Chapter 58
FIFTY-EIGHT
ARYELLA
When I woke up with my back flat on the ground, still fully clothed, the first thing I wondered was why I wasn’t tied up naked to a tree.
A small mercy, I supposed.
I scrambled to my feet to see Molochai standing only a few feet away, hands folded patiently at his waist. He had the clearing lit with a few torches, but as far as I could see, no one was watching. This time, it was only him and me.
I braced myself for another strike of shadows but saw my ankles were no longer restrained. The air was unnaturally silent.
“Aryella Jay Whitlock,” Molochai greeted me. “Or should I say… Aryella Jay Smyth ?”
My furious stare met his, my disdain multiplying when I felt compelled to get lost in entrancing brown eyes that were agonizingly familiar. His eyes, but cold and evil rather than warm and loving.
I cursed all twelve gods for the fact that this was as close to him as I would ever see again.
Molochai clicked his tongue, mocking sympathy. “How’s widowhood treating you, Aryella?”
A mournful screech tore from my throat as I threw myself forward and thrusted both palms into his chest, blasting him backward with the flames of Helios.
Only the fire didn’t consume his body as I hoped it would.
He spun horizontally, midair, caressed and cushioned by corrupted shadows that shrouded and suffocated my flames until he landed on two feet and gracefully steadied himself.
Molochai stood and brushed off his sleeves, my power only an inconvenience.
“We have much to discuss, darling daughter-in-law. I’m not interested in fighting you tonight.
Although, it’s getting much easier to navigate the northern territory now that your uncle’s wards are starting to fail.
The Duke of Peradine was eager to send word of your location the moment you denied his proposition and threatened his life.
Really, you should be more careful with your allies, Aryella.
” He came closer, stopping at the place he stood before.
“As for you and I… may I suggest a temporary truce?”
“What do you want?”
“I must know, Aryella.” He tilted his head, smiling. “Does your heart still beat for my Butcher?”
“He was never yours,” I said through gritted teeth, wanting to strike him again. “He was mine .”
“Yours,” Molochai mused. “You do love him, then.” He slowly strode closer and began to circle me. “Oh, Aryella. You cannot fathom the things I did to try and break him.”
I clenched my fists and bit back tears. “You made him slaughter innocents.”
“I did more than that,” he chuckled. “And I should have gone even further. I should have ensured through the oath that he had to follow my every command. For years, I ordered him to torture, but if my order was not compelled by the blood oath, he refused it. So, I tortured him. Violated hundreds upon thousands of innocents and made him watch. Nothing worked. He refused to do any of it himself.”
I winced when Molochai reached forward and plucked a leaf from my hair. The scent of him made me sick, but I kept still and listened. I would take any part or knowledge of Gavin, even this.
“When he refused to comply, I should have just killed him,” Molochai sighed remorsefully, tracing his taloned finger along my jaw. “I had already decided I would try to fulfill the bargain another way.”
“What bargain?” I demanded.
Molochai’s features darkened. “All magic comes at a cost, Aryella, and the gods demand payment.”
For a moment, I forgot how to breathe.
“After I killed you in Brinnea, none of your power transferred to me,” he continued.
“It was selfish, greedy, and impulsive of me to end your life, I admit. Not my best moment, given what’s at stake, but I think your survival might work in my favor.
We may have to join forces, you and I…” His finger trailed along my chin.
“Which was why your husband would have been a problem. Thankfully, he made it so easy for me!” Molochai chuckled darkly.
“All I had to do was give him your name.”
My body trembled with fury. He spoke in riddles, just like Simeon.
“Had he hunted you down and killed you, it’s true you would have resurrected, but you also would have suffered , again and again.
Your suffering wasn’t something he would tolerate, so as I expected, the moment he posed a threat to you, he eradicated himself from this world without a second thought.
His love for you was his undoing.” Molochai grimaced. “It was your father’s, too.”
My eyes snapped up. “My father ?”
His lips curled into a sinister, knowing grin. His eyes drifted toward the scar on my chest. “You have a devastating impact on the men in your life, Aryella.”
