15
The events of the day had worn me to within an inch of my sanity. I could barely process the fact that Tyr was back, and that he hadn’t meant to betray me.
I certainly couldn’t come to terms with the creatures from hell Donika had created with her dark magic. Araneoch, Tyr had called them. I made a mental reminder to check the Kotova grimoire for any such spells once I got some rest.
The long soak in the claw-foot tub still couldn’t scrub the images of the creatures from my mind, and when I fell into bed, I was desperate for a dreamless sleep. The only thing I could see behind my closed eyelids were those hairy, spindly legs. That eyeless head and those razor-sharp fangs.
I curled onto my side, my wet hair cascading down the pillow, but it wasn’t a dreamless sleep that I found waiting for me. I was pulled into a dream entirely against my will…the sensation becoming all too familiar.
I was dream walking.
Donika descended the steps of the dais slowly, her heels clicking against the marble, her eyes darkening.
“If I may, My Queen, it appears the experiments have been failing on some and a success on others. I have noticed that since Zion left you have pushed to run the tests before the subjects are ready…”
“What is your point, Corian?” Donika sneered, approaching a figure that lay in a pile of limbs on the cold tile.
She used her heel to turn the figures face upwards, and I gasped at what I saw there. It was a human, or at least, it used to be. It had black, lifeless eyes like Donika, but the blackness spread across the figure’s entire face as if it were a spiderweb of veins. The veins on their hands had also turned black beneath their translucent skin. The figures mouth was slack, the hint of fangs showing in their dark mouth. What was this thing?
It resembled the Araneoch we encountered on the training field yesterday, but it also…didn’t. This had once been a person. Human. This wasn’t some pieced together monstrosity.
“If we could simply ask Zion to come back, if we could find him—” Corian started, but his words trailed off as he met Donika’s gaze.
“Zion is not coming back,” Donika spat, giving the figure before her a shove before advancing on Corian. “Bring in the next one.”
“At once, your majesty.” Corian nodded towards a guard at the double doors leading to the throne room, and another figure was led in. This figure was slumped between two guards, her head hanging limply, her blonde hair covering her face.
“This is the one who has lived?” Donika asked, crossing her arms over the bodice of her diamond-adorned gown.
“Yes, your majesty. This one thrives.”
It didn’t appear as if she was thriving to me. As soon as the guards released her, she fell into a heap, her knees hitting the tile with jarring impact. Donika cocked her head to the side as she examined the girl. Her shadows reached out and curled around the girl’s chin, turning her face towards her.
The girl’s eyes snapped up to Donika’s, and she released a fierce hiss, more animal than human. Her eyes were the same as the dead figure beside her, entirely black and webbed with black veins. As if the very magic that had corrupted her was pumping through her blood. Her nails were sharpened to points.
No…not nails. Claws.
A slow smile crept across Donika’s lips as she glanced at the girl with satisfaction. “Very good, Corian. How many others are there?”
“Thus far we have lost four, but we have almost ten who have not succumbed to the magic yet. Only time will tell if they survive.”
Donika nodded thoughtfully. “And their magic?”
“Stronger than ever, My Queen. All of their innate abilities have been amplified tenfold. If we can continue the experiments, you will have your army.”
Army.
She was building an army of…what exactly were those things? Humans corrupted with dark magic past the point of all return?
I wish this were a nightmare.
I wish I didn’t know, deep in my bones, that what I was seeing was real.
How would we stand a chance against an army of corrupted witches, pumped full of black magic?
Donika wasn’t only murdering innocents anymore, she was experimenting on them. Altering them.
Changing them at their very core and corrupting their magic. Where would it ever stop? There was nothing Donika wouldn’t do to win this war, and to see me dead.
“Very good, Corian.” Donika turned on her heel and moved towards the hall, her wolves at her side. “You’ll see to it this is kept a secret?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder.
“Of course, your majesty. But what of Zion?” Corian replied.
“It’s too late to do anything about him now. I was hoping any knowledge he had would die with him. I’ve sent Nightshade soldiers after him, but Zion won’t be found if he doesn’t want to be. He has betrayed us all, and I will not speak of him again. Am I understood?”
“Yes, your majesty.” Corian bowed deeply, averting his gaze.
“He has chosen his side in this war, and he has sided with traitors. He will pay with his life for what he has done, as will the Stormshade bitch.”
“Your sister?” Corian asked, not meeting her gaze.
“Who else would I be talking about?” she asked, as if Corian was more dimwitted than she originally thought. “Unless you have found more for me?” She raised an eyebrow at him.
“Not since the last batch we took. We only found the one, your majesty.”
“And they all paid for the sins of that one, didn’t they?” Donika’s smile was cruel as she turned again, disappearing through the doorway.
I wanted to scream. Playing with swords and training with Isaac wasn’t going to win me this war. I was completely and utterly hopeless. I shook my head back and forth, willing myself awake, but the dream wasn’t done with me yet.
Corian moved forwards and motioned to the guards to remove the girl. She became limp once held in their grasp. Where were they taking them? I tried to follow, to pass through the doors with the guard, but it was as if an invisible barrier kept me here in the throne room. I couldn’t pass.
Corian knelt at the side of the dead figure and laid a hand across his face. A surge of magic traveled forth, a blinding flash had me shielding my eyes, and when I finally opened them the figure was moving.
No…it wasn’t him that was moving…it was something under his skin. It appeared as if there were a million little creatures moving under the surface, and they all crawled upwards, towards his head. The figure moved with a shock, blinking and turning towards Corian with a smile.
Cold dread settled in my gut, and if I was awake, I knew I would be retching. The figure sat up, his movements jerky and uncoordinated.
Corian had reanimated him.
