Page 15 of Bright Soul

“Now, I’m going to let you go, and we can discuss what we can do for one another…”

The moment he released his hold on my body, I grabbed him by the throat and shoved him through the bathroom mirror. Glass shards fell to the ground in a clanging rain around him. His eyes bulged, and skin reddened, face going slack with fear as shadows erupted from my body, closing around my head to form a wolf-like visage protected by my curled horns.

Yes, much better.I hated Garroway’s presence less when he wasn’t wearing that look of smug superiority. I caught his wrists with tendrils of shadow, pinning his arms down to his sides and his legs together with them.

“Let’s get one thing straight,blood baron,” I growled. “I do not tolerate petty tyrants. You will not dare speak of my mate if you want to leave this bathroom intact.”

“Is that so?”asked the Hungering Darkness, disembodied from the choking grip I had Garroway in.

“Fuck,” I said under my breath. There went the moment I had to make good on my promise and be rid of Garroway forever.

“Release my vessel, Phaeron. That’s a good brother. Now, let’s return. You obviously can’t be trusted away from Lady Myuna’s gaze.”

I jerked away from him and didn’t move to the door until he ordered me to walk. We marched our way back to the audience chamber and the waiting goddess. Garroway spoke behind me in a two-toned voice, “Our lady will be quite interested in the interaction we just had. How do you think she’ll react to such an assault on her favored servant?”

“Her only servant,” I muttered.

“We’ll fix that. You’ll join us very soon.”

I stopped in my spot before Myuna, who had her chin propped on her fist. Her white-filmed eyes were dull with boredom. She would rest soon, which would delay Endaeron from sharing anything with her.

“…I can’t wait to have you back, brother,”Endaeron whispered. I glanced over my shoulder, but it was just a trick. Only madness from the Void lingering around us.

A fine shiver worked its way up my spine.

My breath came shorter. I was trapped…an animal in a cage of wills, stuck between a goddess and my brother, the first dimensional she had corrupted beyond saving.

No help was coming. How could it? No one could stand against Myuna, even as weakened as she was.

Everyone left in this pocket dimension would end up dead or worse. And I stared into the maw ofworseas the white figure on the dais yawned impossibly wide and closed her eyes.

She rested for a minute, or perhaps an hour, or it could have been an eternity. But her eyelids popped open again, suddenly and immediately awake. Garroway twitched, and I looked up, taking in the change. Something had shifted beneath our feet, but it emerged as a beacon to my magical senses, glowing with pure power.

Braza.

My hopeful smile came and went quickly.Braza, here?The first powercore ever made was a buffet in front of Myuna’s single-minded hunger. “That soul’s power…it tastes familiar,” she commented, turning her gaze my way.

She beckoned me forth, lifting me in an orb of her energy so I floated before her. “Tell me what you know,” she ordered.

Talons of pain sank into my skull when I tried to keep my silence.

“Don’t make this so difficult on yourself. I know the feel of souls…but it has been so long…” She tapped a finger to her lips. “Hmm. She feels like the girl you were going to adopt. But I ordered her dead. Endaeron, why is she alive?”

My eyes widened, but shock turned to pure wrath. Many deaths in my family could be traced back to Myuna, but here she gloated over one that was still a ragged wound within me.

“I’m not sure I know who you’re talking about, my lady,” he replied.

Her lips spanned a toothless grin. “Perhaps Phaeron is ready to enlighten us.”

The pressure was mounting, making it feel like my horns were about to implode and crush my skull. “Her name is Braza,” I muttered.

“More,” she demanded.

“Ididadopt her.” I stared at her in defiance. My hatred was an unsheathed blade before her, ready to cut.

“More,” she hissed.

“And then my brother murdered her. She was one of his first victims on Earth. We thought we were safe from you and your creatures, your madness, your endless hunger for our life force,” I spat, picking up fervor as I spoke. If she would just silence me before she probed for the relevant information. “But we had no such luck. He cleaved her soul nearly in two in his frenzy before I killed his vessel. We gave them both the best funeral we could, but—”

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