Dominion of the Star (Descendants of the Fallen Book 1)

by Angelica Clyman

  Bruno was pulling on his hair. “Oh God, we are incredibly stupid.”

  The brilliance and direction of the light was fluctuating erratically as Fec began to nervously smoke. “Tha’ ol’ guy was an Arch?”

  Kerif had been spinning his rings around his fingers, but now his hands were stiff and still. “We brought him so many relics…”

  “I suspect you also were experiments. Maybe even research in the development of those fetters that were used on Kayla.” Asher’s voice was quiet and without accusation.

  “Jesus!” Kerif stomped out to the edge of their circle and paced, muttering angrily to himself.

  Asher kept Kayla’s hand firmly in his as he calmly observed the pirates’ agitation. “We’ll be in Azevin in another day and a half. If you’re planning on running, do it now.”

  “No way!” Kerif yelled to them. “He took that shit off us under false pretenses. I’m taking it all back!”

  Run. The warning still resonated through Kayla’s body. She breathed deeply, pressing clean energy down her arms. It didn’t matter if that voice was right; she could just as easily offer him the same advice. In the end, this was a desperate attempt for the both of them.

  26

  The slick, glazed surface of the pitcher was comforting under Kayla’s fingers as she ran her hands over the curving planes of the ceramic vessel. She lay there in the backseat of the truck, unable to sleep, fighting off the oppressive heat with the cool, glassy jug against her cheek. The construction of similar pots occupied her empty reality for so many years. It suddenly struck her that, this whole time, she hadn’t longed for the days before she stepped out onto the swampy road to Madeline. She didn’t exist until the moment she made the decision to leave.

  It wasn’t easy to remember the details of the life she left behind; it was as if those memories belonged to someone else. The detached glimpses that she could still recall weren’t unhappy — just gray. She couldn’t complain. No one was unkind to her and all of her needs had been met. Well, no, not all of them. She was fed and sheltered, she received presents on her birthday and was encouraged to be creative with the clay she worked, but something was missing. The first time she could almost name that void was the same instant she found herself in a dark pit, reaching skyward towards something she had never seen before, in his eyes.

  Kayla’s hands slipped, the pitcher dropping heavily beside her. It was also the first time her bones released to be her guardian. Somewhere within, she knew she wasn’t like everyone else, she wasn’t like him, and she needed to defend herself. She gripped the wide mouth of the jug. Her background offered her no help in dealing with any of this. She recalled Asher’s words to her the night before. Spiritual armor…

  She didn’t realize she had fallen asleep until the creaking door woke her with a start. “Asher?”

  “It’s okay, it’s me. I’m just going to sleep up front for a few while the boys cover us. Try to rest.”

  Kayla could make out the hard angle of his jaw, but his gaze was lost in the shadows. She abandoned the pitcher to clutch at his arm, pulling herself up and leaning towards him. “Asher, do you know why I was in that place for so many years?”

  He paused for a moment before slowly making his way over the front seat to sit beside her. “Michael’s final act was to see to it that you were kept safe from Za’in. We are ‘wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever…’ ”

  “I’ve heard that, somewhere…”

  The long sigh he expelled sounded like a wistful smile. “Kiera carried a Bible with the word ‘star’ highlighted, every time it was mentioned. She said that passage was written for us. I wonder if that was what Michael was thinking of when he saved you — to send you someplace too dark for Za’in’s sight.”

  She closed her eyes, letting a warm, fluid sensation slide up her arms before it found its way to her throat. “ ‘The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss.’ ”

  When the words spilled from her mouth, her eyes burned with each release of hot breath. Kayla could see herself as a very small child, with her arms around her father’s neck. His limbs were bloodied and heavily marked with Angelic script, and the red smears across his face and clothes were difficult to distinguish from his long, wild hair. Michael’s palms were together, compressing a familiar ball of white fire. The determination on his face was edged with tender sorrow and triumphant spite. A kiss wet with tears was her final goodbye before she was Delivered into the sleepy Abyss of a potter’s village, an ordinary inferno of endlessly burning kilns. “How did he…?” she whispered, falling weakly along Asher’s frame.

