Page 47 of Darkest Heart

“Why am I not already dead?” I questioned back, arching a brow. “You could have killed me by now, or before then. I’m sure Salenia had her spies up here.”

A grin split over his face, the expression far more terrifying than anything else he’d done. His eyes twinkled as if he knew a joke I didn’t. “She doesn’t need spies here.”

“Yet here you are.”

“I am an emperor demon. A willing participant in this. Not a spy,” he bragged. “She summoned my soul back to this plane after my death.”

“Back?” I caught the slip up. “How could she summon you if she’s in the underworld? Why does she want to know what the gods said? Does this have something to do with the underworld?”

The muscle in his nose twitched, the golden glow of the lamps sharpening his already carved features. “I’m the one asking questions.”

“If I tell you what the gods said, you won’t let me go.”

“You won’t let me go,” he mimicked, his expression crashing into one of hatred. “If you don’t tell me,” he spat, leaving a trail of saliva on his bottom lip, “I will tear you apart. I will destroy your spirit, and fuck the last piece of hope out of you until you feel nothing. You willbegfor death.”

“Does this have to do with Vener?” I asked, ignoring his threats, pretending they didn’t have the effect they actually did on me. “Salenia’s original beloved? Or Anastasia? The prophecy?” I baited, observing his reaction. He winced, and my heart skipped a beat. “Is she here? In this world?”

“Enough,” he snapped, racing to me, forcing me against the ground. The air whooshed from my lungs, my ribs cracking. Before I could catch my next breath, he pulled me to my feet. He forced me back, his lava-red irises fixated on me as I hit the wall. Stone cracked into my skull, throbbing pounding in my ears as blood rushed to my head. His fingers tore into my ribcage, his hands squeezing around my racing heart. I tried to scream, but nothing came out. This couldn’t be the end. It couldn’t end like this.

Blackness consumed me, lulling me from this world as I fell into a dark embrace. Before I slipped into unconsciousness, I reached out to the only tangible thing left in my soul; the soulmate bond. Through it, I whispered goodbye.

***

Death was quicker than falling asleep. Everything felt peaceful. I felt the god's touch on me, and the familiar, gentle voice tinkered in my mind.“You must go back. You have to stop her.”

But the nightmare of my reality was not something I wanted to go back to. Somewhere between the living and dead, I saw the Vaneria. She was the voice in my mind, distorted, different. Looking over me. There were no words. Communicating through feelings, I showed her I wanted to stay. In life, there was so much suffering. She held me, unconditional love surrounding me as the words of the prophecy floated around us. “It is not your time yet.” She touched my head as we floated in the ethereal, and the image of Sebastian came to my mind. Alone, dying to avenge me. The underworld awaited him, not this. I couldn’t leave him to that fate.

The first breath was painful, the second was even worse. When I fluttered my eyes open, I was on the stone-cold floor of the throne room. The thrones were just fractures of bones, smashed apart in Hamza’s fit of rage after I’m assuming he thought he’d killed me prematurely.

The pain thudding through my head disoriented my movements as I attempted to sit upright. Hamza was gone, and my blood soaked through my dress, staining the silk crimson.

Had any of that really happened? I’d been knocked out at the least.

Get up. Get up now. Go.

The voice returned. I stood, reaching up to touch my head, which had already healed. Blood seeped into my fingerprints, and my lips parted at the sight. If I were still mortal, there was no way I’d have survived this.

The skirt of my dress was torn to shreds. No. No. I brought my hand up between my thighs, checking my underwear, which was thankfully, intact.

My eyelids closed, a heaviness settling over me as I realized what had happened. Chills plucked my skin into goosebumps, a deep rage filling me from the depths of my soul. Slowly, I opened my eyes, looking at the bloodbath, then traveled my gaze down to my chest. There, a hole slowly healed. Fractures of rib bone punctured my insides as I moved.

My heart.

I had died. He’d killed me.

Tears pooled, slipping down my cheeks as the truth was too much to bear. The gods had brought me back, but my body was broken. I placed my hand over my chest, half-expecting not to feel a heartbeat. It thumped against my chest, feeling darker than ever. A new, desperate anger guided every step. I touched my wrist, noticing the absence of the bracelet.

They thought I was dead. Hamza was gone. I couldn’t hear a soul beyond the doors. I moved like a ghost, immortal speed carrying me out onto the mountain, exposed to the frost-touched air.

If they believed me dead, then it was only to my benefit. I was free to go, to find Sebastian. But the remembrance of the mortal I killed hung over me like a black cloud. I couldn’t leave them there. The aniccipere wouldn’t win. What was certain, was Salenia wanted me dead.

She was here, in this world. Hamza’s reaction told me everything I needed to know. She summoned him here. Which meant the goddess of the underworld walked amongst us. I just needed to know why.

The prophecy had everything to do with it.She will bring death to all vampires.The words haunted me as I walked toward the one place I’d spent weeks hoping to escape. Revenge in my heart.

SEVENTEEN

Sebastian

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