Pensdurth #3
“You’re taking a huge risk facing me alone. You think you can take me?” Kolis asked, moving into my line of sight. “I expected you to be less reckless.”
I felt a sudden dull throb of awareness.
A…a draken was near.
I didn’t think I had enough essence left in me to tell who it was.
“I mean, look at Attes,” Kolis went on, his blood-streaked white pants rippling as he neared one of the pillared entrances to the alcove.
Dark crimson shadows twisted under the skin of his stomach and chest. “It took nothing to take him out.” He twisted his head from side to side, as if working out a kink.
“Then again, he is no longer a Primal of a Court. That weakens him.” He paused.
“She weakens him.” He huffed as I flinched. “Idiot.”
“Are you done talking yet?” Theon asked.
Kolis stopped.
“Good. Maybe you’ll realize it’s awfully quiet out in the hallway.” I couldn’t see the smirk on Theon’s face, but I heard it. “And you would also notice that Attes is no longer here.”
Kolis’s head whipped toward where Attes had been lying. His nostrils flared.
A thunderous impact shook the manor, sending thin fissures racing down the domed ceiling. Then, a low, rumbling growl came from above.
The shadows stilled beneath Kolis’s flesh as he looked up.
“I didn’t come alone.” Eather spat from Theon’s fingers as he cocked his head. “And you should’ve known that. Sensed it.”
The swirling darkness beneath Kolis’s flesh deepened.
Theon’s laugh was low and throaty. Challenging. “Seems like someone’s been cast from Iliseeum.”
I had no idea what that meant, but Kolis sure did. The flesh of his arms thinned as he snarled. “Fuck the Fates.”
Kolis spun, his gaze locking with mine. He shot forward—
A bolt of eather crashed into him, spinning him into the air. He flew back, eather lighting up his veins as he smacked into a pillar. The stone cracked and shuddered. He hit the floor on his knees, but he didn’t stay down. He was on his feet in a breath and coming straight toward me.
“You don’t know when to stop.” Another blast of eather left Theon. “You never did.”
Kolis ducked, but the eather struck his shoulder, spinning him around. Hitting the edge of the dais, he threw out his hand and caught himself.
“Ouch,” Kolis gritted out. “That stung.”
“It did more than just sting.” Theon stalked forward, coming into focus. He had daggers strapped to his chest, and beneath the black-and-bronze helmet, his eyes glowed with silver fire. “There’s a hole in your shoulder. In case you didn’t realize it.”
Gods, I wished the hole was in his head.
“Just a flesh wound.” Kolis straightened and lowered his chin. Golden-blond hair fell forward, brushing the sides of his face. “Which won’t be what I say about you when I’m finished.” He flashed me a smile that bared his teeth and fangs—fangs covered with my blood. “We’re not finished, so’lis.”
Fuck you.
I didn’t speak. I couldn’t. My tongue felt too thick and heavy. But based on the way the essence flared in his ruby eyes, he knew what I was thinking.
A loud groan sounded as the pillar Kolis had hit toppled forward. My heart stalled as it fell toward me. Gods, I had a feeling I would definitely feel that when it landed on me. Desperate, I tried to summon the essence, but the weak pulse did nothing. I couldn’t even lift my arms—
Suddenly, two leather-encased legs were in front of me. A web of silver eather erupted from the fingertips of one hand as eather formed in the other, the essence lengthening and taking the shape of a spear. “Get her out of here,” he commanded.
A heartbeat later, a blur burst out of the alcove, racing across the hall.
“You did bring a friend.” Crimson-streaked shadows climbed over Kolis’s shoulders as he laughed. He lifted his hand, and dark eather powered down his arm.
“Friend?” a deep voice scoffed as the newcomer dipped under the streak of eather and went down on a knee, sliding across the floor.
He skidded to a halt beside me. A dark hood obscured his face.
Even when he turned his head, I still didn’t see much.
I caught a glimpse of skin somewhere between sun-kissed and olive, and eyes so deep blue they bordered on amethyst. And scars—two deep, straight cuts that started in the center of his forehead and ended at the corners of his lips.
