Chapter 26
Twenty-Six
Ihurried back down the stairs, my feet slipping against the slick stones as I searched for him. Without speaking his name, I knew I searched for the Hollow King, and the riot of emotions that surged through me was unspeakable. Thoughts careened and doubts arose.
The Hollow Ones were real, and if they were real, why had they been silent, especially when I needed him most?
I hadn’t done what he requested, and he left me to take the brunt of the blame, to suffer.
Alone. There had to be a reason for it. I would demand an explanation for what he’d done.
It was only now, as the demons rose, that they came, too, to fight against them as though it were a battle eons old that continued to echo across the land.
But I was past feeling sorry for myself; something else had risen, hard and unrelenting. I wanted everything. I wanted to win, and I wanted all of this to be over and peace restored.
A demigod with a long braid swung a hammer, flattening a demon.
Lightning bolts leaped from the sky, and clouds rolled dark over the moon, as though one of the demigods controlled the weather.
I’d learned their powers, I’d heard their names, I knew what was possible. This mountaintop belonged to them.
Since when had humans dared to carve out a spot in the realm of gods and call it home? The high places were meant for gods, and we were nothing, nothing at all. If anything, we should have fled, running from the strange energy, the magic.
Yet I, too, was attracted to power, to the possibilities of what could happen with magic. The way I felt, dancing with Airen, was unlike anything I’d felt before. The sound of the demigods’ dreams still haunted my mind. I wanted it back, and I wanted more besides.
But I didn’t see Airen among them.
The Wardens were taking advantage of the chaos and blocking the stairs, herding the people away from the carnage. I saw Betta, working with the healers, tending to the wounded while others carried them away on stretchers.
The dancers were fleeing back to the Sacred Palace, and I didn’t have a purpose.
Guilt crept across me, and I turned, and there stood Sacred Mother. Her hands had come down, and she no longer watched the demons and demigods fight. Even though she was veiled, I could tell that she was staring at something, a hardness about her as though she were readying for battle.
I followed the trajectory of her body.
And there he was.
Real. Not a fever-dream. I hadn’t made him up. He was flesh and shadow, standing in open moonlight for the first time. The relief hit so hard it was close to grief. Every night I’d lain there and questioned my sanity. But he was real. I had not dreamed him.
Airen stood, dressed in black and crimson, a scroll in one hand like a weapon. His whole body was fixated on Sacred Mother, and he moved toward her with his graceful, predatory stalk.
Just as quickly, my relief curdled.
There was something intimate, almost familiar about their movements as they came together, and a sour note went through me. Familiar. As if they’d made a bargain together, long ago.
Had I been a pawn in this game, a tool they both used to meet their own ends?
Airen had hinted at as much; he’d been straightforward with me, or so I assumed.
And I’d fallen under his spell. I’d danced for him, thinking of how terrible it must be to be trapped in the darkness. In the decay of that dying kingdom.
I’d been wrong. Blinded. Tricked.
They say one’s first love has that power, and he had been my first everything.
I wasn’t sure what drove me, but I moved toward them, climbing the stairs while the chaos continued behind me. The bellows and roars, the screams and cries. It was a bloody war, but I wanted to see this one, to see who might come out the victor.
Sacred Mother lifted her veil, and even from a distance, I made out the red glow of her eyes. No longer black but boiling as though she seethed with anger. Why would that be?
Airen came to a stop a few feet from her and held up a scroll. “The terms of the bargain were not met, which demands blood. You are the responsible party, but I am a fair king. So, I’ll give you a choice.”
“A choice.” Her voice was cold. “As though you have all the power. This is my land, these are my people, and you seduced one of my dancers to do your will. Don’t think I don’t know what games you play, what power you have.”
“I did not seduce her. I gave her a choice. It was her own free will. Do you think I’d be here without it? It was what you did to her that drove her to choose a side. You drove her away with fear.”
He was defending me. How badly I wanted his words to be true, and an explanation for four weeks of silence.
“And I suppose you welcomed her to your arms with pleasure. It’s two kinds of seduction. Don’t pretend you’re any better than me.”
“I will. Because I am not human. I do not have to feed on the blood of my family line for immortality.”
“As though you think you know who I am or understand my habits, or why I’m here.
I am here to protect my people from filth like you.
I see what crawls in the darkness. I know the death and devastation you would bring.
Murdering my people, spreading lies, driving my dancers insane.
You belong down there in the dark with those demons, so don’t come up here and pretend that you know what happens on the surface. ”
“Taveil? Isn’t that your name? You made a deal with my father, well over a hundred years ago.
How old are you now? Two hundred? Three hundred?
How many decades have you waited? Watching your people, stealing their souls to feed your immortality?
Has it been longer? It has, hasn’t it? And now, all your hope thrives on the last one.
Gazelle. One of your many great-granddaughters.
What will you do when you’re done with her?
When you’ve sucked her soul dry? Who will you turn to next?
What city will you leech yourself to and bleed dry with your demands?
Is your life so rich that you might seek to live at the devastation of all? ”
Sacred Mother pulled the veil back over her head and straightened up. Commander Tiberon walked up on one side, a large, carved knife in hand.
My hands flew to my mouth, but Airen did not appear intimidated. Instead, he held up the scroll, unrolled it, and started ripping it into pieces. The shreds of it fluttered to the ground, and when they touched the stone, they went up in a puff of white flame, disappearing.
“The bargain is broken,” Airen announced. “You have no power here.”
“Leave,” Sacred Mother commanded. “Begone and take your demons of the night with you.”
“This isn’t over,” Airen retorted. “For the record, understand that I tried to reason with you logically. What happens next, I will not carry the blame on my shoulders.”
“You will,” Sacred Mother said coldly. “Because if any more blood is spilled here, it will remain on your conscience.”
Tiberon took a step and swung the knife, not close enough to stab Airen, but enough to threaten him.
Airen lifted his hands and had the audacity to turn around.
His gaze caught mine, but his expression didn’t change.
As if he wasn’t surprised to see me, and the emptiness of the past four weeks hadn’t happened.
His jaw was hard, and those green eyes flashed murderous.
Instead of pivoting away, he held my gaze.
I was riveted to the spot, unable to back away as he neared.
His scent reached me—wine and spice and citrus, the scent I’d learned to love.
A longing rose full force. I’d missed him. I’d searched for him, and now…this…
Without breaking pace, he dipped down, wrapped his arms around my thighs, and lifted me. I fell forward, over his shoulder, so shocked all protests left me.
He carried me down the stairs, and my hair fell forward, blocking my view. Down we went to the dance floor, where he snapped his fingers.
The ground opened up and swallowed us whole.