None of it matters if the king sends me away or locks me in a cell—or worse. But I smile and say nothing, kissing him sweetly before resting my head on his shoulder and closing my eyes.
It is the one outcome I hadn’t let myself consider, if the king is truly a reaver, he could take my mind from me if he chose to do so. Dark thoughts of a ravaged mind are the last that filter through me when the void comes to take me, regretfully. For tonight is a night I wish to live in forever.
Blood pools by my feet and a shiver snakes up my spine at the rasp of the demon’s blade sliding across the floor. My heart slams against my ribs. Every ragged inhale of smoke swirling in the air burns my lungs. Blood soaks the hair of the still form of the woman reaching for me.
The demon steps toward me. I scream, a dark storm tearing through the fabric of the veil, spearing the demon with a black blade etched in starlight. It gleams, as the demon falls to his knees with a wail, dark blood weeping from its chest to drip upon the floor.
An old woman in tattered rags rises from where the demon falls in a crumpled heap, a black toothed smile adorning her wrinkled features. She is wrapped in rags, a large hood obscuring her face. She reaches a gnarled hand toward me.
“Give up the lie, child.”
In the distance, someone calls to me and the crimson world shudders.
“No,” I beg the crone.
“Shivaria!” A black scaled demon rushes through the door. Its eyes lock on mine. There’s nowhere to run, every wall of the building around me set ablaze. I rush the demon with fearful determination. I will not die, not like this. Slamming my shoulder into its abdomen I send it to the ground with a grunt.
“Shivaria!”
The crimson world fissures. I shake my head, clearing the fog, and bare my teeth as two strange demons flood into the small space.
“Hold her!”
I land a blow on one and it staggers back, the crone cackling behind them. I take the break in their line to rush for the door, halted by an arm, like a steel band hooking my waist, pulling me back into the fray.
“Shivaria, stop!”
I strike at another demon closing in on my right, landing a well-placed kick to the knee of the demon diving at me from my left.
“Enough, Xeyvian. She’s too strong. Do it, now!”
The crimson world breaks around me, consumed by darkness, and the last sound upon my ears is the scream of my own raging fury as the void takes me.
CHAPTER 38
THE A’KORI PALACE
Present Day
Gasping for air, hands shaking, I drag myself from the thick sludge of oblivion. My heart races as I claw my way to the surface, sure that if I falter it will pull me into its depths and I will sink down, never to reemerge.
Safe. You’re safe.
At last, my demon came to claim its portion from my dreams. My hand glides across my throat, soothing the tender muscles. My eyes fly open, a deep panic welling within me when I recall where I am.
I clutch the empty sheets beside me, sighing my relief when I find that the general is absent his usual place on the bed. The sky is tinged a dark shade of grey, only the faintest of proclamations that the sun is set to rise, and there are still hours before dawn.
My senses still dull from the clouded visions of my nightmares, it takes me entirely too long to notice the murmur of muffled voices beyond the doors of the war room. If not for the time of day I wouldn’t think much of it. The room is, after all, well trafficked by those he trusts.
I can’t help but wonder if the Vatruke have been sighted and find it difficult to conjure little else that would rouse the male from my side in the small hours of morning. Pitching the sheets from my body, I cinch a thin dressing gown around my waist, curiosity pulling me toward the flickering light spilling from beneath the doors. I raise my hand to the lever, my body stilling when Nurai’s voice comes from the other side.
“What you are asking is impossible, Xeyvian. There is not a feyn alive that still has the power to unbind her.”
“There is someone,” he growls angrily, “Or she would not be as she is.”
“The Vatruke?” Riesh offers.
“Muri was the only one left with that kind of power after the sundering,” Xeyvian says.
