Page 71 of Of Vows and War: Special Edition
“Ana, it’s good to see you.” Ana. Only she and my mother had ever called me that. Instead of making me feel better, it only enraged me. My fists clenched, emotions so strong that they were hard to hold onto flooding me. This was too much. We were not made to feel this deeply.
“You. Left. Us.”
If my accusation hurt her, the smile that stretched across her perfect face did not show it. Her dark skin somehow still glowed in the darkness of the forest, the magic of the sun shining from within her no doubt. Her hair was no longer straight from her heat tools, the tight coils now cut so short that they surrounded her like an orb. She wore a thin white dress, the simpleness so different than what she used to prefer.
“You’re just as fierce as ever. That makes me happy,” she said.
“Padon finds it increasingly annoying.” Her smile fell at the mention of the new emperor. Of the male she once thought of as a son. The one who killed her daughter’s husband and banished her from her own world.
“Yes, well, he was always impatient. One day he will meet someone that will challenge that. Remake him. Form that anger and desperation into something beautiful.” Her words did nothing to soothe me. In fact, all she was doing was confuse me further.
“How would you know? And why are you here? Shamay needs you and you’re playing house in a forest full of bloodthirsty creatures? What the fuck, Stella!” I shouted, reaching down to grab a jagged rock and throwing it as hard as I could at the stupid house behind her. When it sailed through a window, I let a wretched and wicked smile spread across my face.
Stella didn’t so much as flinch at the damage to her home. She used to be far quicker to anger than that. She used to be so much…more.
“You’re allowed to be angry, you know. They tell you that we don’t feel. That we aren’t capable of real emotions. But it’s not true, Ana. We might not feel the same as the creatures on this world, but we stillfeel.”
Tears flowed freely down her cheeks, her white and black eyes lined with red. Eternity above, she was going to make me cry too. My hand reached into my satchel of its own accord, gripping Asta’s dagger and pulling it out. The moment the blade met the air between us, a great shake of the forest rattled my bones.
My magic simmered and convulsed, pouring out of me like steam.
That was when the fetch appeared. It was just as hideous as I remembered, its crooked body and gray skin dripping black from where it drooled poison. Its long black hair hung in strings over its face, a smile showing all black teeth.
“Anastasia, how exciting that I have found you. His Majesty wishes for you to come home,” it hissed, practically floating our way. I saw the moment its black eyes caught sight of Stella. Horror shook me to my core. Padon couldn’t know I found her, nor could he be made aware of the fact that I was on Alemthian. “The fallen empress. What a surprise. He will be thrilled to know you still—”
Leaping forward, I caught the fetch by its hair and shoved its face into the ground. My magic pulsed from me in small waves, drowning the fetch and forcing it to remain corporeal. Bringing my face down, I smiled back at it. “Pity you will not be able to tell him.”
Then I dug my nails into its flesh and tore it to shreds, black blood squirting onto my clothes and skin. I was drenched in it by the time I was done taking my anger out on the creature. When I looked up at Stella, she was staring blankly at me.
“What, are you against murder now? So changed that you don’t revel in a little violence anymore?” I accused more than asked. She was getting on my nerves for some reason.
“No, it’s not that. I just realized how far we have fallen. High demons, resorting to fighting one another instead of fixing our messes. You, Padon, Asta, me. All of us. We’re failing.” Before I could insult her back—or worse, agree—she offered me a hand. I took it, letting her pull me up. She grabbed her spotless skirt, lifting it to my face and cleaning me off, staining the cotton. For once, I didn’t fall victim to my need to be unfeeling. Instead, I leaned into her touch. “We have a lot to do, Ana.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, surprised by the sudden change in subject.
“Worse will come. I’ve watched it happen.”
“Was it the Oracle Asta wrote about meeting?”
“Yes, she told Asta a lot.” There was a grim and heartbroken tone to her voice. One that felt as if it might crush my soul. “It was why Asta poured her magic into that fae river. She brought me there and together we watched what the Oracle foresaw.”
“Does it have to do with Asher Daniox?”
“Yes. Asher, she is at the center of it all. She is the promised doom. Our gift and our punishment. I can’t say much, and the only future that the Oracle saw in which Asher succeeded was one that I remained hidden until her great loss.”
“Her great loss? Stella, I don’t understand.”
“I know. I want to say more but I could risk everything I’ve worked fifteen thousand years towards,” she croaked. Her hands gripped my face, cradling me like a mother terrified of dropping their youngling. Milo pranced around us, alternating between sniffing flowers and chewing on one of the fetch’s wretched bones.
“I’m scared, Stella. Shamay needs you. We all do.”
“Everything will fall into place, I promise. Trust me.”
“I do, I trust you.” Stella kissed my forehead, letting her chin lift and rest on my head. I tugged her close, hugging her so tightly it might have hurt.
“This won’t be the last time I see you. Don’t worry. For now, you have to help Asher. She needs to be ready when Padon comes. This war was always the prelude. Expect him to come when the world is weakest. When she is weakest. We both know what lengths he will go to in order to get what he wants.”
“He wants to take Alemthian. To destroy it and rid the universe of its inhabitants.”
