Chapter Forty-Four #2
Nolan smiled, tsking me. “None of that.” He released his shadows, which speared toward me, burning my hand and scalding my skin, the effect like tiny shards of glass. My sword disintegrated under his death magic, my hand spasming. Black flakes of char drifted toward the floor in its wake.
“Give me Delah,” I gritted out.
Nolan motioned toward the cloaked Supreme, who began removing her gag and her binds.
Delah scrambled away, bolting toward me on shaking legs.
I ushered her behind me, pulling my longsword from its sheath at my back.
“We’re leaving.” I walked backward toward the door, not trusting my blindside to the king.
Nolan cocked his head. “But dear, Rue, you haven’t even met the special guest I brought in especially for you.”
“Get to the door,” I urged Delah as we continued our retreat. I staggered, feeling like my temples were on fire. Black spots speckled the corners of my vision.
Nolan’s shadows swirled in an agitated tempest. Char accumulated in ashy mounds around us.
“It’s still locked.” Delah’s panicked voice accelerated my heart rate as I thought through ways to get her out.
“I think you’ll want to meet my esteemed friend.” His eyes glittered with malice.
“He comes,” the Supreme Vestal stated, his voice an unnerving tone that sounded neither male nor female. A ghastly shudder rippled down my spine. The black diadem embedded in his forehead glinted ominously in the torchlight, hideously captivating.
The door swung open, the force of it shoving Delah into me and onto her knees. We stumbled deeper into the cursed room. Maelic barreled in, dragging Dom by an arm, his legs leaving a trail of blood behind him.
“No!” I lunged toward him. Nolan’s shadows wrapped around my body, hissing and burning everywhere they touched, arresting me. Surrounded in his frigid shadows, I found I could barely use my own magic, water dampened the floor beneath me, but little else.
“What do we have here?” Nolan’s smile was all teeth and venom. He stepped toward me, removing a piece of paper from his pocket, slowly unfolding it.
My stomach dropped at what he held in his hands. Dom would know what I had done. Would he realize it was for him?
The back of the paper revealed the dreki recruitment poster from the inn, the same muddied footprint stamped on it. Dom held my stare, willing me to look at him. Fear flared in his golden eyes. He wanted to protect me. My heart began to break.
“I almost didn’t get your message because of that blizzard,” Nolan said, waving the paper in the air.
Dom’s confusion morphed into betrayal as his bleeding body tensed with alarm. He shook his head, unbelieving. My heart shattered. He may not understand now, but I knew it was the only way.
Nolan read the paper with obnoxious theatrics, altering his voice in a pseudo-version of my own.
“I will surrender myself to you. In exchange, release Delah, and call back your Nokts. I will be there by the next full moons.” He finished with a flourish as I wilted at my own words.
“Delah will be free, Ruin, but the Nokts are not up for negotiation.” He crumpled the paper in his hands.
Dom’s anguish lanced through me. I’m sorry, I attempted to mind-walk.
It was all I could offer. I begged him to understand.
He would be fine. The blood curse cure was in the library.
He would be safe. He would live. Let him be angry.
Let him hate me. I’d spent my whole life focused on vengeance.
At least I’d be able to end it knowing the person that mattered most to the realms, and myself, would endure.
“You know better than to have come with others.” Nolan gestured toward Maelic.
Blood trickled down the side of Dom’s face as Maelic brought out a black dagger, dripping with golden syrup—Glint. Maelic locked his feral gaze to mine as he swiftly raised the dagger, then plunged it mercilessly into Dom’s side.
Dom grunted as Maelic slowly twisted the blade before removing it. The metal now coated with Dom’s precious blood and devoid of gold. Dom collapsed onto the floor, blood instantly pooling around him. A shriek exploded from a soul-deep space within me.
My legs buckled as the ghost pain of the dagger seared my own side. I threw my magic toward him, shoving against Nolan’s restraints, trying to staunch the flow of Dom’s blood. I knew his own magic would be stifled by the poison infiltrating his system.
A sharp sob hurled from the depths of my heart at the sight of this man who had become more meaningful to me than anyone in this world. I thrashed beneath Nolan’s shadow-restraints. My soul bleated. The urge to protect Dom overpowered me, but I was restrained, impotent, no matter how hard I fought.
The telltale sign of Glint’s effects illumined outward.
A gold-flecked mist arose from Dom, curling out of his nose, mouth, and out of the hole Maelic had carved in his abdomen.
A red-cloaked servant appeared with a container of vials.
He raised thin, pale fingers, releasing a putrid magic that funneled Dom’s power into the glass, sealing them as each became filled.
“Can’t have the Rebel General’s magic go to waste now can we?” Nolan taunted. He whistled as he waltzed around the room, hands in his pockets.
“Let them go,” I pleaded. My hands gripped the stone floor, sticky with sweat, water, Glint, and blood.
“Unfortunately, that won’t be happening, Ruin.
While I do enjoy a carefully planned deception, I get cranky when secrets are kept from me.
And you, my dear, have kept a very big secret.
” Nolan circled me slowly, a vulture ready to devour.
His eyes shifted to vertical pupils, then flicked back with a blink.
Nolan turned to Maelic who had come to stand by his side. “Can you break down whatever illusion she has?”
Maelic’s eyes turned milky. I had seen him use his magic, but it had never been focused on me.
It felt like my insides were being boiled.
I screamed in agony at his acidic power.
My vision slashed white, my breath sucked from my lungs.
All at once it ceased, and I gripped the wall, reclaiming air into my chest.
Maelic’s face lit in cruel excitement. “You were right.”
Nolan paled as he mumbled to himself, cursing. His composure slipped at Maelic’s revelation. Forcefully, he beckoned the man hovering over Dom capturing his stolen magic. “Let’s get to the real party here.” He rubbed his hands together in eager anticipation.
There was too much for me to follow. My body shook from the recovering shock of Maelic’s intrusive magic. My mind couldn’t grasp the reality that Dom lay bleeding out so close to me, yet too far to aid, renting my soul in two. The hollow in my chest widened. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Another servant stepped forward to resume harnessing Dom’s escaping magic. I stared helplessly, willing him to wake up. I was still compelled under Nolan’s magic, prevented from rushing toward my general.
Hold on, Dom. You have to hold on, I spoke into his mind.
I hadn’t realized until this very moment that I didn’t want to do it all alone anymore.
I didn’t want to keep forcing penance on myself.
I didn’t want to sacrifice myself. I wanted a future.
With him. You have my heart. I will fight for you. Hold on.
He lifted his head a fraction. Blood sluiced down every plane of his beautiful face, marred by the hate of the demons surrounding us. This isn’t my end, Liora, he pushed into my mind.
I choked back a sob. My rage coiled and grew like an insidious viper at my helplessness to save him. I could do nothing but watch and cling to hope.
Nolan’s shadows jerked my chin toward the cloaked man who had sidestepped around Dom in response to Nolan’s signal. “Meet our guest, Ruin.” He flipped his hand toward the servant. “Remove your hood.”
The man obeyed, sliding it down, revealing a face that I knew hauntingly well.
Delah gripped me as dread, like a brick of iron, dropped into my gut.
The man before me was my father.