Page 54 of Duskbound (Esprithean Trilogy #2)

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

My side burned where Narissa's arm gripped me, so sharp and intense that I nearly doubled over. The acid had melted through the fabric, searing into my flesh as her blade pressed harder against my throat.

"You know," she purred against my ear, "when they said you were alive, I almost hoped it was true. Almost ." The knife edge bit deeper. "Laryk was so... devastated when you disappeared. It took weeks to help him forget."

I dissolved into shadow just as her blade sliced air where my throat had been. The acid burn in my side screamed as I reformed across the room, but there was no time to assess the damage. Narissa was already moving, her daggers gleaming as she spun.

"Did you really think you could just walk back in here?" She drew one blade across her palm, letting blood pool in her hand. "After everything?"

She flung the crimson spray where I stood. I shifted again, but not fast enough—drops caught my shoulder and I cried out as they began eating through leather and skin .

"He's mine again," she said, circling slowly. "Has been for months. Did you think he'd wait for a ghost?"

I reached for her mind with my focus, trying to latch onto the silver glow, but she was too fast. She anticipated my stillness, flinging another arc of blood that forced me to dive behind Laryk's desk.

The desk began to sizzle as her blood ate through the wood. I rolled away, coming up in a fighting stance just as she vaulted over the dissolving furniture. Her dagger caught my arm before I could fully dodge, and I felt the bite of steel followed by the familiar burn of her blood.

"He told me everything about you." She slashed again, forcing me back. "About your powers. Your weakness." Her smile was cruel. "How desperate you were for his attention."

I shifted to shadow, materializing behind her, landing a solid kick to her spine. She stumbled forward but turned it into a graceful roll, coming up with fresh blood coating her blades.

"Tell me," she said, flicking crimson drops in a wide arc, "did you really think he loved you? Or were you just an entertaining diversion from me?"

The taunt struck deeper than her blades, but I pushed the feeling aside. I needed to focus, needed one clean shot at her mind. But every time I tried to concentrate, she was there with another attack.

My leathers were in tatters now, burns spreading across my skin wherever her blood had landed. The pain was making it hard to think, hard to maintain shadow form for more than a few seconds. I could barely breathe.

"The best part?" She advanced, cutting her arm to gather more ammunition. "When he finally stopped mourning you, when he came back to me…" Her eyes glittered. "He was better than ever."

My side screamed in protest as I dove under another spray of blood, rolling to my feet behind the training dummy. The leather target sizzled as her acid found it instead.

"You want to know what he said?" She stalked closer, her arm dripping fresh blood onto the stone floor, eating small craters into its surface. "When he finally stopped whispering your name in his sleep?"

I dissolved just as she struck, reforming by the weapon wall. My fingers closed around a short sword, but she was already there. Her dagger sliced through my thigh before I could block. The pain was instant, sharp, but it was nothing compared to the burning that followed as her blood seeped into the wound.

"He said you were nothing but a lost little girl." She pressed her advantage as I stumbled. "Playing at being a soldier."

My sword met her next strike, the clash of metal echoing through the chamber. But she was ready, using her free hand to fling blood at my face. I barely turned in time, feeling it sear across my cheek.

"Your problem," she continued, spinning away from my counterattack, "is that you never knew what he really needed." Another slash, another burn. "What he deserved."

I tried to focus on her mind again, reaching for that silver glow, but she was moving too fast. Every time I got close, she'd force me to shift or dodge, breaking my concentration.

The pain from her acid was becoming unbearable, spreading like fire across my skin. It built and built, the pain consuming my entire mind like a poison until something inside me snapped. The shadows around us began to pulse with my rage, darkening the room until it became the Void.

I let the darkness take over, becoming pure shadow as I moved. Narissa's next spray of blood passed harmlessly through my mist. And before she could even move, I materialized behind her, my elbow connecting with her spine. She stumbled forward and I pressed my advantage, dissolving and reforming in quick succession.

"What's wrong?" I taunted as she spun wildly, trying to track my movements, her eyes going wide in the darkness. "Can't hit what you can't see?"

