Page 60 of Shadows Ascend (Remnant Archives #2)

I t was a goddess damn bitch being right.

Especially when the swirling beacon of light from The Well flared, sparking a singular ember from its divinity. It sparkled over my head, shimmering in its descent to the stone step.

The three of us watched with bated breath as the small ember of light started to spin.

Wider and taller its blurring light grew, a shadow slowly appearing with each pass.

Then the light broke, scattering like dust around us, to reveal a tall fae female with long flowing silver hair that moved like a living entity around her.

Slanted turquoise snapped open and bore straight into my being—so strong were its depths that they stripped me bare of all my secrets, knowing glittering in the tropical blues.

"Deirdre!" Emon snarled, lunging.

But my shadows snapped around him, a flaming wall of darkness rising between us, protecting my heart and soul from the replicated image of my former lover.

"Release me now," Emon roared in my mind, his hands banging against the dark wall of shadows, punching through them with ease, as they were weakened by the light.

"Calm your fears and your malice, Goddess of the Wells, Shifter King. I know I look much like my daughter but I am not her."

I shivered at the elegantly layered sound of the spirit’s voice, deep and soft it flowed over us instantly with a sense of calm and forewarning. Everything about her was dangerous, from the proud way she stood embraced in light to the way her turquoise eyes stared through us all and beyond.

Tilting my head I studied the detail of her face. Slender nose, heart shaped lips, high cheekbones, dark lashes…her beauty was similar to Deirdre yes but it wasn't her. My gaze narrowed on the high slant of her ancient eyes.

"Talgira," I breathed, dropping the shadow shield already full of holes from Emon's vicious beating.

His breath ragged, stepping behind me with an irritated snarl.

I could not feel his heat, something I yearned for more than I realized, but I could still feel his powerful strength raging at my back.

A pearly white smile that did not meet her faraway gaze greeted me. "Yes. It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Remnant Dark. I know much about you."

My brows furrowed and I crossed my arms in front of me. "The sight may give you much knowledge but you know nothing about me."

She laughed but her smile lacked warmth.

"I know that you have a heart of a mother but the soul of a monster.

I know that you still do not believe you deserve love because it has betrayed you one too many times.

I know that one time you had nothing to fear and suffered for it and now you have everything to fear but thrive because of it.

" Her gaze turned on my soulmate and daughter.

A shadow sword blurred into my hand. "You stay away from them."

Talgira turned back to me, her lips pinching in thought. "I know you cannot protect them from what is to come and save Faerie—"

My sword rose, the shadows sparking off of it responding to the lethal anger inside me. "I'd choose your next words very carefully, Talgira."

Emon's deep growl vibrated the long swaying hair at my back and a glint from the tip of Riella's bás fang spear tilted over my shoulder, the tiny voice of our daughter clear and strong. "Do what maedere says spirit, choose carefully."

Talgira’s brow arched and for the first time they burned with warmth, seeing rather than looking at us.

"That is…you cannot protect them from what is to come and save Faerie if you don't learn to trust." She shook her head sadly, looking at the three of us.

"My daughter has clearly stolen that from you, all of you, but it was I that stole it from her first."

Emon stepped beside me with Riella still poised on his shoulders, their glares identical. "Perhaps one would trust easier if you made the reason for your presence known instead of provoking my soulmate," he snarled and Riella nodded snarling along with him, her eyes flashing bright gold.

Talgira ignored him but her eyes fixated on Riella. "Hello, little one," she said, this time her smile was full but also echoed a deep sadness. "You are even more beautiful than when I first saw you in my sight the night I drugged Asher."

My shadow sword lowered, she had foreseen Riella all that time ago?

"Papa Asher is sleeping, he is not drugged." Riella thrust her spear outwards with a flourish, unknowing of the past story. "Are you here to help us or to hurt maedere, because if you’re here to harm her, then faedere and I will stop you."

Emon smirked, patting her knee affectionately, his fangs bared and his glare never leaving the ancient fae. "I couldn't have said it any better myself, my cub."

Tilting her head, Talgira stared for a moment longer at my daughter and I could see it then. That even in her spirit form, she still had the power of sight and new visions were swirling in her turquoise eyes.

