Page 83 of A Kiss From Death (Oath of Vengeance #1)

Landing in a crouch, I balance on a single square row with nothing but air on each side of me. Boots come into view in front of me, my eyes slowly dragging up. Hade stands directly in front of me with a grin that could melt snow.

Confused, I blink up at him. He knows he can’t interfere with the Crucible.

“Hade?” He just blinks back and keeps smiling. “W-what are you doing here?” I mumble, struggling to make my lips work. Still, he just stares at me, unwavering. Finding it odd, I slowly push myself up, wobbling until I’m fully balanced.

Out of nowhere, Aeron appears behind him, a blade poised right at Hade’s throat.

In one swift movement, he slices the blade across Hade’s flesh, cutting from side to side.

Blood immediately pours out, an endless red river.

His eyes turn lifeless, but his smile remains as he tips forward and starts to freefall.

“No!” I scream. “You can’t leave me too. ”

Without thought, I lunge for him, trying to catch him before he falls off the platform. My arms go to wrap around him, but instead, they glide through him like mist. He disappears, and reality tumbles back as I fall towards my impending death.

At the last second, I throw my hands out, my shoulder screaming in protest when my fingers barely catch on the edge of a square two rows up. I dig my nails in, trying to hold all my weight with them.

Click.

The square trembles under my hands as I slowly try and wedge myself more onto the square. Something pricks my palm at the same time I see hundreds of tiny needles rise from below the giant black X marking the spot I’m clinging to for dear life.

Having no other options, I swing my leg up, landing on the sharp needles, my pants taking most of the impact.

I slowly drag my body up and onto the square.

Spotting the space next to me showing no X, I grunt through the pain and roll my body until I land on my back in the center of it.

I swear I see a dark shadow follow slightly behind me again.

Cuts mar my hands, blood trickling between my fingers, back, and legs, but I’m alive . That is all that matters right now. One square at a time, and I can survive this.

I will survive this.

Standing, I notice my vision has significantly plummeted. The course spins and moves around like the pieces are dancing in front of me. I attempt to take a step forward, but I end up falling slightly backwards before catching myself.

“Fuck!” a male voice screams in the distance.

My head turns at a snail’s pace until it lands on Tank across from me.

Blood pours from his leg, what looks like a trap with spiked teeth clamped tight around his ankle.

Ripping his fingers to shreds, he pries the mouth of the trap open and slides his mangled leg out.

Part of his flesh catches on the trap and tears away, dragging another scream from him.

He looks to be in worse shape than the last time I looked over at him, but I have no room to talk. His left eye has a blooming dark bruise around it. He looks to be missing a finger, and his leg looks like it was personally acquainted with a shark’s mouth.

Swaying my head forward, I realize I’m around halfway through my course. I just need to finish the second half before my legs give out, and it will all be over . This is the last test to prove myself before getting my revenge, and it’s by far the hardest to persevere through.

Not only does this test strength physically, but mentally as well. My head has never been so mangled and confused while my limbs scream for reprieve. How easy it would be to just call it quits and lie down in the grave of my own making.

It’s enticing to just let go. I can taste freedom on the tip of my tongue—freedom to finish this final test, freedom to let go of it all and finally live among the stars.

But which freedom calls to me more?

A familiar sensation caresses against my ear like an embrace, and I lean into it. I know my brain is playing tricks on me, but it feels so real, and I accept it all the same.

“It is not our time yet, Princess. You must fight for me.”

My brain is most definitely playing tricks on me now, because there’s no mistaking the sound of his warm, familiar voice as it dances across my skin.

“It’s me, love . You have to keep fighting. Promise me! ” he pleads.

Theo?

“Is it really you?” I sob on a hopeful breath. My heart cannot take losing him again. That pain will permanently dig the grave where I will lie my heart to rest for good.

“I’m real. I’m here with you. ”

Sobbing hysterically, I throw my hand up to muffle my cries. The faint sensation of a shadow still tickles the edge of my ear, and it all makes sense.

Hade .

The man who has been looking out for me since day one.

The man who forced me to eat when he saw me withering away.

