He smiles.
Istab.
But the pain that follows isn'this.
I look down—his smile never wavers—and the dagger is buriedin my stomach.Well, now you're probably wondering how I got here, right? I found a box in my backyard, and kids, let me be the first to tell you. Put. It. Back. I can guarantee, had I done that I would not be in this situation now. No…I had to put on a ring, fall in love with a primordial. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was fun along the way, and Athy is to die for in bed, but I've never been stabbed or shot before, and I would do things differently. Not over no man! Stabbed over a man? He's not a man…but you get it.
I gasp.
“You—” I choke, falling to my knees.
Athanasiusscreamsmy name. Everything goes black. The void creatures writhe anddie,as if my pain is a command to the universe. A scream echoes through every corner of the space. My head is ringing like a gong, and still the only thing I can think about is, if Athanasius can get to me, I'll be fine. He said I couldn't die right? He said nothing about pain, cause this shithurts!
Ambrose holds me upright, one arm curled around my waist. “I didn’t want to do that,” he whispers against my ear.
Still, I had one job to do. I'm really good at following direction, I don't know if anyone knows that. I mean they apppreciate it at my job. They give me a task and I execute that to the T and a little beyond it. I might be a tad defiant in some ways, but I do what I am asked, most of the time. This was one of those times. I suppose Ambrose thought that I would be weak, and I still wouldn't get thejump on him. He's holding me close, he thinks he's won and he doesn't realize how close my hand is to his. The one with the staff.
I reach up, mind you, I got stabbed in the stomach. My body is on fire and freezing at the same time, I can feel blood leaking into my pants. I gather the very last of my strength to do this. I deserve a medal. I better get a seafood boil for a week. Champagne for breakfast. More than that, no one better say that I have never done anything in my life for anyone else.
Fingers shaking, I grab his staff.
“No,” he growls. “No—don’t—”
Islamthat shit into the ground. We're on stone floor, I can hear the shatter as it connects. Instantaneous too. All of the air is sucked out of the room, and then rushes back in like a tsunami.
Ambrosescreams,the void pulsing around him. His grip is tight as hell though, he yanks the dagger out of my stomach, and tosses it to the ground. He doesn't toss me though, and honestly, if he would have done that and Athy didn't catch me? I would have been pissed off. As my vision starts to go black, I see Athanasius reaching for me. He looks different though, they all do. I wonder why.
Ambrose yanks me against him, and wefall.Backwards. Into a swirling rift of black stars and firelight.
The last thing I see is Athanasius’s face.
Pure horror.
And then—
Nothing.
Chapter twenty-eight
Finally...We Are Awake
Athanasius
Assoonasthestaff broke I felt my power return. Something had been missing for so long, a piece of me that I was looking for in everything and finally it has been returned.
They said I was gone. Forgotten. Buried beneath the layers of their fragile history, whispered about only in curses and nightmares. Fools. You do not kill death. You do not unmake darkness.
You only delay the inevitable.
The moment my power returned, it was not gentle—it wasglorious. A wildfire coursed through my bones, raw and roaring, like every star collapsing into my marrow. My skin burned from the inside, a sacred torment, and Iwelcomedit. My claws extended with a satisfying crack, black as the void between worlds. My fangs surged down like they hadmissedthe taste of blood.
The shadowssangfor me. Not in words—no, their chorus was primal, a hissing choir of allegiance:Master… home… returned…
Yes.
My form twisted, expanded, rejoiced in its shedding of limitation. A lion's tail lashed behind me, thick and powerful, a symbol of my wrath coiled and ready. The tattoos that marked me—runes of a language older than stars—glowed silver as if moonlight itself bled through my skin. And my eyes, once black as oblivion,now shimmered—pinpricks of starlight within the void. The universe reflected in them. Let the gods tremble. I have existed before them and would forever be.
Isnarled. Not from rage. No. Fromjoy.
