Chapter 36 #2
Rolling over, Imani placed her hands down into the ground, digging her fingers in the dirt. She had a power around her from the dead and could feel it calling to her. Monstrous as it was … it was still part of nature, especially here in this realm. It felt stronger, more potent.
“Help me,” she whispered to her shadows. “Please.”
For a second, she stood and held her breath.
Then a loud screeching overtook her ears, and Imani covered them, not caring about the dirt and blood smearing everywhere.
The ground rumbled. Kiran roared, his scream louder than anything else.
Light streamed through a massive slit above them that cracked wider and wider until pieces of dark magic began falling away, disappearing into nothing as the corpses tore through the surface.
Concerned that they would hurt Kiran, Imani held up her hand to halt the creatures. They fell to the ground, writhing.
She felt movement in her peripheral vision and knew that Mateus had taken flight to overpower her from above.
All the shadow magic that had built, now a roiling mass of darkness, blasted into the night air at the threat. The whole vicinity bled black.
Chaos erupted. The screeches from the dead grew to a deafening level, and she could feel her shadows wrap around the death angel, practically choking him. They clamored to break his bones, destroy his organs—obliterate him.
Unlike in the slip and with Malis, Imani’s body was in control. She thanked the gods for her training with two-faced Zadie.
Flicking her wand backward, the darkness receded until she could see the barrier again. Or what was left of it.
The prince stood utterly still as the corpses of the furies surrounded him like a protective detail.
Crawling out of the way, the creatures parted for him as he approached, measured as ever, and stalked toward Mateus. The death angel snarled, cursing the prince for being weak, attempting to goad him into anger, yet Kiran didn’t take the bait.
Kiran said nothing, though his ire radiated from him silently as he held his wand at his side. He stared at Mateus with violence exuding through his snarled face.
Kiran then turned to Imani, and their eyes met. Deep beneath the contrived mask he wore for the benefit of the death angel, way back in his eyes, the lights of care and concern for her burned bright.
Can everyone see what I’m seeing? Imani struggled to breathe as she dragged herself upright.
No. That light sparkled just for her because Kiran and Imani were connected by something mystical. Dark and darker still, they were the two sides of the same coin, one that could not be complete without the other. If she’d accomplished anything over the past few months, it was this certainty.
Right now, at this moment in time, Imani couldn’t believe that she’d ever doubted for even a moment that he would let her die here. Kiran had a bigger plan, one Mateus hadn’t anticipated.
He strode in front of Imani, picked her up, and placed her at his back.
She looked around him and pointed her wand at the death angel, ordering the shadows to loosen their grip so he could speak. They let him fall but still coiled around him threateningly. He dropped slightly then caught himself with his shadow wings and landed gracefully on the ground.
“I’m tearing you apart if you so much as think about separating us again,” Kiran snarled at Mateus.
“I’ve told you before, I am not a beast for you to command.
But you’ve grown stronger since we last met.
” Mateus’s eyes darted to Imani. “You did fulfill the bargain, and I do not have a death wish; thus, I will keep my end of the deal to leave you unharmed. But afterward, I’m not responsible for what creatures seek you out to kill you before you can leave this place. ”
Kiran and Imani both kept their wands pointed at the restrained death angel. His unwavering stare and complete lack of a reaction sent a cold trickle down her spine.
Could he free himself from the shadows since he also possessed doraca magic?
She didn’t know. There was still so much she didn’t know.
Kiran opened his mouth for a moment, paused, shut it, and then bared his teeth. “We’ll see about that.”
“What is your first question? As promised, I will only tell you where and how—nothing more.”
Kiran inhaled thoughtfully, as if contemplating his options. But it was an act. He already knew what he wanted to ask before standing in front of Mateus, indeed had already made up his mind before even walking into this realm.
“Where do the Under king and his horde idle away in exile?”
“The horde king, or Under king, as you refer to him, retreated to the deepest part of his domain with his creatures, but idle is the last thing he’s been.”
“How do I take control of the horde?”
“You kill the horde king.”
