46. Chapter 46
Addis’s eyes widened in disbelief. She seemed to be looking at Ora in a new light, then swiveled her head to me, coming to terms with who we were.
“I know how you play your cards. You’ve withheld from me, and it was time I played your game, darling.” Fyom gave her a smug grin just before his face fell and he straightened his back in the chair like he realized what he’d called her.
I felt sorrow for my friend, seeing how he was still so clearly in love.
Addis chewed on her lip. “Lucky for you, I can translate it.” She gestured for Fyom to hand it back then flipped to a page toward the middle. “Like I said, here it says Deric had the keys but knew their power was too much for anyone to hold. He couldn’t destroy them but left them—“
A crash broke into the room as Sury barreled in.
“Look at the scum I found.” Ariadne stumbled in front of him, Sury’s fist clutching part of her dirty tunic...
If it had been anyone else, I might have advised him to go easy on them.
But something settled deep in my chest knowing she was in our clutches.
A flood of wretched memories crashed together the moment I laid eyes on the woman.
Unspeakable whispers and lies that had slithered out of her mouth for my tender ears to hear.
The cascade of emotions swelled; it was too hard to discern what it was that I felt in this moment, but it was indignation that led the charge.
An involuntary hiss escaped through my teeth as my illicitus swirled inside my palm, encasing it in shadows, as my other hand produced a long Wielded blade.
“Ariadne.” Ora adjusted herself for a fight as a bright swirl of power rotated in her hands. Peiro’s presence was close to my back, my steady calm, as Sury led Ariadne to the table and forced her to sit at the opposite end.
Peiro’s eyes widened in disbelief. “That’s the woman you call Ariadne?”
Before I could respond, Addis rose to her feet and rested her palms on the table. “She is a guest here. What is the meaning of this?”
Ariadne snarled as Sury pushed her into a chair. I was surprised she didn’t call forth her own power until I saw Sury holding a blade into her skin to the point where a steady stream of blood poured from the wound.
She looked around the table until her eyes landed on mine, and smiled in a way that could only be described as otherworldly, like something rotten was embedded inside her soul.
And judging by the red in her eyes, it would be easy to assume her soul no longer existed. “Well, haven’t the giants blessed me…”
I advanced around the table and held my Wielded dagger to her chest. “The giants do not claim you, bitch.” My lip twitched as I took the sorceress in, noting her once-vibrant red curls had turned dull and were now unkempt against her pale skin.
Her clothes were worse for wear, like she had been on the run.
Even her hands, once adorned in ink to mark the tales of the giants, were now faded.
No ornate jewels or chains adorned her skin like the priestess I remembered.
Only a small, simple band of silver with a thin black piece inlaid at its middle rested on her forefinger.
My stomach rolled at the sight of it and from seeing this woman in the flesh.
“Apologies.” She grinned wide as her eyes transformed to their usual jade. She took in the Wielded moonlit blade on her chest before eyeing the dark magic swirling around the other. “It seems like you finally claimed your true power.”
I couldn’t tell if she was proud or if fear coated her words.
She knew how to play the game and play it well.
More images of my younger self flashed across my mind.
Visions of me sitting at my lesson table with red welts across my hands for not following her instruction correctly.
Memories of Ariadne screaming in my face when I couldn’t touch my Wielding to water her garden or my Firus to warm her tea.
Useless! Dumb child! You’ll fail your family.
You’re an embarrassment to your mother and father.
Don’t you dare call yourself an Endromeon.
My hand shook uncontrollably as the images flashed quicker.
Welts. Bruises she would repair instantly.
Damaging words that took even longer to heal.
The recollections spiraled over and over, forcing the breath in my lungs to hold.
My heart raced at a panicking speed. My hand wanted to drive my blade into her heart and be done with her.
I wanted to hear the sizzle of her skin and the pitch of her screams so she could feel a fraction of what I felt as a child. A poor child!
I shifted, just about to push my dagger in—
“Phe.” Ora’s warm tone pulled me from the brink.
My eyes blinked rapidly to recollect my thoughts.
