic whipping through the air.
Dianna rolled off Vincent, and he rolled onto his side.
He curled inward, shielding his head as my power exploded against the building, sending debris raining down over both of them.
My feet touched down onto dry ground, and I ran to him, grabbing his hand and tugging him to his feet.
He looked down at me with wide eyes. “How did you—”