Page 100 of Of Realms and Chaos

“I have to get Asher.” I tried to walk away, needing to secure a map in order to make it to the temple, but Henry’s arms reached out, stopping me.

“I think she will succeed. She always seems to. Now, you need to succeed too. Stay here, go back to that meeting, and figure out a way to kill that traitor. I will get Asher. Just trust me.” The way he said it, the words almost came out as begging. As if he was determined to prove to me that he was on my side. I wished I could say that I knew he was, that I was proud to call him my friend. That I knew he would take care of Asher when I was gone.

But there was no time.

“I do,” I whispered. Then I portaled, praying to Stella that I had a good enough memory to get me to the right place.

When I arrived outside of the temple, I nearly fell to my knees in relief. Gods, I was not sure I would make it. Walking forward, I heard the distant sound of the crowd, so loud that they could be heard even from here. This was going to hurt.

Portaling once more, I let the shadows of the moon suck me in, my feet suddenly on dirt instead of stone. Quickly, I shoved out a bubble of air, letting it create a barrier around me. I was on the edge of a sort of coliseum. Ahead, Trint, who stood alone in the center, looked around in horror.

My eyes searched for Asher, going so far as to check the front of the crowd. The panic seeped back in when I was unable to spot her. Henry should not have left her. Where was she? What happened here?

Before I consciously decided to do so, my feet were carrying me to Trint, my appearance so abrupt that I scared him. He jumped back, his hand flying to his heart. With a wave of my hand, the pocket of air grew, wrapping around him as well. The king blanched, looking around in confusion. He might not be able to see the way the air bent and thickened, but he could feel the pressure change and hear the now-muffled crowd.

“Who are you?” As soon as he asked the question, he seemed to register the murder in my eyes. If he had hurt Asher, he would learn who I was through experience. I was not above murdering a king in front of his people.

“Where is the princess? Where is Asher?” I growled out the words, barely stopping myself from yelling.

He shifted on his feet, eyes wide. “She disappeared after she convinced my people to fight for her cause. It was like nothing I have ever seen before. There was a burst of sparkling clouds around her, like a shimmering smoke. I could tell it was not her doing it because she screamed out in what sounded an awful lot like terror.”

“How long?” My question was lower, almost a whisper. I knew what the answer would be.

“A minute or two. Just before you arrived.” Yes, just before I arrived. Because I had wasted time talking, acting as if I had so much of it left. I was not there for her when she needed me, and now Asher was gone.

My hand gripped my chest, the painful race of my heart making my head swim. I tried to portal, feeling the discomfort of it when I normally did not. Water suddenly surrounded me, the dark abyss pulling me downwards. I let out a panicked shout at the way the icy depths seemed to consume me, stealing my vision and my hearing. Again I portaled, this time landing in a heap on the model of Alemthian in the war room.

Screams rang out, everyone present jumping back from my soaked body. Adbeel’s voice came from my side, etched with worry and confusion. Shivers wracked my body, but all I could do was listen to those screams. The broken sound of them so odd.

When a hand clamped over my mouth, I realized that it was me shrieking in agony. I silenced myself, but my mind raced with thoughts of all the horrors Asher could be facing.

Adbeel grabbed me by my shoulders, using his brute strength to force me into a sitting position as he looked me over. I stared at him—through him—wondering if my death was contingent on Asher surviving. Would I live if she did not?

No world where she did not breathe was worth living in anyways.

“What happened, Bell?” Adbeel’s question came out as a desperate shout while he shook me.

“Asher,” I whispered, my voice meek and shattered. “Asher is gone.”

IV

Act IV

~ To Lose ~

Chapter Thirty-Three

Asher

“Leave me alone, Padon,” I warned, my voice dangerously close to the deep and demanding tone of The Manipulator. His chuckle sounded behind me, an infuriating noise that left me picturing what his body would look like without a head. A wicked smile lifted my lips, the thought momentarily raising my mood along with it as I stormed through this absurd castle. My inattention nearly caused me to trip over the quilt still wrapped around my body. “Why would you make your castle gray? It looks like a storm cloud in here. Are you that determined to be utterly dull?”

Despite my cruel tone and refusal to look at him, Padon responded with an uncomfortably joyous tone. “I changed it when I first saw the color of your eyes. I dreamt of you before we met that first night on the cliff, but it was then that I got to work on the changes. You were so vulnerable to my magic, yet so remarkably strong. I couldn’t help but dedicate my home to you. It was only recently finished, actually.”

“Only recently? It took months to paint?” The creature had magic and probably thousands of servants. According to him, he was an emperor. How could he possibly allow it to take so long?

Not that I cared.

“Months?” he asked, the word sounding as if it were asked from between smiling lips. I hated him. No, I loathed him.

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