"You're one of them," she snarled, slashing her own arm again, but I was already gone. The shadows bent to my will now, responding to my fury. I appeared at her side, sweeping her legs out from under her. Her head cracked against the stone floor, but she rolled away before I could pin her.

Narissa's eyes darted around the room, her confidence finally cracking. She flung blood in desperate arcs, but I was everywhere and nowhere at once. My boot caught her wrist, sending one of her daggers skittering across the floor.

This was my opening—the slightest hesitation as she struggled against my hold. I let the web flow out of me, dancing through the darkness like waves of stars in the night sky. It surged forward, latching onto her mind before she could move again.

But instead of finding the usual resistance, instead of having to carefully work my way in, I crashed through her mental barriers with shocking force. Like a door splintering beneath too much pressure.

Memories rushed past like leaves in a storm, and suddenly I wasn't in Laryk's quarters anymore. The world tilted and shrank around me, my perspective shifting until I was seeing through different eyes. The table before me seemed impossibly tall, the ceiling so far away it made me dizzy.

I watched as my small feet carried me forward. Blood-red hair cascaded down my shoulders, catching on the delicate lace of a green dress. The dining room stretched before me, military insignias and lieutenant badges glinting from their place on the walls .

A woman sat at the massive table, her shoulders trembling as she pressed a handkerchief to her face. She looked up as I approached, and I saw Narissa's features echoed in her. In her mother. She quickly wiped her tears away, straightening in her chair.

"He's not coming back, is he?" I felt my lips move, but the voice was small and sad. "From the island across the sea?"

The woman stood, crossing to kneel before me. Her perfume smelled of jasmine and salt, like she'd been standing by the ocean. "No, my darling. He's not."

"Is he dead?" The child's voice cracked. The woman shot to her feet, gripping the table's edge as her composure shattered.

"No," she finally managed, her voice raw. "But I wish he was." She turned away, her steps unsteady as she fled the room.

Through Narissa's young eyes, I watched her mother stumble into the living room, catching herself on furniture. "I wish they were both dead," she sobbed, "him and that whore." Her legs gave out and she crumpled to the floor, her cries echoing off marble.

Reality crashed back like a wave. I was in Laryk's quarters again, and Narissa stood before me, swaying slightly, her eyes unfocused. I lunged forward before she could recover, my focus surging through our connection again.

Leave , I commanded through the bond, feeling her resistance fade like smoke. Clean yourself up. Go to bed. Forget what you saw here tonight.

My hands moved without thought, wiping blood from her face with my sleeve, smoothing her dark hair. When I finally released her mind, she stumbled backward, blinking in confusion. I dissolved into shadow as she turned, watching her walk out the door as if in a daze.

I dropped to my knees, catching my breath and wiping sweat from my brow. After a few moments, Aether materialized from the shadows, his golden eyes wild.

"What happened? I didn't even hear anything." His voice was frantic as his eyes scanned over me—my tattered leathers, the acid burns across my exposed skin. In an instant, he was moving, helping me up from the floor. And then his hands were on my face, jaw tense as he assessed my injuries.

"I'm fine. I thought no one was in the room," I whispered, allowing him to pull me against him.

The sound of a key turning in the lock had us springing apart, but not before Aether's hand gripped my arm.

"Aether, you have to disappear right now ." He hesitated for a heartbeat. "I'm fine, Aether. Go ," I hissed, and he narrowed his eyes before vanishing.

The door swung open.

General Laryk Ashford sauntered into the room, slamming the door behind him. He ran a hand over his face, dragging it down before shaking his head. His shoulders sagged with exhaustion as he walked toward his desk, his crisp black uniform now bore wrinkles. He looked older somehow, worn down by the months since I'd last seen him.

He took three steps before freezing. His eyes caught the damage to the desk first, then tracked across the room—taking in the blood-painted walls, the melting training dummy, the scattered weapons. Finally, his gaze fell on the floor, leading to where I stood. I'll never be able to put into words the look that crossed his face as his eyes found mine.

"Fia?" The word was barely a whisper as he moved towards me in a flurry.