  “Michael was the Arch of Za’in’s First Sphere, Kayla. He stood at his right hand when there was no one else. He absorbed all he was taught, but Za’in wasn’t the only one who made discoveries and developed techniques to bend reality. All of Michael’s hopes were with you, and it was left to me to protect you if you ever made it back into the sight of the enemy.” His arms enclosed around her, shielding her from both present and remembered darkness.

  Kayla’s heart beat fast against his chest. He was what she needed. Asher was unwavering and enduring, and she had no doubts about his motivations. He was driven by purpose. At this moment, she could sense the solace her existence brought him. He needed her too. Kayla kept her eyes shut tightly as she pulled herself closer to him, reaching for his warmth and moved by the wish to stir the dying fire within him that he managed to keep flickering for so long, alone. She clutched at his dense shoulder blades, her fingers caught and bound together by his hair, and it was then she felt the pressure of her body against his wasn’t completely self-generated. He remained still, but she could feel the sharp bristle of his beard, warmed by his breath, raising the tiny hairs on her neck. She could sense the question raging inside him, and she wouldn’t make him ask. “You can…” she sighed fervently.

  Asher didn’t move, his inhalation frozen in his throat.

  “Please…” Her muscles tightened in anticipation and fear.

  He hesitated for another moment before she felt his lips brush over her throat. There was a careful tenderness to the way his mouth moved along her neck, until she felt her skin burn behind the force of his teeth. Her body went limp for a moment before her chest swelled forward, her fingers gripping him hard, a cry almost escaping her throat. Before it began, the sound was smothered by his ardent kiss. She surrendered to his passion, surprised by the intensity he had kept carefully reined in. Kayla held tightly to him, her symbol of strength, unmarred by this evidence of emotion. Asher was everything that he wasn’t. Asher was everything she admired, everything she reached toward, so then why…why…?

  Her stomach lurched upward as she pulled away, unable to escape the accusations of betrayal that tore at her insides. “I thought — I thought I could…” Her body was trembling violently.

  “I can’t help you forget him,” Asher sighed heavily. The shadows were drawn into the weary lines that held his features still.

  Kayla stared at him, an overwhelming sense of shame briefly stealing her recognition of the man before her. “I was trying to understand! You’ve defended the truth and remained constant in the face of Armageddon. You’ve protected me. I know what I’m feeling is real, even if it’s not fair to name it. So why is he always here in my thoughts? It’s horrifying. Especially when I know I have to forget him if I want to survive this—”

  “I can’t do that for you!” Asher’s voice was harsh and jarring. “This whole time, I’ve been willing to lay down my life for you! I’d still do it. I’d do it now. But there are some things you can’t ask for! Some things mean too much to be misused.”

  She recoiled from the unfamiliar, explosive suffering in his usually restrained words. Her thoughts were
frozen by self-loathing as she reached for the handle behind her, spilling out of the truck and blindly running into the night. Kayla could hear Asher call out to her, the sound followed by a gunshot and Fec’s groggy voice screaming, “aband’n ship!” She whipped her head back in the direction of her friends, but a pair of gray eyes obstructed her view.

  “Hey there, darlin’,” the woman breathed, smiling as she reached for Kayla’s wrist. The Nephil felt the cold tendrils of rutted bone begin to constrict around her flesh and she pulled her arm back hard, ignoring the blood that splashed against her cheek as she began to run again.

  The blonde woman let out a high-pitched growl and lunged forward, but her pursuit was halted by Kittie, who blocked her path with a pole twice the girl’s height. “Hi, Evangeline. Wow, you look pretty good for being dead and all.”

  “I’m not dead, you half-grown bitch,” she snarled as she drew her jagged trench knives.

  “Oh. You sure? ’Cuz it looks like Za’in dragged you all the way here, face first.”

