Page 54

Chapter

Forty

Nuo

I abandoned the ice barrier and the scarred fuckers, letting Bas and Kazhi finish the remaining Aethar while the Ikhor cowered. It would be an easy win for the two of them. The Ikhor was protecting itself in its little ice cage and letting its worshippers die for its own safety.

What was I going to do with the blue Aethar? Get answers. Then, spill more blood. The blue girl was going to tell me everything about the Ikhor and lure it right to me. I would avenge my brother and my family from long ago, and make the Aethar pay. I would end this.

The Aethar hadn’t made it far after making several bad turns. I followed her footprints. She’d fallen, bled, and now was running in a wide-open pass along the canyon wall, heading for a space between some rocks, unaware I was following her.

I threw the blade I was holding, and it landed on the ground in front of her. She tripped over her feet, screaming.

The sounds of death rang out from behind—the Guards were ending the Aethar—but all I could hear was the blue one whimpering.

The sun beat down on her, shining off the strange tones of her hair as she surveyed her surroundings frantically, trying to find a way out. Then she saw me. Her eyes, red-rimmed and glossy, grew wide as she collapsed against the rock, shaking.

Aethar usually loved the fight. I wasn’t sure I enjoyed this one’s fear.

Dust kicked up around my feet as I stalked forward, hiding none of the monster within—the one that loved ending their lives. I was faster, stronger and smarter. There was no escaping, though I gave her credit, she still tried.

The Aethar surprised me by jumping up and running again. I caught up quickly and grabbed her around the waist, throwing her to the ground. “Nowhere to go, Blue. You’ve trapped yourself against a wall. Wasn’t very smart of you, was it?”

She cried out and backed up against the stone. Tearing at the rocks, she tried to climb over them, only to fall hard as I stood over her.

I reached down, fisting her braided hair and pulled her up to face me. Her legacy was as difficult to pinpoint as Kazhi’s. Tears streamed down her face, streaking the sand caked onto her cheeks.

This one was strange. They usually smiled at the pain.

“Please,” she sobbed, barely able to speak, grabbing at her hair.

Scarred burns covered one of her arms. She kept a pretty face to blend in, but she was one of them.

“Aren’t you pathetic,” I said. “Your kind usually laughs when they face death.”

“I know you will torture me first.” Something in her snapped, and she pounded a fist against my arms, twisting, hoping to dislodge herself. “You bastard. I know who you are. You’re a monster!”

I pulled her closer, and her face paled to a soft blue as I held her near eye level. She was tall. I only had to duck slightly. “I will be worse than a monster if you don’t tell me everything I need to know.”

“How could she ever love you?” She grunted as she thrashed. “She told me you were her closest friend. You’re horrible.”

I went still. “Who?”

“Liv!”

The woman screamed as my fist tightened in her hair, and she grabbed my hand, trying to ease the pain.

Her tricks wouldn’t work on me. “Don’t fuck with me, Blue. Tell me, where were you taking the Ikhor.”

“Nuo!”

Bastane’s voice cut through my anger. He came up beside the blue woman, gaze raking over her. “Something’s off here, man. The Aethar are showing up already bloody. We need to grab her and go.”

I noticed the woman bleeding from when she had fallen. Blood streaked down her face, and ran along the side of her slender, very breakable neck.

Bastane laid a hand on my shoulder, for some-fucking-reason, trying to stop me.

“What are you doing?” I shrugged his hand off. “She’s an Aethar. Get out of here. You know what I’m about to do.”

Bastane didn’t leave. He stared at the girl, whose whole body was trembling.

“Don’t let a pretty face stop you, Bas. And don’t you dare stop me .”

“Something’s not right. Use your head. Look at her. The Aethar were pointing their weapons at them. They weren’t travelling together. The bodies we found were broken, not burned.”

We had been waiting days by the crash site for the Ikhor to show up for its ship. Then we searched the canyons for it, only to find dead Aethar everywhere.

The girl I held was muttering to herself, holding onto her hair to stop the pain.

I grabbed her arm, the scarred one, and held it up for Bas to see. “She’s pissing herself ‘cause she knows she’s caught. I’m sick of your hero attitude, trying to save every lost girl.”

Bastane gave me a look before nodding to the blue Aethar. “They never act like that. They love the fight, the pain. This one isn’t scarred up. A single burn doesn’t signify.”

“Please,” she said, latching on to Bastane’s hesitation.

She was wearing Guardian clothing, strapped with one of our packs … fucker!

If I was angry before, I was seeing red now.

“Is that my fucking bag?” I let go of her head and tore at the straps. They stole our ship, raided my belongings and dodged us at every turn. I was getting tired of that shit.

She struggled against me, long blue fingers tugging the straps, pulling the bag back toward her.

“This belongs to me.” I jerked it out of her grip and plucked a knife from my belt, levelling it with her face, and she froze, forgetting the bag.

I reached in, searching, and stifled the sigh of relief. I found my glasses and pocketed them, surprised she hadn’t left them behind. I couldn’t admit to the other Guards how difficult it was to read the reports sent from the Council.

“Please, I need what’s in that bag,” she pleaded.

“Like I give a shit what an Aethar needs. You didn’t care what I needed when you stole everything belonging to the Guards.” I rummaged through the pack, but I didn’t find the thing I wanted most, and I raised my eyes to the girl, letting her see the face of the Interrogator.

She sunk back, shoulders bowing.

“Where. Is. My. Map.”

That map got us around without the Council’s help, and more than that, it had the locations of crystals we desperately needed.

Her lips moved, but no words came out.

“Where is it?” I screamed in her face.

When I pulled out a strange device, she changed. She clawed at me, trying to get the thing back. It was made of metal, unlike the ancient ore from which some of our weapons were crafted. This metal was strange to me.

I pushed the girl away, and she stumbled back like a leaf in the wind.

Bastane put an arm in front of me, and I swear I was ready to turn my monster on him, too.

I pocketed the device and flung the bag at her feet. It was useless to me now.

“Are you being forced to follow the Ikhor?” Bastane asked her.

She stared at my vest pocket, where I stored her device. “No!” she cried, “The Ikhor is good . Listen to me.”

It was the wrong thing to say.

Bastane took a step back. He shook his head once, debating his next move.

“Enough of this,” I said.

The girl flinched and backed up as far as she could.

“Leave, Bas, I am going to find out?—”

Something collided with me, and I crashed into the rock wall, falling over the blue woman as a heavy weight took me to the ground. Hard.

“You stupid Bastard!”

In a blur of motion, a fist was in my face, stinging my cheek. My chest was being hit. Over and over. However, the strength wasn’t that of a man.

“She’s bleeding! How dare you hurt her!”

I recognized the voice.

So quickly, my hand was around its neck. I was back on my feet, and I slammed it into the wall next to the blue one. I stared down into the strange, tainted grey eyes of my old friend. Brekt’s old lover—the one who had lied, who had given her body to the evil. The signs already showed.

Her eyes had changed colour, and her skin was pale and gaunt, sticking to her bones. Her braided hair was longer, turning white. Colour had seeped from her, fading to this pale, evil creature I held by the neck.

I used to think she was sweet—a soft-hearted contrast to my brother’s rough exterior. I used to think she and I were so similar—hurt by the world, yet woke everyday hopeful for the next adventure.

I was wrong.

It didn’t fight me. It just waited, anger obvious by the set of its mouth.

I couldn’t take it. The betrayal was a living thing inside my chest, ripping and tearing at my flesh to be free, and I finally had my hands on the Ikhor.

I wanted to hurt it. I wanted this thing dead.

“You have taken everything from me!” I screamed into its face.