They weren’t simply creating these dark creatures, they were re-animating the dead.
“Don’t think I don’t see you there…” Corian practically whispered.
He stood, his eyes landing on me. But he couldn’t see me, could he? His lips curved into a sinister smile and I let out a guttural scream, pulled from the very depth of my soul when I saw that the eyes looking back at me were now entirely black.
“Diana, Diana!” Nik’s voice was frantic, his hands on my shoulders, shaking me awake. “Diana! You need to wake up!”
I blinked back the tears that welled in my eyes, the familiar sight of my bedroom in the Prins Townhouse coming into focus. I couldn’t catch my breath, no matter how hard I tried to fill my lungs with air.
“I’ve got you, I’ve got you. Just breathe.” Nik’s voice turned soothing as he saw my eyes snap open, the tears rolling softly down my cheeks.
He held me to him, rubbing a hand in soothing circles against my back. I blinked, the tears staining his shirt as I grabbed it in my fist.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, my voice sounded rough and broken.
I felt absolutely and completely hopeless.
“You were screaming,” he replied, his eyes soft.
Again.
Nik had woken me screaming…again.
When would the nightmares end? Except these weren’t nightmares at all, they were reality.
“I…I…” I tried to speak, but the words wouldn’t come out. I was paralyzed by my own fear. Paralyzed by what I had seen in the dream. By what Donika was capable of.
“It’s ok. Just breathe. You don’t need to speak yet. Just breathe.”
Nik held me tighter, his arm wrapping around my shoulder as the tears fell in earnest now. I sobbed into his chest, the visions of black eyes haunting me from behind my closed eyelids.
The only clear thought that could make it through the haze was that I needed to study the Kotova grimoire, and I needed to do it now. I needed to find a spell to even the scales, no matter what it took. Donika was creating an army of corrupted Shades, and if she succeeded, we had no hope of winning this war.
Of surviving.
“Zion is coming back,” I stuttered, pressing back enough to look into Nik’s eyes.
Mother above, I hated him, but I couldn’t help but think…he was always here when I needed him the most.
He searched my eyes in the dark.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I saw Donika,” I choked out. “She said Zion had left. That he had betrayed her. She sent soldiers after him…but wasn’t hopeful she would find him.”
Nik nodded. “Good, we need his help. It’s about time he stopped playing spy and joined the right side of this war.”
“That’s not all.” My voice sounded strangled as I wiped the tears from my cheeks. I needed to tell him what I saw.
“Donika is creating…monsters,” I started, biting my lip.
“More monsters similar to the Araneoch?” he asked, his hand falling from my shoulder to my thigh where he gave me a reassuring squeeze. My eyes fell to that hand, and I swallowed hard, shaking my head.
“No, not like the Araneoch. People. She is using her black magic on people, infecting them. They are horrible, Nik. Their eyes are as black as hers, but that’s not all. Their veins…they are black, too. Their hands have turned into claws and their teeth into fangs. Their magic is amplified, more powerful than ever. She is creating an army.”
Nik reached out with his other hand, turning my chin up towards him so I would meet his eyes. When I blinked, another tear spilled forth as I stifled back a sob. I wanted to be strong, but I felt as if I was falling apart. I had tried so hard to push all of these emotions down after escaping the Stormvault, but they were all bubbling to the surface again.
“We will face whatever it is she has done, and we will win.”
“You can’t know that,” I replied, shaking my head, his grip on my chin never wavering.
“Diana…whatever happens, I will be by your side. First thing in the morning we will take this knowledge to the council as we wait for Zion’s return. He might have more information.”
I nodded, wanting nothing more than to forget the dream entirely and fall endlessly into his deep blue eyes. How were they still so damn blue, even in the darkness of the room? I took a deep breath, trying to center myself.
“We will fight, Diana. I will be right there with you.”
A moment of silence fell between us as I gathered myself, breathing deeply. Nik’s eyes never left mine.
“Thank you,” I whispered, still breathless.
Nik nodded, moving to stand.
“Wait—” I grabbed the hem of his shirt as he turned to leave, one leg still on the bed. He turned back to me, a question in his eyes.
“I can’t…I can’t sleep here alone.”
Nik said nothing, his expression entirely unreadable in the darkness of my bedroom. Mother above, I would give anything to know what he was thinking right now. What was I thinking? Did he think me pathetic that I pushed him away, time and time again, only to reel him back in by asking him something like this?
“You want me to stay the night?” he asked, his voice soft.
His response surprised me. No teasing…no crude jokes…only a fragile hope in his voice.
“It’s not like that—” I started, shaking my head. “I just can’t be alone right now.”
Not after the nightmare I had. The fact that it was real, that I would have to face this in the morning, made it all ten times worse.
“Do you want me to get Tess?” he asked, his eyes searching mine.
I shook my head, my gaze never wavering from his. “No.”
His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. He nodded once, moving the blanket aside to crawl into the bed next to me.
I only wanted his steady presence beside me. I needed his warmth, the soft sound of his breathing. I feared the silence of the night if he left. It was only a few hours. What could a few hours hurt? I could go back to hating him in the morning.
As much as I told myself that, I could feel the outer shell of my anger beginning to crack. I was softening towards him, and I didn’t want to admit it. Not to myself, or anyone else. He had betrayed me, and for that I could never forgive him. But there was a piece of me, and I wasn’t sure how small that piece might be, that felt as if I was falling all over again.
I turned my back towards him, pulling the covers up to my chin and rubbing my feet together under the blanket. It was something I did when I was anxious, something that had always soothed me. He didn’t reach out to touch me, and he didn’t say a word.
We fell asleep like that…lying next to each other, but still worlds apart.