  “Cute. You wanna see a real clusterfuck? Then stick around and catch a glimpse of your beloved Arch, fallen from grace. On second thought, I’ll just cut your throat and spare you the sight, k?” Evangeline sprung at her, slicing down with the bladed knuckle duster in one hand while stabbing forward with the spike that protruded from the other.

  Kittie’s only reaction to Evangeline words was a hardening of her face. Kayla watched with relief as Kittie sidestepped the attack and countered with a tight swing of the pole. Kayla turned away again, standing behind the cracked, vine-covered wall of the roofless garage where they had hidden their truck for the night. Her arm was bleeding from the gouges Evangeline inflicted, but she was still able to release her Intercessor and grip it tightly. As much as she didn’t want to face Asher again, she needed to return and help in any way she could. She wouldn’t hurt him again, this time through a different expression of her cowardice.

  “Kayla.”

  She didn’t move, unable to raise her head to see the man she had both dreaded and longed for. “What are you going to do?” she asked, her voice faint.

  Jeremy laughed dryly. “That’s the question, right? I’m beginning to wonder if we have a choice at all.”

  She swallowed hard and released her father’s Intercessor from her opposite hand. Kayla allowed herself to finally look at Jeremy, carefully stifling any physical reaction to the sight of the blackened bones that completely covered his arms, ending in branching veins over his shoulders. “I’m not going to be your victim again, Saros.”

  His scornful and resigned smile vanished. “What did you call me?” A tiny, painful shudder moved him.

  She ignored his question as two gleaming, ivory blades emerged from her hilts. “Thanks for your warning, but I’m not running from you.”

  His cold eyes softened with surprise. “You heard me.” He was staring down at his hands.

  Kayla’s face burned with the recognition of how often she had repeated that familiar action as she thought of him. “Yes, and it’s not going to work. I won’t lose.”

  Jeremy didn’t hear her. “So it’s not all bullshit,” he murmured to himself. He let curiosity move him, rushing forward, yanking one of her weapons from her grasp and flinging it to the ground, while her other blade made contact with his armored shoulder. It cut a clean slice through his fetters, but the surrounding bones grew around the blade, catching it in a solid grip. He slipped his arm around her waist and held her firmly, the fingers of his opposite hand seizing her chin. Jeremy’s blue eyes pierced her. “I’ve been pursuing you this whole time. I’ve been…consumed with you. Can’t you see what these have done to me?” His eyes flickered briefly to his arms. “It’s a part of you. Do you ever feel anything I…?”

  Kayla closed her eyes and held her breath. She knew it would hurt to see him again, but this was unbearable. His stare was wild, his face sallow, his bare chest filthy and wind-whipped. Jeremy looked crooked with pain and weak with hunger, but too deep in this sleepless torment to notice. She braved sight again, hoping she was facing him with clear, assured eyes. “It’s not me that’s doing this to you. It’s Za’in.”

  He hung his head for a moment, smiling bitterly. “I know that. And, to a point, it’s not even him…it’s me. But you heard me call out to you. Did you even try to reach back?” He brought his face closer to hers, probing her eyes for answers.

  “There’s nothing to reach for anymore.” Her voice wavered slightly with effort.

  “Shut up!” he growled after quickly turning his face away.

  Kayla froze nervously, certain that outburst wasn’t meant for her. “Please, just…let me go. We’ve already hurt each other so much. Can’t we call it even and walk away?”

  Jeremy’s fingers bruised her face. “Was it a lie?”

  “W-what?”

  “God, I’m so naive. I knew it. Was it a fucking lie, Kayla?”

  She was trembling as tears sprung to her eyes. “You want to know if I really love you? If it was a lie, could you have used it against me like you did? It suddenly matters to you?”

  His mouth was hot on hers, searching, and it was then that a vision seared her senses. She could see herself, writhing in Asher’s embrace as she accepted his devotion in the warm pressure of each kiss against her neck. Kayla knew Jeremy could see this too, even if she didn’t understand why he could draw her memories from her this way.

