Page 48

48

DAIN

L iora’s body is limp in my arms, fragile as something already lost. The bond, the thing that had tied us together, that had let me feel her, hear her, breathe through her—is gone. There is nothing but silence in my head where her presence used to be.

The air around us shudders, thick with a presence that should not exist. A cruel, mocking laughter slithers through the ruins, curling around me like the whisper of death itself.

"She played right into my hands."

The voice seeps through the cracks in reality, ancient and gloating.

"You were always so blind, Dain. Did you think she would ever be anything but a curse?"

I can’t move. My claws dig into her skin, desperate, furious. Liora. Damn it, Liora. She should have fought harder. She should have stayed. She should have never made that choice.

A thin trickle of blood slips from the corner of her mouth, her lips parted like she had been whispering something at the moment she severed herself from me.

"She severed you, but not me."

The voice twists with satisfaction.

"Without your bond, she has no protection. She is open to me. I will take her. I will finish what I began with Amara."

Rage claws through me, cold and unbearable.

I should let her go.

I should let fate claim her, let the artifact finish its work. The cycle will end. She will be gone. And I will finally be free.

But the second that thought crosses my mind, something splinters inside me.

The silence. The emptiness. The void where she should be.

I can’t.

I can’t let her go.

The realization hits like a blade between my ribs.

I spent so many lifetimes hating Amara. So many centuries holding onto that hatred like it was the only thing keeping me alive. And yet here I am, willing to burn everything down to pull Liora back.

It doesn’t matter what Amara did.

It doesn’t matter that Liora is her reincarnation.

It doesn’t matter what curses run through her blood or what darkness lives inside her.

She is mine.

I will not let her go.

The laughter falters. It knows.

"You’re a fool, Dain. If you go after her, you will never escape me."

A part of me agrees.

A part of me doesn’t care.

If she’s trapped in the abyss, then I will go after her.

I lift Liora’s lifeless body, my arms locking around her. My wings unfurl, and I push off the ground, rising into the broken sky but I land back, my strength faltering. I grit my teeth.

I don’t care where the artifact has her.

I will tear my way through whatever hell it has made for her.

"You were never meant to have her."

The dark presence coils around us, slithering through the sky like the unseen chains that have haunted me for lifetimes.

"She was always mine."

It laughs, cruel and knowing. The ruins below tremble, and I feel it, not just the whispers, not just the corruption. The artifact awakens further, feeding off what she’s done.

"She thought she was saving you. How tragic."

I grit my teeth, tightening my hold around her.

The power beneath us shudders, tearing through the air like a monstrous heartbeat. The very fabric of reality warps, something is dragging her down.

"You should let her go, Dain."

The laughter shifts, taunting.

"Isn’t this what you wanted? No more Amara. No more pain. No more curse."

I feel it then. The pull.

Liora is being ripped away from me.

I see the moment her soul starts slipping beyond my reach.

Her breath shudders, barely there. Her fingers twitch once, then go still.

I lose it.

With a snarl, I dive, straight into the abyss. Straight into the void behind the artifact.

The world shatters around me.

Darkness rushes up, swallowing me whole.

I land in nothingness.

There is no sky, no ground, no sense of where one ends and another begins. A void stretches around me—empty, yet filled with whispers.

Shadows coil like living things, stretching, breathing.

Then I hear it.

A voice that is hers, yet not.

"Dain..."

I turn.

Liora stands in the distance, but she isn’t Liora.

She is everything she has ever been, Liora, Amara, something more.

Her eyes glow, burning with unnatural power, her form flickering between lives. One moment, she is the woman I have come to know, the woman who infuriates me, tempts me, refuses to bow. The next, she is Amara, the woman I once loved, the woman who betrayed me, the woman who swore she did it to save me.

"You shouldn’t be here."

Her voice is raw, as if she’s breaking apart just speaking.

"You can’t save me, Dain."

A growl rips through me.

"The hell I can’t."

I take a step closer to her, but the abyss shifts.

A force slams into me, trying to shove me back, rejecting me from this place. The darkness is sentient, clawing at my skin, whispering in my ears.

"She made her choice. Let her go."

"She is not yours anymore."

"Leave, and be free."

I roar, baring my fangs.

"You think I’ll just let you have her?"

The void laughs, but Liora’s expression changes.

The glow in her eyes falters.

She stares at me as if she wasn’t expecting this, wasn’t expecting me to come for her.

As if no one ever has.

"You don’t understand, Dain." Her voice wavers. "The artifact... it won’t let me go. It’s feeding on me. I can’t ? —"

"Bullshit." I take another step forward, my claws curling. "You think I came all this way just to hear you give up?"

The darkness rips at me, but I push forward.

"You wanted to save me? Then let me return the damn favor."

Liora shakes her head, tears slipping down her cheeks.

"I don’t want you to die for me."

"Then stop making me chase you into the depths of hell."

She lets out a broken laugh, but I see the flicker of hope.

The darkness recoils, shrieking.

It’s afraid.

Because it knows.

I will not leave here without her.

I will destroy anything that tries to keep her from me.

The void trembles, Liora reaches for me.

Her fingers brush mine.

I drag her back to me.