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“You can’t say that word,” she whispered, but I heard the giggle.
“I won’t tell if you won’t.” I tugged on her blanket. “Now, come out of there.”
Lightning flashed in the room, illuminating us both. She slipped her small hand out and extended her pinky.
“Only if you pinky promise to keep me safe,” she said.
I linked mine with hers and slipped into bed next to her. “Pinky promise.”
Fire erupted from my throat, blasting a hole through the roof. I launched my body into the air, my tail whipping behind me, propelling me up. My form was larger than before. Every kill, every drop of blood had created the damned beast Kaden had so desperately wanted. And the one he would soon regret.
The balcony railing fell, crushing all beneath it. Wounded creatures screeched, their cries following me. The steam and smoke billow around me, my wings forming eddies in the air. This was the place he hid, the place he held her. I threw my head back and roared before tucking my wings close and plummeting toward the ground. I would leave nothing but ruin in my wake. Flames made of wrath and agony blasted from my throat.
I incinerated the factory and everything inside it. Creatures covered in flames ran, but there was no escaping me. A few attempted to fly away, but they fell from the sky, screaming. I was fury and desolation. Vengeance and hate. Beginning and end. I was death incarnate. Smoke billowed up in a dark, hateful cloud. My wings beat against it, propelling me higher. I circled and passed. The sound that left me surpassed my mortality, past my grief and pain. It was a hollow, beckoning, wretched challenge that shook the world.
A war cry.
Forty-One
Logan
I ran down the corridor, dodging falling rocks. Dianna had finally unleashed her rage. Every cell in my body shook with the force of her power, my skin glowing in response. Every roar had my rings vibrating, urging me to protect myself. The compulsion to flee was nearly overwhelming. I wondered if even the old gods could hear her screams. She burned incandescent with vengeful rage, all that anger, hate, and pain finally given a voice. Samkiel had to feel it even from here. How could he not? She was powerful, pissed, and set on destruction. I feared nothing would stand in her way. I needed to find Neverra, and fast.
Cobalt energy lit the darkened hallway as I spun around a corner and then another, the bond between us growing stronger with every step. I felt it like a cord pulling me back to her. The golems that emerged from the walls to attack me did not slow me down. With quick efficiency and minimal fuss, their heads flew, and they collapsed.
Another massive quake pulled the floor from beneath me, and I landed on my ass. Again, the air shook with her catastrophic roar. Yejedin wouldn’t last at this rate. Nothing would.
Rolling to my feet, I continued down one hall, then the next, the cord pulling tighter. My feet barely touched the steps that curved down into the belly of the castle. I felt her like air in my lungs, and I burst into the chamber with her scent in my every breath.
Chains hung from the wall, securing several corpses in various states of decay left here to rot. My heart stopped as I saw her, and time didn’t exist anymore. They’d chained her arms above her head, her wrists bruised and bloody beneath the cuffs. Neverra’s chapped and bleeding lips told me she needed water desperately. Her head lifted, and the effort it took had bile rising in my throat. I didn’t remember moving, but I was suddenly before her, my hands cupping her sunken cheeks.
“Nev. Baby?”
Her bloodshot eyes finally focused on me. Shock, disbelief, pain, and then when she recognized that the pull of the bond she felt was real, laughter and tears. She broke, and I did too. She tried to reach for me, but the chains were too tight. I summoned my weapon with a twist of my wrist and swiped the ablaze blade above her, careful not to hurt her anymore. I caught her as she slumped against me. She grabbed at me, and I lifted her, carefully holding her against me, so careful not to break her.
“You found me,” she choked out, the cavern trembling around us.
I couldn’t help the silent sob that escaped me. “I will always find you.”
I didn’t know how long we sat there just holding each other, and I didn’t care if the place caved in with us in it. All I cared about was that she was back in my arms.
Finally, I managed to put enough distance between us to look at her, and through her torn clothes, I could see cuts and bruises. She didn’t seem to have any life-threatening injuries, but she’d fought. She always fought.
“Let me heal you.” I held out my hand, the Mark of Dhihsin glowing. She nodded once and placed her palm against mine. We closed our eyes as the marks connected, and I willed strength from my body into hers, my power becoming her power.
The familiar tingle hit me, and a weight lifted as our souls collided and merged. I opened my eyes to watch her body fill out, the cuts heal, and the perfect color return to her cheeks.
My body swayed, and I let go of her hand to brace myself against the wall.
“Logan.” She grabbed at my arm. “You gave me too much.”
“Never.” I took a deep breath. “Never too much.”
She straightened and stood effortlessly, helping to steady me on my feet.
“You’re weak now.”
“I’ll be okay,” I said, squeezing her arm. “I’ll be okay now.”
