Page 39

SILIA

Erebus is sent flying back to the other side of the room, but before I can send out another gust of power, hands are wrapping around my ankles, startling me.

Odious is kneeling before me, opening the lock to the cuffs.

“Miss me?” He winks and clicks the lock free with a set of keys. I look to my right and spot Lars. How had he escaped the dungeon?

Lars sends out a burst of golden flame toward Erebus and my father, but they dodge out of the way at the last second, and it reduces the table and chair into ash. My thoughts fumble for a moment as pieces connect in my head. He owns the golden flame I had seen during training, not me.

Erebus jumps to his feet, summons a flaming pair of chains from his hands, and whips them at Lars, connecting with his legs and dragging him to the ground. I get to my feet as soon as Odious frees my legs and conjure a cloud of black smoke. My aim meets its mark this time as the toxic fumes smother Erebus, allowing Lars to break out of the chain wrapped around his ankles.

I hold my breath and watch as a sword appears in Lars’s hands and he backs away from the smoke, then tosses a bloody dagger my way. He only looks at me and nods to the ground, not a single word spoken.

I try to calm my breathing as it skids to a halt at my feet. I pick it up and ready myself for Erebus to emerge from the cloud at any moment. The weapon feels rusted, and when I look down, I notice the entire blade is caked in dried blood.

I pull my attention away from the weapon and realize Erebus may be buying his time in the shadows.

“Come out, you fucking lunatic!” I suck the black cloud back into my hand, and Erebus darts out and lunges toward Lars.

“You foolish boy!”

Lars vanishes, then appears behind Erebus and knocks him in the back of the head with the hilt of his sword. Erebus staggers forward and clutches the fiery chains in his hand. Eus himself must have given him this weapon, and it's an ungodly sight.

At the same moment that Erebus rights himself, Odious appears from behind me and sends a beam of white light directly at Erebus. The beam is so bright that Lars and I have to momentarily shield our eyes and look away. It’s like staring directly into the sun.

As soon as the beam disappears, I charge at Erebus and slide to the floor, making sure my foot connects with his kneecaps. I successfully collide with him as a nauseating crack sounds and he collapses to the ground.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Lars quickly vanish and then appear in front of my father. “Coward,” is all he says before narrowing his eyes, and then he sets my father ablaze. He can summon flames without so much as lifting a finger .

I force my gaze away from the gruesome scene and straddle Erebus’ half-conscious body, then reach my hand in his mouth and rip his jaw down. Another loud crack echoes, and Erebus’ eyes snap open, coming to full consciousness.

Before he can fight back, I pull my hand out of his dislocated jaw and force another cloud of black smoke down his throat.

“You wanted my gift so bad? Here, take it.”

His hands rush to his neck, ripping his nails through the flesh as I concentrate harder on filling his lungs.

My gift overpowers him, and his hands stop clawing. Eus must have taken a large part of Erebus’ power in exchange for domination over the realm. I don’t even want to reflect on what it would have been like going up against him at his full strength.

Erebus is a fucking idiot.

His eyes begin to flutter closed, as I sense his breathing become almost nonexistent. Rage boils heavy in my veins at the thought that he may die without suffering a bit longer.

“Oh no, you don’t. You die when I fucking tell you to.” I raise my dagger with trembling hands and drive it directly into his heart.

“This one is for Diana.”

I rip the blade from his chest and sink it back down.

“This one is for my mother.”

Blood splatters across my vision as I raise the dagger again.

“This one is for Rein.”

I pull it up once more, then drive it home.

“And this one is for those poor boys and their father.”

I stab and stab for an eternity, until I feel hands wrap around my shoulders, pulling me away from Erebus’ lifeless body.

I hear a blood-curdling scream rip from my father’s throat, and my gaze locks on him as Odious pulls me further away from Erebus.

My father's metal armor turns a deep black, and I realize he’s being boiled alive from the inside out by Lars’s fire. My father tries to swing his sword at Lars, but Lars quickly deflects with his own flaming weapon and kicks my father in the chest, sending him to his knees.

He’s dying, I can feel it. My father is dying a slow, agonizing death. Despite what he’s done, my heart is in two at the sound of his cries and the smell of flesh melting off his bones. Years of childhood memories play gently along with the view of my father writhing in front of me, and my eyes burn with frustrated tears.

Even the moments that led up to this very night sneak their way into my subconscious. The look on my father's face when he’d said that Diana was missing, the way Rein had shot up from his chair that very same morning, how Lars had taken the letter from me in Diana’s room. It’s as if my life is flashing before my very eyes.

My father should burn for this, he should be executed for his treason. But why does it feel like I’m the one doing the betraying?

He’s my father. I love him. But he was also working directly with Erebus.

As if sensing my internal struggle, Lars glances my way, and his flames vanish. He snatches my sword from my father’s grasp and leans down to whisper something in his ear.

I can’t make out what he said, but my father's eyes go wide, and in quick succession, Lars thrusts the sword down and punctures my father’s neck. The cry for help never reaches his lips as his windpipe severs, and he falls face first onto the floor, instantly dead.

I know I should be mourning, but instead, I let a wide grin of bloodlust fall across my face as I break away from Odious’ grasp.

I let the newfound adrenaline move my sore muscles to face him. “It’s over. It’s all over.”

Odious returns my smile and bows his head in agreement. “For now.”

I then turn my gaze to Lars. Our chests aggressively puff at an equal pace as blood covers every square inch of us. His eyes search all over my face, but he does not say a word.

And for the first time in what feels like a century, I grin his way too, because he’d fought—not with Erebus, but with me.

End of Book I.