46. Astraea #2
“Zamiel knows you’re right about that, Princess, but does anyone know what the fuck happened back there?
” Mavros looks around, his brows hiked up his forehead expectantly, but not one person offers any explanation.
We all know what we saw, but despite that, I’m not sure if any of us really understands it.
“My brother—he transformed into a creature.” Mavros continues bewildered.
Yeah, the very same type of creature that stalked my nightmares my entire life.
I’m about to answer his question the best I can, but Shayd clears his throat.
“What we—well, most of us now know, is that what he did is a rare form of magick that can be wielded by those with Kres blood, and sometimes strong Senka-born, transforming into something called Umbra Vitae. He thinks he sacrificed himself to save you,” Shayd says to Mavros before turning back to face me.
“To save her.” His steely eyes cut deep into me, and I stare just as sharply back.
The real question I want to ask is burning on the tip of my tongue, but instead I ask another.
“And you think what he did was what?” I ask incredulously.
His response isn’t as accusing as mine. Instead, he takes a deep breath, rubbing his palm down his face.
He scrubs at the scruff covering his jaw before letting the air forcefully out of his nose.
Relinquishing any fight he may have had left, he drops his arms to his side with that breath and a shake of his head.
“He showed Phaedra that the magick she has been trying to access for years has finally been unlocked.”
“So… You’ve known about all of this? About her plans?
” Mavros says through clenched teeth. Shayd doesn’t have to say anything to confirm.
The look on his face is enough guilt to do the job.
Mavros’ brows drop as he keeps his eyes on the man, but it's not Mavros who moves next. Ruaan’s fist connects with Shayd’s jaw so hard that there is a sickening crack.
One that sounds like a bone snapping. They both go flying into the sand, a plume of the dusty darkness surrounding them in the brawl.
“You knew! You deserve what will come for the rest of them! You deserve what was given to her!” Ruaan bellows, his fists landing heavy, over and over again into Shayd’s face and body. Cole holds tight onto me as I move to intervene.
“This has to stop,” I implore, needing her to understand.
I meet her worried gaze. “We need the answers that Shayd can give!” I pull out of her grip only to have it replaced with another.
Kellan’s much more vise-like hands wrap around my upper arms, but I won't be held back. My foot comes up and slams down on the one he’s been dragging.
I feel bad when he groans loudly, but it does as I had hoped, and he reflexively releases his hold on me.
I summon my shadows quicker than I ever have.
The dark onyx slithers down my arm and strikes out at Ruaan like a snake—a dark whip that hits with a snap the same as you would hear with leather.
His back arches back as he growls in pain.
I wince at the sound of it, and even though regret makes my mouth water and bile rise up my throat, I still yell out my protest.
“Stop! Ruaan, that is enough!” He lifts his fist again, and I wrap my shadows around it, pulling back so he is forced to look at me. “Stop.” I beg, and his crazed eyes meet mine. I’ve never seen this side of him.
“He may not have been the one who did it, Astraea, but everyone who had a hand in hurting her deserves every ounce of pain they can endure before their lives are forfeit.” He bites out, spit spraying from his mouth with the intensity of his declaration.
As I look into his hazel eyes, I see the tears of fury I know all too well begin to fill.
Placing my hand on his shoulder, I try to give him strength for whatever invisible demon he’s fighting right now.
“Who? Who did they hurt? Please, Ruaan.” I ask, trying to filter through the pain I can see radiating from him in waves. His bloodied fists unclench as he stands. My hand falls from his shoulder, and he staggers back.
“They took her from me and then they killed her.” He confesses, looking down at his feet as everyone else watches, a man who has been nothing but strength and arrogance since I laid eyes on him, fall apart.
“You were supposed to be the payback for their crimes, but when I asked around… the staff had nothing but good things to say about you. And when I asked about her—it was clear you loved her too.”
“Who?” I swallow, eyes filling with tears of my own, scared of whatever answer he could give right now.
“Sienna. My twin flame.” His head drops back, face skyward as he lets loose a ragged, pain-laced breath.
“I want to help you, now more than ever. I know what it's like to lose the other half of your soul.” Emotion clogs my throat as I try to focus on him on the words he’s saying.
If I don’t stay focused on what's right in front of me, I can feel the pain he’s talking about all too close to my heart.
The threat of losing Kyros is too much to contemplate right now, and that fear is ever increasing with Phaedra’s oath.
I don't even want to think about the pain I would feel if Kyros would be taken from me like that—by death, like Ruaan had Sienna taken from him. My eyes meet Mavros’ just behind Ruaan, and I can see the question he’s not willing to ask.
“Sienna was a handmaid in the palace. She was my first real friend; unfortunately, that friendship, like any relationship, was forbidden.” I say somberly.
Ruaan looks down at me. Focusing on my story.
“My father—Connard—never wanted me to get close to anyone. After one of his lessons, I was in pretty rough shape. It was probably one of the first times I passed out from the pain. Anyway, Sienna brought a woman into the palace that night to help me. Looking back, I think they must have used some sort of magick.” I pause thinking about that night and the woman who came into the kitchens that day as I was laid out on the counter like carved meat.
The balms and prayers they said over me…
Something about that woman seems oddly familiar, though I can't recall her face from that night. “I never saw Sienna again.”
“I was doing everything I could to convince my father to allow me to visit Eathian so I could bring her home. He refused, saying that she had rejected our bond. I knew it wasn’t true.
I loved her, and I know she felt the same about me.
So when he refused to let me go after her, I made it my mission to learn everything I could about Eathian and their magick-fearing king.
Once my magick had surfaced, my father doubled down on his refusal, and I knew I was already too late.
” His fist clenches at his sides as he recalls the memory.
“He wanted me trained in extraction and to learn how to will my Senka-born markings away. I did everything I thought I had to, but in the end, I was too late. I failed her. I felt the moment her soul was severed from mine. I still feel it.”
“I am so sorry, Ruaan,” I try to convey just how sorry I am, truly hating that the man I called my father for so long still hurts so many people, even after his death.
“I’m sorry for so many things Connard did, but I can't let you kill Shayd.” My gaze drops to face the man in question, and though battered and bloody, those steel gray eyes lift to meet mine.
“You were there. It was you who delivered me to Connard as a child—I want to know why.”