The man who helped train me and never went easy on me.

The man who spent his free time letting me scavenge the library for answers.

The man who saved my life and forced the gods to keep me here when he could have easily let me bleed to death in my bed.

The man who provided countless distractions from my self-imploding just to put a smile on my face and dull the endless ache within the walls of my chest.

It’s him. It’s always been him. His shadow caressing me provides an extension of himself, helping me get through this last hurdle. He’s using his death magic to let me speak to the one person I need in this moment, the reason why I’m doing all of this.

It’s really Theo.

“I miss you.” It comes out as a whisper.

“I miss you too, my love. Promise me, please . This is not your end.”

My lips tremble. “I promise.”

“You would have made the most beautiful bride.” His voice shines with pride, and it’s my undoing.

I’m unraveling at the seams, flaying and breaking but more whole than I have been in a long time. Another sob racks my body as I hold on to this moment for as long as possible.

“I don’t want to say goodbye.”

“I have never left your side. I’ve been with you through it all, and I couldn’t be prouder of the woman you are today.

You are the key to it all, and now, you have to fight for me.

Fight and then live . Truly live in every sense of the word.

Words cannot describe the privilege of being yours for even just a blip in time.

You are my greatest achievement, Nyxi. Always you. ”

His voice grows fainter with each word, and I realize Hade is struggling to keep the door open between here and the veil beyond.

The final moments of us .

“Love you now and in every life to follow,” I whisper into the tendril of shadow that now caresses my cheek, providing me strength.

“Love you now and in every life to follow,” he echoes back, but it sounds distant until his voice fades into the abyss.

The tendril scoops up a rogue tear sliding down my cheek, leaving love and strength in its wake, my anchor to lean on.

I can do this.

I will do this.

“I’ve never doubted you.” The voice is deeper this time, filled with adoration.

Hade.

With one last drag across my cheek, the shadow withdraws back to the corners of the Bubble.

“Thank you,” I whisper as I watch them disappear.

Wiping my tear-streaked face, I ready myself again for one last battle. There are eight rows left between me and the finish platform, between me and my revenge. Looking to my side, I count four rows left for Tank to get through, but his are mostly spaces marked with Xs.

Wasting no time, I launch back into motion, leaping to my next row of three.

One X sits in the center, which I avoid by spreading my feet and planting them in the squares that bracket it.

Wobbling, I throw my arms out wide, trying to regain my balance.

The squares dance again in my vision, and the row containing one square in front of me turns to three and then back to one in a dizzying manner .

Braving it, I wobble forward with my arms still out, leaping and hoping my eyes stay true, praying there actually is one safe square in front of me. I collide with the square, but my fall isn’t graceful, and I end up rolling my ankle in the process.

The muscle strains but holds true. I don’t hear or feel any popping, but it throbs like a heartbeat, probably sporting a small sprain. It’s the least of my worries, though, as I check my progress compared to Tank. He only has three rows left.

“Fuck!” Tank bellows next to me. I don’t have time to look as I map out my next step at the same time my body sways heavily with fatigue, pain, and a dizzy spell. I can no longer tell which way is up or down, forward or back. It’s all a jumble of moving pieces, and I can’t keep up.

Something thumps a space behind me, and I turn, looking over my shoulder to spot a glowing red orb of light.

I can’t tell if this is another hallucination or real life.

Seeing the smug smirk on Tank’s face as he looks between me and the glowing orb behind me, makes me think it very much is real life, and I need to get moving.

Looking below him, I notice he’s standing on a giant X, and there’s a hole missing from the center of the square, where I assume this thing he so graciously gifted me came from.

This motherfucker really just threw his mistake at me.

Light grows bigger behind me, and I scream, launching myself forward at the same time I feel a hot explosion at my back, propelling me further through the air until colliding with a square three spaces up.

I land harshly, the air whooshing from my lungs. I wheeze and cough until the first trickle of air seeps back into my lungs. I feel blood trickle down my forehead, and my back is scorched to shreds. The course behind me is now charred black, burnt to a crisp.

But I’m alive .

