Chapter 44
Seda
They stepped outside of the cavern, passing the tormented souls who deserved their fate on the way out. Seda didn’t look at them once as she marched through. She felt her power reemerge as they exited, and she inhaled the fresh air, free of decay and lavender.
Elco and Suza stood near the entrance, their wary eyes watching them.
“What happened in there, moon-flutter?” Elco anxiously asked as she neared him.
“We have the Stone of Peace,” she whispered. “You promised me an hour. How long has it been?” She looked up at the darkened sliver of sky above, moonlight casting its empyreal shadows across the jagged edges of the rock face.
“I promised an hour-ish. It’s been about three,” he said with a huff.
“No one was hurt?” Suza asked as she ran to Kalon and looked him over, crinkling her nose at the spider’s goop still attached to his clothing. He smiled down at her, but his gentle gaze shifted toward Seda.
“No,” he said, his deep voice sending shivers down her spine and making her heart tingle. She remembered now. He was the Guardian of the Last Sleep, created in the Deathly Sovereign’s image, and the first to capture her heart.
A wave of discomfort washed over her when their eyes met, but she quickly looked away, noticing his posture stiffen as she diverted her gaze.
Words crashed into her, tearing through her mind, ripping apart her soul. She fell to her knees and gasped as her head pounded in pain. She heard Elco growl and approach her, but she couldn’t focus on anything but the words.
“The dome will fall soon.”
“Where’s our queen?”
“The dome is weak.”
“Tonight marks one thousand years since its true creation.”
Roya tensed before shifting her focus to Seda. “Do you hear the Corvid Whispers?” she asked, stepping closer as she and Cahir knelt beside her.
“Her brother…”
“Our queen. We need our queen.”
“I feel her! She’s here! She has come!”
“Find her! We need our queen!”
“Roya’s back! I can sense her!”
Seda gasped and pressed both hands to her forehead, screaming out in agony as the words tore through her mind.
“Steady your breathing,” Roya suggested.
Seda inhaled a ragged breath and blew out through parted lips, trying to exhale the pain from her mind with each small breath that escaped her.
“You can close yourself off. Try to think of a brick wall between you and them.” Roya placed her hand on Seda’s shoulder.
Seda knew this. She remembered this now. She imagined a brick wall slowly being erected. With each brick she placed, the whispers grew quieter. She set the final stone in place and slowly pulled her hands away from her head. She looked up at Roya. She could still hear them, but they were muted now.
“I can now,” she rasped. “The dome over Joro is about to collapse.”
She heard Cahir’s gasp, and her eyes met his. Pain filled her heart for her friend. He just discovered the terrible truth about his mother, and she… she wasn’t who he thought she was.
“You need to send a message back, Seda,” Roya said as Seda stood once more. “They need to hear from you.”
“I don’t remember how,” she replied with a strained sob.
“Close your eyes and remove one of the bricks you just placed. Only one is needed. Call out to them. Let them feel you, my queen. Let them hear you.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, mentally removing one of the bricks once more. Whispers began to filter through her, but she blocked their messages out.
She hurled her words into the void, channeling her anguish into each syllable, igniting her inner fire of revenge.
“I am Seda, the Guardian Angel of the Celestial Vault, Bearer of Moonlight, Arbiter of Eternal Justice, the Corvid Queen—and I have returned with vengeance.”