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October 29 - November 5, 2025
I was still… My fiancé’s corpse was barely cold. I’d had no time to mourn or process everyone I’d lost and everything that had happened, much less truly think about the fight Cameron and I had on that damn bridge.
The clouds behind her parted, revealing crimson eyes and twisted horns. Kaden. His gaping mouth bristled with a forest of fangs, a ball of flame blooming deep in its throat. Just as he released the fire at Dianna, the images fell, and the room came back into focus.
I wasn’t afraid to admit I loved the damn thing. Not only was it something he had made for me when I thought we were over, but it was physical proof we were married and truly finally together in every way possible. And the jewel was really big and shiny, and I liked staring at it, and if he chipped it, I’d chip him. “Don’t break it like last time.” I raised a brow. The corner of his lip lifted. “Why, Dianna, I didn’t know you cherished it so.” I shrugged. “It’s pretty, that’s all.”
“Another blade, please.” Samkiel smiled and summoned one, pulling me close for a quick kiss before handing it over. “You bend too easily to her,” Cameron called, rubbing at his ear. “That’s why she’s so damned spoiled.” I stuck my tongue out at him and said, “Miska, I’m going to show you how to stab him in the balls.” “Hey, I was joking,” Cameron protested.
“Please don’t stab me in the balls,” he whispered. I winked at him, twirling my dagger. “I’d never hurt my most prized possessions.” “All right,” Cameron called out, “there are children present.” “She didn’t even hear me!” I yelled back. Miska looked between us, bewildered. “Well, think of my precious ears for once!” Cameron yelled back.
“I think I am just worried since we are leaving them here while we go to the Otherworld.” “I know, but Cameron is here. Neither she nor the city will be left defenseless,” he said. “And Cameron has improved greatly over the last few weeks.”
“Dianna has always been nice to me,” Miska said. “Her coming to Jade City changed everything. The healers acted differently when she was around. Without even meaning to, she made the bad people go away, and then she protected me. I love her.” I smiled warmly and winked at Miska. “You’re not the only one.”
“By who?” she whispered. I shook my head, alleviating her fear that the person responsible was in her home. “A bad man. The one who turned me. Samkiel killed him, and he is long gone. Now roll.”
“But you love him?” she asked. “Like Dianna loves Samkiel?” My heart thudded like a starved, rabid beast in my chest. Love seemed like such a simple word for what I felt. I’d give my last breath if it meant he existed. Dying for him would be easy.
Keep the poor poorer and the rich richer, it seemed, but then I guess we shouldn’t expect anything else from a power-hungry tyrant.
sounds like our world
“What?” I asked, looking between the two of them. “I know why we’ve been seeing an uptick in Otherworld creatures,” Samkiel said. “Please, enlighten me,” I said, folding my arms. “That pattern carved into the ground means they are being summoned, and from the smell of it, they are being summoned by a Prince of the Otherworld.” My eyes fell to the ground once more. “A prince? What does that mean? Does Nismera control the princes?” Samkiel shook his head. “No one controls the Otherworld but the rulers of the Otherworld. If you think my ego is bad, the Princes and their mother have me beat.”
“Here is another drink to enjoy with your favorite wife,” I said, sliding it toward him. Samkiel chuckled and lounged back in his chair, sipping the alcohol. “You’re my only wife.” “For now.” His face grew stoic. “That’s not funny.”
“Just promise me that if you turn to ash or disappear, you’ll take me with you.” I raised my hand, elbow coming down hard against the table as I extended my pinky. “Pinky promise.”
“When it stopped being for fun, and I started to use it to dull my emotions and feelings.” “Like?” I dragged the word out. He leaned closer, his elbows on the table. “Like when I thought there was no you.”
don’t think I am. Not truly. I think I am like everyone else. Even the most brutal kings and warriors wish for the same thing.” “And what’s that?” “Love. No one, immortal or not, wishes to be alone forever. No matter what they say.” “Oh?” My brow rose. He nodded and slid closer to me, his thigh touching mine as he leaned toward my ear so I could hear him over the laughing tavern. “Look around the room. There are those dancing because they love that music has returned. Others are cuddling because they love one another and need to touch. Even the forest outside sings for its love of the night.
...more
“Time itself cannot touch it. Death cannot separate it. It is the most powerful force in the world, far outweighing any crown or throne. Immeasurable. Inescapable. All-consuming. It is past want or need. Its only wish is to consume those who share it. Why wouldn’t one wish for it? Everything loves something, even the cruelest among us. I think it would be the definition of tragedy never to feel love at all.”
resting. They didn’t understand that they would find her when the time was right, and it had to be right. Too soon, and their fate could spin farther than I’d be able to catch.
“No, I still hear the screams. I feel the dying winds and see the spiraling sky touch the ground. It is the beginning of an impenetrable darkness. The beginning of the end truly and all roads lead to one.” “And you’ve told her not?” Death asked, his voice thick and deep. “I have not,” I said. “It will only distract them because no matter what decision is made or what choice, it does not falter. The last bits of Unir’s kingdom will fall, and I am afraid they will go with it.”
“I simply wished to warn you. He will not take it well once he finds out, but it must be this way in order for him to understand how serious it is,” Death explained, and I wondered if this was how others felt when I spoke. “I do not understand.” “They must reconcile or all is lost,” Death said.
