Chapter 35
EMMELINE
As I tossed Cethina’s head onto the ground before me, agony sliced through my back. I couldn’t look at Ryo, the poor dragon whining in pain that only I could understand the true horror of. As they’d been pulling Rain out of the pit, my knees had buckled, and I’d barely been able to keep standing. If it weren’t for my shadows, I would have been on the ground. Using them to remain upright was a tiresome drain on my divinity, but healing myself had done nothing. What I truly needed was to get those daggers out of Ryo’s back, and to press healing hands upon him.
In the meantime, I swallowed the pain. I used my divinity to support me, hoping to mask how badly I ached. Because if they knew my dragons were connected to me in this way, I was certain to meet a gruesome end. This had been exactly what Rain was afraid of. He hadn’t wanted me to put myself in danger while bringing my dragons out to meet our enemy. But this was never going to end another way.
My shadows took on a mind of their own as I walked forward, encircling my legs beneath my armor. Out of sight, they forced my knee to bend as I approached our enemy.
I couldn’t let my gaze fall upon Rain. He’d looked half-dead when Nereza lifted him from that pit. The bond between us was strong though, and I knew he was alive. That was the best I could offer myself in this moment. Because the second I looked at my husband, I knew I would break. He would see to the core of me, like he always had. And I wasn’t sure I could maintain my farce if I saw his expression. That love and comfort and healing he’d want to give me, that anger and frustration over what had happened—I would collapse the minute his emerald gaze met mine.
“Now, now, Nereza. Do not tempt her to use that beast,” the Supreme said, placing a hand on the Nythyrian queen’s shoulder. He was right to warn her. We were easily close enough now for Lux to open her deadly mouth and breathe divine fire on every person who stood in my way.
My only fear was that I would need to do what I threatened. If they had the blood of the Beloved, how much would they still need to summon a god? Cyran’s letter had mentioned my sister’s bones, and even though I couldn’t possibly understand how she could be his bane, the Supreme was probably closer than I was to seeking an audience with the divine. But I couldn’t watch them hurt Ryo and Rain either. Would I need to burn every single one of us beneath Lux’s divine fire?
Swallowing, I pulled the vial I’d taken from Cethina from beneath my armor. Holding it just as I had Cethina’s head, I let it sway in front of me. My blood moved slowly as the vial swung back and forth, and I stuffed my displeasure away. I was prepared to make a sacrifice. Especially if I could get what we needed out of it. Eyeing the Supreme as he walked closer, he seemed much thinner than the last time I saw him. Gaunt, his cheeks were sunken, and I could tell his robes were looser. And yet when he saw my blood, his eyes lit up.
The arrogant man hadn’t even bothered with armor. Considering what I wanted from him, I hoped that hubris would cause his downfall.
“Let my soldiers go,” I ordered, voice somehow far louder in the dawn than I’d anticipated. “Let my husband go. Let my dragon go. Leave our city and go back to the hovel which you came from, and this vial of blood is yours.”
“Em,” Rain’s voice croaked, but there was no alternative. I didn’t look at him.
Nereza laughed, but the Supreme tilted his head in thought. “Perhaps an arrangement can be made.”
“ Will be made,” I corrected. “Or everyone with the poor luck to be standing in my dragon’s path will meet their end in the next few moments.”
Lux snarled behind me, readjusting her massive frame, and the soldiers standing behind the Supreme shifted uncomfortably. The Supreme frowned in displeasure, but said nothing. Lifting his hand to his chin, he turned away from Lux, as if the sight of her unnerved him. His light brown hair had grown long while they attacked our city, curling at his nape. He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck, and his posture shifted, and I took a small measure of pride in knowing Lux had discomfited him. Even Nereza looked uneasy. She’d stifled her sobs rather quickly after I threw her daughter’s head on the ground between us, though her pinched expression and white-knuckled grasp on Rain’s shoulder told me she wanted retribution. But at the sight of my dragon’s threatening stance, she visibly blanched.
The screams of our soldiers dying in that pit echoed in the early dawn, and divine fire crackled behind me as it destroyed the Wend. All of that work we’d wanted to accomplish, homes that our people hadn’t wanted to leave—gone beneath my fire. But I couldn’t regret it after killing so many of their soldiers. I didn’t know what else to do. If only they didn’t have Rain and Ryo, I would have used Lux to kill them all and delighted in their screams.
