Chapter 53 #2
A masculine shout from the adjacent room nearly jolted me out of my skin.
“You need to relax,” Lyriasthe hissed under her breath.
“I can’t. Not when I don’t know what’s going to happen,” I snapped, not caring about the harshness in my tone.
Minutes passed. My fingers ached from how hard I gripped the chair.
And then…
A blinding, brilliant light snapped between Heraphia and Iaoth’s chests.
Fuck, they’d done it.
Awed murmurs rippled through the room. Even those who had been focused on themselves opened their eyes to witness what the two had wrought.
I wasn’t the most religious Angel—prayer wasn’t my first response to stress. I didn’t much concern myself with remaining without sin. The Goddess appearing in my dream, questioning why I rejected Her gift, was the closest I’d come in years to Her. Even that wasn’t of my own volition.
But this…
An ominous cloud settled over me as that pulsing line between them thickened.
Heraphia sucked in air, her head snapping skyward. Aquamarine irises rolled back, leaving only white behind.
No!
A choked sound snagged in her throat. Her chest heaved, and I found mine rising in falling alongside hers. Shudders wracked her frame, and Iaoth only grinned.
I wanted to leap from my chair and claw the expression off her face. A hand pressed into my shoulder, firm and grounding. I glanced up, finding Lyriasthe holding me back.
“Sylaira,” she whispered my name, warning threaded in her tone.
“We have to do something!” I demanded, trying to rise again.
Lyriasthe shoved me down. “I will sit on you if I have to. My duty is to protect you.”
There was that fucking word again. Vaeron was notably absent in my mind, despite the fact that I hadn’t been walling off my emotions from him.
“Your sister is sharing power with Heraphia. You have to come stop her.”
Heraphia shrieked, tearing my attention back to her.
Foam bubbled from the corners of her mouth. She babbled, nearly incoherent despite the volume of her voice. The few words I managed to catch raised the hairs on the back of my neck.
War.
Peace.
Mirror.
Void.
Angel.
Demon.
Marriage.
Death.
The beam grew, so strong and blinding, I had to shield my vision. Through my fingers, I peered at my friend, her spine locked convex. She convulsed, collapsing backward, head cracking against the stone floor.
“Stop!” I screamed, leaping from my chair and racing forward. Lyriasthe reached for me and missed. I sprinted, the protest in my knee shoved away.
I had to get to Heraphia. I had to cease this madness.
Chaos erupted in the room. “Seize her!” Iaoth screeched, and a few attendants rushed forward.
Launching myself at my friend, I slid the remaining distance, knocking into her with my momentum. Wrapping her in my arms, I held her while she continued to jerk and shake. Terror rolled off her in palpable waves, slamming into my chest. A sob wrenched from her throat, spraying foam into my face.
But I didn’t care. Whatever she Saw, it wasn’t good. And she needed me. After all, she’d held me like this once before, long ago, the day we finally revealed our Goddess-cursed power to one another.
“Heraphia!” I shouted, desperation edging my voice.
The radiance between her ribs pulsed.
Two people grabbed me like they were going to pull me away, yanking on my arms. With a frustrated scream, I shook them off and clutched my friend tighter.
Air choked in Heraphia’s throat. I hurriedly wiped her mouth, then maneuvered her onto her side so she could breathe.
Still, her struggle did not relent. I bared my teeth at the Korona. “Stop giving her more magic! You’re killing her!”
“She’s almost there,” Iaoth gritted back, her skin pale and limbs trembling. A sheen of sweat coated her brow.
“You have no idea what this power is like,” I spat, wedging my arm beneath my friend’s head to support it further.
Another whimper—broken, desolate—brought hot tears to my eyes.
“See? She’s almost out,” Iaoth sneered. With a twist of her hands, she added more power. “Whatever she has to say will be world-changing. I just know it. My most brilliant darling.”
Heraphia seemed to alight from the inside out. Her thrashing slowed, along with her rise and fall of her chest.
And then…
She gasped, slamming to a sit, aquamarine irises locking with mine. A hand flew to her sternum, grasping at the band of power stretched between her and the Korona.
The glow intensified, and she screamed as if she were burning. She collapsed against the ground, writhing and clawing at her clothes.
“Heraphia!” I shouted, kneeling over her and trying to catch her desperate hands. My arms brushed through the line of magic, and it shocked me, sending a ripple of power through my veins so strong it yanked on the threads of my own power for a split second. I jerked back before it could take hold.
“Make it stop!” she pleaded, tears streaming down her face.
The Korona was by my side, leaning over my friend, in an instant. “My pet, what are you Seeing? Tell me to save your lover.”
