Page 44

Chapter

Thirty-Three

Liv

M y heart warred against my mind. I wanted the man overtop of me to be him , even if it was the last thing I saw. If his appearance wasn’t enough to alert me that it was not a hallucination, it was the cords in my chest pulling tight—to him .

His smell enveloped me as he leaned in, pressing his hand farther into my airway.

I forgot I couldn’t breathe. He blurred as tears streamed down my face, and I wasn’t sure it was the air being cut off or the relief that caused them. He was so close now I could see him, even in the darkness, but what I saw was sculpted with hate—his expression promised death.

Fear pierced me like a knife, and the temperature plummeted.

His lips parted as the hand around my throat shook. “I curse the magic for choosing her.” His voice was smokey, cracking with pain.

Who? Me?

My mind spun, but at the sound of his voice, I lost it. My heart shattered, hearing the sound I had longed for—that I had not even dared hope to hear again. Nothing had ever sounded sweeter.

I held his dark stare, never wanting to look away.

He was alive.

He shook his head as if fighting off a bad thought, and when his attention flew back to me, I caught a faint glow.

Citrine eyes flashed. He growled, guttural and full of pain, revealing sharp fangs protruding from his top row of teeth.

“I’ll rip your head off before you can use the magic. So. Cut. It. Off.”

What did that mean?

I swatted at his hand as the world spun, and his eyes widened before he released my neck. He held me in place with a hand banded around each of my arms.

I blinked away the tears, my head lolling to the side, and I gasped down at the long fall below. “Don’t drop me!” I thrashed in his hold, grabbing a piece of his torn shirt and looking up at him, unbelieving. “Is this real?”

His skin swirled with shadows, nearly disappearing before me. Brekt growled over fangs, distorting his words. “Oh, it’s very fucking real. And if you don’t give her back, I will kill you now.”

What? Her?

“Don’t give me that look. You can go willingly, or I can kill you both and free her from this hell.”

He thought I was possessed.

“I—”

“Stay silent, Ikhor. I see what you stole from me. I know what I must do.”

Brekt was going to kill me. My death would not come from the Aspis. Not the Aethar. Not the gods …

“Brekt.” It came out as a whisper—half question, half plea.

Please let this be real. Please don’t be a dream.

He went still, focusing on my mouth. “Interesting.” A warm shiver travelled through me at the deep tone of his voice. “She’s given you her memories.”

I struggled against his grip. Wiggling my way from between his knees. If I could just get …

His fingers dug in harder, and my back arched over the rail.

“It’s me,” I cried.

Don’t look down. Don’t look down!

He pulled back, his features shadowed. His hand curled back around my throat as he pressed into me, and I didn’t fight him. I couldn’t.

“You stole. What is. Mine !” Brekt’s large frame shook as his fingers dug into soft skin.

God, he was strong. The deck grew colder when I couldn’t mask my fear. “Brekt, please, it’s me.”

“Do not speak!” His body leaned into mine, forcing me to see what was written on his face.

Hate. Loathing. Distrust.

This wasn’t who I remembered. The Aspis had changed him.

But his hand had not tightened. He held me, pressed into me, and I savoured the pleasure of it—fear mixed with longing. He was here. He was alive.

Moisture hit my cheek, and for a moment, I thought it was raining. The shadows cast around his features made them too dark to see, but a tear had fallen from his cheek to mine. I wanted to see him, feel him, so I lifted a trembling hand to his face. It was warm. Real.

“She was mine,” he whispered. The words cracked and broke around an emotion I understood. “The gods have stolen everything.”

“I told you once before. I belong to me.”

He went still. Deathly still.

Quiet.

A flash of iridescence told me he was searching for the truth. His attention stopped on the earrings he’d given me, and his eyes flared with surprise. It gave me the chance to push at his chest.

Lightning lit the space, illuminating the shock etched across his features.

The main door crashed open, and someone gasped before running to where we stood.

Maev slammed into Brekt. Her fists flew, pounding against his arm, screaming to let me go.

Brekt didn’t move an inch, Maev’s attack going unnoticed.

Time slowed as we tried to grasp the truth. That soul-deep pull tugged at me, drawing me closer to him.

Ollo was there, too, a rope in his hands. He wrapped it around Brekt, tying his arms to his sides and releasing me from his hold.

“Stop! Let go,” Maev yelled as she continued to pummel him. “Don’t hurt her.”

Brekt’s face changed. He became the Guard, the god of Death I once saw before. His obsidian gaze turned to Maev.

“Don’t you dare touch her,” I demanded, grabbing his jaw and turning it back to me. Surprise flickered, part of him knowing it was not the Ikhor demanding him to listen.

Maev stepped back. “It’s him. Liv, is that him?”

Ollo pulled the rope tight, yanking Brekt from my grasp.

“Do something, Saviour. This won’t hold the Guard for long.”

I shook my head. “You two need to leave,” I said to the twins, pointing at the door.

