Page 138 of A World of Ruins

I glare up at him.

‘Hello, sweetheart,’ Sarilyn’s voice croons from behind him. Aurum stills before he turns and sees her there by the river, her smile cold and ruthless. ‘Missed me?’

Aurum’s smile strains, not having expected Sarilyn to still be alive. ‘Sarilyn. What a surprise.’

She looks around. ‘Seems familiar, doesn’t it?’

‘I wouldn’t know.’ Aurum’s chuckle sounds taunting, reminding her of how he switched with another soul. An innocent one.

Sarilyn’s anger brews deep within her like a silent, oncoming storm. ‘I doubt this time you will be so lucky.’ She strikes first, seeming merely to entertain Aurum as he doesn’t use his powers on her.

My gaze focuses on the river, its waters glistening under the tumultuous sky.

Yet the rivers hold the answer, and the lover who once was . . .

‘Yet the rivers hold the answer,’ I repeat out loud.

Have you ever thought that perhaps the place where life was given to him is also the place where it can be taken away?

My heart races as Freya and Silaria’s words ferment inside my mind.

Sarilyn and Aurum are close to the water’s edge, fighting one another as if Aurum was a mortal now, just like her.

‘The river,’ I whisper, and glance at Darius as he narrows his eyes, trying to decipher my cryptic words.

I slowly rise, curling my fingers into fists. ‘Orna,’ I say, the word drifting through the wind. I say it louder. ‘Orna!’

Aurum freezes. His hand stops halfway through the air as he is about to strike Sarilyn. He turns to me, his eyes wide and untamed. ‘What did you say?’

I start to walk towards him. ‘Her name was Orna.’

Sarilyn looks on like I have lost my mind.

‘Solaris,’ I whisper, gazing at the dull skin that is now covered in welts and rotting away. ‘She would hate the man you have become.’

His one remaining eye burns into me with an intense fury, yet for just one moment, I see vulnerability there.

It makes him almost . . .human.

‘Take that back,’ he seethes.

‘No.’ I huff out a hostile laugh. ‘If she could see you now, she would be disgusted.’

Darius appears by my side. ‘You’re alone.’ He joins in taunting him. ‘Even the only family you have left wants you dead.’

Aurum stumbles back slightly. ‘Do you think that you can ever get rid of me?’ He smacks his chest. ‘I willalwayswin. Always!’ Spit flies out of his mouth as we corner him.

‘You can’t win,’ I say, ‘if you no longer exist.’

He is in the river now, his armour sloshing against the waters.

‘We create,’ I grit between my teeth. ‘We destroy.’

He becomes furious, raising his palm at us, but no power comes.

‘And who is to say,’ Darius angles his head, watching Aurum frantically try to conjure any bit of power he has, ‘we can’t take a life away.’

Aurum tries to speak, but it’s too late as I lift my hand, and Darius hovers his hand over mine. Our palms glow bright as our magic becomes tethered to one another. A whirlpool emerges from beneath Aurum, and he starts to shout obscenities, desperately clawing at everything in sight.

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