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“I’m sorry,” she says quietly. “That’s all I was told and who it’s for. I know nothing else of its meaning.”
A long exhale deflates from my lungs. “I know. Gods Mother, I know. This is not your fault.” I walk over to her and pull her into me for comfort. A sniffle sounds next to my ear. I pull back to see a sheen coating her eyes, making them look like a midnight ocean glistening under diamonds dripping from the sky. “It's. Not. Your. Fault,” I say each word gently. “We will figure it out, okay?”
Another silent nod and then she’s reaching back to the sofa for her napkin to dry the tears away.
“Draven,” Emil’s voice cuts through the ache building in my chest. “You know how my power is growing?”
“It's getting stronger every year.” I smile at him.
“Well, now what I see at night is coming together faster once I wake. And everything from last night just…”
“Just snapped into place?” He nods, but his eyes look anything but happy. “What is it?”
A heartbeat later, everything inside me sinks because I have a feeling I know what he’s about to say. Then, he gestures with a wave of his hand for me to sit back down.
The moment my weight settles in the chair, he speaks, “I saw Emma in the vision I dreamed last night.”
And just like that, the air in my lungs is punched out of me. My grip tightens and the chair creaks beneath my palms. At this point, I’m gasping for air as the room once again becomes a dark blur around the edges. A swell of emotions gets stuck in my throat, but I force my voice to cooperate no matter how broken it sounds. “Please, tell me everything. I beg of you.”
Whether his vision is something that will wreck me, I have to know. She had felt so frozen to the touch before she walked away, and the deadened look in her void eyes haunt me every time I close mine. A reminder that she sacrificed herself to end the battle, to give the God of Darkness something he’d want. Her power. And I…failed her.
I want to throw this chair across the room, because Emma has already sacrificed herself and is suffering with a fate I fear is worse than death right now. Trapped alone in a darkened sea, with no signs of light to guide her back to herself. Unable to find the hope that I have been desperately trying to send her with my bleeding heart. She shouldn’t have to sacrifice anymore.
Emil stands to face me fully, my muscles tensing for whatever he’s about to say.
“I know where she is.”
I’m not sure how many times my heart can double over in my chest until it gives out. “Where?” I can barely restrain the plea flooding my voice. He holds up his hands as if warning me I won’t like what I’m about to hear, but I don’t give a shit. I need to know.
“She was with Whiro in what looked like another realm, because it’s nothing I’ve seen in this world. But as of this morning, she’s here. In Deyadrum.”
Everything I thought he might say falls to the wind, and I almost get caught in it, too. A million thoughts are running scattered in my mind, wondering if she’s okay. Why is she here? Where in Deyadrum?
“Brother...” Emil’s voice trails off as he waits for me to come back to the present. My fingers wrap around the beaded embroidery on the arm of the chair. My knuckles turn white as I hold onto it like my life depends on it. I have never felt so lost and on edge.
He inhales deeply, stepping towards me and placing his hand on my head. “Let me show you.”
The room spins and my mother’s parlor disappears. It’s replaced by white corridors with seashells embedded in the floor. The sounds of crashing waves and birds chirping echo in the distance. The salty air wraps around me as I squint my eyes from the sudden assault of bright light radiating from outside and reflecting off the stark walls.
Voices travel from the open doorway down the hall, and I waste no time stalking towards it. Whatever Emil wants me to see, it will be through there.
“How do I know you won’t go back on your word? That you will keep the Corruption at bay?” asks a male’s voice I don’t recognize as I reach the doorway.
“Because I’m allowing you the courtesy of having your son marry my daughter. To have such power stand on your behalf. But make no mistake, one wrong move against me, and I will rip your soul to shreds.”
A tremor skates down my spine. Recognition of this voice has me clenching my fists. It’s one I’ve embedded into my memory, so I know who I’ll target with a deadly strike.
Whiro.
I step slowly around the corner and put one foot over the threshold. It’s a massive room off the entryway, one where someone could host a gathering or a small ball. There is no furniture placed about, though. It seems to serve as a room to solely connect to other corridors. The shimmering shells continue through the expanse of the room, with a high ceiling that has a mural of a crew at sea on it. White pillars decorate each corner, and even with the lightness the room provides, it feels…cold and unwelcoming.
But only two steps in and the soles of my boots freeze to the ground. My heart pounds rapidly against my ribs with a rough swallow.
Emma. It can’t fucking be. But then golden hair flashes beside her. The weasel who disappeared like a coward is still alive with the same arrogance that nauseated me before.
It’s the arm Aiden has snaked around her waist that provides all the proof I need. My stomach churns and my blood boils in my veins with a raging need to cut that arm off his body for ever thinking he could touch her. For even assuming that she will be anyone’s but mine.
I try my best to control my breathing and calm down the beast thrashing around in me. My eyes drift to her, and even with a frozen heart and eyes the color of death, she still is the most enchanting female I’ve ever laid my eyes on.
