He shook his head. “Emma’s necklace is a small piece of the stone which is hidden on Earth. Like a tiny sliver of the power which Laous will have should he find that original stone.”
This was why it was so important to stop him from finding it. He was crazy and evil. He’d tried to kill me.
I almost died.
As if he’d heard my thoughts, Daniel’s arms tightened around me and I wondered why my chest suddenly felt like it had tightened, too. After a few seconds of contemplation, I realized what it was … emotions. I was filled with a million feelings, and I didn’t know how to handle it. I had been so used to numbness, but ever since New Orleans, where the soul and music of that city started to pierce my icy interior, things had been changing.
Daniel topped it off. He changed everything for me, and now he had somehow saved my life. I knew it was him. There was no one else who would bother.
“You saved my life,” I rasped out, my voice not completely back to normal yet. My eyes were burning. Was I going to cry? I literally never cried. What was happening to me?
“I was too late to save you,” Daniel replied softly, and suddenly he had all of my attention. “I did the only thing I could, which will allow you almost a full life.”
A beat of silence, and then I was struggling against his hold, managing to roll out of his arms and onto the white floor. My legs were like jelly, but I didn’t give up until I was standing before him. My skin was tacky with blood, and I didn’t bother to look down because I couldn’t bear to see the red staining my body.
“Explain?” Less rasp this time.
He was on his feet now, too. I had to tilt my head back to see him clearly. “As Jason told you back in NOLA, I’m the interim overlord of House of Imperial. I haven’t had the initiation ceremony yet, but when I do, I will rule this house.” He paused, as if weighing his words. “We’re the guardians of the underworld.” My heart rate picked up. Had he just saidunderworld?“When you died…” he continued, “I used the only power I had at my disposal to save you. I tethered your soul to me … and the land of Imperial. We’re the house where souls come to be judged. To rest. So we have a unique power over them. You died in my arms, and I stopped your soul from leaving while I healed you.”
I swallowed roughly. “Why didn’t you just let me go through that … the rebirth?”
Everything about him went hard again. His eyes narrowed, lips tightened, jaw became rigid. “Because you would be gone.” The words were ground out from between clenched teeth. “Gone, and a new version of Callie would be reborn in a new body. You’d have no memories. No connections. You’d start again.”
I rubbed a hand over my face, trailing it down across my neck – which was no longer sliced in two – continuing down to press against my chest. “I have a heartbeat. I’m breathing. I feel alive.”
Daniel nodded, still looking ten shades of pissed off. “For the most part, you are alive. But there’s some things which will change. I’ll do my very best to help you deal with it, but it’s better you understand now.”
I crossed my arms tightly over myself now, trying to hold it together. “I prefer my bad news straight up, so hit me with it.”
He did.
“You’ll have to spend a certain amount of time in the underworld. This world will renew your life essence, because its energy tethers your soul. A soul which has somewhat tasted the afterlife and will want to make its way back there.”
Fuck.“Okay, what else?” Visiting here frequently was something I could live with.
“You’ll also have to spend a lot of time with me. More than a few days outside of my presence, away from my energy, and you will fade away. Your soul will end up in our justices, and you’ll be properly dead.”
I couldn’t read his face. It was blank for the first time since he’d saved me. Which sucked, because there was no way for me to know how he felt about his sacrifice to keep me alive.
And in all truth, right then I was struggling to think about anyone but myself.
A roaring filled my mind, like a tornado had just sprang up. I wanted to yell and scream. I’d been a prisoner most of my life already, and just when I was planning on some freedom, I found myself in an entirely new sort of jail.
I knew I was an ungrateful bitch, but I couldn’t look past it right now.
“What are the justices?” I asked, my words echoing weirdly in my mind. I sounded detached. I felt it, too. My body wasn’t my own anymore and that had my brain struggling to comprehend who I was in this moment.
Daniel stepped closer to me, and I would be a liar if I didn’t admit that my body reacted. It wanted to crawl back into his arms. I couldn’t just pretend it was because of our new bond; I’d been wanting to crawl into his lap since I first saw him. Too-good-looking alien bastard.
I would be stronger than this new dependence I had on him, though. I might have to be around him, but I didn’t have to touch him.
As I stepped back, he paused. “I’ll show you.” His voice was flat. He turned and waved his arm, and the white-walled dome we were in opened with a pop that left a low ringing in my ears.
My nose crinkled as I stared around trying to figure out where the hell I was. It was a room of egg-shaped pods. Everything was very white, like I could barely make out another tone or shade in the place. Daniel stepped out of the egg we’d apparently been in, and started making his way through the other pods, which were closed, but I could see shadows within them. Were they…?
Holy crap.This place was filled with dead souls, or dead … Daelighters. Whatever the hell they were. It was taking every ounce of my willpower not to start freaking out. I just kept telling myself I was stronger than this. I’d faced struggles my entire life. I could manage this next little hurdle.
Hurrying after Daniel, I caught up to him in moments. When the long white room ended, we exited out into a dark world. I couldn’t see what was above us, but I got the feeling that it was not sky up there. That panicked feeling returned, so I forced my mind to focus on the rest of this world around us.
