His lip curled, the lines across his cheeks spreading and splitting, the creature beneath this facade aching to be let loose on me. “She escaped the King of Quinural, who kidnapped and forced her to remain a beast. Now he and his city rot, home to nothing but maggots.”
A long black tentacle snapped toward me, aiming for my head. I ducked, and a crack formed in the stone behind me. I raised my blade, but he had learned and was far quicker this time.
“Ugh. There you go with the disgusting insects again. Your obsession is rather unnatural,” I said, dust from above sprinkling between us.
“It’s a pity your kind burns into light when you die,” Umemri said. “I would love to have your skull as my permanent trophy in my throne room.”
I flicked the dirt from my shoulder, unbothered by his threats. “Don’t flatter yourself. We both know you couldn’t kill me on your best day.”
“Your hubris will be your downfall, and I can’t wait to bear witness to it.”
“What do you want from me? Am I supposed to apologize for the death of your murrak?” The corner of my lips raised slightly as we sized each other up. We slowly started to circle the room. For every step I took, he countered, his eyes on my blade, unwilling to risk losing another tentacle.
“Her name was Sth,” he said it with such vitriol that if words were blades, I would have been shredded.
“I don’t give a fuck what her name was. She should have been more careful about whom she touched.”
“Of course you wouldn’t, oh great World Ender. How many lovers have you had throughout your life? I’m sure the names blur.” He sneered hatefully, his severed tentacle dragging along the cavern floor.
“More or less,” I said with a careless shrug.
“But her, the woman you fight and bleed for, her name is a prayer to the King of Gods, yes?”
I watched him. I knew he was herding me, but I didn’t know why or where. He hadn’t tried to strike out again, and it was taking every ounce of willpower and training I had not to react as he baited me with the only thing I loved.
“I intend to pay you back in kind, and I want to hear you scream her name as she is stripped from you.” His words and how he said them, as if they were already fact, had the hairs along the back of my neck standing straight.
“You’re stalling.” I stood to my full height, no longer concerned with defense. “You’re not trying to kill me. Why?”
He held up his hands, a cocky smirk twisting his alien mouth. “You caught me.”
My hand gripped the hilt of my blade so tightly that it should have cracked. “If you think you can send creatures after her while you keep me distracted here, you’re mistaken. You touch her, and it will be the last thing you do in this life, war or not.”
Umemri’s dark eyes glinted at me, and his smile spread wide, displaying far too many rows of teeth. His dark tentacles whipped, reaching the top of the cavern wall.
“Oh, my creatures aren’t the ones you have to worry about touching her.”
My grip on my blade relaxed a fraction, but it was too late. Umemri thrust his tentacles straight up, punching them into the cracks my body had formed in the solid stone of the ceiling. The mountain fell atop me, burying me alive.
Heavy stones pressed down on every part of my body, crushing and cracking bone. I groaned and started trying to dig myself from the rubble. Fuck, I had to get out. I had to get to Dianna. I had no idea how many soldiers he had brought with him from the Otherworld. If they touched her, I’d burn the Otherworld to fucking ash. Fear and anger laced my veins at the very thought. I had to get to her. Power coiled like a living beast beneath my skin at the thought of him touching her. I punched and kicked until the stone broke and cracked, showering me with dust and pebbles.
A wet cough left my lips as I reached the surface. Being buried alive was one of my least favorite things and especially under a fucking mountain. Air rushed into my lungs, filling them as I cleared my vision. Nismera had shown up and leveled the place.
Dianna.
I pushed, throwing the rubble off me. The moment I freed my legs, I slid my thumb across my ring, feeling for our bond. My body shuddered when I felt the familiar warmth of our connection. Thank fuck. My relief was short-lived, my hopes drowning in pure, sharp agony. I sat up, grabbing at my lower abdomen as phantom pain, hot and bright, shot through my gut.
“Dianna!”I screamed, knowing Nismera must have found her. My hands scraped across the broken stone as I pushed myself to my feet.“Tell me you are okay?”
Silence followed, and I strained, desperate to hear her voice and feel her essence along our bond.
Nothing.
Fuck.
My gaze searched frantically, trying to figure out how to dig my way back to her. I wasn’t even sure where she was. The cavern looked as if it had imploded. Half of the mountain was now gone, and the noxious sky was visible above me. A loud boom rocked the ground, nearly sending me back to my knees.
I grabbed my ears and turned toward the cliff’s edge where we had entered the cavern. Warships whirled to life, their cannons firing, shooting at the winged creatures as they took to the sky. The ships disappeared behind the clouds in a blinding flash of light, and I knew she hadn’t only taken Dianna. They had also taken Reggie. I had lost them both.
