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“Are you still having issues, lover? Not sleeping?” She glanced at me as the air continued to rumble.
“I’ll be honest with you if you will be with me.”
“Honesty?”
“Yes. Honestly, you helped more than you know, and I plan to do the same for you. No matter what words you toss at me or taunts you know affect me. I refuse to let you continue down this destructive path, Dianna.”
She glanced down, nodding as if she were contemplating my words. Water dripped from the tip of her nose before she glanced at me again. Beautiful, she was beautiful even now. Not one single part of her scared me, no matter how hard she tried. The fangs, the eyes, every part was still her, and she was the only one I wanted. I longed for her just as she was, from the thick lashes she closed against the rain to that full sensual mouth now painted a deep shade of red, to her hair slicked back from her face and hanging far past her shoulders. I could see how losing Gabriella, how the blood she had consumed, had changed her, but to me, she was still my sweet, protective, caring, fiery Dianna.
“Honesty, then. Fine, I’ll be honest.” A flicker of emotion danced behind her eyes that raging persona slipping for a second. Her throat bobbed as she continued to stare at me. “This was a waste of time. Every second I spent with you was a waste of time. You were a means to an end. You were to keep my sister safe, and you failed even in that. I should have left the second I had the chance. Anyone smart would have. Now she is dead because of you just as much as me because we couldn’t keep our hands off each other. Kaden killed her because of you, because of me. Once again, I was reminded that I am not a normal girl with a crush on a normal boy who gave her flowers and told her she was pretty. I was stupid to think I could have even a semblance of normalcy in my life. I was weak and pathetic and didn’t realize that normal died the second I did in that fucking burning desert. And honestly? I’ll never be her again.”
There it was. Dianna tried to hide behind the violence and lovers she took, wearing it like armor to protect her shattered heart. She’d left the message, trying to prove to me she was truly gone. Only I felt in my soul how wrong it was. She was Dianna, my Dianna, and I saw clearly how broken she was now. The words she threw at me were meant to hurt me, but they originated in her overwhelming grief and pain. The same pain that clawed its way into my soul when Rashearim fell.
“You’re wrong, Dianna. You are trying to convince yourself, but you know I would have done anything for you and your sister. Blaming yourself and me will not bring her back.” My heart sank as she turned ever so slightly, her eyes glowing a shade brighter. “I still care about you. Need you. Want you. I always will.”
“Well then, I guess that’s a problem because I don’t care about you. Not when the cost of it took everything from me.” Her lips pursed into a thin line. “You’re not worth it.”
I had hit a nerve, and she’d struck back.
“Don’t project onto me. I know you, even if you hate it. You care about me. I know what I felt then, and I know what you felt. It was real. It’s the only thing I can still feel from you, and I will stop at nothing to have you back with me. I won’t let you suffer alone. You know I won’t. I’m too damned stubborn.”
A crackle of lightning hissed across the sky. A corner of her lips twisted up as she glanced at it. She swallowed, the long narrow column of her throat bobbing as she tilted her head back. “They wrote stories about us. Me, the Ig’Morruthen, and you, Samkiel, the World Ender. Two creatures destined to spill each other’s blood until the cosmos bleed.” She looked at me, her gaze meeting mine and holding. “Not fuck each other.”
I merely shrugged as the storm raged on. “Well, times change.”
She smiled, but it was one of annoyance, not the bright one I craved. She clapped her hands together. “Hmm, well, this was fun, Samkiel, but I have a witch to kill. So…”
I knew what she was doing. Her attempt at avoidance was apparent, but it was more than that. I knew where she was better than anyone. When my father died, and I’d destroyed Rashearim, I’d locked myself away on the remains of my world. She was only locking her emotions inside, trying to push me away, trying to block me out, trying not to feel.
“Dianna.” I took a single step forward. She thrust her hand toward me, a dark ring on her finger glowing for a mere second as she summoned a sharp, jagged forsaken sword made of serrated bone and held it between us.
Shock grounded my feet in place, my stomach twisting.
Inconceivable.
“How?” My voice was a broken whisper.
She’d summoned a blade from a ring. It was impossible that she had the raw magic it took to even stabilize the power it contained.
“Another honest moment between us. I remember the things you taught me. How to fight better, be quicker, how to take down something far larger than me, how to be lethal. Every little thing you showed me in that damned mansion when you just wanted to be close to me after our little argument. I remember every word you said, including how you must always have a weapon.” She lifted the blade, assessing it. “Camilla made it for me. Took a while, but here we are.”
“That’s what you needed her for? To fight me?”
Why did rage and jealousy flair to life in my gut at that realization?
“I knew you’d only get in my way. Just like the blood that runs through that perfect body of yours, saving people is ingrained in your DNA. And honestly, how cool is this? The rings really are a great idea.”
Camilla had forged a blade born ring. I knew her powers were unparalleled even here, but that much power and strength were catastrophic. And now, two of the most powerful women I knew had joined forces.
“I am a creature born of chaos, born to destroy you.” She lifted her blade, pointing it at me. “You are the protector of all twelve realms and every dimension in between. Shall we be what we were always destined to be, lover?”
She moved quickly, too quickly. I summoned my blade and raised it, stopping her strike just before it connected with my face. The heavy sound of steel rang out, and a part of me broke.
* * *
My body hit the floor, all the air exploding from my lungs. I pushed to my feet, summoning another ablazed weapon. I refused to give up on her. She was still in there. It had only been a flicker, buried under anger and vengeance, but I’d seen it, and it was enough.
Lights flashed, casting a gray-blue tint with every rotation of the focused yellow beams. I scanned the hole she had made in the deck after hitting me with enough flame to sting. My clothes remained intact, minus the few cuts she had gotten in with her blade. She practically danced with that weapon. Even as her target, she was damn impressive.