I couldn’t…feel what he was, which I thought should concern me more than it did.
“I’m not his friend,” the newcomer—who had to be a god—responded.
“Don’t lie.” Theon laughed, spinning as he launched the spear-shaped eather. “You’re my best friend.”
The god huffed. “Just wait until you sleep,” he muttered, and I was beginning to think I was hallucinating the conversation. The stranger turned his head to mine, and even though I could no longer see his features, I felt his stare. “Hello.”
My lips parted, but all that came out of my mouth was a wet cough that caused my chest to seize.
“Don’t try to speak,” he said softly. “Don’t need you choking on blood.” The hooded head tilted. “Well, more than you already a—” A flash of bright eather streaked overhead, stinging my eyes. He swore, his head jerking up as Theon went flying backward. “Fuck.”
He started to rise, as if to go to him, and then stiffened. He cursed again, wrenching his body around. “Come on,” he said gruffly. “We’ve got to get you out of here.”
He worked his arms underneath me and lifted, igniting a wave of pain. A weak whimper escaped me as the realm flickered in and out of focus.
“Sorry,” he muttered, adjusting me so my head rested on his shoulder.
A crack of energy jerked my attention upward as the god rushed us across the Hall.
Everything was blurry as he turned, but I could make out Kolis and Theon.
They were high above us, near the highest point of the dome, crimson and silver Primal mist swirling around them in dizzying speeds as they exchanged blows with their hands and eather.
A pained shout echoed, causing my chest to squeeze.
Darkness crept into the corners of my vision as the chamber seemed to tilt.
Above us, Kolis and Theon almost appeared as if they were embracing each other.
That was how close they were. The pulsing, crimson Primal mist stilled, and the air all around us…
vibrated. Kolis had his fangs buried in Theon’s throat and his hand… Kolis’s hand was inside Theon.
The Primal’s body jerked, his head kicking back as a crimson glow lit up the veins of his cheek and throat. I dug my fingers into the god’s coat—
Theon flew backward, hitting the wall, but he didn’t fall as his arms stretched out to his sides.
The front of his shirt was torn open and—oh, gods—so was his chest. The glow in his veins pulsed and grew, and Kolis…
he was holding something lumpy and red in his hand.
It fell to the floor below with a wet, mushy splat that turned my stomach as stone cracked along the dome, making it sound as if something was digging at it from outside.
Kolis struck, moving so fast that he was on Theon in less than a heartbeat, grabbing him by his mangled throat. With a roar, Kolis sharply twisted his arm, tearing through muscle and bone.
The god carrying me stumbled, his head jerking back as the draken I’d felt earlier let out a sharp, staggering call, and its thick, dark talons punched through the ceiling.
The taste of bitter horror momentarily swamped the metallic tang of blood as the very realm seemed to inhale, sucking the air from the Great Hall.
The helmet—Theon’s crown—hit the floor with a jarring clang. It rocked and shuddered, then vanished.
Chunks of debris fell from the dome as a massive talon, covered in purplish-black scales, appeared, gripping the stone and ripping it free.
Reaver.
It was Reaver.
Fissures formed in the wall that Theon’s body was still pinned to, spreading downward.
The pillars below shuddered and then simply disappeared.
The floor buckled, tiles rising into the air and breaking apart.
The air distorted and warped as Reaver climbed in through the hole he’d made, sending more stone crashing to the floor.
A shockwave of energy slammed into us. Suddenly, I was airborne and weightless, flying in the opposite direction of the god.
I glimpsed Reaver’s large form twisting as a blast knocked him backward, his outstretched wings folding under the force.
I hit the floor hard, and everything went dark for several seconds.
I came to, lying in something sticky and wet. I tried to drag in air, but I couldn’t take a breath. It felt like my lungs had collapsed. I couldn’t—
“Where do you think you’re going?” Kolis landed less than a foot from me and knelt. I saw a flash of his bloody hand before he gripped the hair at the crown of my head. With a quick jerk of his arm, he cranked my neck back as he dragged me onto my knees. “We’re not done yet.”
