“There was never anything simple or uncomplicated about you,” Tera retorted. “You saw things no one else did. You saw the necessity that compelled the Night Terrors.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “So it was my fault, my stupidity—”
The bitterness of his self-mocking laughter seared her. “No.” Tera grasped his hand, startling him into silence. “Your vision, your insight, your ability and willingness to see beyond the physical has made you the only person with ties to all the fae and all the humans. You see and accept all that is good and evil within each race, within each individual. You listen before you speak, and speak before you strike out. You are…you were a man of peace, Erich.”
His lips curled into a sneer. “You mean a coward.”
“It takes courage and compassion to understand and accept what makes someone different from you. If you hadn’t—”
“Don’t make me into a hero. I will not be controlled by you or the daevas. The only victims here are the ones trapped between the daevas and the icrathari—mortals in an immortal war.”
“And yet we are all here on a planet devastated by humans and their power-mongering wars.” Tera glowered at him. “No one is innocent, yet blame will not undo what has been done. All we can do is move forward, salvage what we can, rebuild what we can.”
“And you need me for your master plan.”
“We need cooperation, and you are the only one all parties trust. Canya will listen to you. She trusts you.”
Erich laughed so hard he doubled over. “Trust? There is no trust. If there were trust, we would have had this conversation before you deceived me into luring Canya into the trap. If there were trust, I would be fighting alongside Canya. Instead, I fought the daevas she ordered to kill me. You believe I am her minion, and she believes I am yours. There is no trust here, no hope that can be squeezed out of this hell.”
Tera drew a deep breath. “What will it cost?”
“What do you mean?”
“We need Canya’s cooperation. She leads an army, but she has no lieutenants. She once looked to you for advice and support. Habit—” or love “—may turn her your way once more. We need your help. I need your help. What will it take?”
Erich was silent for a long moment. The mocking derision and glittering fury slowly faded from his eyes. The quiet heartache that replaced it was worse than his anger. It aimed inward—always hurting him, and him alone. No one else.
In that instant, Tera realized a single shattering truth. In moments of rage, he railed against her and against the world, but in the silence of his heart and mind, Erich blamed himself, and only himself.
“I want to stop fighting. I want peace,” he whispered, his words so quietly uttered that she had to strain to hear them. Erich touched his head and then his chest, his maimed fingers lying right over his heart. “I want the broken pieces to stop hurting. I want the pain to go away.” He looked up and met Tera’s eyes. “I want you to go away.”
Willpower kept her voice steady. “Neither time nor distance can sever a blood bond. Your pain can only end with your death or with mine.”
Their eyes met. Erich whispered, “As long as it ends.”
“You’ve had so many chances to kill me. Why didn’t you?”
“I don’t know.” His voice cracked. “I can’t think clearly, can’t feel clearly. I don’t know what’s right. All I know is that I need this madness to end.”
Tera drew a jagged sounding breath. “I will end it for you. I will help you find peace.”
“Can you?”
“Yes.” I was selfish—I wanted you in whatever way I could keep you, but I never meant to hurt you. I’ll make it up to you, whatever it takes.
Erich squeezed his eyes shut as he pressed his fingers against his temples. A grimace of pain passed over his face before giving way to a weak smile. “I’ll put up with the cacophony in my head for a little longer.” His gaze sharpened as he focused on Tera. “Canya hates you. Daryun could not reason with her. I don’t know if I can. I told her you had set a trap for her, and still she attacked.”
“She’s overconfident.”
Erich shook his head. “She’s driven by hatred so strong so she does not care if she lives or dies, as long as she destroys you. What happened between you?”
“It doesn’t matter. It cannot be undone.”
“It matters. She wants something. If you can give it to her—”
“She wants Aeternae Noctis.”
“Why?”
“Because she would have claimed it a thousand years earlier if I had not chosen to defend Aeternae Noctis. She thinks I broke our pact of loyalty to each other.”
“Did you?”
“I chose to honor another pact instead.”
“Which one?”
“Loyalty to my prince, Rohkeus, and to Ashra.”
Erich’s brow furrowed. “So give Canya Aeternae Noctis.”
“What?”
“Give her the city. You’ve said that the true treasure in the city is Siri. If Siri’s plan comes to pass and Earth is restored, what good is the city to anyone?”
But…Aeternae Noctis. Her home? Tera’s heart stuttered. “That is not my decision. I cannot make that promise.”
Erich paced. Tension stiffened his shoulders and his graceful stride. “I can.”
“It is not yours to give.”
“But Canya has to believe she can take the city, or she will not bargain with you. She knows I owe no loyalty to the icrathari. She knows I hate you, even though I—”
A muscle twitched in Tera’s cheek.
Erich spun and stalked up to Tera. He towered a head over her. His eyes raged with emotional turmoil, and for a single moment, Tera caught a glimpse of shocking vulnerability. “Strike me,” Erich said.
“What?”
“Canya believes your blood bond is stronger than my hate. She has to be convinced it holds no sway over me. Hit me, and make it convincing. I still have to be broken when I find Canya.”
“You’re already broken.”
A grin twitched over his lips. “On the outside, not just on the inside.”
