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Not the only child of Unir…
A son…
Brother…
How had I not seen it before? The walk, the gait, the frame, and the face, all of it and everything was familiar. My heart aches because his features bore a resemblance to one person and one person only—my father. Our father. He’d had so many lies, and he had damned the world, damned us all.
“No words? That’s a first. I want to say I am sorry I’m late. I got distracted.” Kaden sighed and stared at me. “That happens when spending time with Dianna, you know?”
My breathing stopped. The room stilled, and my blood pounded in my ears so loudly it nearly drowned everything out.
Dianna.
“Where. Is. She?” I snarled, the sound so primal the room shook, and the symbols encasing me vibrated. Everyone took notice. Even Kaden paused for a split second.
“I can smell her all over you.” His eyes glowed a shade brighter, a look of pure disgust gracing his cold features.
“What have you done with her?” I could not tell if I was yelling or not. The fear I felt was all-consuming.
If he takes her, you’ll never see her again…
He will drag her back in pieces if he has to…
My heart stuttered, the ache in my body forgotten. If he had touched her, hurt her, killed— No! I killed the thought. Dianna was okay. She was okay. She was okay. She had to be because I could not live if she was not.
Debris rained down, and everyone but The Hand glanced nervously around the room. I was unaware I’d unleashed, but the circle that held me bent and shook—one rune, then another burnt to dust, the seal containing me fracturing. Parts of the building had split beneath the pressure of my panic and rage. Long cracks split the walls, floor, and ceiling. Pieces of stone and dust crumbled to the ground. What I had thought was my world shifting at the thought of losing her was the building itself threatening to crumble.
Kaden met my eyes again, something that looked like surprise passing through them. “You really do love her, don’t you?”
I kept pushing against the power beneath my skin. My head throbbed, and then my body gave out. The runes were too strong. I collapsed forward, my body only held up by the chains and cuffs.
“You know, Vincent told me how close Logan got to the truth. He wasn’t wrong about the frequencies. The only difference was it was made so all of them could hear. The real trick is in the mirrors. Actually, any reflective surface if you know how to use it right. They fear you two together. Because of what she is. What you are.” He tilted his head toward the sky. “You’ve seen the chaos beneath her skin. She is a tool of destruction, and you would hold all of that within your palm. You two are two sides of the same coin. I thought I could keep her and, in doing so, keep her from you. I wanted to change what fate had deemed as yours. However, destiny has a sense of humor, it seems. A being made of pure light and one carved from darkness. How fucking poetic.”
Kaden shook his head, a sneer twisting his features. I knew he would do his best to kill me. Not only had he been ordered to and believed the fate of the realms rested on my death, but he wanted Dianna.
“The plan was simple. I get the book, you return, I take The Hand from you, and you die miserable and alone, just like Father. But no. She cared when no one else had. I tried to push her away, you know. I took others in front of her and gave her the leeway to do the same. It didn’t help, not for me, at least. She made me feel. She made you feel, too. Except she loved you, it seems.”
Kaden stood in one fluid motion, taking a step back. I saw the flicker of energy, same as mine, the same as our father’s. He watched it dance across his knuckles. I had a second to prepare before pure, raging energy shot through my entire being, and I jerked back so hard it felt as if my spine would break. I didn’t know how long it went on, but once the power withdrew, I collapsed, hanging limply in my chains as tremors wracked my body.
“You get everything, the crown, the throne, her. Why do you deserve that when we did all the work? We remade the world for him. We slaughtered the Primordials, yet you get the name, the title, and the praise. What makes you so godsdamn special?”
“Maybe,” I panted, “it’s because I am not a deranged prick.”
Kaden hit me with another bolt of energy, and my head snapped up, my insides boiling. He released me, and I sagged. Sweat slicked my skin and dripped from my hair, drenching every part of me. He roared, screaming his anger at me. He must have kept that anger buried for centuries. I tried to pull myself up, but between the binding circle and the energy he’d hit me with, I was weak. I needed time to heal and formulate a plan before he sent another blast through me. There had to be a way to get out of this, to save her, my family, and the world.
Kaden glanced down, running his hand over a dark bracelet on his wrist.
“I got a few gifts from Father. We all did. Most of them were made for war. It is easy to manipulate molecules and basic chemistry. We have the ability to disguise weapons as objects none would consider dangerous. Especially the god-killing ones.” He flicked his wrist, and a golden spear formed in his hands. Runes encased the staff, so small they looked like raised edges. It rang with familiar power and pure energy, my every sense drawn to it when I recognized the source. Dianna’s scent coated the blade.
Kaden didn’t hesitate, plunging the spear into my body. I felt the blade ram through my center, but it didn’t hurt as I had imagined it would. He gripped my hair and wrenched my head back, whispering against my ear, “It’s time to open the realms, Brother, and welcome our family home.”
One twist in my gut, a key fit for a lock that unleashed the entire cosmos. He ripped the spear’s blade out of my midsection and stepped back, his mouth falling open in pure awe. Thunder cracked and bellowed, threatening to fracture the sky, only it was me breaking. Suddenly, the pain hit me, some force ripping my power out of me. My head snapped back so hard it should have broken my neck. Every ounce of my power and life force burst from my mouth, nostrils, and eyes in a laser-sharp beam of light. It burrowed through the air and hit the sky, ripping the universe open.
Eighty-Eight
Samkiel
Was death peaceful? I had often wondered during the endless aching nights when my grief was too much and sleep would not take me. When existing seemed too much, long before she came into my life. But if death was peaceful, then this was indeed living. My body ached, pain radiating through me, threatening to tear my body apart. My veins screamed as if my blood had become acid. Sweat coated me, and I shook violently.