Primal essence sparked from him, pure crimson and icy as it spilled into the air. The red glow rose behind him in twin arcs, forming the shape of wings made of pure eather. The flesh of his face thinned until I saw the dull crimson sheen of his cheek and jawbone.
I didn’t want to close my eyes as the ground began to tremble.
I wanted to keep them open. To face Death.
But they slammed shut just as his lips pulled back, and the skin around them disappeared. He bared his fangs, and his head snapped down—
The realm vanished.
There was nothing.
Not even sound. And then a loud crack jerked me from the darkness, and all I heard was snarling and growling as the manor shook, tossing me left and then right.
Suddenly, I was lying on my back. Half of the ceiling was gone, as was an entire wall of Seacliffe.
The scent of decay blew in, carrying the faintest traces of the sea.
Somehow, I had ended up near Reaver, and there were shouts—pained and furious yelling.
I thought I recognized the voice of the god who had tried to get me out, but there was another—a woman’s voice that was blade-thin and full of rage and sorrow.
My vision seemed to pinwheel around the chamber. She was screaming…
She was screaming for Theon, but I couldn’t see her as Reaver rose from a plume of dust, shaking his large, diamond-shaped head. The double doors blew open, and a tall female draped in crimson entered, her eyes glowing with eather. She was immediately struck with Primal essence, her body exploding.
My eyes followed the fading bolt of eather to a tall, brown-skinned woman with braided hair—the Primal goddess I’d heard screaming. She stalked forward, a bronze-and-black crown clutched in one hand.
A male darted into the room, and Revenants poured in behind him, their pale faces painted with red wings.
There was a flash of the hooded god, and then he was behind the male, his hands on the sides of the other’s head.
Reaver’s spiked tail whipped through the chaos, taking out a pillar and an entire line of Revenants.
Some went flying, others were impaled on the horns lining his tail.
One of his massive forelegs slammed down in front of me, splintering the tile as he stretched over me, extending his long neck.
His mouth opened, and smoke wafted out before a stream of silver fire erupted.
The flames swallowed the Revenants, and screams tore through the air.
As Reaver roared, releasing another funnel of fire, I saw Kolis.
The Primal mist around him had disintegrated, and something was on him—something large and covered in silver fur.
He stumbled and then went down, bright red tinted with a blue shimmer coursing down his chest and arms. Whatever that something was, it was clawing at Kolis’s chest, shredding the flesh.
It was a wolf.
One larger than any wolven I’d ever seen. And it was shaking its head, violently tearing into Kolis.
Darkness came for me again, and there was no fighting it this time.
It swept in like a tide, tugging me under.
Everything went quiet, and then I heard a low whimper, or maybe a whine.
Softness tickled my cheek, and then I felt something cold and damp.
The pained whining disappeared, replaced by Reaver’s gravelly voice. He was shouting. Yelling my…my name.
“Hold on.” Another voice cut through the haze, one full of authority and carrying smoke and shadows. I felt myself being lifted, enveloped by the scents of citrus and fresh air. “You just need to hold on. Do you hear me, Poppy? You need to hold on.”
I wanted to.
But there was only snow-frosted silence.
And then…
And then I heard her.
“Give her to me,” she demanded in a voice that was strong but not steady. There was a tremor under each word that tasted like panic and regret. “Give her to me, Ash.”
A glimmer of warmth brushed my cheek. The touch was featherlight at first, and then, as if I had stepped out into the summer sun, the warmth spread, chasing away the numbing cold that had invaded my muscles and bones.
A breath lifted my chest.
I smelled lilacs…fresh lilacs. And a strange taste that hadn’t been there before filled my mouth: sweet and slightly floral, almost like a ripe pear but with a metallic edge to it.
It tasted like…blood.
Like life.
“It’s okay,” she whispered as that sunlight filled me. “You can let go now.”
I did just that.
I slipped into the sun.
And I let go.