Jade-colored eyes continued to pour into mine.
I adjusted my hand to add more pressure on her chest, bringing a slight gasp from Ariadne’s lips.
I leaned into her space and all but growled, “You might claim to know Thuvina, but you have forgotten it’s her depths that I have been released from. ”
I watched Ariadne’s face as she tried to regain her composure as if this were all for sport.
Her face grew into a sinister grin. “My, who is your shadow? His presence feels so familiar.”
Peiro growled as his eyes flared. Something about his shift set me on edge as my magic swirled deep in my gut. “None of your concern.” His voice deepened to a dangerous timbre, promising retribution.
Addis looked at Peiro then me before she raised her brow. “I will repeat myself: she is a guest here since she is a Follower, Your Highness.”
I lifted my moondagger to Addis. “She has committed crimes against our line. I frankly do not give a fuck if she’s a guest here.
Your land is still a part of Gria, where she offends the Crown.
And she is now in my hands.” I called my illicitus to wrap a shadowy rope around Ariadne’s arms. A guttural hiss emitted from her chest.
“I see more chips are on the table.” Addis cut a glance to Fyom, who only shrugged.
Ariadne looked to all of us then to the journal on the table. At the sight of it she straightened, the movement causing her to move more into Sury’s blade without a flinch. “Deric’s journal? So you learned of the prophecy?” Her grin was too wide for her face. “Good.”
My shadows tightened around her, causing another hiss as my blade revisited her chest. “What do you know?”
“More than you can imagine,” she snarled. “More than your dearest mother and father could comprehend—the poor souls. Their deaths were so sudden.”
The room plummeted into gray. Peiro grunted behind me, causing Ariadne to look away for a moment before setting her eyes back on mine.
Her lifesource looked warped and tainted, like it had been reused and was hanging on for dear life.
How many lifetimes has she defied to be sitting here?
The essence of it felt strange, but it made no difference—this ended now.
I held my hand forward, focusing on the pull to rip away her lifesource, but suddenly my wrist was grabbed with force and yanked away.
I snarled against the hold as a storm flooded my veins.
I turned to the intruder, ready to strike, only to find Ora’s gold eyes piercing mine.
Where her fingers wrapped around my wrist, there was a bright glow that battled with the shadows underneath my skin.
“Not yet,” Ora whispered. “She will get her end—I promise you that, my sister—but we need answers. And then we’ll take turns righting the wrongs she has done to our family.”
“Yes, be the good sister and talk sense into her,” Ariadne purred. Instead of walking away, Ora pivoted and threw her clenched fist into Ariadne’s jaw, forcing her to snap her head back and spit out what looked like a tooth onto the ground.
“That’s just a taste of what you’ll receive,” Ora seethed.
Sury looked at her in awe. “That was more of a turn-on than it needed to be.” Color rose to Ora’s cheeks as she blushed.
Ariadne laughed. “It looks like you two have been busy since I saw you last.” She tilted her head to Ora.
“So it’s true, from the looks of you. You’ve embraced your life magic, yes?
Every time you use it, it ages you.” She turned to me.
“And how’s your mind? Are the stories true about the voice?
Having nice chats? Isn’t it funny how the one who Wields life forfeits their own, while the one who Wields death succumbs to it?
Ironic, really. Then again, the giants have a sense of humor. ” Her laugh grated my ears.
“Looks like I can do much more than move a granule or two of dirt,” I sneered.
“Oh, but child, you Wielded death from the start. I lied to your parents and said you could barely Wield at all. Told them how you were such a disappointment to the great Endromeon line.”
“Why?” I spat in her face, my illicitus flaring strongly toward her. Why did my entire life have to change because of one person’s lies?
“Because he’s looking for you. I made a deal to reveal the true Death Wielder when the time was right, but I needed you ready before I handed you over.
Yes, there have been Death and Life Wielders over the span of history, but to make the prophecy work?
Well, they needed to be alive at the same time.
And the chance that it would be sisters was beyond what anyone could fathom.
I had been searching for so long, and you two fell into my hand so perfectly—and my plan was almost complete. ”