51. Chapter 51
Chapter fifty-one
At dawn, two days later, we leave for Italy, where the Diviner of Amherst resides, with Zeke along to play bodyguard.
We’re all on edge with a mutual agreement that Jeremy is an Archdemon, a detail Micah had already surmised as fact from his research.
He’d kept it to himself out of caution, not wanting to scare the rest of us.
Apparently, Archdemons are just what the title implies, the equal and opposite of the most powerful of angels, the Archangel.
The idea that I have a link to both him and Micah is terrifying, but I can only hope that being the Aza means I have the power to defeat him.
Travel doesn’t turn out to be as fast as a wish and a little magic.
We can only rift so far without needing to recharge, I discover, and once we arrive in Italy, we cannot rift to the island of Capri, where we will find the Diviner.
There’s spellcasting in place to prevent entry by way of magic.
We arrive in Naples, and the stunning beauty is breathtaking.
I’d always wanted to travel when I was a young girl, but my “parents,” or kidnappers at this point, sheltered me from the outer world.
They traveled extensively but never took me with them, but I’m here now with Micah.
And the city is everything I dreamed, filled with ancient history, amazing food, mountains, and an ocean that rivals that of Elysium, with blues and greens and glistening water.
But we are not here to sightsee, and apparently, we’re not welcome in Lucius’ territory anyway.
Once we’re on the ferry, I ask about that history. “Lucius is an arrogant ass who made me golf with him while he made his decision on your entry,” Zeke mutters. “I hate golf, and he knows it.”
“Is golf a thing in Naples?”
“Apparently it is,” he grumbles.
I laugh and lean on the railing, the air chilly, but nothing compared to that of Maine’s bitter cold. Apparently, Naples is quite mild in the winter months. “I thought you were going to say he made you fight for our free ticket.”
“I’d have enjoyed that,” Zeke says. “He would not have.”
I bite back more laughter as Zeke really is quite foul over the golfing he’s endured, and I glance at Micah. “What’s between you and Lucius?”
“We were in the Fray together. He wanted to outperform me because my father was a dick to his father, who served under him.”
“And how did it end up?”
“We tied, the only tie in history. Shortly after, my father demoted his father. He believed it was because of me.”
“Was it?”
“My father was a brutal bastard. So probably, but I had nothing to do with it.”
“He hates you.”
“Yes.” The horn blows for our approach to shore, and he pushes off the railing. “Let’s hope that doesn’t become a problem today.”
I allow him to guide me toward the exit, with Zeke on my opposite side, and I can feel the tension in the two of them. They think Lucius is going to be a problem.
The Diviner is in a remote area of the island, and thankfully, we’re able to rift to a border outside the Amherst River.
It’s then that we have to request entry at a gateway, which is empty space between two of the most enormous towering trees I’ve ever seen.
The trunks are at least fifty feet wide, the bark a dark, shiny brown, a glint of magic sparkling within the depths.
Micah captures my hand, and the three of us step to the center of the trunks, just outside the gap between them. “Ameera, it’s Micah. I need to see you.”
“She’s only taking requests from me.”
I whirl around to find a tall, good-looking man with dark hair, olive skin, and crystal blue eyes. He’s dressed in simple jeans and a T-shirt, but he drips with arrogance. “Lucius,” Micah greets. “I need to see her. Now.”
He smirks. “You demand as if you’re royalty. Around here, that’s me.”
“Don’t do this right now,” Micah bites out. “Not now.”
“Tell me why you need to see her.” His eyes shift to me. “And who might you be, beautiful lady?”
I can feel the spark of anger in Micah, but I untangle our hands and step forward. “I need a binding spell. That’s why we’re here.”
“What kind of binding spell?”
Micah reaches through our mental link and issues a fast warning. Do not tell him who you are. You’re being stalked by a demon. The end.
Understood, I reply through our connection, and then to Lucius, “I have powers a powerful demon wishes for his own. We do not want him to possess those powers.”
He smirks. “Really? What powers would this be?”
Can I show him? I ask of Micah.
Show him.
I hold out my hand and allow flames to spark in my palm.
