“Please, please don’t leave me, Star. I need you. I can’t fight it without you.”
The darkness… She muses the word slightly, she sounds so different, almost like a ghost. It’s who you are. She whispers again. I feel my heart break inside her chest.
“No! No it isn’t! I can be good again! I can be good! Just don’t leave me okay, don’t let go!” I’m screaming at her, inside her own head. This is so fucked up.
You’re in my head. Right? She starts to sound a little more like herself. “Yes. I’m right here,” I reply, making the vow not to leave. I have to stay, for her.
Don’t leave. Stay. It’s important. You need to see… I don’t understand what she’s talking about.
“What? What do I need to see?”
I’m going to die. But you need to see… it’s important.
“YOU’RE NOT GOING TO DIE!” I yell out. Her body visibly flinches as she lies there, bleeding.
I have to die. It has to be this way.
“Why? Because some Goddess said so?” I cry out, wondering when she got so goddamn stupid.
No. Because it’s meant to be.
“Starlet! WHAT DID YOU SEE?!” I’m screaming, not caring that I’m completely encased in her skin. In her body.
Death. Extinction. The Psirens will overrun the earth. The blood. There’s so much blood.
“Show me,” I command her. She closes her eyes, playing back the memory of the only vision she has ever kept from me.
The Psirens swarm like angry hornets, screaming and cussing. Bloodlust over-taking them. They’re unhinged. Solustus and Saturnus are surrounding the seal, no Starlet in sight. A different future, it must be. They sacrifice one of their own instead… Vex. He bleeds, gritting his teeth and baring the agony with a distorted and twisted smile. Solustus is desperate, his face concerned. He swings the scythe, severing skull from shoulder. The octoman is destroyed. Silence falls. They wait. Nothing…
The Psiren army become enraged… uncontrollable under the white glare from a thousand magnesium lit candles. They disperse, but not before tearing Saturnus and Solustus limb from limb, leaving them in a cloud of organs and skin. Nothing more than pink mist in the ocean’s clearness.
Flashes, images of their faces. The hundred nameless human beings being bitten and drained dry. The Psirens are a cancer, spreading their malignancy across the globe. Black eyes open under blood red skies. The end is Nigh.
The vision brings with it a strange realisation. It’s not about the Necrimad at all… this is about what happens if that beast doesn’t come. If we don’t have a chance to stop it. If we don’t have a chance to defeat Solustus and Saturnus, the Psirens will kill everyone. Regardless of whether the demon rises or not, their numbers are too dangerous. They need to be destroyed. “So you’re saying that this ritual, the Necrimad, it’s distracting them from going on a killing spree?” I ask her this question and she responds immediately, her voice is so tiny, like when we were little girls.
Yes. If Saturnus and Solustus fail to bring forth the beast. The Psirens will revolt. They will be set free on this earth from Solustus’ command. Everything will fall.
“So the Necrimad needs to come?”
You need a chance to get them in one place, unite them with a cause, a leader, and make a final stand.
“I don’t understand.”
Without the Necrimad, they will lose faith in Solustus. He may be strong, but they outnumber him now. They need to believe. They need to be contained.
“Starlet! NO! You can’t let this happen.”
She showed me. All will be well.
“You’re speaking like a goddamn martyr. Now snap out of it. You will not be pulling a Callie Pierce on me today! NO.”
I’m sorry. It’s too late. I watch as Saturnus comes forward, as he slits her wrists with the scythe. It’s not my body but the blood-letting is painful to watch. I can feel her writhe, trying to stop the agony, the draining of her life force with each new cut on white flesh.
“I feed you this blood, from the pure of heart. So that you may be birthed from the earth. In flesh,” Saturnus’ voice reaches me through Starlet’s ears. She’s bleeding out, faster than her skin can heal. He opens up more wounds and she screams.
“Oh, I’m so glad I let him ungag you. Hearing you scream makes this all the more rewarding,” Saturnus, the sick fuck, licks his lips. God I want to kill him, shred his oesophagus into dust and stab him with his own ribs after I pull them from his worthless skin sack. But I can’t. I’m trapped in her body. A prisoner to watch this sick spectacle. Why would the Goddess do this to me? After everything, I guess I’m still irredeemable.