“Erich, I can’t…hurt you.”
“You can.” He smiled gently. “Trust your instincts.” The smile tugged into a snarl, and he leaped for her throat.
Chapter 15
That will be the first—and last—time I ever tell an icrathari warlord to trust her instincts.
Erich brushed a bloody swath of hair off his forehead. His lungs burned; bone shards pierced them with each trembling breath. His entire left side was numb, his broken leg dragging behind him as he hobbled forward, his shoulder braced against the wall.
And that had been a short fight—over in less than three heartbeats. He was lucky not to be dead. He had been only vaguely aware of Tera’s bared fangs near his face. His vision had wavered in and out of focus.
He had to have imagined the shock on her face—horror that melted into guilt and grief.
“I’m all right…” he tried to say, but the words came out garbled by a hacking cough. He tasted bile in his throat and spit out blood. His fangs wobbled, but did not fall out. Thank God; teeth, like bones, took a while to grow back.
His body throbbed like an open wound as he stumbled from the building. The city streets and parks were dark. The metallic shroud around the dome kept out the light of day, and the street lamps had been extinguished too.
The nearly silent beat of wings against air told him that the daevas circled overhead. He raised his head and drew a deep breath, then winced as his lungs screamed a protest. “Canya!”
The air stirred, vibrating against him in steady waves as daevas swirled down. Canya landed in front of him. She hooted with laughter, her teeth flashing white. “I’d kill you, but you’re obviously suffering more alive than dead.”
Erich muttered a curse. “Tera sent me with a message.”
“I’m not interested in anything she has to say.”
“
They have a plan to restore the Earth, but they need the daevas. They need your help.”
Canya’s eyes narrowed. “They are liars. Deceivers.”
“I know.” Erich dragged his hand over his face. It came away bloody. The gashes Tera had torn into his face had not yet healed. “They plan to seed the sky with something to make clouds form, and then explode the ground to expose the underground ocean.”
“The water evaporates and rises to form clouds,” Canya murmured, her voice low and thoughtful. “It will restart the water cycle.”
“You understood that?”
“Of course. It’s a…credible plan,” Canya said. “Siri probably came up with it. They’d need the daevas, of course. They do not have enough resources to carry out the plan on their own.”
“So you’d agree?”
“What do I get out of this?”
“A restored Earth.”
Canya laughed again. “It’s not enough, not anymore. It will not undo the thousand years I spent on the earth and beneath it. I want the icrathari and vampires to suffer as we have.”
“Bargain with them,” Erich said.
“Why should I? They are liars, deceivers. They are many, and I am one.”
“You are not alone. I am with you.”
Canya stared at him, mouth agape.
“Tera brutalizes love and shatters trust.” Erich slumped, exhausted by his own pain. “I am with you, Canya. Bargain with the icrathari. Demand what you will.”
“They will never surrender Aeternae Noctis. They will never turn over Tera, nor Jaden.”
“Tera?”
“Do you think I will be content with anything less than her death? She was my lieutenant. More than that, she was my sister-in-arms. We trained together, fought together. I loved her and trusted her, but she turned her back on me. She chose a dead prince. Over me.” She thumped her chest. “She chose his whore over me.”
“And Jaden…?”
“He is Rohkeus, reincarnated, and once again, at Ashra’s side. They enjoyed their sheltered life while Daryun and I burned in hell.” Her upper lip curled. “They will burn, too. I’ll make sure of it. And you…” Her yellow-eyed gaze fixed on Erich. She stroked his torn cheek, her touch gentle. “Now you know what they are like. Tera knows only duty, not love.”
“I know,” he whispered. “I only wish I’d known when I was human.”
“You will have peace when she is dead,” Canya murmured. “I promise you. The icrathari will die, their elder vampire mates, too. Their cities will be haven for daevas.” She swept her arm across the arc of the dome. “And the humans? They will never rise again. They will never rule. Never again will they wage a war that destroys all life on Earth.”
She moved closer to him; the warmth of her body pressed against his. “We are partners in this, Erich. We have both lost everything to the icrathari—to Tera. I know you want to end your pain. It does not require your death, but hers.”
“I…don’t have to die?”
“Is that what Tera told you?”
“She said neither distance nor time could dull the blood bond.”
“And she is right, although death would sever it—yours or hers.”
“Hers? But—”
“Alone, you cannot defeat her in battle. Together, we can. Help me, Erich, and I will help you. Why should you have to die because she was selfish and cruel?”
Erich frowned. He and Tera had agreed on a plan to convince Canya that she did not stand alone, and persuade her to negotiate. So far it was proceeding as they had hoped, but something felt…wrong. Canya was too quick to accept his pledge of loyalty, too quick to align with him
Surely, if something could go wrong, Tera would have warned him, wouldn’t she?
Canya’s expression was without guile as she looked up at him. “We have a pact. Let’s seal it.” She tilted her head, baring her neck.
Her jugular vein pulsed, its rhythm hypnotic. Erich lowered his lips to her neck. His breath was almost a kiss as he nuzzled the warmth of her skin. His fangs elongated, drawn out by instinct more ancient than civilizations, and pierced her skin, sinking deep into her veins.
