Chapter 18 #2
His eyes sparkled with mischief. “Well, I knew I was gonna see you again after a long while apart. Wanted to look my best, didn’t I?”
I chuckled. “Of course. What was I thinking?”
That revelry slipped away all too soon—well, was jolted away—when debris started raining down from the ceiling, crashing down just a few feet from us.
The floor reverberated beneath us.
I looked to see the walls were cracked at the foundations, more fissures spidering out, too.
“Vax,” I breathed.
“Yeah, he’s here bringing this fucking hellhole down with all that vibrational resonance he got from his people.”
“Fuck, Z, you coming down here through all of that… I mean, Vax is protected from this sort of mass destruction—the debris, the impacts—with his Basilisk nature… but you—”
“Somebody had to ‘wake you’, Win.”
“I know, but the danger of—”
“Well, I love you, don’t I? I fucking love you, all right? Is that clear enough for you?”
I jolted.
His words burned into me.
And it felt incredible.
It was also surreal, given a whole realm was collapsing around us, he’d just had to shock me awake, and… and everything.
“Really? Now is the time for that?”
“You mean like you telling Evira you loved her on that battlefield on Loxley grounds?”
“Yeah, that was… point made.”
“Damn straight it is.”
I grasped his jaw and dragged him closer to me, so close that I was speaking right at his lips as I said, “For the record, I love you, too. Really truly love you, Z.”
His eyes sparkled at me, his lip wobbling. “Winter,” he breathed against me.
The emotion, the love… it consumed me… and then I was brushing my lips over his, about to fist my hand in his shirt—
A giant slab of stone broke from the ceiling and hurtled down toward us.
I jerked back and thrust my palms up, my amber magic shooting out, catching the slab just in time. I grunted as the weight of it rattled my bones.
Growling, I pushed to my feet, holding it steady with my power.
“Holy shit,” I heard Zayn gasping.
My magic flamed all around it, then I tossed it across the room and it crushed to pieces against the opposite wall.
I spun and grabbed Zayn’s hand, tugging him up beside me.
“Yeah,” he breathed. “Best get the hell out of here, grab Vax, then leave this nightmare realm.”
“Don’t be so hasty,” an eerily familiar voice rumbled.
We spun toward the door to see Ruxnoth standing there.
Well, leaning there against the doorframe, propping himself up.
He looked wrecked, his long black hair all matted, his precious coat torn to shit, and deep gashes with black blood plaguing his chest and face.
Ambrose’s work.
“Oh shit!” Zayn cried, tugging at my hoodie. “Ambrose said he wouldn’t be able to pull his power back until you woke up, Win. And now you are—”
“And now here I am,” Ruxnoth cut in with a sneer.
“Unfinished business doesn’t quite cover it, does it, Winter?
” He cocked his head to the side. “Didn’t I promise you horrific suffering?
” He gestured at Zayn, his hand shaking with rage.
“Now one of your so-called lovers is here, he’s unwittingly provided the perfect starting point.
” His eyes flashed. “I’ll tear him apart right in front of you and force you to watch every moment, to breathe in every shriek of agony.
” Tapping his chin, he made a show of thinking.
“Who should be next in line? Evira Vortimer? Your dad—again? Or perhaps the Basilisk Lord who is now right here destroying my creation?”
I growled low in my throat. “I believe I made you some promises of my own.”
He smirked, then gestured at Zayn again.
“Stop pointing anywhere near him!” I burst out with, before I could reel it in. “Don’t even fucking look at him!”
I caught Zayn’s reaction and it… it wasn’t shock or disgust…or… or anything like that.
Instead, he was glaring in fury at Ruxnoth.
He even then discreetly grasped the back of my hoodie, trying to ground me, soothe me.
He… he thought it was okay? That my rage was… acceptable?
“You’re done, asshole,” Zayn seethed at him.
“Might wanna be seeing to an escape plan instead of indulging in some short-sighted revenge that’s definitely gonna lead to your demise, because this whole place is coming down.
All the magic’s already gone, so you’re not gonna get any help there.
The way I understand it, you can’t even re-infuse it either.
That’s blocked off from you. So it really is over.
” His Ifrit flame sparked on his free hand. “So get gone. Now.”
That infuriating smirk played on Ruxnoth’s face.
“Hmm, an Ifrit with a sound tactical mind. Not to mention, your ability to perform Ecliptic Convergence. That was miraculous for one of your kind with the control required to invoke such a magical feat. You are an evolutionary point for your species.” He chuckled to himself creepily, then eyed me.