The pain lasts longer than anything should. Blood lost, litres, gallons. From thick like syrup to thin like water. What doesn’t change though is the colour. Scarlet plumes like an explosion.
Suddenly, a rumbling from deep within the earth. It’s here. It’s too late. It’s coming. Caedes unchains Starlet. Taking the body from which I watch and dumping it on top of broken shards of sea glass. I feel pain from the thousands of cuts scream out through her nervous system and I cringe. I want to cover my eyes, close my ears. But they aren’t my senses to extinguish.
She lies staring up at the sky as something is born from the earth. The glass shifts and she tumbles, rolling and finding herself impaled on more of the broken shards. I hear a roar, a roar that’s beyond terrifying and beyond primal.
The Necrimad has risen.
A few minutes later I wonder why I’m still entrapped within her. I can’t leave, and yet there is nothing left for me to see. She is bleeding out, lying on sharp shards and unable to move from exhaustion. Suddenly, out of the bloody tinge of her vision, someone is rolling her over. Lilac eyes blaze.
“Starlet… Hey, Love… still with me?” Vexus is with her. He’s found her.
Thank god.
“Kill me.” The words come from Starlet’s lips. Hoarse and calm.
Don’t you dare.
“No Love…”
Good boy.
“I’ve had enough. Please.”
No, Star. We’re not done here… don’t you dare. I swear to God if you…
She grabs the back of his neck, shifting on top of the wreckage, I feel glass shred the skin around her spine. I watch as she takes Vex to her and looks deeply into his irises. He doesn’t move, stunned.
She places her lips to his and he gasps, like he’s run out of air. It’s her very first kiss, and I feel her heart leap at his closeness, though why she’s chosen him of all people to share this with I can’t understand. Vex’s eyes widen.
Suddenly something shifts and my perspective changes. I’m watching through another pair of eyes as Starlet leans back and exhales her final breath, turning to sand and being swept away.
I’m still screaming bloody murder as I return to myself and open my eyes. Head thudding.
The first thing I see is my brother’s face as I awake.
The next thing I know, I’m lunging for his throat.
ORION
I’m not having a good day. One moment I’m watching Azure scream her lungs hoarse with closed eyes and the next thing I’m on the floor and her hands are wrapped around my throat. Her eyes are diluted black and her face is mapped once more by darkness.
What on earth has gotten into her?
“Azure….” I gasp, reaching up. I don’t want to use my power over air, but I think she’s too far gone to be reached. I feel my mental processes beginning to slow and I realise I’m running out of time. Choking, gasping for breath, I turn my head only to see Cole and Ghazi are stationary, shocked to my left. So much for the royal guard.
I summon my strength and push outward with my free hands blowing Azure backward into the wall. She hits her head hard and yet still remains conscious.
“WELL, RESTRAIN HER!” I bark at the two stunned guards. Cole and Ghazi bound forward, grasping onto an elbow each, and fighting against her increased dark strength.
A
shocked voice from behind me speaks out. Making me turn.
“What’s going on here?” Callie asks, her father at her side. She looks horrified.
“I have no idea. She passed out and then she just went crazy!” I blurt. Callie looks concerned. Gideon moves forward quickly.
“Turn her around,” he demands. The guard revolve the hissing Azure and Gideon ices her hands, creating a pair of makeshift handcuffs. “That should keep her from getting loose.” He nods at Cole and Ghazi, “Good job.”
Callie comes forward and lays two palms on the side of Azure’s skull. Azure struggles a few moments. Suddenly they both gasp. A few moments pass before Callie speaks once more.
“We need to contain her,” she says nodding. Everything is moving so fast.
“Wait, I don’t understand!” I bark out. Callie looks suddenly miserable.
“Starlet… they sacrificed her. The Necrimad is loose. She’s dead,” she moves to me laying a soft hand on my shoulder. I don’t pull away as reality comes in a torrent. No.