“You can’t kill something already dead inside!” I scream to Tank, but it comes out slurred and wobbly as I try to regain my bearings.

My back protests in red hot pain, the old burns beneath hissing to life. Whoever said wear your scars like badges of honor is not my favorite human at the moment. I’m holding on by my last thread, barely able to put one foot in front of the other.

Three rows left between me and my freedom.

I push the pain of my throbbing, bleeding head, blistered ankles, rolled ankle, scorched back, distorted shoulder, and tattered hands into a nice, neat box, leaving it there to deal with later. There’s no time for pain right now, only winning .

Screaming out a war cry, I grit my teeth and push on, commanding the squares to stay put and quit their little dancing charade.

I will not die today.

I leap to the next row easily, planting my feet sturdy within the spaces, each foot bracketing the center space marked with an X.

Two more. The next row contains only one space, and unfortunately, it’s marked with an X.

I’ll have to launch myself over it onto the last row of spaces, which I realize now has three, all marked with Xs. There’s no avoiding them.

It’s a trap.

I could pick the single dangerous space now and pray it’s the lesser of the two evils, then try to launch myself over the last row of three Xs onto the finishing platform.

Or, I hop over the single space X and land on one of the three Xs on the final row.

Surely, one has to be better than the other.

If I jump and land on the final row, then I can try and scurry to the finish line before one of the three goes off and pray they aren’t lethal.

Deciding that’s my best bet, I bend my knees, readying myself to make the giant leap, but I freeze in my tracks when a bloodcurdling scream shreds my ears.

I can’t believe what my eyes see. Tank freefalls from his course, just one row away from the finish line, a giant blade protruding from his gut.

He tumbles through the air, his back getting closer to the ground as his arms and legs flail helplessly for purchase he won’t find.

His wide eyes find me, and it’s the first time I’ve truly seen fear in his eyes.

He looks like he’s seen a ghost, and as he gets eerily close to the ground, I avert my eyes before I see him splat to a million pieces.

A loud thump sounds, and then his screams turn silent.

Tank’s dead .

Gulping, I turn back to my course, staring down the final two rows. Just because Tank is out of the competition doesn’t mean I have a free ticket. I still have to finish the course.

Sending one last prayer to Theo, which I know now he’s been hearing, a phantom wind brushes against my cheek in answer, and it’s all the strength I need.

I know what I have to do, and my intuition tells me I need to land on the left square .

Throwing my body into the air, I careen onto the X on the left of the three provided on the final row.

Click.

The space starts to rattle and shake. Quickly, I stumble onto my hands and knees as my consciousness fades in and out.

I can’t take any more. I’m losing too much blood, and I don’t think the swaying of my head and hallucinations are due to the drugs alone anymore.

With the last ounce of energy I can muster, I drag my battered, bleeding body across to the finish platform and collapse in a heap of limp limbs just as the square I was on snaps away and tumbles to the ground.

My eyes dance with spots, and everything around me quiets as all the pain I had locked away batters against my body. It’s too much to bear, sinking its sharp teeth in me, attempting to drag me under .

A large body scoops me up and cradles me in their warm embrace. I’m holding on to the cusp of consciousness as I dance in the in-between, begging for mercy from the pain lancing my body.

“You cannot leave me. I won’t allow it. Stay awake for me, please!

I need you.” A feather light caress sweeps across my cheek at the same time wetness lands on my face, and I find it odd it could rain inside the Bubble.

I wiggle deeper into the embrace, loving how the warmth feels against my skin that is slowly starting to go numb.

Yes, this feels nice, and I welcome the pain fizzling away as my body goes light.

I’m ready for sleep.

“I would give up every last drop of my magic this instant if it meant spending one more day with you, if it promised I could hear that beautiful siren laugh of yours that’s the illogical reason behind mending my irreparable heart.

You hold all my favorite memories in your delicate grasp, you know that?

Your hands might even have a claim on my heart too.

” A strand of hair is brushed from my face.

“What have you done to me, dream? I never stood a chance, did I?”

Dream . Yes, that sounds so nice right now. I finally let go and drift off into a peaceful, welcoming sleep.