Page 218 of The Harbinger

So he wasn’t numb to what affected me? He was in there somewhere?

“I prrrayed you dddidn’t ddie,” I whispered the words as they chanted the incantation over and over, their voices a low and steady hum. His lips moved in silent unison with the others. It was a moment of true desperation, the first time I had prayed to any deity in this whole ordeal. And yet, I wasn’t praying for myself but for him.

Despite everything he had done to me and others, I had grown inexplicably close to him. My heart pounded in my chest as he moved to the other side of the altar and painted my other hand. The cold and the bugs were nothing compared to the thoughts that consumed me..

“I wwon’t blame you for this.” I sniffled. “And iff what you said about our bbinding is ttrue, then I’ll ssee you in tthe afffterlifffe where we’ll bbe together.”

My stomach pitched, and I swallowed back the bile fighting its way up my throat. Another smile stretched his lips as he mouthed the chant. He formed slow circles, his gaze flicking up to mine for a split second, then back to his work, unaffected by my profession.

Despite it all, I still wanted to be with him. I still wanted his hands on me, his moody tone, and controlling rules. I wanted all of him, but he wanted nothing to do with me.

He’d pull my heart from my chest for the second time, and thankfully I wouldn’t be alive to see what he did with it.

The chanting stopped, and the night air was left with nothing but the crackling and popping of the fire and the distant sounds of horses snorting and pawing at the ground.

Ruslan stood at my head. His hands outstretched with a long wavy dagger displayed in Sacha’s office, the blade sharp and pointed. Sacha took it, and I gasped.

Would he use the chalice that sat along with it?

The world came to a standstill as he clasped the handle, his grip unyielding, the tension turning his knuckles white. My lungs sucked in air with the force of a hurricane, yet my body remained frozen in place. The beat of my heart pounded in my ears, drowning out all other sounds.

Sacha muttered something. The words lost on me as he hoisted the knife over me, the tip aimed downward, glinting in the firelight.

This was it. The end. The final curtain call.

I shut my eyes and braced for impact.

Chapter 60

Sacha

Iplungedthedaggerdeep into Ruslan’s eye socket through the hole in his horned mask, feeling the satisfying resistance of flesh and bone before twisting the blade with a sickening crunch. Blood gushed from the wound, pooling on the ground in a macabre tribute to my victory. The screams that echoed around me were not hers. Mia had kept her eyes tightly shut, the occasional spatter of blood staining her face.

Ruslan fell back, his hood tumbling from his head. The man who had caused this ordeal lay dying at my feet, his lifeblood spilling onto the ground.

Mia’s eyes flickered open, a wave of confusion washing over her. I turned to address our followers, my side throbbing with pain.

“We’ve been taught to take what we desire and destroy those who seek to stop us,” I declared, my voice ringing across the protective circle. I strode purposefully over to my papa’s lifeless body, a sense of reverence overtaking me as I gathered some blood from his cheek.

With a steady hand, I drew a sacrificial sigil across his forehead, the same one I should have painted on Mia’s chest. But even in my twisted state, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

“Our High Priest went against our Dark Lord’s wishes and offered sacrifices that weren’t called. He meant to do it again this very night.”

Murmurings erupted around me as I ripped his mask off, took the inverted pentagram necklace off his neck, and placed it over mine. “So I followed in the footsteps of our Dark Lord and offered him a sacrifice he couldn’t refuse. A son who’s turned against his papa. Just asheturned against his.” I looked back to Mia, who now sat on the altar with Dmitri at her side. “No longer will our greatest offerings be done out of revenge but out of respect for our gods.”

Although she couldn’t understand my words, she smiled, her lips pulling high and crinkling the skin near her eyes.

“Your offerings have been received,” I said, turning in a circle, addressing the invited congregation. “Go home to your families and allow our lesser gods to empower you.”

One after one, they glanced at one another, then slowly filed out of the forest, their murmurings hanging in the air like the spirits haunting the forest floors.

Mia slid off the altar with the runes I’d painted across her body disappearing beneath her gown. Her knees buckled when her feet touched the ground, and she fell to her hands and knees. She cried out as she caught herself, then pulled her wrapped hand to her chest. I rushed to her side, my abdomen smarting from the abrupt movement.

“Wwhy,” she said, reaching out for me. “Affter what I ddid.”

I knelt beside her, tracing the gaunt contours of her cheek with my thumb. Her eyes, once bright with life, now held only emptiness. It pained me to see her this way, a mere shell of the person she used to be.

“You think I couldn’t see it?” I said. “The vacancy in your eyes. You weren’t in there. It wasn’t you.”

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