“Reconcile?” Still, he watched. Still, he waited. “I fear you are asking for too much if you are attempting to force some bond between Dianna and Samkiel’s brothers. Nismera has done what she set out to do. The fracture between them is as deep as a cavern. The connection is splintered into so many pieces, mending it will be impossible.” “You fear that,” Death said. “I do not.”
“What have you done?”
“They will mend, or we all shall break.”
“Don’t leave me. I have no one else. Not in this world or the next.”
“I talk a big game, but I truly don’t think I could. I don’t think there is a place in this universe I could get far enough away from you that wouldn’t have me crawling back on my hands and knees.”
“Never you, Cami,” he whispered. “Do you hear me? Lie, cheat, bargain, or steal, but never endanger your life. Never you. Especially to protect me.”
“You all fear Dianna, claiming she is a monster. But you are actually the monster, and I’ll never help you.”
“Besides, it won’t matter. You’ve been loyal, and it has earned you a lovely surprise. We will capture him, and then you can use it on him. Then we will be done with it, yes?” Milani’s face lit up, and my stomach soured. “But, of course. I am forever indebted to you.”
Use what.. Wtf
“You know, my specters tried to take your brother’s soul in that tunnel, and they could not. Even after I arrived…” Death paused. “Imagine loving someone so violently you can hold off Death itself. So, in exchange, I took something from her.”
“What is my payment for being here?” This time, when Death smiled and lightning cracked, the flash revealed his true face. It was all bone, with jagged teeth and half a skull that stretched far too wide and far too high. “I want Nismera dead.” I scoffed before a small, sullen laugh left me. “You brought me back for that? Do it yourself. You are Death. You do not need me.” “Oh, but I do. I need you all, actually. You see, I may be Death, but I cannot kill. I only take what passes, either naturally or unnaturally. Such is my burden.”
“What’s wrong?” I demanded. Why did I ask that? I didn’t care. No, I just wanted her to shut up.
“A guard did this to you?” She shook her head. “Who?” Her eyes met mine, fear and suspicion darkening their depths as if worried that if she told me, I would hurt her as well. “Who?” I said, filling my tone with more ire.
“Take it,” I said, shoving it toward her. “What’s in it?” Smart girl. “Blood. Mine.”
“Why help me?” she called out. “You’re the bad man. You hurt Dianna and Cameron.”
“Oh, so not her legion, then.” But as the general smiled, I realized maybe I had not won. “No,” she said, “her armada.”
“There,” he said, his voice primal. “My vessel.”
I smelled death below the acrid scent of burning metal, fabric, and plastic. Blood and tissue splattered the inside of the ship, and were those… feathers? What the fuck?
“What was that? That noise?” “It was an idea.” A haunted look crossed his face, one of shock and disbelief. “I thought it was just talk from a woman who dreamed far too much.”
“Dianna,” Samkiel said, tossing me a look that screamed that now was not the time. I tossed a hard look back, brow raised and hip cocked. “Samkiel.”
“That blast was meant to disable, not kill.”
“Hold us for what?” I asked.
This was Nismera’s armada. Or at least a small glimpse of it.
“Let me guess?” I sighed deeply. “Ex?” “Yes.” Samkiel at last turned to face me. “Milani.”
I nodded, still at war with myself that I’d let my brother get hurt. “Don’t be sad,” Zasyn said, lifting my chin. She tipped her head toward the bathroom where Isaiah had gone. “Good or bad, he will follow you anywhere. You have to be more careful, for him, if not for yourself.”
“She’s a rebellious teenager, but nothing more,” Unir said. “Rebellious means sending our boys to a restricted area to play?” Zasyn asked. Her arms folded as she glared at him. “Boys?” The silence between them was heavy, and I didn’t understand it. “Yes, boys. They are children.” “No, they aren’t,” Unir said, his voice echoing with power that made my stomach churn. “Not really.”
“Adelphia,” Unir said. “Don’t call me that! You only call me that when you’re trying to win an argument.” “There is no argument. Perhaps my training with her and not them has made her more agitated, but I don’t believe she sent them there with any ill will.” Silence fell between them again. “She was made differently than them, Unir,” Zasyn finally said. “Your intentions for her differed from what they were with them.”
“I found her!” he exclaimed as I stood. I glanced at him and walked to one of the small bookcases flanking the fireplace. “Congratulations?” Isaiah scoffed and plopped into a chair, stretching his long legs out in front of himself. “She sold her to Milani.” “Ah, yes. The celestial. Have you been looking for her this whole time?” I said with a shake of my head. Isaiah glanced at me, and I knew that look. He was embarrassed to admit it, but we both knew it was the truth. “Yes,” he finally said. “Is that why she has you expanding and training up her legions? To find her?”
A part of me knew I should tell her. Another part of me screamed defiance. Death watched me, and I studied him. Finally, I turned back toward my brother.
I still loved Dianna.
Bro is so fucked
He was a false idol in silver armor. A beacon of hope and peace, yet the power he wielded could unravel worlds if he so wished. I was a fool not to see it sooner, an arrogant fool. I knew Nismera’s power, but did not fear her like I did him.
“Kaden, you are worrying me. No one is there.” Anger and desperation bubbled inside of me. “I do not have time for this. Are you with me or not?”
