Forgetting George, Tate started to follow Ryu in a vain effort to stop what was about to happen. The world seemed to slow, each moment feeling like it lasted an interminable length of time.
Tate strained to move faster, but it felt like she was moving through molasses. Time at once too fast and too slow.
Between one blink and the next, Ai appeared next to the emperor wearing a cold, remote expression. Her manner untouchable as she took in the slaughter. The deformed figure belonging to Thora.
Lastly, her eyes met Tate’s. She blinked and it was like someone reached a hand out to press pause. Tate and all the rest came to a stop, freezing in place.
Ai’s lips didn’t move and yet Tate could hear her voice in her head as clear as if she was standing right next to her.It’s almost time.
The world came unstuck.
A searing pain penetrated her chest. George’s smiling face looked at her from inches away. Tate looked down to find a blade the color of the void sticking out of her chest. Frost spread from it as numbness slowly replaced the pain.
George leaned close as she whispered into Tate’s ear. “Well, look at that. It seems you were wrong. I deserve my title after all.”
Tate’s eyes were wide as she reached up to touch the blade. The scream of a Veles and the roar of a dragon shook the air. Her strength abandoned her halfway and her hand flopped uselessly to her side.
There was a chiming in Tate’s ears as silver filaments surrounded the blade in her chest, waving gently around it as if not knowing what to do.
There was surprisingly little blood loss as the silver spread across her chest, eventually enveloping half of the blade. Some of the silver flaked off and fell to the ground as the blade’s severe cold damaged them.
Shock blanked Tate’s mind as her gaze moved over George’s shoulder to Ryu, where an uncomprehending look replaced the urgency of only seconds before. He shook his head, his eyes full of horror.
Tate’s legs stopped supporting her and she fell to her knees.
This wasn’t part of the plan, she thought distantly. She wasn’t ready to leave. Not yet. Not when she had so much still to do.
Ilith,Tate whispered, even knowing it was useless.I could really use your help right about now.
An invisible wall existed between Tate and her dragon. If Ilith answered, Tate couldn’t hear. Like this, the transformation between human and dragon felt far away. The distance insurmountable.
The blade acted like a straw, devouring the faint flicks of power as Tate struggled to stay conscious.
The screams of the blade’s previous victims beat at her mind, the pain of those dragon-ridden becoming hers. Ah, so that’s why the blade was inherited. What a nasty thing they’d created.
It didn’t simply kill its victims. It consumed the intangible thing that made them, them. Soul, as some people called it. It trapped them inside for an eternity, using those souls as its fuel.
How monstrous. A true abomination.
She could see now why George was so rigid in her views. The blade didn’t just feed off its victims but its owner too. Carrying that thing by her side all this time would corrupt even the most righteous of individuals.
“What’s this? You finally have nothing else to say?” George taunted as she looked down at her.
Tate summoned the last of her strength, letting out a wet chuckle that wiped the gloating expression off of George’s face.
“Stop laughing,” George snapped in frustration. “What do you find so funny?”
Stupid woman. Tate would pity her if the woman hadn’t killed her. Though Tate supposed, she could explain. Call it a departure gift.
Her voice was mostly gone as she mouthed, “You’re dead.”
George’s head jerked back as she started to whirl. Night never gave her a chance as he sprang onto her back, a silent killer as he buried his face in her neck.
George’s expression changed to one of shock.
Night gave a powerful jerk. There was a crunch as he ripped out her spine. Blood spurted as George’s expression went slack. Night leapt off her body bare seconds before Rath’s head descended and the wannabe dragon slayer disappeared into his maw.
How thoughtful of her guys to arrange such a gift for her final moments. Tate let out a wry chuckle, her eyes rising to the nightmarish sky. Too bad this was her final view. It would have been nice to see the old, familiar Aurelian sky one last time.