“Miraculous, yes?” he said pointedly. I was sick to fucking death of hearing him use that word with me in that creepy fucking tone.
And then he made it worse. “My deathborn darling.”
A ball of Zayn’s magic slammed into him in the next second, startling me.
Ruxnoth grunted and actually fell back a couple of steps, a hiss escaping him.
“Nothing to sneer at,” he told Zayn. Then he steadied himself and his eyes flashed with his midnight-blue power.
“Unfortunately for you, I am a True Celestial. A god among lessers, fiery youngling. I’ll tell you what, would you like me to spare you for a little while, and make you watch me torment your beloved snake prince instead?
Do you think he could withstand me? No, of course not.
Not for long. I’ll deliver his remains alongside Winter’s to your dragon warrior who is due punishment also for forcing back the volcanic eruption I set in motion. ”
I remembered Dad telling me that in the Veil.
That was beyond incredible.
“You can’t kill Winter, you piece of shit,” Zayn seethed.
“On the contrary, I can. Over and over and over again. Imagine what that will do to a being’s state of mind.
” He looked at me. “Fracture it like what Rex suffered through, perhaps?” He took a step closer, crossing the threshold into the room.
“Then again, I’ve already fractured you, haven’t I, darling? ”
“Shit, you creepy fucker, is this all you do?” Zayn said, stroking my back.
It was probably my snarling, which I realized was constant now.
“Talk and talk?” he went on. “Throw out these needling comments and some fucked version of what you think is the truth, but is really so demented? Wow… I can’t even.
If you’re too weak to actually make a real move, seriously, just make your escape already. Either way, fight or flee.”
That did it.
Ruxnoth let out a roar and burst into the room, his power live and charging straight at Zayn.
Problem was, the bastard was injured and nowhere near at full speed—and I’d gotten used to his sudden bursts of movement, how he moved, when he’d make a move.
So I called a necromantic shield, slid in front of Zayn, took the brunt of his own flame that he already had primed and tossed in reaction to the attack, then thrust my fingers sparking with my power into Ruxnoth’s chest.
He spluttered and came to a jarring stop.
Zayn gasped and stepped back. In my peripheral vision I saw he was checking if I was okay after taking a potent blast of his Ifrit flame at extremely close range.
I was fine.
My shield had absorbed it.
Besides, I was focused on dealing out damage, not whatever I happened to sustain in the process.
To this one motherfucker right here in my grasp, his blood streaming down all over my fingers.
“What are you—”
I flared my power and pushed it into him.
He roared out into the room and tried to pull away, but he couldn’t. I had him rooted to me.
“You wanted my power so badly. You fucked all over me to gain access to it. So, tell me, how does it taste?”
“This is… you healed me… with this. It’s the same—”
“When you had those veins, that rot. The moment you handed that burden over to me, there became nothing there left for my death magic to target. So now, it’s just damage. Well, not just any kind of damage. This isn’t pure Necromancy. It’s death state magic. The whole of what I am.”
“You’re… infecting me… with death?”
“Yes. Yes, I fucking am.”
“Win, shit. No,” Zayn cried. “Not yet. Can’t be yet.” He grabbed at my arm, but he couldn’t move me while my shield was up. It didn’t hurt him either, though, I wouldn’t let it.
I went on, watching with immense satisfaction as Ruxnoth’s face twisted in pain—and fear. Actual true fear. Good. See what it feels like on the other side for once.
“The delicious irony of this whole thing is that I can’t do this to anyone else. Only you. Made possible solely by your own actions.”
“What are you… talking about?”
“Oh, you know, you infecting me? Being ‘inside me’ as you disgustingly insist on putting it—my veins, bones, blood? All the living warmth infusions you forced on me, then made me addicted to? The Fuel Core was the final thing to stabilize a latch for me, so I could do this. Well, and me setting you up by pretending I was healing those veins, that rot, to help you. Nah, not so.” I grinned.
“So now I have a unique map and handle on you, all thanks to your efforts. Mmm, tastes so good, I can’t quite quantify it.
So much for your godly status, huh?” With my fingers still buried in his flesh, I yanked him down to his knees and he roared in agony.
“That’s right, kneel to me.” My eyes flashed.
“Say it. Say the words. Tell me you’re my True Celestial bitch. ”
“Win, stop. He can’t pass into the Valley with his warped magic still a factor. Remember? Remember how he could destabilize it, even harm the whole fabric of the place?”
“Then I’ll go with him and keep him bound to me so he can’t do that. Until you guys find a way to render his warping inoperable.”