“I agree,” he added. “At least here in Whitcliff, we have a better chance of someone who has seen or knows something.”
“Good,” I said. I’d level the very realm that bitch hid in to get Miska back. I refused to let her suffer like she did at Jade City. Curling closer, I swung my leg over his solid thigh, his fingers still threading through my hair as sleep claimed us both.
THE CAVERN CRUMBLEDaround me, fractures webbing across the shaking floor. Stalactites crashed down, breaking upon impact. Gathrriel’s world was tearing itself apart. I took a deep breath and headed to the room to find him sitting on the throne. The chalice still sat atop the pedestal. It rattled against the stone, but not a drop of its contents breached the rim.
“I’m assuming you’re actually dead this time,” I said, folding my arms as I faced him.
Gathrriel rose, not taking his eyes from the chalice.
“Correct. You have burned what was left of my soul and connection here. The last part of Vvive I have left.”
I wished to be cruel in vengeance for what he’d done to me and Samkiel, but the way he said those words, the sorrow on his face, and knowing deep down that I may have separated them forever did affect me. I was not entirely heartless.
“You shouldn’t have touched him,” I said simply.
Gathrriel finally looked at me, his armor beginning to smoke and curl from his body. “I was unaware of what you are to one another,” he said, running his hand along the pedestal between us. “A failing on my part.”
“You’re not the first or the last to underestimate our connection.”
He shook his head. Smoke, or what I knew now was his spirit slowly leaving this plane, wafted off of him, crawling away from his body and rising. “Indeed, I will not be the last. What he is, what you are, they will never accept it, no matter what bright smile they plaster on their face or what words come out of their lying mouths. I feel sorrow for you, for him.”
Laughter burst from me, but it held no humor. “You feel sorrow for us? I’m the one who just burned your soul.”
We glanced up as the ceiling of his cavern broke into pieces. I flinched, but they did not fall. A dark mass formed above us, sucking all that cracked and crumbled in.
“It seems Death has found me now.”
I didn’t know why I said it, or even more, why I felt it. Maybe it was a combination of everything that had happened, or perhaps it was because I felt his grief so deeply, but I said, “I’m sorry. For whatever it was that happened to you and her. I’m sorry that you couldn’t rest because of it.”
His eyes darkened, not in lust or primal need, but in determination and satisfaction. Despite the fact that I had permanently nullified his ability to take me over and Death howled above, eager to reclaim him, he smiled.
“Find my broken palace, Ayla. Consume all that is left of me and learn the truth. Then and only then will you have the power to stop what I could not.”
The wind howled, sharp and violent. More of this dream cavern broke and was sucked into the void. The pedestal ripped apart and followed, leaving nothing to separate Gathrriel and me.
“Stop what?” I all but screamed to be heard over the noise. His body ripped and thick smoke poured out of him, spinning around the cavern before funneling toward the void that Death owned.
“The gods.” He looked at me as if he were exasperated by my ignorance.
“There are no gods left,” I said. I knew he had to be wrong, but he had said it so clearly and with such veracity, I believed him for a second.
He was before me then, moving like smoke curling off a living flame. “Oh, but there are, and they will do to you what they did to Vvive and me. But I no longer fear them not meeting their fate, especially where you are concerned.”
“What does that mean?”
“They will hate you, and when they seek to destroy you, my will shall be inherited by the god you bed. I have tasted the darkness that lives in his blood. There will be nothing left when he finally decides to use it.”
I knew he meant Oblivion, yet he was wrong. Samkiel would never ruin worlds to that magnitude. He was decent and kind and fought like hell even now to prevent universal war. He’d sacrifice himself instead.
“You’re wrong. Samkiel isn’t like that,” I said.
Gathrriel only chuckled as his tomb crumbled around us both. “You of all should know what one is capable of when they are acting out of love. It seems I no longer need to seek my vengeance. He will procure it for me,” he said, his voice brushing against my ear as he slowly faded. “For love.”
My head reared back as the remains of Gathrriel curved into a vibrant orange smoke, coiling and writhing like a snake toward Death’s domain.
My body jolted upright. Sweat gripped my brow and coated my skin. I took one breath, then another, trying to calm my racing heart. Samkiel’s arm rested across my lap after falling from my midsection as I sat up. He was stretched out on his stomach and slept undisturbed, his body keeping him under as it worked at repairing him.
A chill ran across my skin as the cold night air trickled in from the open window. I took another breath, only this one curled before me in a puff of fog. My eyes went to the window, thinking perhaps it had snowed. It wasn’t likely, considering we were near the ocean, but it was possible. The window was open, and a bird made of midnight feathers sat on the sill, staring at me with opaque eyes. I stared back, struck with familiarity, yet I did not know why.