  He pulled back violently, raising his hand in the air as if readying to strike her. His face was pale and tight. “I knew it was a lie. But, yeah, it matters. Don’t you shudder to think what would happen to you if it didn’t?” he whispered unsteadily. Jeremy wrenched her weapon from his arm and threw it down, leaving a shard of her blade imbedded in the blackened bones.

  Kayla watched his jerky motions. Each shift of his body was halted before it could continue, as his desire to hurt her was thwarted by this abrupt helplessness in the center of his being. She wondered why she could feel his inner conflict, until her eyes settled on the tiny sliver of white caught in his Ruiners.

  A sudden gust of wind blew her hair towards his face. Jeremy felt the soft, red strands against his fingers before he yanked on them hard, driving her to her knees. Her pained cry steadied his shaking legs. He now had the strength to leave her here and run back into the darkness. She was quietly crying, and he breathed in the calming sound of her misery before he departed. “I know you’re going to Azevin. You’ll wish you ran. Tregenne doesn’t give a fuck. And maybe by then, neither will I.”

  27

  “Say something, goddamn it,” Jeremy muttered as he stalked through the abandoned garage, prying the ivory fragment from his fetters and flinging it to the ground. “You were right, okay? Is that what you want to hear?” His voice was steadily increasing in volume and degree of despair before his footsteps suddenly halted, and when he spoke again, his quiet words were deadened by their heavy fall. “What do you want me to do?”

  Fiora is making herself a disobedient fool. Get her out of there and follow them all to Azevin. If you want to win this, stay out of sight until I give the word. The impersonal authority in Za’in’s reply was soothing; by ignoring his humiliation and anguish, it was slightly eased.

  “If she ruined your plans, it’d be what you deserved. You should have never sent her.” Jeremy knew his scornful words were just cover for the relief he expressed in his fluid movements. It had been so long since he experienced the comforting, dulling sensation that came from following orders, and even longer since he enjoyed it. He knew his thoughts gave him away, but he couldn’t let his words allow him to appear tractable. “I tried cleaning your mess up for you before, but apparently I wasn’t in on the grand design. That’s okay. I just get to do it again.”

  He stopped when he heard that familiar, shrill battle cry, keeping himself hidden within the shadow of a heavy column. Jeremy watched Evangeline’s frustration as Kittie kept her at bay with her skillful evasions and compact swings of h
er weapon. He smiled. The small girl knew the Arch she faced wielded trench knives, so she chose that metal pole to keep her enemy from getting too close. If she would only use her pistol, this would all be over. His grin vanished with the certainty that Kittie would never allow herself to seriously wound her. Jeremy’s brow furrowed, remembering the last time he saw his once constant companion. Would she really have killed him to protect Serafin? His limbs tightened and he refused to move, even as he felt Za’in rush nervous energy into his legs. “I’ll do what you say, but not yet.”

  A stabbing pressure gripped his chest, as if something was being wound tightly around his heart. “This won’t…make me move…faster,” he breathed with difficulty. “Are you afraid…to let their combat…decide?” Jeremy fell down on one knee, holding fast to the column. The pain paralyzed him, but beyond that discomfort, it didn’t seem to matter. He raised his head, dazed, to see those four pirates huddled together beside that ridiculous truck. A few heavy jerks of his body were the only expressions of his silent laughter. The sleek, ominous surface of Za’in’s vehicle was now a colorful hodgepodge of absurdity. He looked for the cross that marked the hood, just as his tattoo marred his chest, but he could barely make it out beneath the image of a comically grimacing face, sloppily painted over the symbol. They truly made this their new ship. It was an even trade.

  “Something scary…something scary…” Kerif was repeating nervously, his eyes shut tightly.

  “C’mon, I’m ready! Now!” Bruno’s eye was wide as his body shook with growing intensity, his fingers jangling the coins in his pockets.

  A twitching grin moved Fec’s face as he toyed with his lighter. “Vic ’n I ar’ ready t’ back y’up, Cap’n!”

  “Something scary!” Kerif yelled, “got it!” He jumped back into the cloud of smoke that was gathering around Fec, his bejeweled hand stretched towards Bruno, as Vic’s arm mimicked the same movement.