Dominic shook his head. “They’re timid creatures,” he explained. “Won’t let you near them unless they approach. Their venom can heal, but their stingers can kill within a second.”
Adara now noticed the tiny needle at its behind, like a scorpion tail. At that, she tensed, but Dominic merely took the creature from her with gentle hands and placed it on a massive leaf where it spun another glistening web.
“Do you have a plan to return to Blemythia yet?” he asked.
Adara grimaced, caught off guard by the sudden question.
She shook her head. “No,” she replied grimly. “Unless someone on one of the other continents managed to get shadow steel from the empire, I’m out of luck.” A deep sigh. She wished she could blow away all the fear and defeat that weighed on her chest. “Even if I make it back, I don’t know if I’m strong enough . . . to be the savior. I could very well destroy my kingdom, and all of Blemythia.”
Dominic grasped her hand. “I didn’t mean it when I said those things,” he said regretfully. “You’ll find a way. You defeated alykren. You escaped before, and you can outsmart them again. You know who you are.” Dominic laid a comforting hand onher sacred sword attached at her hip. “Infinova,” he said, hope lighting his eyes.
Adara’s muscles went taut. An icy chill crept through her bones, like all the fire within drained from her blood.
She never told Dominic the name of her sword.
“Stars infinite,” he continued, oblivious to her sudden alarm. “Light prevails. Your power is a force of nature that has already been burning for an eternity and will burn forever more. You, Phoenix, are strong enough.” He offered her a smile that lit up the world. “Youare eternal.”
But it didn’t light up the world in the sense that her soul mended or her heart soared with hope.
No. It lit up the world in the sense that her entire universe just fractured in an explosion of searing, blinding light. It crumbled and burned and turned upside down, all while her heart shattered into a thousand sharp, bloodied pieces.
It felt as if she’d been stabbed in the back as she recalled the first time she’d heard those words.
They clanged through her, echoing so strongly in her mind that it hurt. So familiar. Somockingcoming from Dominic’s lips. The emotion in his face, in his words, did not strike Adara with hope as he intended. Instead, they struck her with such deep fear and panic that she had to stand there and blink away the dizziness in her mind. It felt as if all the air had been removed from the space in which they stood.
She wanted to scream at him, at the entire world for tormenting her with its twisted, cruel games of fate. She wanted to rip herself out of Dominic’s arms and thrust a knife into his back to show him how it felt. She wanted to take his key and destroy everything he ever cared about.
Thief of Hearts. King of Keys. The boy who carved out his own heart and tossed it into the Plagued Sea. The boy who rid himselfof a portion of his own memories. All so he would not feel a thing.
How could she have forgotten?
Dominic stared at her with skepticism. Adara said, “Let’s not talk about it.” She’d do anything to get away from him right now, to find out if her racing thoughts were true. To know for certain that sheknewDominic before all this. “I’m going to freshen up. You go ahead and meet the others at the beach. I’ll be there soon,” she lied.
He reluctantly glanced to the horizon, where the sun was setting, painting the sky with pastels, then back to her. “Just don’t take too long,” he said, an excited grin on his face. “You won’t want to miss what’s coming.”
Adara’s thumb stroked gently along the back of his hand. “I’ll be quick,” she said.
He nodded, and Adara turned to climb the stairs to their hut while Dominic walked toward the shore, unsuspecting that this one trivial piece of information he’d revealed had Adara unraveling all his lies.
Chapter 57
RageboiledinsideAdara.Fire tore at her insides, clawing and scraping and begging toburn, burn, burn. To raze the entire island to the ground simply because it was one thing Dominic held dear. To consume his insides with the embers, scorching throughout his body, burning everything in its path until he was nothing but a hollow void that matched the empty hole in his chest where his rotten heart should be.
How much damage could he take before his magic wasn’t enough to revive him? Adara was tempted to find out. To cut and slash and burn until he was begging on his knees for remorse.Begging and pleading for mercy, only stopping when he found that she had none left to give.
The thought of Dominic’s powers healing him only enticed Adara even more. So much damage could be done to a body that healed quickly. She could break his bones, cut him up, and watch his blood spill, only for his skin to mend back together.
And once his cries of pain finally ceased, she could start all over again.
And again.
And again.
Just like the Shadow Empire had done to her . . . andto Dominic.
It physically pained her to suppress the furious embers inside her. Flames coiled around her arms like serpents. A futile attempt to let her powers out in a controlled manner. It took everything in her not to let the fire run wild, scorching the island until it was charred and smoke was shoving its way down Dominic’s throat, fire blistering his skin.
Instead, she let the flames dwindle, submerging her back into the moonlit night as she exited the camp. She had not stayed behind to freshen up like she’d told Dominic. She’d stayed behind to find answers, and nothing could have prepared her for the harsh truth.
