Chapter Twenty-Nine #2
Kassil’s laughter rings through the air, followed by another bright flash. The sulfuric tang of hellfire is carried on the cool breeze that runs over me, and I close my eyes.
My innate ripples, and I feel the comfort of the shadows rolling over my wounds. It’s doing what it can to repair and restore my battered body. I nearly slip into the darkness, but it’s Eve’s scream that tears through me, forcing my eyes open.
As my head lolls, I catch sight of Eve sprinting past me, a sword of hellfire flaring in her hands.
My vision goes in and out of focus, making it hard to follow her movements.
But as things come back into focus, Kassil is wingless and on his knees, Eve’s sword cutting through the air, aimed for his neck.
Another flash of light. And gods, that beautiful fucking fae appears, towering before Kassil, ready to throw his life down to save mine.
Ryc strikes at Kassil’s chest as Eve’s sword swings clear, and the archdemon’s his head falls to the stone. The moonstone in the pommel of the bloodstone dagger glints brightly in the moonlight. With a sigh, my eyes close again and I curl into my darkness.
?????????????
Surrounded by darkness, familiar voices reach me.
The typical calming timbre of Ryc is filled with panic.
The expected teasing tone of Eve is replaced with soul crushing cries.
“She needs a healer!” The voice sounds like Lilith’s.
My shadows curl around me like a protective cocoon, ready to lash out at anyone who comes too close. It guards me, like a caged animal protecting its young.
“Let us help you, little demon.”
Ryc.
There’s fear in his voice.
Why?
“We won’t be able to get close to her while she’s awake,” Lilith breathes. The feel of cool hands against my forehead that follow her voice lead me to believe she’s touching me.
My darkness won’t like that.
She screams, but her hands don’t leave me.
Instead, I free fall backward.
It’s then I realize Lilith possesses the dreamweaver innate.
?????????????
For a long time, I felt weightless—floating aimlessly in a pond in the middle of some forest, staring up at the night sky.
Finally, I open my eyes and find myself sitting in my favorite chair before the fireplace in the Tower’s library.
Eyes wide and wild, I fling myself to my feet.
The book in my lap flies onto the obsidian floor.
A small fire crackles in the fireplace, and there’s a short stack of books next to the fire. Several books sit upon the fire, the flames eating away at them with a voracious hunger.
I know this night.
This is the night Netharis locks me in an obsidian box. Punishment for my failure against Zuriel. These are the last moments I stand as whole—before being shattered and unwoven over the course of fifty years. Entombed to rectify undesired behaviors, a punishment designed to alter who I am.
“What is it, Ves?”
The familiar voice causes my heart to seize and I whirl around.
Vaelyn sits in the chair beside me, his silver eyes locking with mine and I gasp. The book in his lap lies open, his feet propped up lazily on an ottoman. With a shuddering breath, I stare at the face of my twin, stunned into silence.
He looks exactly the same.
As if nothing has changed.
How could anything have changed?
Nothing ever changes in the hells.
Falling to my knees, my hands fly to my face, covering my mouth to stifle the sobs that want to break free. He stares at me wide-eyed, as if I’ve lost my mind.
Perhaps I have.
“What in the hells is going on with you?” he asks, his brows furrowing as he gives me a scrutinizing glare. “Netharis has already said your mistake is easily corrected. I don’t know what you’re sobbing for.”
Clearing the vision-blurring tears from my eyes, I shake my head, continuing to sob.
“Vae…” is all I’m able to manage between breaths.
“I think you need rest, Ves,” he says, closing the book in his lap with the flick of a wrist. “You’re not yourself.”
“Kassil…” again more sobbing.
He lifts a brow. “I thought you ended things with Kassil.” He smirks. “Couldn’t let him go then?”
I shake my head, gasping to feed my lungs the air they desperately need.
“He’s dead. We’ve killed him.” My voice cracks. “I killed him.”
Vaelyn recoils in his seat, his face pinching with utter confusion and disbelief.
“What are you talking about? Kassil is out hunting Zuriel with Arzak. Cleaning up your mistakes, remember?” He stares at me, unmoving.
I don’t know why I’m bothering to tell Vaelyn about Kassil.
This is clearly a moment from my past, with an imagined version of Vaelyn. But I can’t stop myself. Even if this version of Vaelyn is a figment of my imagination, I want my brother to know what I’ve done. What I’ve been forced to do.
I helped kill the demon I’d given my heart to once long ago.
Centuries of shift and change between us from friends, to lovers, to enemies…
One of the pillars tying me to the hells, finally destroyed.
So why do I feel like I’ve killed a part of myself?
Swallowing through the tightness in my throat, I wipe the tears from my face with the heels of my palms. Drawing in a deep breath, I release it slowly, attempting to calm the confusing, complicated, and unexpected emotions rolling within me.
“Vestaris.”
My spine straightens at the sound of Netharis’ voice, and my eyes fixate on the burning books in the fireplace. I know exactly where he is without having to look over my shoulder.
I know because I’ll never forget this night.
Shifting my face, my eyes meet with the dark red, disappointed stare of my father as he stands near the end of the long table in the center of the room. Pulling myself to a stand, my eyes travel to the empty space to his left.
The space where Kassil should be standing.
He should be standing beside Netharis, staring at me with triumph in his eyes.
But he’s dead now. Ryc and Eve sent him to the void.
I open my mouth to speak, but only breathy noise comes forth.
“You’ve failed me yet again,” Netharis speaks and my body instinctively responds, despite my knowing this is a past event. “And the failure has cost me Kassil.”
As Netharis goes through his tirade, panic continues to build in my chest. But my physical response to the fear, to the trauma, doesn’t recognize this as the past.
It feels too real, only this time, there’s a heart thundering in my chest.
My body believes what I’m experiencing and fires all the warning signals. Collapsing to my knees, I clutch at my heart, threatening to burst.
I’m ready for this to be over.
Please don’t make me relive being locked away.
Please don’t shatter me again.
I don’t know who will emerge.
Netharis snaps his fingers and I’m engulfed in hellfire as my own scream deafens me.