Page 113 of Wrath

“Everything.” I ventured another step.

Closer.

I just needed to get closer.

I had no idea if a sword through the heart would kill her, but maybe it would loosen her control on the minds of the nightmares.

Her lip peeled away from her teeth in a snarl. “Do you really think that will kill me?”

“No,” I confessed, shaking my head. Another step. “But I think it will hurt like a bitch and might incapacitate you long enough to kill you.”

She laughed, high-pitched and maniacal, her emerald eyes glimmering. “You don’t know how to kill me, sister.”

“I think you gave me the weapon to end your life, even if you don’t realize it,” I answered, and confusion crowded her features.

But I didn’t elaborate, and she didn’t ask any more questions. She simply sat there, staring at me, her lips pursed as she swung her legs.

“We don’t have to fight. You know that, right?” She absently brushed at her shoulder, almost as if she were wiping away lint.

“You’re not giving me much of an option.” Another step.

“These people don’t deserve your loyalty.” She curled her lip. “The two of us together can make a new world, one free of nightmares and humans and sin. Don’t you want that?”

“Everybody has sin in them, Aaliyah.” I kept my voice placid. “I have sin. You have sin. Killing everyone in the world isn’t going to change that.”

“Not if it’s just me and you.” Something akin to desperation flashed across her face. “We can remake the world the way we see fit. Just the two of us.”

“Is that what this is all about?” Another step. “You want to take over the world…so we’re the only two people left?”

Was she fucking insane?

“Would that be a bad thing?” She waved a hand through the air to encompass the world at large. “What have the humans and nightmares done here aside from fighting and fucking? Nightmares hunt humans for sport. Humans kill nightmares. It’s a never-ending cycle of violence and despair. How could you want to live in a world like that?”

“Things are changing,” I told her. “Nightmares are working with the humans.”

“Are they?” She smirked at me, looking every inch the imperious demoness princess. “Because the second I amplified their sin, they turned on the humans. Who’s to say they won’t do that in the future?”

“Aaliyah, stop this. I’ll let you walk away right now if you do.” That wasn’t the truth. There was no way I could let her leave here.

It would fucking break me to do so, but I had to kill my sister.

Another step.

A myriad of emotions crossed her face. “Will you come with me?”

She extended a hand, and for a moment, I felt…tempted to take it. Not because I wanted to go with her, but because I knew if I did, she would call off her troops. At least for the time being. I could save the men and women here. Ryland, Dair, Devlin, and Jax. I could?—

A roar sounded from beside me. Aaliyah and I both spun, alarmed, to see shadows racing through the forest and tacklingAaliyah off the boulder. A pair of blue eyes peered through the darkness.

Ryland.

No. No. No. He couldn’t attack Aaliyah on his own. She would hesitate to kill me, but him? She wouldn’t even bat an eye.

I raced forward, my sword extended, but I couldn’t see who was who. The shadows were too thick and poignant. All I could make out was a tangle of limbs as they fought.

“Do you really think you can fight me and win?” Aaliyah’s lilting laughter cut through the shadows.

Fear skated up my spine and knotted in my throat.

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