“What are you talking about?” I ordered, voice cracking, mind spinning. “What happened to my father?”
Molochai shook with quiet laughter. “It seems that your uncle has many things to atone for. He always did love secrecy.”
I hit my limit. I grunted and blasted him away from me with Sussurro’s wind. It had the same effect as the fire—he was back on his feet without struggle—but at least it got him away from me.
“Ary,” he scolded me. “I thought we agreed?—”
“We agreed to nothing!” I spat. “If you don’t want to kill me for my power, then what the hell do you want?”
“I did want to kill you for your power. But if you had all of your power, Aryella, you would have already used it against me.” My stomach soured at the truth.
Molochai came so close, his nose brushing my temple, and I failed to suppress a shudder.
“Which means that you can’t wield it, can you?
His power. Nyxar, God of Celestial Night.
” He looked up at the starry night sky, eyes filled with disdain so deep-seated I thought it rivaled, if not exceeded, the hatred he held for Simeon.
“Mover of the Heavens,” he mocked, “King of Eternal Darkness, pure and true!” He threw his hands up and laughed maniacally.
“How odd that of all their powers, his power is the one you can’t wield.
It seems a most crucial part of you is missing , Aryella. ”
Pulse thrumming, eyes burning, I hissed, “I’m very fucking aware of that.”
“Truly, I never imagined that the greatest of them all would abandon you. Whatever the reason is, your failure to fully realize your power makes this all far more interesting.”
My breath hovered low in my chest. Whatever the reason, I had to find out before he did.
“But let’s get to why I found you and your friends today, shall we?
” Molochai’s onyx pupils widened excitedly at my panic.
With a wave of his hand, a veil of blackened mist dropped to reveal two trees.
Ezra tied to one, Mavic the other, and two blades of shuddering, corrupted darkness—the same blades that Molochai used to cut my skin and invade me months ago—pointed sharply at their necks.
“No!” I screamed, pulling water from air and freezing it into hundreds of jagged, suspended shards, pointed right at Molochai. “Let them go!”
Molochai side-eyed the icy blades beside his head. “Remember what I said, Aryella. That was your last chance. Do that one more time, and I’ll make this much more painful for them.”
With a frustrated grunt, I let the shards fall.
“A few months ago,” he continued, “I sent Insidions to capture your friend Gemma Tremaine. A test to see how much you’ve grown, and you have grown a great deal.
I watched as you burned over one hundred of my fighters in a single blow, then saved Gemma’s life.
Clearly, you’ve been working very, very hard.
” He dragged his finger along my jaw. “Despite your little scuffle in the showers.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. As if I could forget his hand in it.
Molochai’s lips peeled back, revealing his unnervingly white grin.
“When Finch sent me reports of a brash little Brinnean causing a disturbance in that fortress, I knew it had to be you. I told Alec Gerard to use your husband’s death to earn back the commander’s trust, and then find a way to break you.
” He chuckled. “The latter wasn’t difficult, given you’d already angered them. ”
He had been following me, tracking me this whole time. Simeon’s wards around the fortress and the Caves protected us from Molochai’s dark magic, but not from him.
“I was watching your husband, too, you know,” Molochai whispered against my ear. “Did you really think those imbeciles found his dead body on their own?”
I allowed myself one broken sob, but I wanted to sink to the ground and crumble.
“I will say, Aryella,” he sighed, studying my face, “you’ve proven yourself impressively difficult to kill. But I think… you aren’t so difficult to break.”
Shadows began to whip and swirl through the air, increasing in speed. Mavic thrashed in terror against his binds. Ezra pleaded with his eyes while he screamed my name, the sound muffled by his gag. It took everything in me not to run to them. That would only make this worse.
“I’m going to drain your bleeding heart dry, Aryella Smyth.” Molochai backed away slowly, sneering hatefully. “You can only save one life at a time. Choose wisely. I’ll see you again soon.”
As he disappeared into a gust of swirling darkness, his shadows snapped through the air like a whip in front of Mavic and Ezra, slitting both of their throats.