Chapter 29 Gods’ Speed
Gods’ Speed
Lucian
T
he stench of Edward clings to Wendy, though I’ve convinced her to return to her suite.
Perhaps I could dispose of the body. It’s deteriorating rapidly upstairs in the Royals’ room.
Wendy can make it move, but without the Soul Ruby, that’s all she can do.
Yet we need it for Azaire. I know he wouldn’t take pride in the line we’re crossing, but there’s no other option.
I help Wendy walk as she limps beside me.
She keeps her head down when we reach the girls’ housing wing.
In the distance, there’s a fight. Students hurry past us, eager to escape the commotion.
I hardly look up, but the moment I do, I catch orange hair in my peripheral vision.
Then, I can’t stop looking. Wendy freezes beside me.
“Give it back!” Desdemona roars.
I nearly drop Wendy.
The students run, fleeing from the voice that beckons me. I should do the same, yet I run toward the terror.
First I feel the heat, then I see the flame. A ring of fire spreads around Desdemona. It twists up her arms like sleeves, dancing across her fingers and shooting sparks to the floor with each small movement. She could bring this building down with a flick of her wrist, and I’d watch.
Across from her is Fleur, barricaded by flame.
“Desdemona, stop!” Fleur screams. “I don’t have anything!”
With a cough, Wendy says, “She’s hallucinating.”
“How do you know?” I ask, unable to take my eyes off Desdemona. The fire spirals at her back, nearly looking like wings.
“I can feel it.”
Desdemona’s arms thrust upward, sending four blazing lines of fire sweeping across the floor in every direction. Fleur runs, narrowly reaching the exit, her footsteps a distant echo.
Desdemona screams at no one, her voice raw. Fire billows from her suite, burning through marble as if it’s nothing more than bark. The flames race toward me—an unstoppable force that surely means death. Just as the fire is inches away, my vision lurches.
I’m in the kingdom.
It is in complete disarray, the thrones and pillars cracking as that damned bloody hand reaches for me from across the room.
I’m closer than I have been in any of the visions yet.
I move forward, spotting a small star on the shattering floor.
It’s made of metal, glinting in the distance.
As I look away, searching desperately for the hand, I focus on the outside world.
The Great Sea below Ilyria tosses furiously, the foam turning red with each receding wave. Each time I step toward the hand, the waves slam into the castle walls, and the marble beneath me shatters with new cracks. If I stop now, if I shun the hand, the sea will stop and the kingdom will stand—
My sight snaps back, the light in the room overwhelming. I’m in the academy. The floor lurches beneath me, and Desdemona crashes to her knees. The flames in front of me hesitate and shrink away, retreating before they touch me.
Wendy slips from my arms, though I don’t reach for her. My legs are already moving of their own accord, pulling me closer despite every instinct screaming to flee.
I approach the ring of fire, and against all my better judgment, I step right through. The frays of my clothing catch alight. It burns through to my skin—yet hardly hurts.
I fall to my knees before Desdemona, reaching for her hands and holding her tightly.
“Let me go!” Desdemona’s eyes glow orange as she seethes, her features twisting in rage. “This is what you wanted!”
I could let her go. Leave her to her own devices. Let her burn herself to the ground.
I should, but I can’t. Not now. Not ever.
I’ll always reach for her.
“Desdemona, please,” I implore, my voice trembling as I cling to her. She struggles against my grip. “Don’t do something you’ll regret.”
Far above me, the stone groans, cracks rippling through the roof. I cover Desdemona with my body as a fragment of rock crashes down.
The massive rock lands inches from my feet, shattering the floor with a deafening shudder. The sound reverberates through the room, burning my eardrums as I glance upward. I hold my breath as the ceiling fractures and splinters, cracks spiderwebbing outward.
“Lucian!” Wendy calls. “Take her and run!”
Another fissure pierces the ceiling.
At once, I scoop Desdemona into my arms. She claws and screams, a guttural sound. I race for the exit as marble rains from the ceiling. I’m nearly there—a step away—when another crash erupts behind me, impossibly close.
“Go!” Wendy shouts as I begin to turn.
The arch marking the exit crumbles as I step through it. I don’t hear Wendy follow, and the stones tumble in a cascade of destruction.
“Wendy!” I shout, turning.
“I’m all right!” she replies.
A shortsighted response.
The ceiling collapses moments after.