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Chapter 34

Eirik

C laustrophobia had me feeling like my suit was closing in on me, scratching along my skin, needling right into my nerves and making me twitch. Darius's words had done exactly what he'd wanted. I'd heard them even from here, across the room, and I wasn't the only one to notice.

Murmurs began low before they picked up in vicious cadence. The first vote to be called, the first grievance to air. The only thing that kept me from questioning how this became such a fucking disaster was the way that Osiris reacted. His head was high, even as he stared down his worst nightmare. Calm, understanding, like this was exactly what he'd expected.

Nero, still firmly planted by Osiris's side, tensed. I moved swiftly through the room until I was next to him. The formation the three of us fell into, like an unshakable unit, was as easy to slip into as breathing.

My hands clenched and unclenched, a narrowed focus on the heartbeats and voices around us. My beast writhed behind my eyes, a feral thing that only had one goal as I scanned the room, searching for white against the flow of hair and masks. Everything in me screamed to find her, to sift through the crowd until she came into view. She was still by Fallon's and Adrian's sides, watching on with a worried expression as Darius pranced and postured.

They did their best to keep her calm, but even I could see their struggle. The pain from the sun still clung to them, the marks faded now but still there, still raw . The anxiety that came with the unknown just stacked on it as they were surrounded on all sides.

They were Vampires, turned of Sebek Ra and members of the Vivas Crypt. It was hard sometimes to remember how young they were, how few years they'd really had to understand what came with this name of ours.

This was their first Eternium.

Darius reached his hand out, and I held my breath as Osiris flinched away. Light glowed behind his eyes, and the only thing stopping him from attacking Darius was the magic that held those at the Eternium in check.

Osiris hated touch, despised it.

Power pulsed off of him in endless, sure waves. He had hidden his rage and his guilt behind his power, as he had always done. Kept it caged so no one else would have to deal with it. My biggest hope for him was that he would learn to confide in someone. If it wasn't me, or any of our brothers, I hoped it would be her.

My Valkyrie. The one who took a step forward, moving to walk toward the beast that was Osiris, toward the Kingslayer. Only Adrian and Fallon held her back.

The room devolved into discussion. Some were about Darius's words, others calling out their own thoughts on Challenges, unwilling to be outshined. Mayhem grew so quickly everything else dissolved into furious discussion.

Darius made another outraged cry, and I barely even heard it as the door slammed open.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Eternals and Secondaries," a loud voice echoed in the air, coming from one of the Sages that still stood at the top of the ornate stairs. They overlooked the steadily quieting crowd as a vicious light shined through the door, blotting out the figure that walked through it. The Sage bowed its head, shuffling to the side as Sebek stepped forward.

"May I introduce Vampire Eternal Sebek Ra."

I pulled closer to Nero's side, snarling at Darius when he got too close. His Griffon was behind his eyes, staring me down with the same vigor as the man. My wolf took the challenge, coming to the surface with a fierce moment that had my skin shifting tightly against bones that suddenly didn't feel like my own.

I rolled my neck, feeling the pop there and preparing to face off with the Mythic.

"Your Retaliation has been heard, Mythic Eternal," Osiris said, sickeningly sweet, his head tipping before he looked away entirely, toward the one monster more devastating.

Darius protested, but it was lost, fading out as even he took a step back. Sebek made his first move down the stairs, and it was like watching a crowd realize a king had just appeared. The voices stopped, the heads dipping low as even the Eternals hesitated to move.

Adrian and Fallon found their way to us, treading carefully as we regrouped. Everyone waited with held tongues and bated breath. For famine or feast. I only managed to calm when Aaliyah's hand found mine, shaking and cold.

"I have an announcement," Sebek said, and it sent an involuntary shiver down my spine, even my beast stilling as he listened for the rest.

For the bloodshed that a man like Death's Butcher could bring.

"This isn't going to be good." Nero was just as dumbstruck as I was, tension keeping his spine straight as he flexed his hands, popping the knuckles. "What could he have to say?"

Sebek scanned the crowd, and I wasn't stupid enough to think he wasn't looking for us. His head stopped, his eyes narrowing behind his mask.

"Have you met him? Something fucking unhinged," Adrian whispered.

"There was a discrepancy, one I cannot allow to slide. The Vivas Crypt houses one of higher status than their name," he said, looking directly at Aaliyah. Osiris froze, his eyes going wide in a way that told me enough. This wasn't part of the plan, and it damned well shouldn't have been. "It's only fitting to give them the recognition they deserve, as another member of house Ra."

Sebek wouldn't do something that would risk Aaliyah, his trump card. He wouldn't sacrifice his plan.

Sebek had always been a standing epitome of power, and now, with a stone expression and dead eyes that even my beast cowered at, I realized just how outmatched I was. How little I knew of the monster that he'd become, that he'd always been. Without hesitation, without looking away, he played his ace. "Allow me the pleasure of introducing you to my kin. Daughter to my brother, Arvand."

The breath was pulled from my lungs as gasps and murmurs filled the room; I was already moving, keeping my chest facing the threats I knew couldn't harm us here, but worried about anyway.

Nearly all seemed to know the name, likely knew the story of how Sebek had fallen from grace during the Natural War, and knew he never spoke his brother's name. It was a curse, a death sentence, and the one thing that even he evaded. Unless it suited him.

Unless it proved his fucking point.

His lip tilted, his stance one of victory, but he wasn't looking over a bloody battlefield, not yet.

"Aaliyah Ra Imperial ." It was quiet, for just long enough for the elders to really understand what he'd said. Some of the new faces looked on with confusion and distaste. Then the whispers started, the frantic move of Eternals as they struggled to get farther away from us. I ripped my lips back, snarling as some bared their teeth. Her name alone caused an uproar, people's eyes searching for her, having seen her come in with us. Sebek's expression gave nothing away. "The last Reaper."

Chaos, vicious and cruel, swallowed those pretending to be civilized. The crowd closed in on us, reaching for Aaliyah, faces muddled with rage and fear. All while Sebek watched on, like a king admiring his pawns. His thoughts were as clear as the way he dipped his head, as if to tell us to make our move.

He'd made his, placed his next piece, and drawn us into a corner. Called checkmate before the game even fucking began.

We'd never stood a chance.