Nereza stalked toward the Supreme, and Ryo flinched away from her. She tightened the shadows around him, sneering down at my poor, bound creature. He couldn’t move, and the daggers were so deep in his back, I worried I wouldn’t be able to heal him. I did my best to hide my own reaction because his movement made me ache. I couldn’t take a deep breath, and a forceful cough came up my throat. Ryo let out a long and loud whine, and I decided I wasn’t going to wait any longer for their decision.
“Send Rainier to me now, or Lux will turn us all to ash.”
My dragon rumbled behind me, and I wondered if I only imagined the disappointed tone. As if the idea of hurting me pained her.
“The vial first,” the Supreme boomed.
I bit my lip, uncertain about my course of action. With the wards surrounding the city down, there was nothing to stop him from using another conduit to rift away with my blood, leaving Nereza behind to kill Rain and my dragon.
“Come and fetch it, then,” I decided. If he came close enough to take the vial from my hand, I could demand my husband and the dragons in exchange for his life. I would kill myself along with him if I had to. Lux growled behind me, only further confirming she understood my intentions.
The Supreme weighed his choices and listened as Nereza whispered in his ear. I couldn’t understand their dynamic. Most of the soldiers belonged to her. Though many Folterrans had sided with the Supreme after Declan’s demise, many returned to their homes. The vast majority of the enemy encircling our city had been Nythyrian—evidenced by their pale skin and light hair—so why did Nereza defer to him? Why did he take the lead?
The Supreme pushed Nereza away, and she hastily caught herself. Was she hopeful her soldiers didn’t see the Supreme’s dismissal? Her eyes caught mine as she turned toward us once more, and her hateful gaze narrowed on me. I worried she would take her anger out on both Rainier and Ryo, who were still tangled in her shadows. I could only hope she understood that whatever she did to them, I would do to her and her daughters ten-fold.
“So much trouble could have been avoided if you’d come to this conclusion sooner,” the Supreme said as he approached. When his eyes dipped to my legs, I worried he could see the shadows keeping me upright.
“So much trouble could have been avoided if you’d have been content with what you have in Lamera,” I countered, trying to draw his attention away from my weakness.
I was tempted to kill him where he stood, but then Nereza would do unspeakable things to those I cared about. He stepped closer, speaking to me almost conspiratorially.
“I’m afraid what I need the god’s favor for is far too important for me to remain at the Seat.”
“Then take this, and go back there,” I said, shoving the vial of my blood into his hand. I shuddered, knowing that I was only pushing him one step closer to his goal. But if Rain and I could figure out the prophecy and find favor amongst the gods first, perhaps that would be enough.
It had to be.
The Supreme snatched the delicate, glass vial out of my hands, inspecting its contents. When a cool breeze lifted my hair and his robes, he shivered. “How do I know it’s yours?”
I stared at him, lifting a single brow. “You don’t, I suppose.”
“And you expect?—”
“Would you like to discuss your doubts with my dragon? You did seem cold.”
His throat bobbed, though his brows furrowed as he scowled at me. “I admit I have not given you any reason to trust me, and so surely you don’t expect me to trust you.”
My eye began to twitch as I reached for my dagger. The violet-red stone inlaid in the hilt caught the Supreme’s eye. His gaze darted to the ring I wore on my finger, its color matching that of the stone on my weapon. It changed color depending on the light, and in the early dawn, with divine fire behind me, it favored red.
Like the blood in the vial. Like the blood I planned to spill one day.
He unstoppered the vial as I trailed the blade across my palm, and then held it to the wound. “You would do anything for love, would you not?” he whispered.
I only stared at him, jaw clenched, as he filled the empty space in the vial with my blood. Did he mean Nereza?
“Almost anything,” I said, although I wasn’t sure if those words were true. Perhaps I didn’t have a limit. The Supreme placed the cork back in the vial and turned away from me. My grip was strong as I grabbed his shoulder. “Now, send them over or you and I will greet the gods together. Here and now.”
With a flick of his wrist, he signaled to Nereza. Though visibly irritated, she moved closer, and her shadows carried Ryo and Rain behind her. I sucked in a quick breath as the pain from Ryo’s jostling seared through my body. The Supreme’s head canted to the side. He’d heard the gasp, but he couldn’t possibly know what it meant. Could he?
Nereza cautiously made her way over, and we waited in silence. Two women, presumably Nereza’s daughters, walked behind Rain and Ryo. Not for the first time, I wondered where the Scythe and the Scar had gone off to. When they’d told us about fearing their sister, the Silence, at our coronation, Rain and I had decided that it was none of our business. But now, with their mother leading an army against us, they were nowhere to be found.
