Page 135 of Wraithwound

Inside, Runa continued to thrash inside her. Good. Let her experience the same helplessness Lena had felt when she’d been locked in her own mind.

“What aren’t you telling me?” she asked, because she still hadn’t figured out what she was going to do.

But it was apparent Malnik had enough of her questions, his features shifting to annoyance.

“That I have schemed, murdered, lied and manipulated those who I needed or saw fit to get in my way. It will be no different with you. Is that what you wanted to hear? You have no power here, no choice. Ever since I saw that a woman would be possessed by a powerful wraith, making her ‘of two worlds’ and would be allowed to enter the Goddess’s Untethered Temple, I knew that we would end up here. I saw to it that you would.”

Cross was right; this temple was a place between worlds.

“What will you do to the Goddess?” Lena asked.

She had gotten as close to the portal as she dared to go. Up close, she realized, Malnik didn’t look much like Leonid at all. There was a subtle cruelty to his stark features, and those eyes. There was no kindness in them.

Malnik was silent for a moment, assessing. Just when Lena thought he wouldn’t answer, he did.

“What interest could you possibly have in a Goddess that only saw fit to intervene for some but not for all? That has kept valuable knowledge hidden. Your entire journey up until this point has been a quest for knowledge.”

It was true. Had Lena known there was a divine artifact that could cleave Henry’s soul from her, she would have sought it out. The lives she’d taken could have been spared, and she could have avoided the changes her body had undergone. She could have retained her humanity instead of losing it slowly, painfully. The same could be said for her mother’s disappearance and her grandfather’s murder. Might they have been spared if they’d had access to the knowledge they sought?

At the same time, the Goddess had tried to help those who deserved it. Hadn’t she? The system developed by the Goddess about who could access the healing spring wasn’t perfect but, it had been a gift, even if it had been horribly corrupted by the ways of men.

“Perhaps you’ve just realized I speak the truth,” Malnik said, searching her face.

Aenigma.

The word floated to the surface of her mind. There it was. That word again. Lena tried to shut Runa out; she would not be distracted by the wraith now.

“Human,” Runa hissed. But Lena kept her focus outward, working through what Malnik had said.

“THEY EXPECTED ME TO RETURN!” Runa screamed, a desperate, guttural sound that no longer sounded like the cold, calculated monster she’d come to know.

Lena went still, waiting for the wraith to attack once more. When she didn’t, Lena tuned in, opening their connection slightly.

“What did you say?” she breathed, turning away from Malnik and walking toward the second portal.

“They expected me to return,” Runa repeated. “I didn’t kill anyone who didn’t deserve it, or who didn’t give their souls willingly. All you have to do is touch him,” she pleaded.

“Touch him?! Who?” Lena recoiled at the thought of touching Malnik.

“The male Aurynn! You can absorb darkness, our lifeforce, you can absorb it through your touch. That’s how I was able to bypass Henry’s shield when you touched Laney. Draven is in there. Touch him, and you’ll absorb him. He won’t hurt you, I promise, we can help you survive this!”

Lena didn’t hear the last half of what Runa said. The world around her froze as she thought back to those she’d killed, the souls she’d consumed for Runa.

At this, the wraith pushed a memory towards Lena’s mind. It was a picture of a woman standing next to a splintered tree. She recognized it immediately. It was the hand drawn picture she’d seen in Ada and Eduard’s home; the same one Taya had thrown at her when she arrived in The Whispers.

And then Lena was there, standing out in the forest; hand braced on a splintered tree trunk as she looked toward Ada and Eduard’s house. Lena’s breath caught in her throat. Runa pushed another memory into her mind.

“No,” she breathed.

“Yes,” Runa demanded. “See it! See it for what it was!”

Lena was in the forest backtracking toward Ada and Eduard’s house, and as she reached their property, there they were, sitting on the porch…

“…waiting, for me,” Runa said. “Look! Look at them! There is no fear, only acceptance. Only sacrifice for YOU. For us. For ALL of us.”

Lena’s world threatened to shatter, right then and there.

“I gave them a quick death,” she said. When Lena didn’t answer, she added, “List them. Do it.”