I gave her a sad smile.
“Bingo.”
Nahomie fell quiet. I watched her, following the shift of emotions on her face as she connected the missing dots of my story in her mind. Her intelligence astounded me. It wasn’t long before those wide eyes fell to me with a fresh sheen of tears clinging to her lashes.
“Oh, mi Monstaru,” she cooed, petting my hair. “I am...” Nahomie was at a loss for words. “I am sosorry.”
I turned away, unable to deal with the emotions flooding me all at once. Feelings I hadn’t felt in too long. Feelings that had remained hidden, locked away. Until Obsidian brought her crashing into my world. Nothing had been the same since. I couldn’t handle facing my grief. It’d been over eight centuries and I still wasn’t ready.
So I turned to what I knew.
Rage.
I pulled on my anger, strengthening the walls around my vulnerability. With every bit of emotional strength I retained, I hardened myself. Then the doors of the bedchambers burst open, slamming into the walls. I leapt out of Nahomie’s arms, Soul Bending power already swirling in my palms as the small ghosts spun like a small storm.
Nahomie jumped into a low crouch, blackfire flooding into her palms. She looked exhausted, still weakened from the attack. She was recovering, but hadn’t completely healed yet. Seeing how quickly she launched into action both aroused and unnerved me. She carried power in her blood, rumored to level worlds. But in our home, I didn’t want her fighting. Defending herself.
Not because she couldn’t.
But because she didn’t have to.
“I’ve got this, Everheart.”I caressed her side of the bond with my ethèr. Slipping in front of her, I blocked her body with my wings from the intruder.“Rest.”
I didn’t have time to process the small, strangled sound Nahomie made when she lifted her eyes to me. They shone brightly with fresh tears and an emotion I couldn’t quite understand.
“Reveal yourself before you forfeit your life,” I snarled, waiting for whoever it was to show themselves in the candlelight.
Obsidian stormed through the doors, his eyes burning like molten flames. The Gargorètti wore a vicious grin that terrified even me. The hair on my arms stood on end. I pulled my wings into my spine. Nahomie took a peek around my legs, looking to see who it was.
“Tassarion, is Obsidian alright?” Nahomie whispered. Her voice shook with terror at the sight of my bloodthirsty gargoyle. “Why does he look like that?”
“Obi...”
“We found him.”
I stilled. Every last one of my senses heightened, zeroing in on the gargoyle and the words coming out of his mouth. He couldn’t possibly mean...
I waited with bated breath.
“He’s alive, mi Roi. They all are.” Obsidian grinned, baring all of his flesh-tearing fangs. “We found Marcèllian Beauradèl.” A beat. “And his entire family.”
Chapter 19
Tassarion
Blood would be shedthis dawn, and I would be its harbinger.
I stepped out of the star gate into wooded forestry. If what Obsidian told me was true, the portal used for traveling long distances should have brought me to the woods behind Beauradèl Manor, located on the opposite end of Mortevain Island. Marcèllian had thought coming out of hiding to return to his old family home was safe. The former Ministeri Advisor had assumed I was no longer combing Mortevain looking for him. The rotting fool. Vengeance didn’t carry a statute of limitations. I would never rest until I made him pay.
I paused in the forest's clearing and looked around. Memories instantly flooded me. I’d spent endless cycles running through these woods as a youngling with Tovares. I looked up into the trees. Spotted the branch Tovares had tossed me from, swinging me from my wings into the branch in the opposite tree. Branches we’d later hide in while we played games of hide and seek. I looked at the trees we climbed for many cycles from adolescence into our wildling years. The trees we told stories in, entertained ourselves in, while Manmi and Papi were inside Beauradèl Manor having a pleasant lunch with their longtime friends.
Friends who helped breach the Trumpet Gate.
Friends who would turn around and betray them to the Fallen Angels.
Friends who handed them over to Zemshaza Beliah, Fallen King of the Souls Court.
I learned the real reason for the betrayal boiled down to Marcèllian wanting Mortevain Island for himself. His bloodlust made him betray the island. Made him betrayus.And for that alone, I wanted revenge. Marcèllian’s actions made us Everthorns suffer. Bleed. Die.