“Gideon, can you put her somewhere she can’t get out? I don’t want her grief to make her do something she’ll regret,” Callie requests. Any words I might say are lost.
“Yes. I’ll ice her into the top tower of the palace,” Gideon suggests.
“That should work. Make sure the walls are thick,” Callie reminds him and he nods with a worried expression.
“Come on,” she whispers to me. I think I’m in shock. I can’t take in where she’s leading me. I just keep blinking.
We move through the ice city in silence, each moment passing as an eternity. I can’t process what’s going on. So I turn to her, hoping her face will guide me as to how I should feel. She keeps looking at me out of the corner of her eye, an expression that’s pitied coming across her angelic face.
We enter the ice palace together as a set of guards move aside, more at her presence than mine. I suppose the news of Gideon’s daughter has travelled quickly. “Nearly there,” she coaxes, leading me in a left turn into a long corridor. Eventually we reach what I assume is the room Gideon has given her. She moves me over to the bed and sits me down. My scales brush against furs.
“Okay. Here we go,” she says. I can’t look her in the eyes. If I do. I’m afraid I might crumble. “It’s okay. Everything will get sorted. You’ll see. I’ll take care of it.” I feel my heart shrivel at her words. I can’t have her taking care of me… it’s supposed to be the other way around. I’m supposed to be the strong one. “Orion, please look at me. Starlet just died. It’s okay to be devastated. If you didn’t feel that way then you’re not the man I know you are.” I look up. Surprised. Her eyes are welling and glassy, tearing up. They’re reaching out for me, seeking to comfort.
“I’m so sorry.” She reaches upward, placing a palm on the side of my face. With this kind touch I am bereft. I can’t hold it back, no matter how hard I try.
Tears start to fall. She wraps her arms around me and holds me as I weep. I weep for Starlet. I weep for my father. I weep for the Occulta Mirum. Most of all though, I weep for her. I weep because I almost lost her. I almost lost her because of my pride. I weep because I can. Because she’s here. Holding me up with incredible strength I have been blind to. She’s all I have left. She’s not something fragile. She’s a crux.
I lean on her as I have never allowed myself with anyone else.
The walls within, built over hundreds of years, fall to dust, just like the city I had so loved.
I awaken, having sobbed myself to exhaustion and lacking the discipline to stay conscious, I had chosen sleep as a sanctuary for my broken heart. I realise now this is my mistake, because waking up and realising that Starlet is dead all over again, with memories now crystalline in their perfection, is perhaps worse than the first time I heard the words fall from Callie’s lips. I look to my right seeking her. Needing her to hold me again. She is gone. I hear something open and see her re-appear around the door.
“Azure has been contained,” she informs me with a sigh. She runs one hand through her long blonde hair. Her eyes are bright, like a weight has been lifted. I dislike consciousness, despite her presence. My heart becomes heavy as my mind begins to work overtime.
“Where did you go?” Is all I can think to ask. Callie swims over to the bed in her normal raw stroke, placing an envelope on the delicately crafted bedside table. I lie amongst the furs, which are littered with diamonds from my grief.
“I was just getting an update from my dad about Azure. He said she kicked and screamed and howled all the way there. He’s iced her into the top tower like we discussed, but she’s bloodied herself up something nasty trying to get herself out,” Callie sighs again, twisting her mouth into a tilted pucker and scrunching up her nose.
“Can’t we restrain her? Knock her out?” I ask with a cringe. I don’t want any more blood spilled. Especially not hers.
“To be honest, I think it’s better if we let her go at it. She’s angry. She has a right to be. Her soulmate just died,” Callie speaks with wisdom.
“You sound like my father,” I say absently.
“Yes. That’s the other thing… I have a letter for you. It’s from him.” I look up at her, my eyes wide.
“Where on earth did you get a letter from my father?” I must sound suspicious, but I can’t help myself.
“He gave it to Gideon,” she explains, leaning back over one shoulder and grabbing the envelope she had placed on the bedside table. I look down at it.
