“Oh, but you did. Your name is chanted through the realms. Your power is awe-inspiring. A true legend. I want that, too.” She was in front of me before I could breathe, and as she spread her legs to straddle me, I ached to zap her with a little bit of electricity, just enough to get her off. The only thing that stopped me was Ennis and the damn collar. I couldn’t afford to be incapacitated, and it seemed the more times he shocked me with it, the more trouble I had activating my powers.
As if reading my mind, her finger moved over the collar. “It’s a neurotoxin. It seeps into your blood, learns, and then poof! Once it hits a certain level in your body, it dulls your powers and is designed to trigger pain specific to the individual. Isn’t that so cool?”
She smiled, placing her hands on my shoulders.
I wouldn’t lie. I was impressed, but also worried. How many of these had she made, and were they in Nismera’s hold now, too? “You were always smart, Milani. I just never thought it would turn you psychotic.”
She leaned forward as if to kiss me, and I turned my head so quickly that I nearly broke my neck.
Her lips stayed on my cheek as she whispered, “Isn’t that your favorite thing about me?”
“No,” I said and meant it, my stomach turning sour. “I don’t have a favorite thing about you.”
She pulled back, still in my lap and still too godsdamn close.
“Liar.” She smiled. “I remember two weeks of you never leaving my bedchamber.”
“It was one.”
She held up her fingers. “Two.”
My lip curled. “Well, it obviously wasn’t life-changing because I cannot remember.”
Her smile dropped, and a sharp sting blossomed on my cheek, not from the collar, but from her slap. She gripped my jaw, her nails digging in.
“You’re being mean. Let’s see if we can fix that.” She nodded. “Ennis.”
He smiled and touched the remote, my body jerking forward. Milani’s hands held me as I convulsed. Acting as if she were my savior or comfort in the pain she was inflicting. Once the pain stopped, I took a moment to catch my breath. Sweat coated my skin as jolts of pain seared my nerves.
“This isn’t a way to broker peace, Milani.” I panted.
Her hand stopped the senseless petting in my hair before she grabbed the strands and pulled them taut. My head snapped back, and she glared at me, all sweetness gone, nothing but bitter rage remaining. “Oh, but it is.”
Her free hand crawled across my abdomen as I sneered. “What did I tell you about touching me?”
She ignored me, but a playful smile curved her full lips. “I wanted you for so long after I met you, and then I had you for such a brief time. We could rule the skies together. Your storms and my ships. None could stop us. This is how it should be, Kiely. It’s destiny.”
“It is not.”
She leaned against me. “It is. I can see it, and you will, too.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
The only answer I received was pain in my gut, sharp and blinding. I looked down, surprised to see the dagger she had driven into my body. The hilt shimmered, and I realized what she had and where she’d gotten it.
“Nismera gave me a present,” she said. Milani twisted the dagger as if that would help the magic seep faster into my blood, and perhaps it did. My vision blurred as a deep, aching pain sliced through my head. She leaned forward as the poison continued to leach into my body. “You will love only me, want only me. For eternity.” My mind grew fuzzy, but I heard her whispered chant. She repeated it over and over as if she hoped that speaking the words at the right time would enslave me to her.
Nismera had not just given her a present. She had given her the memory dagger Kaden had made to steal Dianna from me. Milani pulled back, taking the dagger with her. The hilt no longer shimmered or glowed, all the magic now inside me. Ennis chuckled behind us as the room grew dark. The last thing I saw was her cruel smile before something cold and malevolent slithered through me, searching for the one thing I cherished most.
My memories of Dianna.
65
DIANNA
“Are you sure you are okay?” Cameron asked as we pretended to make our rounds. We had learned whose shift required what and made a point to blend in.
I didn’t look at him as we marched in unison. Milani seemed more paranoid than usual, and that was saying something, considering how crazy the little bitch was.
