CHAPTER 28
Primus gave the air of someone who was used to getting what he wanted. He had a shrewd look about him, accented by a pointed chin and clever, sly eyes. Brown curls framed his face, and he carried a thin wooden staff in his hand.
He surveyed the five of us like we were roaches that had trespassed on his beach. A cruel smile touched his lips as his gaze flitted to Kilian. “I am curious – how has life amongst the commoners been, Azrael?”
“Fuck off, Primus,” Septimus said. The binds around him tightened, his skin straining against it. Septimus had been given his full power. Surely, he should be able to break out of the binds?
Unless… even as a god, he was no match for Primus.
Primus looked to Septimus and tutted softly. “After all these centuries, I still cannot fathom that this is the rabble you’ve chosen to associate yourself with, baby brother.”
Brother? My jaw hung slack. Lana’s eyes widened significantly, but she didn’t say a word. I didn’t think I could handle any more surprises, honestly. My heart couldn’t take it anymore.
“You are no brother of mine,” Septimus hissed as the binds turned his skin red.
“Stop,” Kilian commanded, angry thunder rumbling across the cloudless sky. “This is between you and me, Primus. Let the others go.”
“Always the hero. I assume you’ve come to break the curse I placed on you? I gather this one was going to do it for you?” Primus’ head jerked to me, and bile rose to my throat.
I saw him then, hazy and distant, teal eyes locked on mine as his hand slid up my thigh. Inching, inching… scarlet hot pain flashed through me, and I pulled myself away from the memory.
“I must thank you,” Primus continued, his eyes back on Kilian. “For finding my Aerie. I have been searching for her for many years. Now that she’s back, we can resume our courtship.”
“Courtship?” Syrina scoffed. “Do not act for a second like we do not remember the curse you placed on her. When Aerie finally realized that what she felt was of your own doing, that you manipulated her, she chose death! She chose to wander the elven and mortal realm rather than warm your bed.”
It was strange, hearing them talk about a life I could not remember, but I knew Syrina’s words were true.
I felt it in my bones and through the brief flashes of memory of that past life.
I had left Tuscan for a reason. I had chosen a mortal life to escape Primus.
And here I was again, on my knees before him.
“If you so much as look at her,” Kilian spat, “I will peel the flesh off your bones and feed it to you before I grant you the mercy of death.”
Primus gave him a bored look. “Those are pretty words from a bound male. From where I’m standing, there’s not much of anything you can do.”
Golden sparks fell from Septimus and his eyes flashed dangerously, yellow and gleaming.
The chains around him were melting. His face was a contortion of pain as the restraints burned through his skin, but still he pushed against them.
The metal was red hot when he gave one final shove.
The manacles cracked and tumbled to the floor, leaving behind red welts and bleeding indentations in his wrists.
Septimus ignored his wounds as he rose to his feet, menace in his eyes.
So swift it was a blur, he shot an arc of dazzling light at Primus, but the other male dodged easily.
Drawing his staff outward, Primus hurled gusts of wind toward Septimus.
He stumbled backward, hands clutching at his neck as he wheezed for breath.
He fell onto one knee, eyes wide as he choked and gasped against the pressure.
Lana cried out, reaching for him. Primus looked from her to Septimus and smiled.
The wind ceased and Septimus gulped, his fingers clenched in the sand beneath him. He stared up at his brother, sparks dancing on the ground, but Primus’ smile did not slip.
He wagged a finger at Septimus before turning it onto Lana. Her chains tightened, reddening with heat, and she screamed. It wrenched through my heart, ripping it to shreds. Septimus crawled to her, pulling at the chains, but they only tightened.
“Stop!” I shouted.
But Primus did not stop. In fact, his grin only widened.
Lana shouted in agony, blood welling from the points where the chains sliced into her. Septimus’ eyes were frantic. He turned to his brother, voice pleading and pained as he said, “Primus, stop! I’ll do what you want!”
The chains halted their progression through Lana’s skin, and she whimpered softly, tears streaking her cheeks.
“Get back,” Primus commanded.
Septimus inched away from Lana, allowing fresh chains to snake across his body.
I looked to Kilian, wild panic slamming in my chest. Lightning pulsed directly above us. It fractured and sizzled along the beach, each strike leaving imprints on the ground.
Primus stared at the purple streaks with mild fascination. “What a lovely lightshow, Azrael. It’s a real pity that’s all you can do.”
“Unbind me and you’ll see exactly what I can do.” Kilian’s deathly calm unnerved me.
“Now, why would I do that?” Primus tutted. “It’s so much more fun seeing you on your knees, weak as ever.” He turned to me then, raising his staff to my chin. He slid the hard wood along my jaw, tipping it up to face him.
Kilian hissed, thunder clapping overhead.
“I much preferred your old body,” Primus said. “But I suppose I can make this one work.”
Oily hatred slithered through me, and I spat at his feet. “I will never be yours.”
He raised his brows, cool amusement quirking his lips. “You’ve still got that fire in you, Aerie. I can’t wait to break you.”
“I am not Aerie. My name is Lirahna. Whatever life I lived here is over. I want nothing to do with you,” I snarled.
“And you think I care what you want?” Primus murmured. “Once this is all done, I’m going to put my curse right back on you. And you will love me, whether you like it or not.”
Icy fear stole my breath. The shadows inside of me growled in response, reaching out to wash over the terror with cold, dark fury. I was not some plaything for Primus to use. And I was no longer a weak mortal. I had the power of a goddess running through my veins. I just needed to reach for it.
So, I reached.
I delved deep inside of me, feeling for the darkness.
What shall we do? it asked.
