Page 77
Story: When Storms Collide
He lay across the sheets, shirtless, his skin spells on full display. He had other tattoos dancing across his chest, too. Just like hisson. He was barefoot, his arms folded behind his head, a deep grin playing on his lips.
“I do believe the stress of losing my precious Noctani aged me ten years,” she replied, leaving the vanity to join Zachariah on the bed.
She curled against him, her hand on his chest as she gazed up at him.
Oh… Mother above.
That was… that was twisted. I know Nik had said she was working with him, but I hadn’t realized she waswithhim. After she had been with his son? She was much older than Nik, but I hadn’t imagined anything going on between her and Nik’s much older father when Zachariah had appeared at her side in Siraleth.
That answered the question of whether she knew of the fate of her Noctani, though. We had painstakingly taken the time to bury all the bodies—Noctani included—but somehow she knew.
“My Queen, you haven’t aged a day.”
Her dark gaze traveled down the muscles of his abdomen and I tried to push out of the dream, fearful that I might be forced to witness something I most certainly didn’t want to.
“I wonder when Nikolai will be back,” she mused, her voice taunting.
“You don’t think he was killed with the others?” Zachariah asked, his brow raised as he gazed down at her.
Donika laughed, and the sound sent a shiver down to my toes. “You underestimate your son, Zachariah. Not only would they not have had the heart to kill him, but he would never let them. He is faster and stronger than even their best soldier.”
“Then he will be back,” Zachariah mused, nodding.
So… they didn’t know Nikolai’s location, and they didn’t know about the antidote, either. That was good. Very good. We could use that to our advantage, especially with one antidote left to spare. It will come as a shock to Donika when we march against her, a perfectly mortal Nikolai at my side.
If he was up to it.
She couldn’t know the damage turning him Noctani had caused him, not that she would care. They didn’t call her the Black Heart for nothing.
“I must say, Isaac’s passing threw a wrench into my plans,” Donika admitted, tracing her long, delicate finger against him.
I wasn’t fooled by her appearance, there was nothing delicate about her.
“You’ll have the little Stormshade bitch’s magic soon enough, you won’t need his,” he assured her.
“No… ” her voice was cutting. “I won’tneedhis, but I wanted it.”
Zachariah laughed, his pearly teeth on full display. “My Queen, you will have so much magic you won’t know what to do with it.”
Her sinister lips lifted into a malicious smile. “I’ll knowexactlywhat to do with it.”
Donika hadn’t known we killed her contingent of Noctani until Isaac’s magic had left her, another win for us. Another thing she hadn’t planned. We might not have the upper hand in this, but she wasn’t predicting our movements, and I was relieved at that.
“How many Noctani does that leave us with?” he asked, stroking his hand against hervibrant hair.
Donika thought for a moment, her gaze on the ceiling. “About forty, give or take.” Her laugh made my stomach fall, a stone in my gut. “Luckily, the Araneoch are much easier to make.”
No.
Oh no.
We had no idea how many of those she had created, and with their size and poisonous pincers they were equally dangerous. They couldn’t steal our magic, but they could kill us all the same. I had never seen where she was creating the monsters, where she was keeping them. My dreams never showed them to me. How many were there, if they were soeasyto make? Tens? Hundreds?
I needed to find out before we marched on The Stone City. I needed to figure out how to leave a token and dream walk wherever I wanted, as Corian had. I needed to find out what we were up against so that we weren’t going in blind.
I tried to pull out of the dream once more, but it held me firmly. It was as if I were underwater, their voices becoming harder and harder to hear. I knew I was waking up, but it was taking longer than I would have liked.
“No one is as smart as you, my darling,” Zachariah rumbled against her cheek, grasping her face in his palm and capturing her mouth with his.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77 (Reading here)
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128