Chapter 84 Dianna
DIANNA
Nismera’s fingers tapped against the long handle of the spear. “Did you like his story?” she asked. “The dutiful father confessing, seeking redemption for past sins.”
“It was you. All of it was you, wasn’t it? You lied, planting the seeds of doubt and fear in him for his own sons.”
Nismera shrugged. “Pretty much, but to be fair, it wouldn’t have worked so well had the thoughts not already been there for me to twist.” She playfully spun the spear, snapping her teeth at her father. She was beyond psychotic.
“Why?” I asked. “Why all of this?”
Nismera smiled, but Unir cut her off.
“She was made wrong.”
The confidence in her expression slipped. Her features twisted, revealing the cruelty and bitterness of her true face. It turned what could have been devastating beauty into something horrifically ugly. Her head turned toward him, and ghost or not, Unir met his daughter eye to eye.
“It was my fault.” Unir’s face softened as he looked at Nismera. “She was not made with an ounce of love. She was made with power, conceived to be a weapon.”
Nismera’s grip tightened on her spear, the veins on her hand swelling.
“And for that, I am truly sorry,” Unir said, his voice soaked with regret. “That is, and will always be, my biggest regret. That’s why I came back.”
Her grip on her spear eased, and the hope in my chest flared.
Was solace what Nismera needed? Her footsteps echoed against the stones as she walked to her father.
She stopped in front of him, her gold-tipped heels almost touching the ring of magic runes pulsing on the floor.
The bubble glowed, the veil separating father and daughter.
“You came back for me?” she asked.
She danced her fingers across the rune-speckled jail that held Unir’s spirit. For a second, I didn’t see the angry, evil goddess, but a girl who just wanted her father, a family.
“You’re my daughter. I should have treated you as such.
For that, I am forever burdened. I know that all of this was a ruse,” he said, gesturing to the dungeon.
“You’re trying to fill a hole left by those you called family.
There is no love in what you have built because you crave power as if it will sustain you.
What happens after? After you’ve surrounded yourself with legions, guards, and commanders who only fear you, never love you, never care, what then?
There is no point in a throne or a kingdom because it will not fill that void, Nismera. Power will never be your comfort.”
Her face crumpled, and I wondered if she was actually going to cry, but then she burst into laughter. Her hand went to her midsection as she laughed in his face. Unir recoiled.
She fanned her face and settled. “Gods, you sound just like her,” she said, her voice growing bored.
“Who?”
“Why, your sweet adelphia.” Nismera smiled. “Isn’t that what you called her? A loving pet name from ages past.”
Unir’s face dropped as some realization passed between them.
“She tried, you know? She tried to find some part of me she could nurture, heal, or hold, and I hated her for it. The funniest part is that after all these years, here you are, still thinking that I am anything like you, like them. All of you are so fucking weak. You wish for the simple things, love, family, on and on and on. It makes you easy to manipulate, easy prey. And all that time, power was right at your door, banging to be let in. None of you had any ambition, but I do. I always have, and I was set to achieve it until you and Zasyn created him. As soon as I heard she was pregnant, I knew. I could cast out Kaden and Isaiah, but there would always be one thing in my way to that throne. Her.”
My chest ached. I’d wondered if Nismera had something to do with Zasyn’s death, and she had just confirmed it. The pain on Unir’s face was heartbreaking.
“What did you do?” Unir asked, his voice hollow.
Her smile was all venom and hatred. “I played along, pretending to care, to change, to be what you and she wanted, and then I poisoned her. Every night, every day. Her handmaidens were always giving her stuff to help her body support the growth of that godling. She helped, too. She grew orneliamus in her garden, making it oh-so-easily accessible. All it took was just a small amount, not too traceable. Yet he’s still here, causing me problems. It wasn’t until Samkiel was born that I realized, even then, he was disrupting my plans, healing her from the inside out.
But thankfully, after he was born, she could finally die.
” Nismera smiled and rolled her eyes as if she hadn’t just admitted to killing Unir’s heart.
She ran a single nail along his prison. “Does it hurt to know the daughter you made took your only love from you?”