We shall feast on the bones of our enemies, I responded. Ancient spite swirled along every atom and molecule inside of me, pure instinct kicking in.
Delightful, it purred.
Shadows slammed out of me in a torrential wave. The chains binding me snapped in half, falling to the sand, and Aerie, the Goddess of War, rose.
Primus shoved his staff in the sand to keep from falling to his knees, his eyes burning with wrath and what looked like…
desire. It disgusted me. I reached my hand out, my fingers clenching as the darkness pressed against Primus, digging its talons inside his mind.
I bent and twisted at the walls of his conscience, relishing at the anguish that carved his face.
There was such cold malevolence and hatred there, enough to make me want to double over and wretch at the images drawn from him.
Burning flesh and screams of torture. Women and children fleeing, their lives dim and inconsequential to him.
At the helm of it all, slimy, slithering curses that drained the lives and souls of everything they touched.
I pulled back slightly, the death and destruction so overwhelming, and it was enough for Primus to regain control. He shoved his staff toward me, and I buckled beneath the weight of an invisible hand pressing me down.
And then he did the one thing that broke me.
He turned his staff onto the others and a dark cloud appeared above them.
It gave a threatening rumble and drops of liquid began spilling from it, each one the size of a fat berry.
They fizzled where they landed. At Lana’s screams, I knew it was not water.
The fluid left red welts in its wake, seeping into and dissolving the flesh it touched.
When Kilian’s gaze met mine, I knew it was over.
Dread pooled in my stomach at the sight of my friends – of Kilian – bound and chained, acid rain dripping onto them.
The darkness reached forward again for Primus.
To stop him. But the God of Curses had layered his mind with titanium now, and it was an impenetrable fortress.
Kilian’s neck bowed as the rain washed over him, blood streaking across his face.
Lana was no longer crying in pain, and I realized she had passed out from the agony.
Septimus’ body covered hers as much as it could.
Angry red blisters marked both his and Syrina’s skin.
My heart splintered wide open. I dropped before Primus, my voice raw and broken. “Stop.” But the rain did not cease. A sob wracked through me. “Please! Stop! I will stay in Tuscan. I will stay as yours. I will never leave you again.”
Kilian’s head jerked up. His silver eyes snapped to mine. “Lirah. No!”
But I had to do this. It was the only way.
“Let my friends go,” I told Primus. “Let them return unharmed to Tarlor, and I will remain here, with you.”
Primus’ gaze slid to me; finally, I had caught his attention. The rain paused but the thundercloud still drifted above, poised to resume its assault at any second. “You expect me to believe you will not run at the first chance you get? That your friends won’t simply return to collect you?”
“Curse me, then,” I whispered. “Curse me to forget them. And when they leave, place rock salt around the entrance. They will not be able to re-enter.”
Primus looked like he was considering my words. “What of Septimus? He is unbound.”
“Leave him be. He won’t come back. He has too much at stake.”
Primus’ eyes fell on his brother, still covering Lana in case the rain started once more. “I suppose,” he murmured.
Lightning scattered across the sky. Primus raised an idle hand as a bolt struck. It glanced off what seemed to be an invisible shield around him. The energy dissipated and crackled into nothing.
“Your efforts are valiant, Azrael. But I’m afraid in this half-form, you don’t stand a chance,” Primus said.
I knew how helpless Kilian must’ve felt. I could see the anger and pain in his eyes, but beyond that, desperate, hopeless terror.
“Please,” I begged, before Kilian could do something else to bring Primus’ retaliation tenfold. I couldn’t bear his pain, the suffering of all of them, when I could prevent it.
“As you wish. Think of it as a homecoming gift.” Primus gave me a nasty smile. “Rise.”
I stood on shaky legs, the darkness inside of me quieting into dull submission. Primus stepped toward me. It took everything in me not to recoil as his hands touched my face. He smelled like old wine and cellars, of damp dungeons and rot. It was a bitter, musty scent that made me nauseous.
He pressed two fingers to my temple. Kilian’s face contorted into a mask of rage and fury. One of the chains snaking around his arms groaned with the exertion of his struggle, but it did not give way.
“Primus!” he yelled. “She is not who you want. I am the one who brought her here, the one who intends to kill you. I am the one you want! Let her go!”
My gaze slid to Kilian and a tear slipped free, sliding down my cheek. I wished the link still existed between us so I could show him exactly how I felt. So I could tell him to stop talking. To leave me here and get the others out.
The darkness stirred itself inside of me, and I realized with shocking clarity that I did not need the link. I had invaded Primus’ mind as easily as stepping from one room to the other. It had happened through pure, instinctual muscle memory.
I reached for Kilian now, allowing the shadows to fill me once more, commanding it to my new will.
And when I caressed the bounds of his mind with gentle, scraping fingers, he let me in.
His eyes widened a fraction before he schooled his expression into perfect neutrality, so Primus would not know what was happening.
I need you to leave. Get the others out, I told him.
Not without you. Even mentally, I could hear the insolence, the rebellion, in his voice.
I gave him a supplicating look. I know what I’m doing. Trust me.
Lirah…
You asked for my trust before. Now it’s your turn.
There was a moment of hesitation, and then his gaze dipped to the ground. I took it as silent agreement.
When it’s over, take the others and go. I love you.
His eyes gleamed fiercely. I will come back for you. I will always find you. Even when you no longer remember me. My heart has always belonged to you, and I will spend the rest of eternity reminding you of that. If I have to burn the world to save you, I will.
The tears were flowing freely now. I held onto the connection for as long as I could, but as the first tendril of Primus’ oily power grazed the walls of my mind, I let it go.