I glared down at the petrified Cherubim. I spread open my palm, then snapped it into a tight fist. The serpents lunged for Na’Kayla and feasted until all that was left of her were her wing’s feathers and several of her bones. Madness and derision descended on the Opèr. I grinned, proud of eliminating the nuisance.
I turned to look at Tassarion in the royal box.
The box was empty.
I spun and found the Monster King frantic. Endless souls swarmed him from head to foot. For the first time since comingto Everthorn Manor, I saw genuine fear in Tassarion’s eyes. Stars. What had I done?
“Nahomie! My stubborn bride!”Panic filled his darkening eyes.“Blood always demands a price. Especially in the manor.”
“I am not afraid, Monstaru. Not when I must lay claim to what ismine.“
Something like a mixture of terror, pride, and hunger glimmered in Tassarion’s eyes. Then the shadows of Everthorn Manor surfaced, and the ever-present eerie voice spoke out.
“So you won’t mind as we claim what isours.”An ominous chuckle. Then.“Blood for blood, Phantimèssa.”
Then the shadows plunged the Opèr in darkness so steep I couldn’t see in front of me. Invisible hands latched onto my arms and legs. Claws dragged down the length of my skin, drawing a gush of blood. I cried out.
“Nahomie!” Tassarion bellowed.
Everthorn Manor unleashed itself, drawing my blood by force.
Then another malignant, wicked voice spoke in the darkness.
“It won’t be long until she becomesmine, Slave.”
Something slapped me so hard on the head, everything blinked into nothingness. As I bled out onto the carpet to the sound of Tassarion roaring my name, I tumbled into a deep, bottomless black.
Chapter 18
Tassarion
Greedy as an ashbat for blood,I watched Nahomie sleep like the dead.
I usually made sure her braids were tucked away in the finest silk bonnet we had. But for the last three dawns, she’d been irritated in her sleep, tossing and turning so much that the bonnet kept slipping right off. This time, I left her hair alone. Saundeiah had removed all the beads, but her braids beautifully spilled over the pillows and sheets like a waterfall. Her light snoring was my only sign that she was okay.
Zemshaza’s curse coiled through my body, tainting my blood and threatening to decay me further from within. My hysteria spiked. I’d found the angel with Nebulae fire in her blood. I’d bonded with her. She bled when we sealed our bond. And yet. This wretched curse was still here. And getting worse. Now the Fallen King not only afflicted me, but he afflicted my wife, too.
“It may be a few more dawns before she rises on her own, mi Roi.”
“That’s too long,” I bellowed, wrenching away from Nahomie’s side. An entity inside my body, which I couldn’t control, stoked my wrath. I exploded on my Nanmiess involuntarily. Saundeiah flinched, squaring her shoulders. Toher credit, she didn’t pull away from me. I shook my head, holding my temples.
“I’m sorry, Saunie. I...”
I lowered my head in shame. My stomach twisted into knots. I bowled over, wincing in pain. My ethèr thrashed erratically. Souls appeared around me, then disappeared just as quickly, as if my powers were glitching. What in the actual rot was happening to me?
“Mi Roi!” Saundeiah was instantly at my side. She held me with the same gentleness she had when Manmi first gave birth to me. Saundeiah was there to hold me then, and here she was now, so many centuries later. “You’re worsening.”
“Every dawn, Saunie.”
I looked back at Nahomie, where she slept soundly. Every now and again her ethèr would rise, curling up and down her bare arms like sable serpents seeking escape. After the curse of the manor attacked her, I’d narrowly pulled her from its grasp. She’d fallen unconscious. Stopped moving.
Stopped breathing.
And it was all my fault.
If only she knew my curse wasn’t just on me. But it was transferred to my home, too. And now it had been given to her. For the first time in a long time, I felt what I thought I’d left behind in the Belial Realms.
Fear.