“I don’t think I want to open it,” I shrug.
“Oh… why not?” Callie doesn’t have an expression, she remains impassive, waiting to hear what I have to say before she reacts.
“He’d be so disappointed of me… so ashamed,” I look down at the dull blue of my tailfin. Ashamed of myself. I can’t bear to look at her.
“Oh, Orion, that’s not true!” She puts her hands on my face, cupping my chin and looking at me deeply. Her aquamarine pupils dilate and shine, looking upon me with more kindness than I deserve.
“I let you take the crown and I wasn’t man enough to let you rule with me. I got everyone killed… even my own sister,” I gulp at the last part, fighting back tears.
“Orion, those things would have happened even if you weren’t Crowned Ruler. They might have been worse! You don’t know.” She’s trying so hard to make me see myself through her eyes, but I can’t. They’re tainted with her emotion, distorting my image by kaleidoscopic proportions.
“I pushed you away,” I feel the truth sting.
“You did,” she nods. I turn slightly and she looks at me, frowning. “I let the darkness take all my anxiety, all my unhappiness, and turn it into hate… I slept with Vex… I thought I was finally free. Then I realised that being free was just my way of wanting to escape the consequences of my actions. Of not having to deal with my choices.” She looks now like she might cry.
“Why did you go to him?” I ask her, a shudder.
“Because I didn’t want to be alone. I was scared of more people dying. I’m still scared,” she admits this and I’m taken aback, looking at her like she’s a different person than I’ve ever known.
“Sirenia tried to kiss me,” I admit, fingering the paper of my father’s letter. I expect Callie to go off on an angry rant, but she doesn’t, she just sighs.
“Tried?” She cocks an eyebrow and then lets a slight giggle escape her lips. She covers her mouth shyly, as though she’s aware she shouldn’t be laughing after the loss of Starlet.
“Yes. I told her the position of Queen was taken. By someone real.”
“Real?” I can see her questioning my choice of phrase.
“That’s the thing… You were right. I was in love with a fantasy…” the minute the words leave my lips I regret them, she drops her gaze and looks uncomfortable.
“I’m sorry I can’t be what you waited for,” she whispers.
“It took Sirenia making me into a fantasy of her own to make me realise something
I’d been missing,” I continue quickly, wanting to get to my point before she flees.
“Bigger… assets?” She asks and I burst out laughing against my better judgement.
“No. It made me realise your flaws. You’re passionate and you’re stubborn. You have this tiny little dimple that comes up here when you smile, and a tiny wrinkle in your forehead when you cry. You’re not graceful like the others, you’re raw, un-practiced, and brash. You’re completely hilarious in all the wrong ways. Your hair is never perfect and you always put yourself in harm’s way…” I keep going and her eyes glaze. She gets up to leave, to bolt, but I grab her arm. She turns to me, eyes burning deep, about to say something she’ll regret. I push my finger to her lips, silencing her as I rise slightly from the bed. “And that’s… why I love you. You’re passionate because you love with everything and if you love you do it properly. You’re stubborn because you have self-respect and you know your own mind. You get that dimple when you’re eating and there’s barbeque sauce all over your face because you appreciate the small things. You get a wrinkle in your forehead when you cry, because you care so deeply about everyone, you’re empathetic. You’re not graceful, because you’re too excitable and busy loving life to care about appearance. You’re hilarious in all the wrong ways because you’re so honest and you never hide from what’s real. Your hair is never perfect because you don’t care how you look, as long as I’m kissing you. And… lastly… you always put yourself in harm’s way… because Callie, you’re a strong woman. I love you. All of you. Even the flaws. Because that’s what makes you special. It’s what makes you mine,” I’m out of breath by the end of this declaration.
She’s not fighting to get out of my grip anymore. She’s just looking at me, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open. I feel grief surge forward as we hang in the moment, as we savour the small things, as we care, as we love with everything we have. I need her. Now.
The Kiss That Saved Me (The Tidal Kiss Trilogy Book 2) Page 41
