The girl straightens, sheathing her glowing blue blade. “Then I will take you to safety. Come, human. Keep up.”
The dream fractures, and I return to hell.
“What was—” I lick my parched lips. “What was that?”
“A memory. Mine,” The nightwalker grunts before he mutters something in Daryun. “When man fears magik, war is inevitable, and innocent children tend to be caught in the crossfire.”
As I try to sit up, a creature bursts free from underneath the sea of bones. Skulls, torn limbs, and splatters ofblood fly as the monster’s claws reach out, hungering for my flesh.
“Zahan Riganun,” I say, the words my younger self spoke rolling off the tip of my tongue.
White ribbons break from my skin. Like swords, swift and quick-flowing, they cut through heads, bodies, arms, and torsos, splitting them apart and ripping flesh from bone.
“Thank you,” the nightwalker murmurs as we step over the corpses. My hands grip his shirt tighter, and an overwhelming fatigue seizes me. I rest my head against his chest and gaze at the moonflowers sprouting at the nightwalker’s feet as he walks.
We arrive at the opening of the Hellsgate, the walls of the fissure draped in dripping black blood burnished red in the moonlight. Serun mutters a few indiscernible words, shifting his position slightly. Shadows peel away from him, slipping across my skin like a lover’s hands, and with little effort on his part, I’m repositioned onto the nightwalker’s back. My arms move lazily around his shoulders, and shadows slip around my wrists to hold me in place.
With a blur of speed, the nightwalker grips the uneven wall and climbs skyward. When we reach the surface, the air turns brisk and I shiver. Serun moves to cradle me in his arms once more, my body too weak to protest, and through bleary eyes I watch the Hellsgate seal shut behind us with a hiss.
I gaze up at the sky and the red moon. Mother is no longer there, and milk begins to flow through the crescent, softening the red until silver once more illuminates thecity. Tall buildings stand silent, the screams from below now swallowed by the darkness.
“My brother. Where is my brother?” I murmur.
“I could only save you,” he says. “Besides, he wouldn’t want to see you like this. Your glamour was shattered.”
What Jax said in the vent, about the Vampire Lord, burns brighter in my mind now that I see him for what he truly is.“All we have to go off is that it conceals its identity with shadows.”
My fingers tighten on the sleeve of his shirt, and I glare at the nightwalker as I say, “And you are the reason, aren’t you,Serun? You are the Lord of the Undercity, and have been deceiving me this entire time.”
Cold crimson eyes settle on me, and the corner of his mouth curves into a smirk. “You had a choice. Die, or feed from me.”
I recoil, my eyes tearing away from the pretty corpse and looking for an escape.
His hold tightens around my legs, but his hand around my back slackens. Fingers snap, and darkness spools around me. “I’d rather not carry you kicking and screaming the entire way to the Sunken City, kamai. Sleep well.”
“Serun,” I seethe, but as I breathe in, shadows slip into my mouth and nostrils, invading my body and turning my mind to fog.
“Next time you wake, you will rise on your deathbed,” he says, and his arms circle tighter around me as I grow limp. “Don’t make me wait too long.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
ALTI PRES
I stand in the darkness.Nothingness? It’s hard to tell. Yet, I hear the soft sound of breathing. But I’m not scared.
It doesn’t frighten me.
I don’t move. I wait.
From the darkness, faint shapes begin to emerge, accompanied by a sound filled with a deep sorrow that pierces my heart. Then, he comes into focus. He is hidden beneath a hooded cloak, still trying to keep his appearance a mystery.
The nightwalker who saved me.
The nightwalker I kissed.
The nightwalker Ibit.
“What do you want from me?” I say.