Brekt didn’t take his eyes off me as he grabbed the rope banded across his upper arms, yanking it out of Ollo’s grasp with little effort, and threw the rope to the ground. Then he spun to Ollo, who reared back, his long hair blowing away from his face.

“Don’t hurt him!” I tried to grab Brekt, but he was too quick to act.

Fuck.

Ollo flew across the deck when Brekt kicked him in the gut.

Maev screamed, and Brekt grabbed her by the hair, dragging her toward her brother, who was pushing himself back up.

Shadows swirled around Brekt like they had the night he transformed. His skin darkened, horns flickering in and out of sight, as if he couldn’t hold his form.

I ran for them, knocking a shoulder into Brekt and skidding to a stop in front of the Guard, pushing against his chest as Maev batted at his arms. “They’re protecting me! Brekt, they are my friends.”

Brekt glared down at me, not letting Maev go.

“He’s not getting it, Saviour.” Ollo was on his feet behind me. “That’s not him. Not the man you once knew.”

“Sure looks like him,” I said over my shoulder.

“I don’t appreciate the tone directed at me,” Ollo spat back. “I am trying to protect you from your asshole boyfriend.”

Brekt growled, teeth growing sharp as he took a menacing step forward.

“No!” I stood in front of Ollo, raising my hands in the air. “Let Maev go, please. She’s not attacking you.”

Brekt studied Maev. Did he see the differences?

She grabbed his arm, snapping him back to the present, and he let her go. She rushed to Ollo’s side, tears streaking down her face.

A strong wind gusted across the landing, wrapping itself around Brekt. The torn pieces of his shirt showed me a glimpse of hard muscle. His chest was a kaleidoscope of shadows.

The twins backed away.

Brekt cursed as he grabbed his head in both hands, shaking it and wincing.

Panic seized me. I didn’t know what was happening. Everything was so wrong. He faded in and out of sight as smoke curled around his legs and his skin darkened. He was transforming again.

“Stop it,” Brekt groaned. “Stop using the magic. I feel it. It’s tearing my mind apart.”

Shit . I tried to stuff my fear away. What would happen if the Aspis appeared now inside the magic barrier? How had he come through in the first place?

Brekt gasped for air, his face pulled tight in pain.

The eyes of the Aspis opened.

He grew darker by the second, blending into the shadows of the night.

His long hair fell in his face, floating around his shoulders, lifted by the breeze.

He’d never looked more deadly, and something about his ferocity was more beautiful than anything I had ever seen.

Wild, dangerous, fighting for control, and right now he was facing three enemies and looked very much like he wanted to kill us all.

His focus landed on me.

If he expected the nervous girl, the one scared to show her teeth, the one who let the Keepers instil fear into her, he was in for another truth.

I had wished every day that I hadn’t lost him, but this was not how I wanted him back.

I would not be the pathetic girl he remembered.

I had fought across burning fields, flooded rivers and set fire to a god’s temple to live.

I stood straight, brushing the hair back from my face, and Brekt reacted, taking a fighter’s stance and keeping us all in his line of sight. He wore no weapons, but I knew how deadly he was with his bare hands.

“Are you sure this is the Shadow Guard, Saviour?” Ollo whispered, and Brekt’s head whipped his way, pinning him with a deathly stare.

The yellow was fading back to obsidian. He was gaining control.

“You know it’s him,” I said. “You’ve seen his photo. You met him in Bellum.”

“How?” Ollo cautiously reached for Maev and pushed her so that she was standing behind him.

“I know your face, too, Aethar,” Brekt growled—a cornered animal.

I pointed a finger at Brekt, marching forward. “If you don’t listen here, so help me god, I will throw you over that railing.”

Brekt flinched, and the smoke stopped swirling at his feet.

I swallowed around the pain of all these weeks without him. “I have mourned you every day.” My words came out cracked and broken. “I begged every god my mother told me of to have you returned to me.”

I had lost my friends. I had two enemies turned allies for help. I had gods to find and magic to get rid of, and something in me finally snapped.

I was angry—not sad, not lost—angry.

I swiped the hair from my eyes again, hating that it kept stealing my view of him.

“If you want a fight, you can leave. And only when you smarten the fuck up can you come back. You’re not harming me or them.

I am not possessed or evil or whatever other name you want to call me. I’ve heard it all, and I’m sick of it.”

Brekt was a statue, watching. Was I really asking him to leave?

I took a daring step closer, wanting to be nearer. “I am Liv. I am—” Yours.

He took a sharp breath.

His attention roamed over me, seeing my changed hair and pale skin.

Maybe I wasn’t exactly as he remembered. I put a hand over my heart. “You can feel it here. The pull.”

That wasn’t the right thing to say.

His skin shredded, scales taking its place, and his hair fell to pieces on the deck as horns solidified. Slits formed in his eye.

The Aspis sprang for the sky, tearing apart the magic shield, roaring so loud we had to cover our ears.

Running to where he last stood, I reached to the sky, trying to grab onto something, anything to bring him back.