But Heraphia couldn’t respond, merely babbled and sobbed and seized.
“Iaoth!” I shrieked, not caring that I was addressing the ruler of the Angels so informally.
Heraphia’s eyes rolled back once more.
“I need to hear what she Saw!” Iaoth protested.
Of course, that was all she fucking cared about.
Without thinking, I raised my hand and slapped the Korona across the face. “Stop the magic. Right fucking now,” I demanded. The sting in my palm was a welcome relief from the panic binding my ribs.
I’d unpack my violent act later, once Heraphia was okay.
The band of luminosity dimmed by the barest bit as Iaoth ire turned on me. “How dare you strike me!”
“I’d do it again to save my friend. Now let go of your power,” I snapped.
The Korona’s teeth gritted. A bead of sweat rolled down her temple. “I’m trying.”
“Try harder!”
My best friend stilled, the incandescent river drying up to a gossamer stream.
I whipped to her again, collapsing over her face and smoothing her hair away. “Thank you,” I choked out as Heraphia’s brows unfurrowed.
“That wasn’t me,” Iaoth gulped.
Heraphia’s eyes flew open—wild, crazed, and searching. She snatched my shoulders, squeezing hard enough to bruise.
“Sylaira. I Saw it. I Saw the end.”
Her breath hitched as she reached for my face. But her hand never made it. Heraphia collapsed, arms falling like the end of a dance, hitting the floor with resounding, final thuds. Aquamarine orbs grew glassy and distant.
And they did not blink again.
“No!” I screamed, this time gripping her and shaking with all my might. “Heraphia! Come back to me!”
But she didn’t. I smacked her chest, hoping to force her heart to beat again.
“Heraphia!” Her name was a shattered plea, a forlorn prayer on my lips.
Still, she did not move.
I sat back on my heels, nails raking through my hair and digging into my scalp. Grief roared inside me like I’d stepped beneath a mighty waterfall.
I lifted my head to the ceiling, dotted with floating white bubbles. “Why?” I yelled like our Radiant Mother would appear in them and give me a reason why we had to suffer so greatly.
“I didn’t get it. I didn’t find the memory of what she had Seen,” Iaoth moaned, drawing my attention—and my tempestuous wrath.
All she fucking cared about was whatever vision the Goddess had offered my friend.
Not that Heraphia was a kind, thoughtful person.
That all she wanted was for everyone to live in peace.
That she’d held me during my nightmares.
That we’d hidden in caves and coves and cupboards, hands over each other’s mouths so the hunters couldn’t hear our jagged exhales.
And in the end, we were caught anyway.
Now Heraphia, my sister, was dead.
I snapped.
“You bitch.” In an instant, I leaped across Heraphia’s lifeless body, toward the female who had pushed her past her limits.
The Korona and I hit the ground with a hard thud. White detonated from me, pinning her in place. With the amount of magic she had used, her answering rally was pitiful compared to my fury.
She shrieked for aid, but I was gone, sorrow lashing me like rain. All I wanted was for her to hurt like I was. For her to drown in the wake of her actions.
I slapped her again, this time drawing a dot of crimson to her lip. “You’re a monster! Look what you did! And you don’t even care!”
Blood thundered in my veins.
I cocked my fist, ready to slam it into her face, when someone caught my arm and hauled me backward.
The bond twisted in my chest as two strong arms wrapped around me from behind. I kicked and thrashed and dug my nails in, trying to break free. Instead, he lifted me off the ground, leaving me no purchase.
“Sylaira,” Vaeron ground in my ear. “Enough.”
“Never,” I snarled, twisting and torquing, trying to dislodge him. I poured more magic into my binds, ensuring his sister would stay the fuck down.
He gripped me tighter. “Take a breath, little fugitive."
But I couldn’t have, even if I wanted to. Vines constricted my chest, making it utterly impossible to expand. Glass filled my lungs, raking against what air managed to work its way down my throat.
Light unfurled over the floor, his power pooling around his boots, primed and ready to be unleashed.
“I’m here,” he crooned, his voice velvety and soothing, into my mind. “Let go now.”
All around us, servants waited, poised on the verge of intervening. Not servants—Sightkeepers in polished armor, some with hands on their hilts.
Fear spiked through me.
“No one will hurt you. I’ve got you,” Vaeron continued, his gentle rock reminding me of a ship moored in a harbor.
My vision blurred, and then hot salt spilled over and carved a path down my cheeks.
“She’s dead,” I whimpered, body slackening, claws retracting.
He squeezed harder, holding me upright beneath the weight of the waterfall. “I know, little fugitive. I know.”
Magic dissipated, returning to me. Like it never would for Heraphia again.