If he’s shocked, he shows no reaction. I close my palm and extinguish the fire. Micah steps to my side. “As you can see, we need to ensure the demon cannot take what is hers.”
“There is more to this, though, isn’t there?” Lucius speculates. “What aren’t you telling me? And what do I get for helping you?”
“Your life,” I say, unable to hold back. “He’s an Archdemon.”
He pales slightly, and his gaze rockets back to Micah. “Is this true?”
“I’m afraid so. I shoved a sword through his gut, and he didn’t even bleed. He pulled it out and laughed.”
He steps closer, arms crossed in front of him, arrogance sliding away. “The Diviner can’t kill him.”
“But she can help protect Ember until we can.”
His attention shifts to me, and he studies me with the intensity of a cat about to pounce on his prey but finally says, “Go see her.” His gaze shifts back to Micah. “What is between us is irrelevant when it comes to the threat of an Archdemon. I’ll stand with you if it becomes necessary.”
Lucius inclines his chin at me and disappears.
Zeke steps to the side of one trunk, making it clear he’ll be waiting on us here, and I wonder if there is a threat I don’t understand, but I don’t ask.
Micah has already captured my hand again, guiding me past the invisible gateway, and I focus on what is before us.
The woods here are heavy, and the foliage a rich, thick green.
A small, blue bird flutters in front of us, glittery magic sparking around its wings.
The bird zooms forward, leading our way.
“Have you ever been here?” I ask softly, feeling as if I must whisper, and I don’t know why.
“Yes,” Micah confirms. “That’s how I know she will want something from me.”
I don’t ask for details. It’s too late for that to matter.
We approach a weeping willow, its limbs weighted down with the flourishing of greenery, and the bird disappears beneath its shelter.
We follow, dipping low to avoid hitting our heads, but once we’re inside the shelter of the tree, we’re able to stand tall in what feels like a cozy cave.
An old woman with white hair sits in a chair of wicker with a high back, her eyes glowing purple, her skin shriveled, her dress gray, almost colorless.
She looks at me for an unnervingly long stretch, and then her gaze shifts to Micah.
“You know what she is?”
“I know,” Micah confirms.
Her attention shifts back to me, a curiosity in the depths of that purple stare, and I wonder if there are more like her and if this is the shade of all Diviners’ eyes or just hers. “What is inside you, the evil of the serpent, will destroy you and us. What will you do if I bind it for you?”
“I’ll go to the Judgement Tree. I’ll let it free me. And when it does, I will not fail you.”
She considers me for eternal moments and then curls her fingers at me, the bones deformed with age, and I wonder how old she must be to experience such malformity. “Come to me,” she commands, and somehow, I know she wants me on my knees in front of her, and I willingly comply.
Once I’m before her, she reaches out to me, her hand steady, and she presses it to my head.
I sit there like that with her for what feels like eternity all over again until finally, she pulls back.
“You drink the water, but go to the tree with speed. The river cannot hold the serpent back long.” She eyes Micah. “You owe me.”
“What do you want?” he asks, as if her words are a condition to me drinking the water.
“For her to choose the light. I think you know you will be the decider, as I am the Diviner. Now go. Time is wasting.”
The bird flutters at his head, and I scramble to my feet. Micah catches my hand, and I quickly bow my head to the Diviner. “Thank you.”
I don’t give her time to reply, and I cut my gaze, fearful for some reason of what I might see there.
Micah must be as well, as he hastily pulls me forward.
A short walk through the woods, and we reach the clear-running river that otherwise looks like any other river, but when I kneel and scoop the water into my hands and drink, the demon screams inside me.
It claws at me, and I gasp with a sharp ache in my belly.
Micah pulls me close, my back to his chest, and holds me as I quake for what feels like forever, but it must only be a minute or two. And then, it’s over. Just over. I can feel Sara shift inside me and settle down, as if she’s relaxing, as if she can relax for the first time in a very long time.
I twist around in Micah’s arms. “It’s done. It worked.” Relief floods his face, and he helps me to my feet. “Now what?” I ask.
“Now we go to the Kingdom of Nephilim, but you cannot tell them who you are.”
“Then what do we tell them?”
“That you are my future wife, and we are petitioning to have children.”
