“No.” She dug her long fingernails into his wrist, scraping into his flesh and refusing to let go. “No. No! Take me with you!”
An explosion rumbled in the distance.
Marina’s eyes shot open, her mind fuzzy with pieces of the dream. A mind-numbing ache flooded behind her sternum.
She ran the heel of her hand in circles over her chest, lulling herself back into reality.
Anotherboomerupted, shaking the house and rattling pictures on the walls of her bedroom.
Her body stiffened.
What the hell?
Pulse jumping, she whisked out of bed and moved across the room to the window, ripping back the curtain.
Through the veil of mist and darkness sprouted vicious flames that devoured Tenebris. Smoke gathered like horrid storm clouds over its peaks. Electric poles sparked violent blue. Structures crumbled like they were made of chalk. In the chaos, she could hear a cacophony of mortal cries.
Acacius.
Swirls of her divine power wrapped around her and transported her to the heart of her village.
The dewy, hot breeze rushed through her hair. Smog stung her eyes. Shards of broken glass and stone lodged into the soles of her bare feet.
She looked down at the rubble she stood on. Once a café. The inferno consumed the bank beside it as well, a frame of brick slowly charring into something unrecognizable.
Frantic, she peered out at her surroundings, her stomach curdling at the wreckage.
Everything burned. Businesses, homes. Screams cut through the crackling flames and fractured buildings. People crowdedthe clear pathways to evacuate down the mountain, their prayers filling Marina’s ears.
High Goddess of Night, lend us your aid!
She gritted her teeth as his wicked energy appeared behind her.
“Our little feud is growing on me, Rina.” The playful lilt in his deep voice traveled through her, reviving a fraction of the vitality that had died with Father.
Rage swelled in her gut as she spun on him. “You’ve come and set free your Ruin, I see.” It took everything in her to keep her balled fists at her sides.
Acacius stood atop the remnants of what was once a small bookstore, arms crossed, leaning against a steel beam. Tangerine flames danced in the backdrop. “It appears the mayor of Tenebris returned home tonight to find his lovely wife in bed with another. Knives were drawn and somehow, your entire village became involved in the matter.” He gave a lazy wave toward the devastation. “A bit of anger and deception is all it takes to unravel the seam and allow my Chaos and Ruin to slip in.”
Marina envisioned carving the satisfied look right off his face.
“You’ve ravaged everything here. Now leave,” she commanded.
“Oh, Rina.” He materialized a few paces in front of her, the scent of pine needles and black pepper breaking through the air. “I’m here to play.”
Something sharp plunged into her abdomen, ripping through tissue and muscle as it punctured through her back. The taste of copper pooled on her tongue, the thick, viscous liquid rushing up her esophagus.
She choked on it, slumping forward with her hands out. Her forehead met his solid chest, and her fingers curled into his shirt.
“Tenebris, the Night Village. A place where mortals congregate to worship the High Goddess of Night, a place where no light touches.” Acacius twisted the wooden stake deeper. “How fucking divine.”
Marina whimpered, feeling every splinter from the jagged spike lodge into her organs. Waves of agony screeched up her core and pulsated into her jaws. The intense pain was grounding, though, allowing her a second of reprieve from the bottomless trench that had made a home in her heart. She could stay here forever, caught on the pointed end of Acacius’s revenge, numb to her brokenness.
Dribbles of blood drained from the corners of her mouth.
I want to disappear.
She let her eyes flutter closed, supporting her weight against her forehead on his chest.