I wondered if the cage she’d crafted for him could truly hold a god, and I got my answer.
Unir was a fury of words, fists, and ungodly wrath as his spirit fought against the bubble that held him.
Nismera laughed, watching him with almost glee.
He raged himself out, finally falling to his knees and clutching his eyes.
She crouched in front of him. “You are right about one thing. There is no love in me.” She bit her bottom lip.
“But I will admit, watching that brought me so much joy.” Nismera chuckled and stood up, still gripping her spear.
She turned toward us, uncaring that her back was to Unir. “Now, where were we?”
“You’re a—”
“A what?” she interrupted. “A monster?”
“I think you’re an insane sociopath who needs to die,” I sneered at her. “But monster works.”
Her smile did not falter. I expected her to lash out as she had before, but she just stared at me.
“I’ve been thinking of a way to pay you back, you know.
” She smiled fondly at me, giving me a half shrug.
“You really set the world ablaze when you showed up. You destroyed many of my legions and took down a good portion of my fleet. Monster to monster, I truly think you’d be a threat, which is why I’m going to make an example out of you. ”
Nismera lifted her knee and slammed her armored boot into my gut, forcing me to double over.
She pulled back her arm and slammed her fist into my face.
I stumbled, barely managing to stay on my feet.
Laughing wetly, I wiped the blood from my chin and waited for my neck to heal from the whiplash and the ringing in my ears to stop.
I flipped my hair out of my face and spat at her feet.
“You think you’re above everyone else, but here you are, only able to face me with my powers bound.
You are weak and afraid, nothing more than a blustering bully. ”
Her eyes were icy chunks of hard silver, burning me as she glared at me. “No, my sweet Ayla, I am afraid you have met your match. There is nothing you can take from me that can hurt me.”
Her eyes flicked to the side. “But there is something I can take from you that will hurt you.”
My heart thudded as she advanced toward the fates.
The inches between us suddenly felt like miles.
I leaned forward, the chains biting cruelly into my wrists.
I told myself that there was no need to be afraid.
A god could not kill a fate, but I couldn’t help how my chest ached with a terror that made my beast writhe.
She crouched in front of Reggie and grinned at me over her shoulder, the death spear still clutched in her hand.
“You want to hear a story, Ayla? About how the universe was made?”
“I’d rather hear you die.”
Her smile widened. “It is foretold that those above us, higher than mortals, gods, Primordials, and Sovereigns have a purpose. Should they stray from their purpose, they will be punished.”
I didn’t know what she meant, but Reggie looked as if he did.
Nismera pointed her spear at Reggie’s heart, and I snapped like a snarling beast, fighting against the chains, trying to reach him.
“Don’t you dare touch him,” I snapped.
“You want to hear the saddest part of the story? Fate saw a small babe who could alter the world. His sisters whispered that the change must happen alone. He must watch, but never intervene. However, fate fell in love, as a father would love a child. He watched her grow, watched her fall, and when chaos was not looking, he helped pick her back up. Fate defied orders, and a god heard of it, took him to a safer location so none could find him. It wasn’t until that babe, now a woman, ventured to him that fate knew.
She took him, made him flesh, but that’s not all.
Fate loved her so much that he grew a mortal heart.
” Nismera tsked as my eyes burned, filling with tears.
“Love is a curse, Ayla, and you are its wielder.”
My chest ached, but Reggie looked at me as if he knew this all along.
“Reggie?” I asked him, continuing to twist my hands in the chains, rubbing my wrists raw.
“Go on, tell her,” Nismera said, poking him with the tip of the spear.
Reggie hissed, but didn’t take his eyes off me.
“She is right,” he said. “After I saved you, my visions ceased, and my body felt different. I’ve known for a while now, but it wasn’t until Gathrriel took you that my heart started beating out of fear for you.
I pledged my loyalty and love to you long before we ever met, and loving you was the greatest gift of my existence.
There is nothing I would change, and I don’t want you to be anything other than what you are.
I know what you will be, Dianna, and it is glorious.
Please know, no matter what happens, I would do it all again. ”