Page 3 of The War of Wings
“She’s gone,” Rhedros snarled, pulling Katia closer.
Malosym’s head cocked to one side, his eyes narrowing antagonistically. “Oh, I know where she is.”
Katia’s eyes flew wide, but Rhedros held her tighter still. Malosym was an instigator at his core, willing to say anything to elicit a reaction, to elicit pain he could use to bolster himself. Rhedros knew this well.
“So go ahead, then,” Rhedros answered. He laid a soft kiss against Katia’s hair, but his eyes remained hard on Malosym. “Kill us. End it. You claim we are different from the Forgotten Saints. You claim you can kill us, so show us you can.”
A throaty bellow of a laugh erupted from Malosym’s chest. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Rhedros tensed just enough to cause Katia to do the same. “So what, then? Torture?” He kept his voice even, just as he had learned to do as Keeper of the Blood Saints. But dread was creeping in.
“Yes, torture,” Malosym answered, his tone far too casual. “Though, not in the way you think.” Before Rhedros could respond, Malosym raised his hand and waved. “Seize them.”
Rhedros threw his body over Katia, but it was useless. In a single breath, a dozen Occulti had them restrained.
Katia cried out in pain, no doubt feeling the effects of what she’d endured just minutes before the walls had begun to crumble, but her eyes were no longer vacant. No, she was searching for something, something deep inside, something–
A horrible, bone-shaking screech sounded over the city. It was a synchronized flexing of vocal cords deep within five scaled, sinewed throats. It was a cry that signaled danger. A cry that signaled the five beasts of legend had put forth all the effort they could, that even though they were pure power incarnate, they were not powerful enough. It was a cry Katia had only ever heard practiced in the training arena, reserved solely for the most dire of circumstances.
It was a cry that signaled the end.
They weren’t strong enough.Shewasn’t strong enough. Not strong enough to save her realm. Not strong enough to save herself.
But strong enough to save her daughter.
There was no use letting them fight until the end. The end was here. She went to that place in her mind, that desperate, lonely place where she found the line connecting her to the drivas, and she let it go. Their calls turned mournful, and the sounds faded as the beasts flew back to the eyrie. Katia felt them go, just as she felt the kelpies return to the waves and the soulhags to the earth.
“Lock them up on opposite ends of the Darkness Beyond,” Malosym ordered flippantly, heading back for the door.
“No!” Rhedros bellowed, thrashing against the Occulti members that restrained him in a desperate attempt to get to Katia.
“You’re right,” Malosym said, turning on his heel to stare at Rhedros. “Lock them up together. I’ll delight in knowing you’ll witness each others’ suffering.”
“You won’t find her,” Katia ground out between gritted teeth. The fury of Hell burned in her eyes as she glared at Malosym. “She’s gone, and you won’t find her.”
“Noros took her, didn’t he?” he asked. It was as if all the air had been sucked from the room. At the shock on Katia’s face, Malosym clicked his tongue. “Noros did take her. I was right.”
Katia’s lips parted in shock. “How did you–”
“Are you forgetting who made you?” Shock left Katia’s face, her brows furrowing as she stared at Malosym. “You Saints of the New World are all a bit predictable, you especially,” he continued with a bored sigh, ignoring Katia’s words. “Of course Noros would volunteer to save her. Love and guilt are a potent mixture, aren’t they?” His eyes hardened on Rhedros. “And I’m sure you were all too eager to curse him after what he did. You did curse him, right?”
Rhedros was silent except for the sound of his molars grinding between his jaws.
“I’m not sure why I’m asking you. I know you cursed him. Like I said, you’re all very predictable. Made my task easier.”
Rhedros’ breathing stopped altogether. “What did you do?”
“I placed a curse of my own,” Malosym answered with a smirk. Rhedros’ eyes flew wide.
The blood drained from Katia’s face, but a low growl rumbled in her chest. “I should’ve killed you when I had the chance.”
Malosym tutted. “But you didn’t. Mercy and fury. Another potent mixture.” He nodded to the Occulti restraining the Keepers. “Take them away.”
“This isn’t the end, Malosym,” Katia called. “This will end with you reduced to ash.”
“That might be the case,” he answered over his shoulder. “But everything you love will be reduced to ash along with me. Including your daughter.”
Part I
