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“Well, I am not a monarch.”
The flames from the candles and walls smoldered before burning out completely.
“I only wish to help you. I hope you see that.”
I leaned my head against the cool lip of the tub, closing my eyes and meaning every word I said. “Fate or not, get out before I burn you alive.”
The air shifted as he left me.
And a lock on a door in a house rattled.
Twenty-Four
Camilla. Two Weeks Later.
Emerald magic swirled around my extended hands, the small ring vibrating against the table as I whispered the spell again. It stopped, remaining perfectly still as the edge finally sealed. The last rune burned a deep emerald green before disappearing. Sighing, I dropped my hands and wiped my brow. This much magic in such a short time wore me out, although I wouldn’t mention it to her.
Her mood had been so abrasive, so aggressive these last few weeks, and I was too afraid to ask for even a small break. She didn’t come upstairs much anymore, staying in her wyvern form, feeding and waiting. I knew what was coming, and I hated that, in some part, it was my fault.
“I should have done more.”
The air stirred to my right, and Roccurem appeared. “You are worried about her behavior, too?”
I nodded, thumbing the ring in my hand. “She’s been erratic these last few weeks, to say the least.”
“I believe she has reached the point I feared.”
“She has been at this point for a while now. I think Gabby was the only thing keeping her from going off the deep end.”
Roccurem tilted his head. “Enlighten me.”
“She is so vicious and uncaring. So—”
“Don’t mistake her behavior, young witch. She is in pain. Grief is a powerful emotion that all beings handle differently. No one is the same. The god king sees it as well.”
I nodded and dropped the ring on the large mantle before turning to face the fate. “And I had a hand in that. I had hoped Samkiel would get to her, reach her before it was really too late.”
“He was close, very close, it seems. The form she rests in now is a precaution.”
“Why?”
“It helps her not to dream of the sister she lost and Samkiel. She feels anguish that he can reach her so well. She wishes for the pain she feels, and he eases it. Samkiel makes her feel something more. He makes her want things she doesn’t feel she deserves. Therefore, she lashes out more violently. She considers the pain she feels as punishment for what occurred. The more time Samkiel is with her, the more of her mortality slips through, but Kaden hit a very fragile nerve. One, he knows how to strum perfectly.”
I swallowed the growing lump in my throat, my eyes darting to the dungeon beneath us. “About Imogen?”
The day Imogen came back was the day the tiny spark of life that remained in her eyes died. Darkness had followed her like a cloak since then. Dianna felt intensely for someone who worked so hard to subvert her emotions.
“Yes, but more.” He nodded toward the lower floor where she stayed now. “He only seems to remind her how alone she truly feels. Now she has no sister here to bring her back from a perilous edge, no one she trusts to confide in. Emotions of beings with such great power can be deadly to themselves, like poison. The Old Gods calcified and turned to stone. Some even took their own lives after battles. Depression is peculiar for beings of the Otherworld. I have learned from watching so many that grief comes in waves and patterns. It flows, ebbs, and returns, claiming its way through the chest, the heart, and the brain. It seeks what they bury, aching for release from emotions pushed down far too deep. The darkness she claimed when she took Kaden’s blood is only feeding her own beast. When she is around Samkiel, he makes her see, feel, and care. Only this time, I am afraid Kaden may have gone too far.”
“Kaden.” I nodded, the reality of the situation seeping in. “It was always so funny to me that he claimed to not care about her, yet he destroyed anyone who even attempted to get close to her.”
“It’s more than that. More than I am allowed to say, but in simplest terms, Gabriella was her heart, Samkiel is her soul, and Kaden has orders to destroy both. I am afraid he has accomplished his task.”
“How romantic.”
“Do you know the history of the Ig’Morruthens?”
I scraped up the remains of ash and cedar. “I can’t say that I do.”