One of the women, whose flaming red hair reminded me of Mairin, carried a sword, and she pantomimed swinging it toward Rainier’s neck. She’d die slowly, if I ever had the chance. The other woman was unarmed, but undoubtedly just as deadly.
“You will leave and allow us to tend our wounded?” I asked.
“Yes,” the Supreme answered. “There is no need to kill innocents who will someday soon bow down to me.”
I said nothing, waiting impatiently as Nereza approached. She stopped, just far enough that I wasn’t confident Lux’s flames would reach if I needed them to. “Closer,” I commanded, and Nereza merely crossed her arms. It wasn’t her worst idea, because I suddenly contemplated testing the limits of controlling the divine fire. If she stepped nearer, could I make it avoid me and Rain and Ryo?
She used her shadows to deposit her prisoners on the ground between us. The Supreme still stood beside me, while Nereza and her daughters weren’t far behind my loved ones. Allowing the shadows to drop from Rain’s body, Nereza beckoned toward the Supreme.
I allowed myself a respite to take in my husband’s face. Weary, it seemed as if he’d aged ten years since I’d last seen him. He panted, and sweat beaded his brow. If he was still this poorly, certainly those in the pit were faring worse. He watched me with parted lips and wide eyes as he stumbled closer.
“Send Zaphus back, and I will unhand your monstrosity!” Nereza called, and I could understand her fear. With me and Rain and a dragon beside us, we might have easily overpowered the Supreme.
“Go,” I ordered, and the man who’d nearly sacked our city, who had committed terrible atrocities against us, moved forward unharmed, nodding toward Rainier as they passed one another. I huffed a laugh, distaste and hatred heavy on my tongue.
The Supreme had nearly reached her side, when he held up the vial of my blood, drawing celebratory cheers from his soldiers. It seemed Nereza wasn’t so pleased with this arrangement because the breath was knocked out of me when she crushed Ryo once more with her hateful divinity. My dragon writhed in pain, his cries gone hoarse, drawing tears to my eyes. Between my pain and his, I wasn’t sure what was worse. But I could barely walk, and neither could Rain. There wasn’t much we could do.
But it wasn’t me they had to be worried about.
For in that moment, Irses intervened, drawn by Ryo’s cries. Darkness engulfed us, and I could no longer see. Irses’ shadows, my shadows, purred as they wrapped around us.
“Oh gods,” I gasped, as I summoned divine fire into my palm. Rain stumbled forward, though I wasn’t sure what he intended to do either. Lux growled behind us, and the ground shook as she launched skyward. The gust of wind from her wings threw us to the ground, and I watched in horror, praying to the gods for the protection of these great beasts of mine.
Backlit by Lux’s fire as she decimated the Supreme’s soldiers, I watched as Irses dipped low, mouth agape. Roaring, he dove for Nereza—the woman who had tortured Ryo, who had brought endless suffering to Astana, who had threatened me. She stumbled, shocked by his approach, and fell to the ground, but Irses was undeterred. The Supreme stood just beside Nereza, arm outstretched as if to defend himself. Irses’ open mouth snagged the Supreme, lifting him into the sky.
“Divine fucking hell,” Rain murmured from beside me, though neither of us moved to intervene.
Nereza screamed, scrambling to her feet. As Irses’ powerful wings propelled him upward, the Nythyrian queen used her shadows, wrapping them around the Supreme’s lower half. With a guttural howl, she pulled with all of her strength.
Though everything had been thrown into chaos, I thought I heard the ripping of the Supreme’s flesh as Nereza tore him from Irses’ grasp. Lifelessly, the man tumbled to the ground, and within an instant, Nereza’s daughter had rifted them away.
Eyes wide, I watched as Irses slowly circled high above. The screams of the enemy soldiers nearly drowned out Lux’s roar as her divine fire rained down upon them. Veering sharply, she headed toward the city walls, in fierce pursuit of everyone who had brought such unthinkable harm down upon us.
My body was throbbing, and my arms gave out. I groaned as I pitched forward to the ground, only barely catching myself from slamming my face into the cobblestone street. Rain grunted, crawling towards me and pulling me into his arms. As he placed a soft kiss on my brow, we both flinched as something fell from the sky in front of us.
I adjusted, lifting my head to see, and I felt Rain’s surprise through the bond at the same moment I realized what it was. The Supreme’s arm, still clothed but covered in blood, laid in the street before us. Wrapped tightly in his fist was the chain which once held my vial of blood. I could only hope it had been destroyed in Irses’ maw, but I was certain we hadn’t been so lucky.
“You get whatever you put your mind to, don’t you?” Rain asked, and I collapsed into his embrace once more.