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The cerulean lights on my skin glowed a shade deeper, and I strode across the floor toward Neverra. The dead fell in pieces beneath my sword, my fury a cold, controlled thing now. Flames roared behind me, the heat scalding. Tobias screamed in pain and then roared, Dianna pulling his attention back to her. I landed right under Neverra, catching her as she jumped down.
“I’m okay,” Neverra said, pressing a kiss to my lips before wiggling out of my arms and summoning her blade.
Tobias tossed a large stone at Dianna. It crashed against the wall, the remains of the building shook, and debris rained all around us. I pulled Neverra into an alcove and curled my body over hers, protecting her from the metal and wood pelting us. The dust was so thick it was almost blinding, and every breath had become a struggle. This place wouldn’t hold. Not with him acting like a battering ram.
“I told you to leave,” Dianna hissed, and my head snapped toward her. She was next to us, having moved so fast I hadn’t even seen her. She kneeled, peering from the makeshift shelter we’d found. Blood trickled from her head, making her inky black hair even darker. The rocks he’d tossed hadn’t missed completely. She looked rough, her shoulder mauled and the stab wounds on her side still open. With the way her blood flowed, I could tell she wasn’t healing, her body burning through her powers to keep itself going.
Fuck.
Tobias roared and slammed his tail against the wall. The undead swarmed through the building, searching for her.
I grabbed her sleeve, turning her toward me. “We can’t beat him. You’re too hurt, Dianna. We need a god. We need Samkiel.”
“No.” she snapped, her eyes blazing. She jerked away from me. “Just let me think.”
“Think?” I shook my head. I already knew the outcome. “We don’t have time to think.”
Dianna raised her bloody hand, telling me to shut up, but remained focused on Tobias.
Neverra shifted against me. “Dianna. We need a plan. Logan drained a lot of energy healing me. We can help but—”
“No!” she snapped at Neverra, her eyes wild and feverish. “I can do this. I need to do this.”
I knew what she meant and how important this was for her, for the sister she’d lost, but we were up against a King of Yejedin with no god in sight. No matter how strong we were, it took a god to defeat a king. We needed Samkiel regardless of what she wanted or how she protested.
I knelt, rocks biting into my knee. “Dianna—”
Neverra cut in, not giving Dianna a single inch. “You can’t do everything alone.”
Dianna’s head whipped toward us, something primal and devastating flashing across her features.
Forty-Five
Dianna
I could do this. I didn’t need Samkiel or anyone else. Even as the familiar thoughts echoed through my mind, a part of me whispered back what a liar I was.
You can’t do everything alone, D. I winced, Gabby’s voice drowning out everything else.
That’s what she’d always said, and Neverra had just thrown it in my face. The same way Samkiel had on that damned boat. I took another shuddering breath, my body and lungs burning. No, I couldn’t do this right now. I had to think, had to find a way. This was my path, and I was destined to walk it alone.
I watched as Tobias's massive body slithered across the stone floor. I had to think, had to figure out a way to hurt him. If only… It hit me then. I remembered something Samkiel had taught me back at Drake’s when we were training.
“Remember, everything has a weakness.”
I rolled my eyes and leaned against the bo staff. Annoyed was an understatement, but it only seemed to amuse him. He had wanted to train every day since he apologized. I think, in his own way, he was trying to make up for how he’d sided with Drake and Ethan, but I was still hurt and wounded, even if I had no right to be.
“Dianna, are you even paying attention?”
I tilted my head. “To you? Hardly ever.”
Whatever amusement had danced within his eyes disappeared, replaced by a somber expression.
I stood upright and grew serious, leaning the staff against the wall. The quicker this was done, the quicker I could… what? Go to my room to sulk and avoid him? Mature, Dianna, real mature.
“Okay, everyone has a weakness. You know, except for you gods with immortality.”
“Doesn’t mean I don’t have a weakness.” His gaze held mine. “Give me your hand.”
