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Chapter

Thirty-Two

Liv

The streets of Bellum while under attack had been loud.

The roaring fires of the burning field had been loud.

But the years I spent alone in the Endless Forest, day after day, with the song of birds and trees …

that kind of silence was deafening. My heart still bleeds from the impact of that solitude.

I never want to be alone another minute of my life.

O llo had done his best to distract me from my eyes changing colour, but soon after he left, the fear crept back in. I was changing. The fog in my head, the dreams, the swirling shadows and now my eyes … they all had to be connected.

I opened the door to the deck of the ship, needing the fresh night air.

A storm met me, and I didn’t question the flashes of light in the sky or the ferocity of the wind—the tempest inside me whirled and mirrored the storm ripping apart the night sky.

I pushed toward the front of the deck as the ends of the ropes holding down the many crates left by the Guardians snapped in the breeze.

I stared upward, wondering why in The Endless Night I was looking like that painting after weeks of the magic waking inside me.

The magical barrier glowed as it protected the deck from the onslaught of the static-charged wind. The Guardian clothing I wore clung too tight, offering little warmth.

I closed my eyes. Lost. Broken. Even my mind continuously betrayed me.

“You’re not lost,” I said in a low but determined voice, clenching my fists. I had a new focus—find the gods. Get rid of the magic. Not die. “ You can do this ,” I lied to myself.

When I opened my eyes, I cried out in alarm.

In the distance, on a fast wind, a shadow travelled through dark clouds. Lightning lit up the sky, dancing off the scales of the Aspis as it flew directly for me.

I had used magic without thinking, and there was nowhere to run.

The Aspis cut through the air, travelling faster than I had ever seen. It closed in on the airship, carrying the storm with it. A sea of smoke and shadows followed its trail.

Lightning lit up the ground below, and the Aspis cast shadows over the deck. Its roar woke me from my frozen state of fear, and I ran, slipping on the deck as I bolted for the door.

The magical barrier hadn’t kept the Aspis out before, and at that speed, I wasn’t sure it would now. I had to warn Ollo to get moving and outmaneuver the beast.

The metal walls of the airship were the only protection I would have.

If I just reached that door.

The wind picked up, knocking me off course, and slammed the door closed.

My muscles seized as another roar shook the sky.

I yanked at the door, and with the wind and the fact only seven and a half of my fingers were working, I couldn’t get the damned thing open.

I was running out of time as the pure black figure in the sky closed in.

Lightning struck, highlighting my death and casting my shadow against the metal. I wrenched the door again, and it opened a fraction of an inch before slamming shut. My hair whipped around, blocking my sight as I yanked and yanked and yanked, but it didn’t budge.

I did the only thing I could think of—I raced to the higher landing of the deck to the same platform where Nuo and I had hidden, drinking and laughing.

Crates, stacked high, swayed in motion with the wind.

The ropes tying them down danced in the storm, nearly whacking me in the face when I ducked behind them.

Piles of crates surrounded me on all sides, creating a little room of sorts.

I moved away from the gap I had come through, hitting another crate and collapsing to the deck.

I pushed my back against a wooden surface and hugged my knees to my chest.

There was a pathetic barrier between me and the outside, and I prayed it would suffice as I waited, hearing no bang, no crack, no sound of any kind. Had the Aspis stopped? Or had it simply broken through the barrier silently?

Was this one of those nightmares? I looked up—just a starry sky. Nothing out of the ordinary, no black crystalline night. This was real.

Flashes of light lit up the deck, filtering between two large crates, and I kept my eyes on that crack. Waiting. I shook as if the ground beneath me was moving.

I screamed when a thunderous crash echoed throughout the sky. The wind whistled, widening the gap in the crates, testing their restraints. I couldn’t breathe, the fear suffocating me. Mist crowded the small hideout.

I’m not using my magic! I can’t control it.

But the beast didn’t attack …

There were more flashes of lightning. My back ached, muscles wound tight. Would I have to attack the beast again?

What was I doing—I was the Ikhor! I had my own power. Through my fear, I had forgotten that I wasn’t weak . I was as dangerous as the monster outside, and I no longer had to worry about calling it to my location.

I pulled myself up, using a crate to stand as my knees threatened to give out. My body didn’t agree with my mind’s resolve. I checked that my swords were belted to my hip and nodded to myself.

Be brave. I stepped toward the gap in the crates to peer through.

A shadow moved between the crack, gone in a flash. I covered my mouth and swallowed my scream. It was too small to be the Aspis.

I grabbed the crate, remembering the nightmares I had experienced while awake—shadows in the rain, by the river, on the deck.

The thing moved again—this time, slow enough for me to catch sight of it.

It wasn’t the swirling blackness I had seen on the deck.

“No …”

A tall figure prowled the deck, their tattered clothes a mess in the wind.

The half-beast, the one that used to be him . But I wasn’t dreaming!

Yet, it moved the same—but where was the Aspis? Had the half-beast scared it away?

The crates flew apart, pushed by two massive, tattooed arms. A scream tore from my chest as the creature stood tall in the opening.

The wind blew in from the storm, sending me stumbling back.

It was more defined than before, taking on the look of a man standing there in dark clothing.

