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A slow hum filled the cavern, the song one I had grown to hate. Heavy footsteps landed against the stone, and the Irvikuva parted.
“Bravo, Dianna. You made it to Yejedin. I am so proud of you. Unfortunately, this is where your journey ends, pet.”
That voice. A chill went through me, goosebumps erupting over my skin. Kaden stepped from the shadows, and I saw red. Blood pounded in my ears, and the beast inside me roused, focusing on her prey.
I would rip him to pieces. I took a step forward, and Neverra and Logan moved with me. Reality snapped back into place.
“Oh.” His shoulders shook in mock fear. “They seem protective of you. Even after all you’ve done? How precious.”
Neverra and Logan flicked their wrists, and armor crawled over their bodies. They were protecting me. My heart ached.
“That’s what families do,” Neverra said, a blade spinning into her hand. “And you all are a poor excuse for it.”
Kaden sneered at her. “Oh, the whimpering bitch has a mouth now?”
Logan raised his blade and pointed it at Kaden. “And you’re about to lose yours for talking to her like that.”
Kaden’s laugh contained genuine amusement. “Please, put those away. You are insulting me, thinking you could actually fight me and win.”
“Only one way to find out,” Logan said, gripping his weapon tighter.
“We were just leaving,” I said, stepping in front of Logan and Neverra, drawing Kaden’s full attention. Even if my strength was waning and parts of me ached and rebelled, I couldn’t let him take them.
“But you just made it home.”
“Well, you know what they say. Home is where the heart is, and you kindly ripped mine out.”
“Such poetry. I miss that.”
I weighed my options: keep him talking and try to summon a portal or create a big enough distraction to get us all out. I settled on the latter. It would take every bit of strength I had left to do what I had planned. A part of me didn’t care if I burned up and died, but I wanted them to survive.
Flames erupted on my hands, illuminating the cavern. I hadn’t noticed the Irvikuva on the ceiling until then. We were so completely outnumbered.
“Let’s be reasonable here,” Kaden said, taking a step closer, his hands still in his pockets. “I can feel it. All you’ve used, all you’ve done incorrectly. Power, even as great as ours, has limits. You won’t last a second, Dianna.”
I shrugged. “Well, like Logan said. Let’s find out.”
I shot one hand out in front and the other behind me, trying to build a wall of flame on each side of us. I just needed to hold it long enough to figure a way out for them. The fire roared, filling the tunnel in both directions. Irvikuva screeched and burst into flames when it touched them. Body parts fell, their remains charred and falling to ash as I unleashed all I had left. Logan grabbed Neverra and knelt beside me, covering her body with his own, but they remained untouched by flame. The wall of flame surrounded us, reaching higher and ripping apart the rock ceiling, crushing more of the beasts.
You will have a choice. One you must make. Choose out of selflessness, and the path is set. Choose vengeance, and well, the outcome will be devastating.
Roccurem’s voice echoed in my head.
I glanced at Logan and Neverra. They remained still and focused on me, their hands clasped and waiting for orders. They were prepared to stay, to die, for me. The need to save them warred with the part of me that raged and clawed, begging for vengeance.
There was no way I could kill Kaden and save them. I had to make a choice: the revenge that I so desperately craved or the lives of two people Gabby had loved.
They’re my friends.
Gabby’s words whispered across my subconscious. For Gabby, I would try. It is the choice she would want me to make. I hadn’t saved her, but I could save two people she loved.
I glanced back at Kaden, and something inside of me snapped.
A lock on a door in a house rattled, and I let it open a fraction.
“This is it, Dianna, your defining moment. I’m right here. A target for all that rage and hate you’ve been drowning in. I am what you have been hunting, so come and get me!” Kaden shouted over the noise of the flames and tumbling cavern. He was stalling, looking for an opening. I knew if he reached me, I’d never leave. I knew it with every fiber of my being. “You won’t get another chance. This is it.”
I dropped the wall of flames behind me and focused my remaining power, imagining where I wanted to go. Where was the safest place I knew? Space ripped, and Kaden’s eyes widened, the whites showing as he realized what I was doing. I tore a portal in the fabric of Yejedin, and a wound inside me I thought I had closed split wide open.
