Page 58 of Shadows Ascend (Remnant Archives #2)

L ike the shattering of the mirror, so did the spirit realm and I pried open my tired eyes one at a time, my salt crusted lashes stickily peeling from each other.

Three faces hovered above me like mourners over a dead body.

"I am still alive right?" I lifted a sardonic brow, then noticed the rains had ceased, the vicious lurching of the ship had settled, and even though the clouds above were still thunderous, lighting up the sky with consistent flashes and crackles of light, they seemed content to not spread the vengeful wrath for now.

Thank the goddess.

Lir chuckled and rose, winking with a silver eye, banging his metal shovel once more. "Nay lass, ye aren’t dead yet. Cheers t’ the goddess for that."

I gave him a small smile and then huffed when Riella's tiny body fell on top of mine, her face burrowing into my neck.

Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled us both into sitting, kissing her damp raven hair.

"Hey, little chickadee." Hiding the hollowed feeling inside of me where Deirdre's final words echoed inside its cavernous hole.

Enjoy your shifter king…time…you never know how much you truly have left.

Over Riella's head, Emon's eyes met mine and even in their shades of gray they seethed, his nostrils flaring as if something disgusting had been shoved into his face, mouth thinning the longer we stared at one another.

Hiding my confusion, I kissed Riella one more time, tasting the ocean on my lips. "Riella, why don't you go see if Lir needs any assistance. I need to speak with your father for a moment."

Biting her lip, she nodded, reaching to touch my face tenderly. "I'm sorry, maedere."

"For what, little one?"

"For losing your shadows."

I swallowed the bitter pain and I cupped her hand with my own.

"The hardest part about living isn't the burdens of our future, but the love we must leave behind.

It is their time now to have peace, even if we must move on.

" Smiling softly, I tickled her, hearing the soft tinkling bells of her laughter, and then pushed her towards Lir, "go on now. See what stories that old sea king can tell you. I bet he knows a few secrets about Shen Shen. They did after all share an ocean once together.”

Her eyes widened. “So he really is the lost King of Atlantis?”

My lips twitched and I hummed, “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

Her eyes suddenly became too large for her face, blazing with eagerness.

My daughter most certainly shared her father's passion for storytelling.

Unfortunately, Emon was in no such mood, his lips pressed together in barely restrained fury.

When I looked up to meet his anger, his eyes narrowed before he titled his head behind him, indicating I follow him to the back of the ship.

Rising with a sigh, ice that had clung to me, fell off in glittering shards, crunching beneath my feet with each cautious step I took, trailing after a silent shifter.

When Lir and Riella disappeared out of sight, I took note that we were cruising slowly through a narrowed channel.

Glinting in the continuous flashes of bright lightning, jagged rocks of deep blues and emerald greens contained us within the waterway we traveled.

It seemed that one error within this rocky course could potentially be our last, and I found myself thankful for Lir’s assistance.

Who knew what kind of instincts would have eventually guided me to this place if I had followed my father’s directions.

I gasped when my body was slammed harshly back into the ship's smoke stacks, my head cracking against the unforgiving metal, with Emon's wraith hand wrapped around my throat.

I blinked through my confusion before his ghostly lips crashed into mine, prying open my mouth with his fangs and tongue, delving deep, pouring out his anger with his violent kiss and despite my greater sensibilities, I kissed him back even harder.

His soul wraith form lacked the normal blazing inferno of his golden light yet despite that—he still made me burn, the flames of his passion licking up my body possessively.

Whatever version of Emon I would get in this world, in this universe, it did not matter—he was mine and I would love this shifter with every fiber of my being, even if it burned me to ashes.

His other hand reached up into my hair, yanking my head back with a soft cry escaping my lips. Snarling and brushing his mouth against mine, his voice was brutal when he finally spoke. "You will never , and I mean, never , ask me to do that again."

My breathing was rapid, and I frowned up at the cascade of light splintering across the sky.

His lips kissed upwards along my jaw. "You're confused.

" He paused, then growled deeply at the shell of my ear.

"Your shadows, little umbra…I felt what it did to you as I killed them.

One by one. I felt it carve out a piece of you that you will never get back.

I was the knife, slicing out pieces of your soul, and watching you fucking bleed. "

"Emon—" I attempted to explain, licking my lips and tasting blood where his fangs had nicked me.

"No," he commanded, his hands releasing me only to grip my chin tightly, forcing me to look at the anguish etched into his beautifully savage face.

"No, not this time little umbra. You think that sacrificing yourself in the stead of others is honorable…

that you are expendable." His teeth bared.

"But you're not fucking expendable to me, Remnant Dark.

The sacrifices you make…giving away pieces of yourself, like they are worth fucking nothing —they are not yours to give anymore, they are mine .

They belong to me, all of you belongs to me.

