Page 113 of Brutal Birthright

“Yes. It was.” The woman snapped. Shoving her face away and stepping backwards as if Ri had scalded her. Fury rippled through the air around her like a tangible thing. “My sister is the most powerful Seer in existence and knows all. Yet she allowed me to be manipulated and tortured for two centuries. None of them did anything to save me, all because of her.”

She flexed her fingers, and Ri suddenly panicked at what might happen if she decided to unleash that immense power dancing in her veins.

“But all Seers are sworn to the Goddesses. They cannot intervene or interfere in fate.” Ri felt numb as she tried to defend actions that had ultimately led to Fiadh’s untold misery.

How could they have left her in the clutches of the House of Elharean for all that time?

Nausea set in at the thought of everything Fiadh must have endured. And the sickening realisation–that she would feel the same way should she have found herself in a similar position–was enough to have her mind reeling. What if Ruby had abandoned her for centuries despite knowing exactly where she was and what was being done to her? Would she be able to say her desire for revenge would burn any less hot and rampant after so long being abused?

“Ah, but you see, the Goddesses don’t exist in this realm, my sweet little Oriana. Here, I am free to do whatever I like, with power that is growing stronger every day.” To illustrate her point, she arched an arm and the entire roof of the throne room opened up to the sky above.

To Ri’s shock, the world outside was a deep reddened sky, with the tops of barren ochre-coloured mountains sitting jagged against the horizon. The kind of landscape that conjured up images of a wasteland. One where life battled constantly to seize control and power from others.

This was a place where you either learned to survive or were quickly destroyed.

“I understand your pain.” Ri swallowed hard. Still gaping at the desolate hellscape surrounding whatever fortress this was that Fiadh had created for herself. “But it wasn’t your family’s fault. I know they love you.”

Her chest ached for what this woman had endured. But her heart beat for Rowan, and her soul yearned for him. Even just the thought that Fiadh might destroy that was a notion she could hardly stomach.

“Do I not deserve retribution? Why should I have suffered for so long when my own flesh and blood knew exactly what was happening to me and did nothing to save me.” She hissed.

Ri shook her head. Hot tears pricking her eyes while a tightness crawled up the back of her throat.

This was always going to result in war. There was no other way.

Suddenly Fiadh straightened, and a glint of satisfaction appeared in her eyes. She whirled round to face Ri and clapped her hands together.

“Well, my dear. It appears we didn’t have to wait long at all. Your rescue party has arrived.”

The blood drained from Ri’s face. Her limbs went numb. This couldn’t be it. She hadn’t been able to come up with any kind of plan or figure out a way to escape this impossible situation and now all too soon the worst was about to happen and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

“How is this going to end?” Shaking her head, she searched Fiadh’s face. Pleading with her. Beseeching her to consider another way out that wasn’t this.

But there was nothing except pure vengeful spite coating Fiadh’s expression now.

Ri knew it was too late. There was nothing to be done.

The witch spread her arms and tilted her head back, soaking in more of the power that pulsed in the air like a heart beat of impending doom.

“It will end just as it began, Oriana…. With bloodshed and tears and the loss of innocent lives.”

Chapter 36

Emerging through the other side of the portal, Rowan could immediately sense the difference in the atmosphere. Whatever hellscape of a realm the Seal of Elharean had opened a connection to, power and magic worked differently here.

That much was clear.

Which left him uneasy as fuck.

The entity he and Niall had barely staved off an attack from didn’t appear to greet them with violence this time. Instead, a darkened cloud hung high above their heads in the reddened sky.

Watching their arrival. Ominously shifting on the winds as it balled and then thinned out over and over like a swirling storm of death and destruction.

He didn’t know what to make of this place. Where the air sat thick in the back of his throat, and the ground beneath their feet was a crimson dust. Mountain ranges with jagged peaks filled the horizon, surrounding what appeared to be a vast empty basin extending for miles on either side of where they had appeared when crossing through the chasm entrance.

The portal emerged as if through a tunnel into this vast, desolate space that none of them had ever encountered before.

It was no wonder the power emitting through the Seal felt primordial. This realm had been disconnected from any he was familiar with, despite the past three centuries of his life moving between all manners of lands and dominions.

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