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Geraldo nodded. Ava sighed, placing her hands on her hips as she smiled. “Well, that explains why we couldn’t get it open the last few times we tried. I mean, we burned through a lot of celestials.” My eyes widened as her words clicked. “What did you say?”
Haldnunen,” Liam whispered. Tobias’s smile was icy. “I have not heard my real name in eons, Samkiel.”
They are not horns. They are a crown. He is one of the Four Kings.”
It explains so much. Their power. Who Kaden is. Why they can hide from me. Dianna, they are older than even me! Centuries older.” He reached up with one dirty hand, rubbing it frantically over his head before his eyes bored into mine. “That makes you a queen—a Queen of Yejedin! If he is one of the four, that’s why he is so vicious, so territorial. Why he will do anything to get you back.”
His forehead touched mine as I closed my eyes, breathing in his scent once more. I wanted it engraved in my mind long after my body turned to ash. I wanted to remember every day I had spent with him, even back when we hated each other. My chest tightened, tears threatening to spill because I knew this was goodbye.
Fear. I saw his eyes widen, the color fading to bright silver as he reached forward, a single word forming upon his lips. I never heard it. Before he could give it voice, I yanked Tobias’s hand out of my chest—along with my heart.
What happened?” I asked. “Which part, Dianna?” Yeah, he was mad. His hands flew to his hips. “The part where you did not hesitate to take your own life, or the part where Tobias secured the last existing relic of Azrael?”
“Look around you, Samkiel. You shall get the fame you so desperately crave. They will know you now for what you truly are: World Ender.”
“You…” His voice was filled with pain. “I am truly sorry. I only wished to save you. All of you.”
“Father,” Liam whispered, “do not leave me. Please, I am so sorry. I will listen better. I swear it. Please, Father, I cannot do this without you. I do not know what I am doing.” His voice shook, uncaring of their increasing audience. “Yes, you do. You always have.” Unir struggled to force the words out.
“I love you, Samkiel. Be better than us.”
That was the last thing I saw before Rashearim exploded.
A slow, mischievous smile curved his lips. “Oh, I see. You all were playing another exciting round of ‘hide the battle sword’?”
“I failed.” I heard him whisper. “Again.” “No, you didn’t.” “Yes, I did! You heard it. I had one chance to have that damned book.” His voice rose an octave higher. “I failed because I chose you over the book—over the world! I was selfish because of you. You crawled beneath my skin like some parasite. You have infected me, and it has cost me the world. So now, I have to prepare armies once more for war. War, Dianna.”
“That is just it, Dianna. To me, you are worth it—and that makes me the most selfish bastard and the most dangerous god to ever exist.
Dianna! I hate that I have known you for what others would consider mere minutes. In the grand scheme of things, our time together means nothing. I have known and bedded others longer than you have been in my life, yet I felt nothing but fondness for them. I hate that you affect me so much, that you care so much when I do not deserve it.”
“You do not get on my nerves all the time. Sometimes you are mildly amusing.”
“You know better than that. I’m impossible to get rid of.” I shook my head with a smile playing on my lips as I threw his words back at him. “Like an infection.”
“If that is true…” The fear in his gaze shifted, becoming another primal emotion. “… then I wish for you to infect me.”
Logan waved his hand towards the mess of the room. “No, not that. Neverra was taken, and…” Logan turned his gaze on me. “Gabby is missing.”
“This is how the world ends.” That’s what Roccurrem had said. “There will be a shuddering crack, an echo of what is lost and what cannot be healed. Then, Samkiel, you will know this is how the world ends.” But it was not this world. No, it was mine. It was Dianna.