The wife who could become the death of him, but I don’t think about that or the fact that I might love him. “I still can’t get my head around that idea.”
“It is the way of the Nephilim. You’ll learn much while you are in the kingdom.”
“I’m not sure I will like it all.”
“Nor do I, but this is our path to the tree.”
“So, we petition. What happens then?”
“They will send us both to the Judgement Tree to decide if we are worthy.”
To enter the kingdom, we must go through Elysium, a way to shelter the kingdom from humans and demons alike.
We spend one night there, sharing dinner and Nephilim wine with Gabriella, Silas, and Zeke while Braylon returns to the garrison, their protector in Micah’s absence.
We laugh and talk, the teasing between them sibling-like.
But beneath it all, there is a sense of foreboding.
They fear the day I go to the Judgement Tree, I think, and I don’t know why.
I think it’s a good thing. It’s one step closer to finding my place in the light, and with them, beyond this one dinner.
Later, much later, Micah and I prep our romantic fable to share with the king, practicing exactly how to handle the questions he anticipates.
It’s an intimate thing, planning our wedding and the birth of our children, even if this version of our life is a lie.
The possibilities of what we might become are in the air, but we don’t speak of them, not now, not with war before us.
When we’re sure we’ve got it down properly, we fall into his bed, naked and hungry for each other, passionate with a hint of desperation.
He’s worried, too, and his worry is what undoes me.
But I don’t ask him why. There is nothing about what comes next that we can change.
I have to do this. Freaking myself out with his fears won’t help me.
At morning light, we linger in bed, and to my shock, the entrance into the kingdom is at the bay behind the waterfall.
As I walk that way, the butterflies go wild, fluttering about my head, almost as if they want to stop me from leaving.
But I don’t stop. I follow Micah through the gap behind the water, and a moment later, we step into a forest at the edge of a giant mountain.
It towers upward, miles high, and disappears inside the crystal blue sky, a door as high as I can see sitting center, a gold glow radiating from it.
“The kingdom is behind the mountain,” Micah tells me, kissing my hand. “When we enter, we’ll wait in the gardens until the king’s most trusted guard sees us. If he grants us access, we will enter the kingdom.
“Do you think he will know who I am? Could he turn us down?”
“No. He won’t know. He won’t turn us down.
” He rifts us to the front of the door and then steps to the knocker.
He drops it several times, but it lands silently.
A slot that wasn’t there seconds before slides open.
Micah looks inside it, and he must receive some sort of approval.
The doors begin to open, and Micah holds his hand out to me.
Hand in hand, we walk into the garden paved with cobblestone sidewalks, a rainbow of flowers everywhere, many I do not recognize, and statues of angels with wings in various places. “Those are the warriors who battled demons in the great war and perished in battle.”
“They have wings.”
“We all do, but they’re bound by magic as a precaution taken to ensure we don’t disclose our presence to humans. Only the royal court have their wings now.”
A warning whispers in my mind, and I remember the feather I’ve left under my mattress in Elysium, but I shake off such thoughts.
I must not allow myself to be weak or scared.
I must be a happy bride-to-be. A loud bong sounds, and Micah motions me down a path.
“We’re being summoned.” Once again, he captures my hand, and we walk down the path.
Gold towering doors come into view, and as we approach, they part for us.
And what they reveal is the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen waiting on us, his face sculpted to handsome perfection from angel light, I think, his wings a red no human eye would ever understand, so deeply perfect it’s almost hard to comprehend.
This is the man who’s been visiting me, the man I never wished to meet, that on some level I knew would bring me to the hell I’d rather die than ever visit.
Now I know that hell is here, and he didn’t have to drag me here, I came of my own free will.
I can’t breathe, and my knees are weak, but Micah doesn’t seem to notice.
He greets the man. “Hello, Kai. Meet Ember, my future wife.”
Kai’s eyes are a crystal blue that outshines that of any Crystal Seer, a light in their depths you cannot look away from when he fixes them on you, as they are on me now. He steps closer and holds out his hand to me. I don’t want to touch him, but I have no choice.
My arm stretches, and my palm touches his, and in my mind, I hear, This is not where you belong.
The end…for now