It was here to kill me. I could feel it.

The powerful wind whipped the ropes around, and the beast’s clothes did the same, dancing on the breeze and slapping against a body packed with muscle.

Wait.

There was no tattered cloak, no horns, no glowing citrine eyes.

Wisps of shadows curled around its body, but its chest and arms were solid. There was … tanned skin. Was it changing? Growing in power?

I backed away, raising a hand to use whatever magic would be called forth, stupidly waiting for it to attack.

My movements must have triggered its awareness, and its head snapped toward me.

I waited to hear its rumbling, the humming, the roar of anger.

But when its attention landed on me, a flash of iridescence told me it was more than just a shadow.

A man stood at the entrance to my sanctuary.

A flash of iridescence.

Black clothing.

Muscled arms.

“No.” I took another step back.

I couldn’t breathe as the man dropped his arms and took a menacing step forward.

“This isn’t real.” I tripped over my feet, using a broken crate to hold myself up. Splinters tore at my fingertips.

The man didn’t speak. Long, dark hair fell past his shoulders, his clothing loose around his chest. There was a hole ripped in right where he had been stabbed before transforming into the beast.

I couldn’t gather myself to speak, my legs shaking. I didn’t blink.

Lightning flashed again, throwing the figure into darkness as he took another step.

A feral, predatory step. Shit.

I screamed, backing away as he swallowed up the distance between us. He reached for me, and his fingers traced a line across my skin as I climbed over the crates to escape. The crates cracked under my weight, collapsing. I fell, spinning around and pressing my back into a solid piece of wood.

He was near invisible in the darkness.

Lightning flashed again, and I caught his hands going to a long plank of wood—the one I was standing on.

He yanked the piece out from under me, and I cursed as my head hit a loose board on the ground, stunning me long enough to give him the upper hand. He grabbed my ankles, pulling me across the debris toward him.

I yelped as more splinters tore through my cloak, and as soon as he let go, I kicked him square in the chest, throwing him off balance.

With a grunt and a thud, he hit the deck.

“Shit. Shit. Shit.” I turned onto my stomach and crawled over the debris, putting a solid pile of scraps between us.

What was happening? This was all so wrong. I must have mistaken what I saw. It couldn’t be him .

He was dead.

I scrambled to my feet, spinning back to search the other side. The space was empty. I stood on tiptoes to see over the pile. The deck was clear.

Darkness moved out of the corner of my eye, and I threw myself backward, narrowly avoiding his attempt to grab me again. I got tangled in a flyaway rope, falling to the ground. I fumbled with the rope, loosening its hold on my leg.

My swords … were tied up at my hip. I threw the rope to the side and crawled behind a small pile of boxes.

Moments later, they were airborne, crashing against the railing, exposing me, and I took off running.

A growl behind me told me my attacker was close behind. I jumped down the small flight of stairs to the lower part of the deck, where there were even fewer places to hide.

I needed to get to the door.

I kicked out when an arm banded around my waist and lifted me off the ground, pulling me against a hard chest.

The magic flared to life, and the temperature dropped. Mist surrounded the ship, blocking out the dark sky beyond.

I flailed against his arm, and the man growled. The sound vibrated through my chest. “Stop. Using. The magic.”

It was his deep timbre.

My body went limp.

My blood ran cold from shock.

No, Liv. Fight. This is a trick.

I thrashed harder this time, and the arm around my waist tightened, making it difficult to breathe. It was a lie! He would never harm me. He would’ve stopped by now, given me a chance to talk.

“Let me go!” I twisted, forcing his grip loose and pushed away from him, crashing into the wall outside the door and landing hard on the deck. A sharp cry left me, the air forced from my lungs.

The attacker didn’t stop. Another crate went flying across the deck, and he stood over me, chest heaving.

I looked up, hoping to find some recognition, but the deck was too dark, too misty.

“Please, don’t hurt me,” I choked.

The man paused.

I took that chance to move, grateful my mother’s lessons hadn’t gone to waste.

Years of her training to fight, to defend myself, kicking in.

I rolled to the side, finding my feet fast enough that he couldn’t grab me and ran away across the deck.

Not the most brilliant move, since the wind was strong enough that I couldn’t open that door.

I made the mistake of forgetting the ropes that were flying wild from the wind. One snapped on the breeze, smacking me in the face, and I bent over, moaning, dazed, as blood pooled and dripped from my nose.

When the attacker reached me, he pinned me to the railing, spinning me so my back was to the open air. His thighs trapped me between them, holding me against the cold metal. A hand wrapped around my neck, pushing my back at a terrifying angle over the ledge.

I remembered with sharp clarity how Ollo said the magic barrier didn’t keep things from falling overboard, and I grabbed onto his wrist—a solid, warm and very real wrist—as I stared into a misty black sky, growing clearer as the wind blew the cold air away from the deck.

He was choking me.

No, no, no! It’s not him . He wouldn’t harm me.

Lightning flashed again, revealing iridescent eyes roaming over my face and a strong jaw covered in dark stubble. A scar ran from his temple to his jaw—the one I wanted to trace with my fingers so many times.

It was when his pine and leather scent hit me that I believed.

He’s alive .