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he was a mindless puppet that Alistair controlled. I fought the urge to shift uncomfortably, knowing I was the same to Kaden.
“Then don’t. You are one of my best friends, Dianna. I don’t want to fight you. You’re just as strong as him, if not more so. Stay with me, with us. We can help and protect each other.”
She wasn’t a monster like us. No, she was an angel born out of the most brutal darkness.
We can’t live in the past, D. Nothing grows there.”
This woman was the definition of destruction.
We would sit and stay here as long as she wanted. I did not mind. It was not as if I had any friends on Rashearim. I was the only child born in recent memory, and the only child with a god and a celestial as parents. Everyone else had been created, made from the light that now ran through my blood. My mother said I’d been conceived in love, which made the other gods envious.
“Ah, yes, but a monster is still a monster, no matter how pretty it is.”
“Athos, Dhihsin, Kryella, Nismera, Xeohr, Unir, Samkiel, grant me passage from here to the Asteraoth.” I saw what looked like tears form in his eyes as he tilted his head back and plunged the dagger into his chest.
“Don’t you get it? Don’t you see, there is nothing you can do to me that has not already been done? You can’t break me, World Ender.”
“I will never have a normal life because of what you did.”
There was no point in saving me if I can’t even live.”
These are not the beasts from the legends. If they can shift at will like her, they have evolved, and we are in trouble. If they can kill a member of The Hand, attack with free will and conscious thought, we are headed for another war.”
I’d created it from hate, devastation, and grief, emotions a god should never nurture. The blade did what no other weapon or living being could: it delivered a permanent death with no afterlife.
So tonight, when I saw him so close to death, the light of his power flickering, I had hoped to feel something. But there was no sorrow or fear, and the complete lack of emotion for someone so close to me was terrifying. Maybe I wasn’t feeling the love and friendship for Logan, but I remembered it and my promises to him.
“I cannot!” he shouted, slamming his palm onto the table. “Victoria is with child. I will not leave my babe fatherless.” The muscles in my jaw ticked. That explained Azrael’s erratic behavior lately. “A baby?” Vincent and Logan looked at me but did not speak.
“She is innocent. Therefore, she means everything.”
“Liguniza Beach off the coast of the Naimer sea.” Her sigh was wistful as she thought of it. “Ugh, the water is so clear, and there’s a cliff that overlooks the entire ocean. The sunset from there is everything.” “Okay, yes, we will go there, have drinks, laugh, and forget all about monsters and gods.”
A thick, sweet liquid filled my throat, and a pleasant coolness took away the pain as I drifted off once more.
Unless he’d fed me? My chest tightened. Had I been so close to death that he’d been afraid I would die? Had he fed me to keep me alive?
“Please, do not insult me, Miss Martinez. The desire to touch you is, and will always be, the farthest thing from my mind or intentions.”
It was at that moment that I figured it out—why Liam was the way he was, and why he didn’t care about his looks. I knew why he was so abrasive and so closed off to everyone, even those he claimed were his friends. He was consumed with grief and overwhelmed with pain. Liam was mourning.
“Pity. I wouldn’t share.”
“I know what I signed up for, and I knew the risks. I knew when I killed Alistair and returned to you the price I would pay. The moment I decided to help you, my fate was sealed. Freedom and servitude went hand in hand with Kaden, and I gladly accepted his terms. I paid for Gabby’s life and freedom with blood. You and I both know that I’m covered in it.”
I decided then and there that this woman should never beg.
I didn’t remember how long we talked, but somewhere amidst her laughter and smiles, I decided I would rip the world apart for her.
“You already consume my every waking thought. Must you consume my dreams as well?”
“Then why do you reek of him, and he you? Your scents are so entwined, there is no differentiating between the two.”
“Let him be.” Liam’s voice was a soft growl, making me pause. He was watching me as I spun. He always watched me, especially when he thought I wasn’t looking. “I do not care. During large engagements, all goddesses and celestials wore similar garments on my world. Some flowed well past their feet, others barely touched the ground, but they all shimmered and shined like starlight upon the darkened sky. They were truly beautiful … and so are you. You are a queen and should be draped in the finest fabrics, not the cheap faux material he chose.”
Drake stopped mid-chew and stared at his brother. “She is away. She wished she could make it, but she has more important things to attend to,” Ethan said, breaking the standoff with Liam to look at me as I had intended.
There is no victory in war, only death. Even the winning side loses.”
“Dianna is different. I have seen evil. I’ve seen it born, what it craves, and how it acts. She may be stubborn and erratic. At times, she is rude or crass, even violent or dangerous, but not evil—not even a little bit.”
“Perfect, because we do not need another powerful man obsessed with her. However, Kaden is still obsessed, and he plans to rip everyone to pieces to get back what is his. You understand that, right?”
“I promise not to let you turn to stone,”
“I dislike them. Even the energy surrounding them feels disturbed. Something just feels off.”
“On Rashearim, we had a flower that put the beauty of this one to shame. It had rings of yellow and blue that moved in waves across the petals when you touched it. It was called orneliamus, or liam for short. They were my mother’s favorite, and a symbol of strength and protection. They could adapt to any climate and were so sturdy, they were nearly impossible to kill. It took the death of the planet to eradicate them.”
“I wanted to be that.”
“Are you worried?” I focused on Liam to find him staring at me intently. I raised a brow. “About music?” “About dying.” His question struck me as odd. Not just that he’d asked, but the way he looked at me when he said it. I shook my head, the waves of my hair tickling my cheeks. “No. About my sister dying? Yes.”
Don’t be the one to make her fall if you have no intention of catching her.”
“The map pinpoints spots where he might attack. They are places he has frequented in the past. There are several caves that we think are of significance. He seems to like being underground. Every place he has owned has had a dug-out area somewhere.”
She had become a balm to my soul, but Ethan’s words rang in my head. “Don’t be the one to make her fall if you have no intention of catching her.”
There is no point in knowing how our weapons are made if there isn’t a god to make them.”
I continued on my way, using the connection I refused to acknowledge to track the fiery female.
“I have to be. My decisions cannot be based on what my heart tells me, no matter the cost.
“A mutual friend let me borrow them,” Drake added, looking pointedly at Dianna. “So please, be careful and return them. I would like to not piss her off.” He closed the box and handed it to Dianna.
“I am not, but she still deserves someone in her life that cares about her beyond the physical acts you keep suggesting. Someone that respects her and treats her as an equal, not some pawn. She has no one but her sister.”
she still deserves someone in her life that cares about her beyond the physical acts you keep suggesting. Someone that respects her and treats her as an equal, not some pawn. She has no one but her sister.”
“I am a destroyer. The World Ender in every aspect, I am everything you should fear. I mean that with every ounce of my being, and not in the egotistical way Dianna assumes. I have burnt worlds to their core and slain beasts large enough to devour this castle. The books were not wrong about any of that. I have always been a weapon for my throne, my kingdom, and my family. The Gods War started because of me. My world is gone because of me. How is there any room left in me to love?”
“Don’t you know? Love is the purest form of destruction there is.”
Take it from someone who lost their love. Don’t take what you feel for granted. It is worth everything.”
A part of my soul had been waiting for this woman, and one kiss from her had undone me.