Stop giving away what I own. They can't afford you and truthfully neither can I, but I at least know how to covet every beautiful dark piece of you and I'll never give it away. "

Bright silver flashed next to my head, embedding a sharp metal object into the smoke stack I leaned against. Releasing it, his branded arms of ink rippled as he shoved away while his eyes trailing over every stunned inch of me.

I wasn't even fucking breathing.

"Never again," he whispered through gritted teeth. Scowling, he clenched his hands and turned back to where we came, following the giggling sound of our daughter's laughter, his large form disappearing around the corner.

I exhaled shakily, looking at the silver metal. Two green fiery pools of emerald looked back at me with my own whisperings from the past.

May you always accept who you are in your reflection.

Did I? Was that why I sacrificed myself always first? Could I live with the shadows’ deaths on my hands?

Reaching up, I touched my lips where they still seared from Emon's passionate kiss. The cut from his fangs had healed but the swelling had not.

Something about it felt odd…and a tingling sense of dread overcame me. I did not like unknowns and even more so unknown feelings. It was unlike Emon to succumb to anger so quickly, even if he was goddess damn right.

Pressing my lips into a thin line, I looked back at myself again, as if my mirror image had the answers I sought, but there was nothing there—nothing but the pieces of me that Emon coveted.

Sighing, I shook my head. I was overthinking this.

Pulling the casted shadows dancing from the rolling stormy skies, I twirled them around the blade, and wrenched it out of the ship, slipping it back into my boot.

Emon watched me as I returned and the fire he had left coldly behind roared back to life under his gaze.

I stared back, my chin tilted high, my body swaying to the gentle waves of the rocking ship with each stride, shadows dancing up my arms where they belonged, and a sudden wind blew the loose strands of my dark hair across my face.

Emon's eyes glittered in those grays, his nostrils flared, unable to stop himself, his hands flexed at his sides…I smirked.

Lir chuckled. "Aye Fi, she is the beauty o' death."

Startled, Emon and I looked at the crazed sea king but Riella seemed unperturbed, nodding as if she agreed with the insane words .

He grinned, "Mah daughter, that was her wind, she thinks ye make death bonnie."

I bit my lip, "Oh well, thank you Fi." The wind twirled around me and the shadows on my arms flickered upwards into its playful swirl, guiding them in a series of dancing pirouettes.

Riella giggled, her hand covering her mouth. "She says she's shadow fae now."

Lir smiled with a wistful sigh, tears glistening in his eyes while he twisted a piece of his beard.

"Mah sweet Fi always did love t’ dance." The shadows fell and wind swirled around the old sea king.

He batted at it playfully, laughing again.

"Ach lassie, be off with' ye now, pay no heed t’ yer old da. "

Watching him laugh lovingly at his daughter's singing winds, I glanced back at Emon, a deep seated fear suddenly spreading.

Reading my mind, he was in front of me before I could blink. Brushing back my hair with his cold wraith hand, like before, it left a searing heat that lingered on my skin. "I won't let anything happen to our daughter, little umbra."

"Nothing is guaranteed when the world is at stake Emon."

"Faerie is only worth saving as long as you and Riella are in it. Ever since you dropped me to my knees, this has always been about you…never this world, and now it's about Riella too."

"How can you say that shifter? It was you who convinced me Faerie was worth saving in the first place."

His voice was low and breathy inside my mind. "Because you love Faerie…all of her creatures, fae and beasts alike. To watch it die around us at the expense of our survival will never be in your nature, just as it is not in mine to watch you be torn apart at the expense of the world."

"How do you do that?" I whisper through our bond.

His mouth twitched. "Do what, my love?"

"Cure me, love me, constantly taking my breath away," I breathed.

He chuckled and the sound of it washed over me, chasing away my fears and doubts. It was warm and rich and I clung to it, my lifeline for what was to come.

"I've learned by example, little umbra, for it is you that first took mine."

The sky flashed brightly, a deep vibrating thunder shook our bodies and rattled the ship.

Riella jumped to our side with her spirit guide still attached to her shoulder, its rabbit ears twitching.

Tucking her into us simultaneously, our faces turned up to watch more lightning crackle against the tremulous skies.

Riella gasped as one white hot bolt thrust downwards into the waters ahead of us, breaking open the realm, splitting both skies and water into a dark cavernous hole, revealing secrets deep within.

The jagged onyx, emerald, and deep blue rocks that had surrounded us ever since we entered this channel suddenly rose from their rest. Like an intricate puzzle, the sharp rocks began to fit perfectly together, forming thick stone slabs that floated into place in front of us.

I inhaled as they swirled into an ascending cylindrical stairway that surpassed even the thundering clouds above.

"Whoa," Riella whispered and I merely nodded in agreement.

"We are here," Lir said from behind us, his deep voice full of reverence. "Welcome mi goddess, t’ The Well o’ Souls."

The cool touch of Emon's large hand wrapped around mine, our fingers intertwining much like our bond. "Together?" His voice gruff, gone was the coldness from before.

I nodded, reaching down to our daughter and clasping her hand in mine.

She beamed back up as we both responded.

"Together."