Canya gasped and arched, her body pressing against him. Her wings enfolded both of them in an embrace tenderer than any anyone had ever extended to him. If he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine—
No, it was not Tera. Canya wore the scent of the Earth—deep and rich—not the fragrance of night-blooming flowers. Her blood, however, was as intoxicating as he imagined Tera’s would be, complex with flavors extending into antiquity.
The world came to life through Canya’s blood—images of a forgotten green and blue Earth. Trees reached to the sky, their leaves brushing against wispy white clouds. A river tumbled over the jagged edges of rocks, smoothing them, uncaring if it took years or centuries to accomplish its task.
His fingers ached to paint the beauty he saw through her blood.
The Earth, full of life, had seemed as eternal as the universe. Once, no one had imagined they could lose it all. Yet, they had. And now, they stood on the brink of restoring it all.
All it would take was Canya’s cooperation.
And she demanded Tera’s life.
An image flicked through his mind, born of Canya’s memories, summoned by his conflicted emotion, and transmitted through her blood. The Tera of Canya’s memories also wore black leather armor, but she was younger—her gray eyes less shadowed by duty, her smile lighter and quicker. The sun warmed her hair and added color to her cheeks.
She looked more angel than demon. My muse. Forever.
Fangs pierced his neck. Erich gasped, but he tilted his head back, giving Canya access to his blood. She wrapped her arms around him; her fingers laced through his hair, and she drew him to the ground. The grass pricked his skin but her wings were softer than velvet. When her lips trailed from his neck to his lips, he turned into her kiss.
It was more affection than he had felt in centuries.
The ricocheting memory fragments in his head settled like flower petals drifting in the wind. The ceaseless pounding of his heart, the sound of his blood rushing through his veins and setting up an echo in his head, muted into silence.
When she caressed him, her fingers drifting from his thudding heart to the hardness between his thighs, he tensed, but only for an instant. He could still taste her blood on his lips. His head still spun from blood loss. The world wavered through a misty haze. He did not know where he was, or where he was going.
It only mattered that he had nowhere else he needed to be.
She straddled him, enveloping him in the warmth of her body. He stared up at the daevas, circling like vultures. Some part of his mind recoiled, but he could not find the will or strength to object to the crude public display of private intimacy.
Her blood pounded through his body, tugging away at the barriers in his mind, and when she claimed her climax with a loud cry of ecstasy, his body followed her over the edge. His release shuddered through his lean frame, emptying his thoughts.
For a few precious seconds, he was entirely at peace.
She leaned over him, her wings folding around him like a soft blanket. Her scent surrounded him, filled him. Her voice, quietly triumphant, whispered in his ear, “And now you are mine.”
Mine.
Erich drew a deep, shuddering breath. How long had he waited to hear those words from her lips? How long had he waited to be acknowledged, to be claimed by his muse?
He breathed her name with the reverence of a prayer. “I love you.”
She stiffened and glanced over her shoulder.
He followed her gaze to a tall building on the other side of the street. Tera stood there—his muse—her long braid draped over her shoulder, her expression unrevealing. Her wings wrapped around her, as if she were cold—an impossibility—or hurt—as much an impossibility.
Tera…
His gaze flicked to Canya’s face. She shot Tera a triumphant, mocking smile—the
smile of a victor—and yet, indelible hurt lingered in her eyes.
Ice enclosed Erich’s heart. What has Canya done to me?
Tera spread her wings and spiraled down, unafraid into a coven of daevas. Canya rose to meet her. The icrathari and daeva faced each other. Erich sprawled between them, his mind too shattered to focus, his body too drained to move.
Canya spoke first. “He tells me you have a plan to restore the Earth, and that you need my help.”
“Yes.” Tera’s voice revealed nothing—not anger, not hurt, not pain.
“And we will help.”
“What is your price?”
Canya smiled faintly “I have already claimed part of it—the one you love for the one you took from me.” She combed her fingers through Erich’s hair. “The full payment I will extract when the time is right.”
“And what might that be?”
“Lordship, over the Earth.”
Chapter 16
“Are you insane?” Siri’s screech set up a ringing between Tera’s ears.
Only willpower kept Tera from flinching, less from Siri’s vocal objection, and more from Ashra’s flinty gaze. Ashra may not have been born an icrathari princess like Megun, but the weight of a thousand years of responsibility and leadership had shaped her into a queen.
Siri stalked the breadth of the chamber, gesticulating wildly as she spoke. “Canya unleashed her daevas on the four cities, seduced…raped Erich in front of you, and flat out told you she wanted to rule the Earth—a plan which almost certainly excludes us—and you want us to cooperate with her?”
“It was our plan,” Tera pointed out. “Your plan, as a matter of fact.”
“Yes, but my plan assumed a rational enemy.”
“There is no such thing as a rational enemy.”
Siri snarled. “We assumed that Canya was at least as interested as we were in restoring the Earth. It’s clear she’s not. All she wants is revenge.”
“Wanting it and getting it are entirely different,” Tera said. “We need her daevas to seed the atmosphere and to help the vampires and humans lay the underground explosives. We cannot do it without their help.”
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