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“Even if it does, it will require a sacrifice of some magnitude. Resurrection has a cost.”
Hope flared in my chest. “I don’t care.”
“I do not know how this will affect you or him. Death has never been this close. Not even with Gathrriel and Vvive.”
Gathrriel and Vvive.
I remembered the name from when Logan and I were in Yejedin.
Gathrriel was a powerful warrior wounded in battle and on the edge of death when Vvive found him. She swore on her blood, body, and soul, praying to the Formless Ones, the ones before creation, to save him. That was when the mark appeared. It was the first soul tie, and it sealed them together in every way possible. She saved him that day, saved the world, really.
A frigid wind swept in, sharper than any blade, the aching cold scraping against my bones. I glanced around the room and leaned over Samkiel protectively, his massive body limp in my arms.
I wouldn’t bring Gabby back. I couldn’t be so selfish, but Samkiel? The realms needed him. He was a light, a force of nature, and possibly the only being who could eradicate Nismera. Those were all good reasons, but above all, I needed him.
“If there is a cost for resurrection, then so be it. I’ll pay it.” The alternative was losing him, which would never be an option for me.
I had told Gabby every day that I loved her. She was my sister, and we’d shared everything. When she died, I wanted the word “love” to die with her. I never wanted to feel that deeply about anyone ever again, never wanted to be hurt like that again. No matter how I tried, Samkiel refused to let me lock my heart away. He showed me what I could have. He promised he would never leave me, yet here I was, my soul shattered and Samkiel cold in my arms.
I took a deep breath and focused, turning every bit of grief and sadness into cold, hard steel. I leaned forward, pressing my forehead to his and linking my fingers with his.
“If Roccurem is wrong, and I am truly out of time, if this doesn’t work, I want you to know that I am nothing like your father, Samkiel. I refuse to live without you. There will be no peace in this realm or the next. I will burn this universe down to embers for you. I will leave nothing untouched, taking apart anyone that’s ever hurt you piece by piece. So when you hear the screams from however far away you are from me. When you feel the very stars shake from the rage you aren’t here to pull me back from, when you hear them beg and plead for mercy, I need you to remember that it’s because you and your stupid, annoying persevering ways got to me. I want you to remember that you got under my skin when I hated you. I want you to remember that you made me happy and made me feel when no one else could. I want you to remember that you saved me in every way possible and never once gave up on me. So when the very fabric of the universe burns, I want you to remember that I love you.”
The air in the tunnel grew heavy, the cold darkness retreating with a hollow whisper. Pain radiated through my left hand. I hissed and glanced down. A reddish-orange glow burned beneath my skin, etching intricate whorls around my third finger. The laser-like beam cooled, leaving behind a jet-black brand, but it was so much more and went so much deeper.
A seal.
The Mark of Dhihsin.
As quickly as it burned, as it showed, it disappeared.
Samkiel took a breath, his eyes fluttering open before closing once more, but a rhythmic heartbeat echoed through the tunnel, quickly synching with my own.
Ninety-Three
Dianna. The Floating City of Jade.
“How deeply you must love someone that death itself fears taking them?”
We stood in an enormous room, one wall carved out, revealing the sky of a world so far from my own. The two suns painted the sky in golds, oranges, and violets, a constant light show above. Broken pieces of an old moon ringed the planet, affecting its gravity. Gold and pink clouds encircled the floating city. Vines and flowers draped the walls and hung from the ceiling, the transition between outside and inside seamless.
“How are you feeling?” I asked him.
“Exceptional, thanks to you getting us here in time,” Roccurem said.
I shrugged. “You told me where to go. I just flew.”
I glanced at him. His form was no longer shredded and broken.
“Does fate actually answer to anyone?” I smirked and rested my head against the smooth doorway.
“We were destined to coexist with the gods and those that came before them. I long for those days once more.”
I didn’t respond, the weight of the last day finally settling on me.
“Resurrection has a cost. I assume you paid yours.”
I glanced at my bare, smooth finger, trying to forget what that mark had felt and looked like.
