“You can do this Kaleah, you’re stronger than her,” Ryker whispered close to my ear.
“I’m sorry,” I choked. Cassie’s distant voice screamed my name, and Lilitha’s essence settled within my skin, ready to extinguish the last spark of life within me.
“No! You can’t have her!” Ryker shouted and crushed his lips against mine. Light and warmth exploded through me, my body reacting to his, drawing strength from our newly forged bond. Lilitha screamed, and I mentally shoved at the ocean of darkness, clawing and scratching my way to the surface where I gasped for breath, finally able to breathe again.
“Stupid nephilim,” the demon shrieked. “You will never defeat me!”
My vision returned and Ryker released me, plunging his sword through the darkness. The empress’s howl filled the air, and she surged forward, enveloping him in a writhing black cloud. His screams cut through me like knives.
No!
“Ryker!” The Outlander girl shrieked, several guards finally pinning her down and grappling the knives from her as others apprehended the resisting priestess.
Pained screams erupted from the mass of darkness, wrenching my heart in two.
“Your Majesty!” Another voice joined the fray. I could barely make out Marshal on the edge of my wavering vision.
Ryker’s screams paused, and Marshal pointed to the sky. “The Ascension.” I didn’t have to look to know the moon was moving out of position. The empress' dark form lifted, leaving a panting and shaking Ryker in her wake. Her red eyes turned to me one last time, and I shuddered, but she retreated, moving across the stage straight toward—
“Cassie!” Her name ripped from my throat, but barely conscious, I could do nothing but watch. The writhing black mass neared my sister, who was no longer on the throne, but on the floor leaning against it. Her red-rimmed eyes shot up, staring at the monster before her. With one last heartbeat, the demon plunged down her throat. Cassie’s body stiffened, her eyes widening into giant circles.
“No!” I choked, struggling to sit up, but only managed to tumble from the altar. My head smacked against the floor, and my vision spun. Ryker shouted and rose to his feet, charging the empress. Marshal intercepted him and their swords clashed.
Blackness edging in around me, I stared across the stage. Cassie. My beautiful, selfless sister. Her wide, scared eyes locked onto mine one last time before the last of the darkness receded within her and all fear faded from her face. She blinked, and with that one motion, disappeared. As her eyelids lifted, the blue faded away, scarlet oozing up to take its place.
A pained wail rose above the clamor as guards surrounded my sister, and I realized the sound was coming from me. “No,” I sobbed, “not Cassie.” She wasn’t supposed to die. Just me.
A sea of golems surrounded me, blocking Cassie from view.
No. No. NO!
Fury filled me to the brim, and something within me broke. My absentee power returned in a surge, the golden bands breaking from my wrists and clattering to the ground. Unaware of anything save for my divinity and the need to destroy, to end the suffering, I closed my eyes and gave in to its desire.
Time stopped. Everything froze. Silence reigned. In that one, still moment, I could sense every living thing around me in perfect clarity. My power called to them, connecting them to me, like a giant, invisible web in my mind's eye. Each and every person in that room—I could sense their heart, their life force.
Take, feast, devour. A strange, dark voice slithered through me, and I shuddered.
I didn’t want to kill them, but… beside the lifeblood of beating hearts, another, softer essence flowed. The living spirits of the golems. My lip curled. Lilitha’s precious army. Focusing on the heartless creatures, I released my connection to the living. Giving into the desire and voice within, I solidified my connection and pulled.
Time started again, the sound of a thousand shattering stones filling the temple. Voices of terror lifted to the crystal ceiling. Unlike before with the guard, the power I drew from the golems did not fill me, but faded past me, dissipating into the ether as their bodies crumpled into heaps of stone.
“Kaleah!” Ryker’s scream mingled with mine as a guard lunged, swinging his sword and searing pain exploded in my abdomen. I collapsed to the ground, the world spinning as metal screeched against metal and Ryker cut down my attacker.
Breathing hard, Ryker dropped to my side, gathering me in his arms. I slumped against him, and searched the carnage of crumbled rocks and armor, seeking one last glimpse of my sister. Guards swarmed from every direction, panicked shouts and screams, a ballad to the destruction, but I couldn’t find her.
Ryker leaned across me and pressed his bleeding finger to the floor, drawing strange runes on the marble with his blood. Light flashed, and unable to hold on to consciousness any longer, my eyes fell shut and oblivion claimed me at last.
Epilogue
Mutedwordsfilteredthroughmy pounding head. Everywhere hurt, a sensation I was becoming quite familiar with. Was I dead? I flinched. No, but how was I alive? I lay curled up in a ball on a hard surface, a damp blanket thrown over me. A strange rocking sensation lulled me back and forth, and nausea gripped me. Burning pain throbbed in my stomach, making it hard to concentrate on the arguing voices.
“Well that plan failed epically. So much for using blessed weapons against the disembodied demon—they don’t work,” a woman said, her voice unfamiliar.
“We were skeptical they would work in the first place, but at least now we know for sure,” another voice rasped.Ryker. My heart sped up while my stomach churned.
“Yeah, and we almost died in the process. At least the portal runes worked.” The woman loosed a heavy sigh.
“So what now?” Ryker countered.