Page 32 of A Haven of Brimstone and Darkness

Chapter 15

Kiera

Present Day…

No.

It's not real.She'snot real. Not here and not now. I bite down on my lower lip hard enough to taste blood as I watch the woman unfold herself from her perch on top of a ragged-looking stone. Her clothes or what's left of them are nothing but dull gray and brown rags. The edges are ripped in many places as are the sleeves, but she carries herself as if she's wearing a crown as she steps closer to the edge of the cell until the only thing separating us are the brimstone bars.

A queen with her ribs showing through the holes of her clothes. The bulbous protrusions of her knuckles stick out from the thin frame of her fingers. She’s not half-starved; she is completely emaciated.

Something cracks inside my chest, like someone has reached into my flesh and snapped the pieces of my ribcage to either side. Pain lances through me, choking the words I want to say from my lips as her face becomes visible. Distantly, I realize that the light is back. It went out briefly when Ruen dropped thetorch, but now the illusion of his fire hovers in vast quantities, small but strong little flames dancing feet above our heads and illuminating what I know to be true.

This woman—this sea witch-looking creature—is related to me. I can't say the word I know I should. Relation is so much easier than ... no, I can't even think of the word.

Ruen's shock is palpable as is the way he looks between the two of us. I can't seem to tear my gaze away from the gray eyes that match my own.

Caedmon grips one of the brimstone bars, the dark skin of his knuckles turning white as he hisses a pained breath through his teeth as he bends and coughs once more, fresh blood splattering the stones at his feet. I feel as if I've been set adrift in the ocean with nothing to tether me to this world. Her face, dirty and thin from malnutrition though it is, is remarkably beautiful.

Big eyes, dark coal-colored lashes, a straight nose, and full mouth. There are some minor changes, I note, latching on to the fact that my nose isn't quite that small and my chin not so dainty as if those differences can make up for all of the similarities.

"We thought you were dead, Caedmon," Ruen says, stepping up to my side as he faces the God of Prophecy.

Caedmon coughs again and then straightens. "Yes, well, I nearly did die," he admits. "But Tryphone was convinced to keep me alive in exchange for information on the future pathways that may become available to him."

My eyes flash away from the woman to him. "What information have you given him?" I demand, cold ice bleeding into my veins as I clench my hands into fists. "How did you not see him coming for you? I saw what he did to you. The blood..."

Caedmon's dark eyes meet mine. "There is no running from certain futures, child," he murmurs. "I had to remain and allow him to capture me if you were to succeed in your mission."

Ruen practically leaps forward, gripping one of the bars of the brimstone prison and he gazes beyond at Caedmon. "So, there's still a chance for her to kill him?" he demands. "How? Where? Have you seen it?"

"He cannot reveal too much," the woman's quiet voice penetrates the room, "or that would betray his power and possibly change the future he wishes to see come to fruition."

All at once, our gazes are dragged back to her. She's thinner than I am, her clothes practically sagging against her reed-like frame. Then again, no doubt she's been kept down here for a long time. With the brimstone and the lack of care, it's likely only due to her Divine Blood—or, what had Caedmon called them before? Atlantean?—whatever the case, no doubt it's only Divinity that's kept her alive long past the time she should have perished.

Though I know she's right—I've learned enough of Caedmon to know the truth—I cannot help the sneer that enters my voice when I respond to her. "Why should we trust what you have to say?" I snap. "Who are you to tell us what he can or cannot do?"

Who are you to me?I want to scream.

The woman, "Ari" as Caedmon had called her, is silent for a moment and then she, too, reaches out to grip the bars of her cell. Her bony fingers clench around them as if there's a deep desire in her to yank them from the ground and ceiling and escape her prison. For the moment, though, I am grateful for the barriers separating us. I fear what I might do if they were gone.

"You know who I am," she says, her voice soft but no less potent.

Shaking my head, I take a wary step back. "No," I lie. "I don't. You're no one to me."

Ruen's head whips towards me, and I don't need to look at him to know that he's staring at me as if I've lost my mind.

"I am Ariadne," the woman states. "I am Goddess of Darkness and Shadow. I am daughter to the God King Tryphone and God Queen Danai." With each word she speaks, a sense of foreboding wraps around my body. It's as if true power has found its way from her voice into my bones. I am rooted to the spot upon which I stand. Eyes wide. Lips parted. Chest heaving with the strength of my breaths. Her eyes, like gemstones of cut diamonds and moonstone, meet mine. "And I am your mother, Kiera."

I don’t knowhow long I stand there, unspeaking, unseeing of anything but her. My body feels as if it's been encased in stone, as if I am one of the structures compelled to reside within the garden of statues above our heads. Monstrous and beautiful and haunting, I feel as if I have stepped outside my own body and hover in the corners and shadows of this discovered prison.

"No."

Ariadne frowns and presses closer to the bars of her cell. "You know it to be true, Kiera," she says. "I am your mother."

"No." I shake my head as the word escapes my mouth again. "No, my mother is dead."

Ariadne flinches as if I've struck her. She inhales deeply and releases a long breath before speaking again. "Though I have wished for death on many occasions trapped down here between these walls," she says. "I am, in fact, quite alive."

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