We did as he said, never once removing our eyes from each other. Amber jewels pierced into mine as if branding me into her soul. I shuddered at the sheer confidence and knowing in that gaze. When our feathers intertwined, the threads of our vow connected. My vision turned white. For a moment I saw nothing but felteverything. Fire. Excitement. And... joy.
Stars.
I was feelingjoy.
How many cycles had gone by and I hadn’t so much as felt an inkling of that emotion? I was overwhelmed. When I came to, Nahomie wore a smile that eclipsed the stars, and tears wet her cheeks. I looked at our joined hands and saw on both of our pointer fingers a ring of gold with small stars and wings embedded through it. Both of our right hands had an interesting pattern. Golden stars with thorns threaded throughout. The symbol of our bond.
And like a fiery brand, where the pattern, the evidence of our bond glowed, we both bled. Golden ichor trickled across our palms, still joined. As my blood fused with Nahomie’s, a blinding light exploded within me. I had no words for what I felt as I became wholly hers.
And the Phantimèssa of Edenael finally became mine.
An overwhelming urge surged through me. A dark entity from within roared with hunger. Without thinking, I leaned forward, scooping Nahomie into my arms. I breathed in her scent as I gripped her waist. As I held Nahomie, something inside of me tore. Like someone had grabbed hold of my six hearts and was shredding them, ripping them apart. I released her and clutched my chest.
“What in the rot,” I wheezed, unable to breathe.
“Mi Roi!” screamed the Gargorètti, leaping into action all at once.
Then Nahomie began screaming. The screeching wail pierced my ears as I looked at her. I blinked away sweat from my eyes that had pooled at my temples. When I saw her face, I trembled with fear. Nahomie had ebony black tendrils snaking across her skin everywhere. By bonding to me, she now inherited my curse.
Rotting, burning hèls.
No, no,no.
The amber of her eyes began morphing into obsidian so dark that for a split second, I was reminded of the Souls Court. It was a moment longer before I realized it wasn’t sweat trickling down my face.
It was blood.
I watched as my bride screamed. As sable thorns bled across her face.
Zuriathelle’s ghostly lips curled into a serpentine grin.
The ivory of his eyes blended into black, turning his handsome face monstrous.
Then I tumbled to the seafloor, falling into a bottomless pit of black. I heard Zuriathelle’s, cruel, unnatural laughter. His voice filled the abyss of my mind as I faded into darkness.
“I told you, Slave. This was very real. And now you both aremine.”
Chapter 14
Nahomie
I must have offendedthe Infinite somehow and ended up in one of the Six Hèls. By thestars, I was in pain.
“Bleeding, rotting, burning...” I grumbled, carefully rolling over onto an arm.
“Roièssa Nahomie! Such language.”
I couldn’t tell who was speaking. Really, I didn’t give a rot.
Every one of my limbs, my muscles, my bones, burned.
“To the hèls with your etiquette,” I groaned, my head throbbing. “I am inagony.”
A wet muzzle brushed my cheek. A large, furry body pressed into my side. The familiar scent of cinders from an open flame wafted beneath my nostrils, mixed with the island air. Only one creature would have the nerve to climb into my bedcloud while still smelling like the outdoors. I cracked an eye open and found two bright crimson pearls looking back at me.
“Bones Octavius Namarielle.” My voice sounded like broken gravel. Blessed lights. What happened to me? Why did I feel like this? “Where in the flaming hèls have you been?”
The cinderwolf tilted his head at me as if it were obvious.
