Chapter Thirty-Three
Darkness. My world was awash in utter darkness, thick like sludge, pulling me ever downward into the abyss. Its currents tossed me about. I didn’t care anymore. It didn’t hurt. All I am, all Iwas,melded with them. As I faded into annihilation, I could no longer tell where they ended and I began. We were one, perfection, everything and nothing all at once.
Until we weren’t.
Light flared to life below me, cleaving me from eternity. Sickly green, emerald light. With it came a feeling I’d thought I was incapable of:fear.Even here, at the end of everything, I couldn’t outrun him, couldn’t escape him. His power rose in bubbles from beneath me, driving me from the depths of darkness, tearing me from my repose.
Let me go,I begged without words.Please, just let me go…
But it wouldn’t release me, wouldn’t let me go. Fire ignited on my skin, bringing pain,realpain. My head broke through the surface of the sludge, and I drew a breath of air as my body caged my spirit.
I opened my eyes, gasping, struggling to sit up. More aches came, pulling at my insides, and I collapsed backward, ears ringing, visionblurring, nerves crackling with static. My consciousness wasn’t ready to be shunted back into my body. My senses swirled like a raging storm. I thrashed against them, struggled to orient myself among foreign sensations, until a gentle hand met my shoulder. My muscles locked tight at the touch.
“It’s okay, Lillia,” Sitri said from somewhere beside me. “Nothing here can harm you. I promise.”
I groaned, letting my body go lax as my breathing calmed. His voice soothed me. Sitri stroked my arm, quelling my panic as my senses came into focus.
The first thing I noticed was the smell. Vapula’s perfume, toxic and sweet, clashed with Sitri’s warm, smoky sandalwood aroma, but there was no blood, smoke, or choking dust. The air was clean, if disagreeably perfumed. My vision settled next. I stared up at the canopy of a four-poster bed, draped with verdant velvet and dressed in pleated emerald silk. Even the walls were green, decorated with wallpaper and molding that resembled vines and leaves. And the crisp white light—so bright, so steady—came from somewhere out of my view.
The mattress shifted beside me, and I turned to see Sitri in all of his beauty; disheveled black hair glinting near-blue, his silver eyes gleaming, fangs shining where his smile showed them. From an end table, he lifted a gilded goblet, which he brought to my lips.
“Drink,” he commanded, and I did, deeply. Only after I’d drained it of bitter oils did the Prince return it to its place.
“How long was I out?” I croaked. “Where are we?”
“About five days now,” Sitri answered. My eyes widened.“That’s to be expected, though. You were in a sorry state and took a grievous wound. As for where we are, thiswasVapula’s bedroom. Quite a bit nicer than mine, though I do detest green, personally.”
Was.He was really gone, then.
I tried again to sit up, only to find that my strength still hadn’t returned. Sitri’s hand on my lower back helped to guide my bodyupright. As the blankets fell away, they revealed a set of plain, silken clothes.
“You dressed me?”
“Those rags didn’t suit you. Too fragile, and far too degrading.” Sitri hesitated, then continued, “They were more blood than fabric by the time I got them off you.”
Oh, god. The blood. I could still almost smell it in the air. There had been so much of it, more than I ever hoped to see in one place again. Half of it must have been mine. My hand moved to my stomach, right where his blade had pierced me. An inkling of pain warned me that the wound wasn’t fully healed.
“I didn’t think I would be waking up again,” I admitted.
“I know.” Sitri planted a gentle kiss on my cheek. “You made that quite clear, and under different circumstances, I might have thought the same. Even demons have our limits.”
“Then how…?”
“Your bindings, darling.”
“My bindings? Since when do you have that kind of power?”
Deafening silence followed before Sitri finally answered.
“I don’t.”
My brow furrowed. Wordlessly, Sitri brought his hands to the buttons on my shirt. I watched in awe as the fabric fell away, exposing my breasts and the glowing sigil between them—a castle topped with a heart, and a cross underneath. Wings sprouted from it on either side. The whole pattern was encased in a pair of concentric rings and glowed a rich emerald hue.
It was the seal of the Duke Vapula.
My muscles tensed at the sight of it. My breath hitched.
“I struck him down,” I whispered as the realization set in. “His magic… I felt it pulling me, dragging me from the darkness, but I didn’t realize…”