“It can’t be that simple,” Kiran sneered.
“Oh, it isn’t. But that’s all you’re getting.”
Caught up in the conversation, Imani hadn’t noticed her hold on Mateus had loosened, and he took the opportunity to break free, pushing himself forward and slamming his fist against Kiran’s face.
Shocked that Kiran hadn’t moved after the blow, Imani raced to stand next to him, to protect him if needed, and made a point of looking him up and down.
Kiran’s dreadful irises enlarged, and both sparked with a dark, ominous swirling of raging storm clouds.
A tremble started deep in her core as his smile turned into something sinister and cunning, pure evil.
For a moment, she was able to see beneath his skin, see that he had that other face underneath, his real one—red eyes, and a row of sharp teeth, no lips, no gums—just a maw of razors.
Glimpsing inside him, while it only ever lasted seconds, never failed to choke her and pin her with fear.
Seeing the creature inside him continuously begged the question of what Kiran could shift into. She imagined a massive basilisk that could tear through anything it latched in its jaws.
Pushing her behind him again, Imani felt the prince thrust his magic deep into her body, caressing every ounce of her essence.
He’d done this before—taken control of her signature—and Imani closed her eyes at the intrusion.
A darkness pulled at her, filling her soul and sating the hunger deep within.
The aching, the longing she’d been ignoring since the day she’d fed, felt calm.
Indeed, Kiran’s power slipped into Imani’s head so easily and slithered inside her, through her, that, in the moment, she was sure this power exchange went both ways.
People rarely had the power to take control of another’s magical signature without a heartmate, and Imani imagined if they did, only a few could wield it properly.
It was only now that she realized it required impeccable control, not to mention a wide range of other magical strengths. Only a twelve-mark could do it.
It felt strangely intimate, as if he could read her thoughts.
With a jerk, Kiran took control of the shadows and darkness.
The ground beneath them rumbled with the explosion, knocking Imani off her feet, but Kiran’s body was frozen still, arms flung open, mouth wide in a silent scream. The world stopped at that moment.
As Imani’s dark power took over Kiran’s body, she realized it was pulling him apart at the seams. He couldn’t wield her darkness like this for much longer.
Imani roared in rage for everything taken from her—the magic she hated and loved at the same time, her freedom, her sister, her father.
Shadows rippled from Imani’s skin as she stood, pure rage on her inhuman expression.
Ripping back control from Kiran, darkness surrounded her, covering her so thoroughly she looked like a wraith.
Kiran narrowed his eyes at her, confused, as another explosion of inky black power blasted through the vicinity, sending Kiran flying one way, Imani the other.
Mateus, too, was on the ground, crawling toward his wand. Imani growled and pointed her own at him.
Imani’s vision went black in an instant.
No need for it to build, this power was so much stronger than anything she had ever used before, even inside the slip.
The magic blasted out of her, fueled and guided by the darkness she knew she still housed inside her.
Shadows flowed from her in a wave, knocking Mateus back.
Even Kiran lost his balance, but Imani’s shadows pulled him upright with a quick tug. His warm magic swelled around her. Her shadows and his own dark magic twisted together, both supporting the other against Mateus’s assault.
Emboldened, Imani stood up and drove herself forward, and Kiran followed, both with wands out.
Her back arched as more power pulsed, and then Imani’s feet were off the ground.
Her skin stretched, pulling, power pulsing, and taking over every inch of her.
Kiran squeezed her hand tightly, keeping her from moving farther.
But Imani snatched it away, letting her shadows take her behind the death angel faster than the wind.
Mateus barely noticed until her shadows wrapped around his neck. The angel stiffened.
Imani hesitated. Could she do this? Could she truly wield this magnificent power she was given to kill a high sentinel? She felt unpracticed at best and, worse—like a monster. Like Ara.
Amidst her swirling thoughts, Imani strode behind him, wand out, with a chance to end his life.
And she took it.
Her shadows drowned his orifices—his mouth, ears, nose, eyes—and exploded into pure darkness, enveloping him in oblivion.