“Yuto,” Callista sobbed. “You shouldn’t have come for me. Get Aradia and get out of here. If you stay, it will be nothing but death for you all. I’ve seen what’s inside of his castle. Panos is more than what you think he is. There are—”
“Hush!” Panos screeched into her ear.
Callista fell silent, her bottom lip trembling. Tears stained her bloodied cheeks. All the light in her eyes had dimmed with the certainty that she was only moments away from her death.
I had to do something.
“Panos,” I said, voice trembling. “You don’t want to do this. If you kill her, you’ll only spark Yuto’s rage. He’ll tear you apart. You’ll be in pieces when all of this is over.”
Panos tipped back his head and laughed. I’d never heard a more inhuman sound in my life. He brushed his nose against Callista’s neck, scenting her. He groaned with the kind of desire that only spoke of dark, terrible things.
“Get your hands off of her, Panos!” Yuto roared as his fists punched the sky.
This was it. I couldn’t wait any longer. If we didn’t do something, Panos would rip her apart. I raised my blade and charged.
Panos didn’t even give me a moment’s glance. He bared his fangs and tore into Callista’s flesh. Blood arced through the air, splattering my face. I sucked in a breath, running faster. But it was too late.
Callista slumped into Panos’s arms. Her neck was a ruined mess of flesh and blood. It coated the front of her ragged dress. The light in her eyes was gone.
Panos grinned at me as I stumbled to a stop. Horror spiked into my heart like rusted nails. “Never, ever try to trick me. I’ll always win. And one day, I will drink every last drop of your blood, Aradia Galatas. Don’t think it won’t be soon. You’re next.”
He vanished once again into the darkness.
22
Aradia
It was next to impossible to drag Yuto away. He spent hours weeping beside the pool of spilled blood, crying out Callista’s name to the dark, mournful skies. Aleka sobbed beside him, her hand on his shoulder. Eryx and Orion paced as if they were on a mission to keep moving. If they stood still, they might join the ash themselves.
At long last, we made the trek back. We didn’t camp this time. Instead, Yuto wanted to ride through the night. No one said much of anything as the thunder of horse hooves filled the air. A storm cloud of grief had rolled across the Thunder. They’d lost one of their own. A member of their family. They’d spent so long together it was as if they’d all become one.
When we reached Drakon Castle, Yuto stormed straight up the tower and locked himself inside his chambers for three days straight. I left him alone, dining with the others in silence and curling up in the warmth and safety of the library. I paged through the ancient tomes at all hours of the day and the night. It was the only thing that gave me comfort. Books were a steadying presence in my life. They always had been. Without them, I might go mad.
But after three days of this, Yuto finally appeared from his pit of grief. He strode through the library door and found me asleep on a couch with a romance novel open on my knee. He knelt beside me, his eyes hollow, the redness on his cheeks raw.
“Good morning, Aradia,” he said.
“Good morning?” I glanced past him at the arched windows. A dim pink painted the sky. Huh. Well, it wasn’t the first time I’d spent all night in this place.
“It seems you’re not coping any better than I am.” He stood and held out a hand. Timidly, I took it and unfolded myself from the couch.
“I’ve never witnessed death so up close before,” I whispered. “It’s stuck with me, I guess.”
He nodded, squeezing my hand. “The first time is always the worst. Unfortunately, it does get easier with time. Unless it’s someone you’ve loved for as long as you can remember.”
Callista.
My lungs squeezed so tight I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
“Careful,” Yuto said, holding me steady with concern flickering in his eyes. “It seems I’ve been selfish. I shouldn’t have left you to deal with this alone. Come. There’s something I need to speak with you about.”
“Let me guess,” I said dryly. “We need to get back to the task of finding out why I can’t go through that portal.”
I’d known it would come, but that didn’t dull the sting. He hadn’t even waited a week to return to his quest of getting rid of me.
“It does have something to do with the portal, but it’s not what you think.” He sighed and ran a hand down his tired face. “I know you’re angry with me, and I understand why. I’ve treated you horribly, Aradia. In my quest to return to my homeland, I lost my way. In truth, I’ve become the thing I hate most on this hellish island. Panos.”
I drew myself up tall and pressed a hand into the center of his chest. A spark lit my skin when we touched, but I pushed it aside for now. “You are nothing like Panos.”