"Look away," I hissed. My daughter’s future would be her own, no one else's. Fate and destiny could shelve their gossip for now.

Talgira blinked and then turned her deep gaze on me knowingly. "We are not enemies, Remnant Ezra Solaire Dark. I am here to assist you…to retrieve the lilin."

My chin tilted high and I tapped my shadow sword against my thigh. "Tell me, how do I find them?"

Her eyes flashed brightly, and I could see it now. The painful life she lived and the death that ended it much too soon. The dark corruption of vengeance, devouring her bright spirit piece by piece.

I wasn't the only one with a monstrous soul. "You are one of them. You are lilin," I whispered.

"I am one of many," she replied flatly.

Despite her tone, I recoiled at the sharp shiver that ran up my spine. The Well hummed at my back, demanding, insistent, forceful. It tugged harshly, not asking but taking. "Nothing in this life is free," I murmured.

Her eyes glittered dangerously back at my words, she need not speak for me to see I had guessed right.

Emon's gaze turned on me. "You owe her nothing," he growled in my mind. "I thought we fucking agreed no more giving up yourself. You’re mine and I say no."

I warmed at his possessive tone but dared not take my eyes off Talgira.

" I agreed to nothing, shifter. You keep forgetting that I have already given you everything of me that matters the most in this world. Life can keep chipping away at what’s left but my heart and soul are not in my possession, they are in yours.

It is impossible for me to give away and even if I end up broken at your feet I know I can trust you to pick up the pieces.

" This time I did look away, meeting the turmoil in his eyes.

"You're just going to have to trust me, shifter. "

His eyes flashed and I knew he was there—under the three moons, death surrounding us in the Balsam plains, dirt under our fingernails from digging a shallow grave where vows were made…they had become so much more than we ever realized.

"Using my own words against me again, little umbra?"

I smiled sadly at him. "If need be, shifter."

He grunted, his hand reaching out and softly cupping my face. "Te amo."

I nodded, inhaling deeply, wishing I could still soak in his spiced chocolate scent to strengthen me, but feeling the searing touch of his consuming love against my skin would have to be fortifying enough. "Te amo, shifter."

Emon nodded grimly and I exhaled slowly, looking up to meet the eyes of my daughter, her presence like a bright star, guiding me home. My hair blew across my face when I faced Talgira again. "Name it."

She shook her head, silver hair reaching out as if to coax me to agree with its glossy touch.

"It cannot be named…but only experienced.

" Waving her hand at the step we stood upon, she spoke.

"From here onward, each step has a name, a binding of an avenging soul.

It is how we can exist outside the eternal peace of the Eithne but stay with The Well until we are summoned.

You must break the binding to each step so that we can exist outside the Sheol but most importantly…

so we can remember what our vengeance is for.

It is a fine line between being a vigilante and villain, without our memories we are no more than evil souls threatening all that is good in this universe. "

"Like how I bound my soul to you, little umbra…" Emon added, his purr soft in my mind.

"It's a miracle, you are the first male lilin then, shifter?" I teased back, ignoring my worries of the risk it had put Emon's soul in by binding it to me. My shadows also had taken that risk and the Sanguine consumed them.

Shaking my head, I swiped my hair back from my face, baring my teeth. "How does the binding work?"

Her aquamarine eyes darkened. "You must die."

Emon's claws were at her neck and Riella's spear was lowered dangerously at the center of her chest. "I don't know how well you are educated on soul wraiths but evidently I can kill anything I will myself to.

" His head tilted towards the spear in my daughter’s hands.

"And if I fail…well there is always my daughter’s bás fang.

You might also recognize its properties to completely destroy a soul.

There will be no Well for you to return to. "

Talgira laughed. A cold sound. "You are your father's son alright but with your mother’s spirit.

" Shaking her head, she held up her hands, her silver hair flowing up around them.

"There will be no need for such violence.

" Looking at me she continued. "You will die through the memories of my own death.

You will relive every excruciating moment of it.

" Looking up at the thousands of steps that led into the skies her eyes gleamed. "All our deaths."

Then without warning she launched herself toward me, her spirit boring straight into my chest, the light of it searing as my mind flooded with darkness.

Emon roared out my name as I staggered, feeling Talgira's soul clawing inside my brain…then I heard her voice whisper. "Ligare."