Page 85 of Violet Legacy

Rieka continued to glare at Lucien. Her rage was palpable, and it surrounded her like the flame she was cocooned within. Faint bruises appeared on her skin; the outline of fingers around her neck and chin were unmistakable. Dante’s attention snapped back to Idris. The Atlantean would pay for every mark on Rieka with his flesh.

“The pendant,” Idris interrupted. His focus was entirely on Rieka and the flame. “There are some secrets Vandana took to her grave, including the final resting place of the O’hurani and the location of your beloved Atlantis.”

“No!” Rieka shouted. She stumbled as she stood up, and the violet flame flared out as it reacted to her movements. The edges of the flame changed to a darker red–gold. “The O’hurani will destroy everything.”

A slow smile crossed Idris’s face. If Dante had held a sliver of dormant hope that the Atlantean could be saved, he was swiftly dissuaded. The Idris he had known was long gone.

“They will remake the world in their image, and the worthy will be blessed.”

Idris’s eyes were bloodshot, the whites almost entirely gone. It wasn’t the first physical sign Dante had noticed about Idris’s transformation. Talon marks suddenly appeared along Idris’s forearms, deep enough that his ability to heal was affected.

“And you are considered worthy?” Rieka shrugged casually. She looked down at the pulsating bracelet and then glanced at Idris. “You don’t even carry a drop of Anki blood. Why would they save you?”

Idris snarled, reaching out to Rieka. Dante moved, running to the edge of the bridge, toward Rieka.

Lucian clicked his fingers.

The bridge disintegrated beneath Dante. He jumped backward, landing hard on the ground, his breathing heavy as adrenaline coursed through him.

Rieka stood unnaturally still; perspiration trickled down her face. Her clenched fists were white. Her eyes were molten red, with no hint of white. The flame behind her intensified, the edges transitioning from violet to red, gold, and black. He hadn’t imagined it; the flame was reacting to Rieka.

“Perhaps you are less human than I thought,” Lucien muttered under his breath as he stared at Rieka before he turned back to Idris andtskedas if he was talking to a toddler. “Someone has been keeping secrets.”

Idris stood motionless. A small sheen of sweat coated his skin as a drop of blood trickled from his ear. His lips curled up in a monstrous grin that was more animal than Atlantean. “I am deemed worthy.”

Pain exploded through Dante, and he tasted blood. He stumbled under the growing onslaught. The cries of the humans, Atlanteans, and serpopards were indistinguishable as their pain slammed into him. Wave after wave. Rieka appeared unaffected.

Idris snarled, “The pendant.”

“No,” Dante gritted out through clenched teeth as he barely held himself upright.

“You will continue to feel their fears, pain, and their deaths unless you give me the pendant,” Idris explained. “It is a gift that has been bestowed upon me.”

Dante took a deep breath. “No.”

Idris crossed his arms. Blood continued to seep from his eyes and ears. “You would let everyone die?”

Lucien looked over at him with a bored expression, his pale eyes blank as he leaned against the tomb, absentmindedly stroking one of the stone serpopard’s fur.

The world could burn if it meant Rieka was safe.

“I wonder if this will change your mind?” Idris clicked again.

Rieka fell to the ground, as she let out a bloodcurdling scream. The violet flame surrounding her transformed into black mist, dancing along the edges like a snake. Lucien straightened in interest and shifted to get a better view but didn’t move to interfere.

She looked up at Dante, tears running down her face. Her hands clenched in the dirt. “Don’t.”

Scarcely a whisper, but the demand ran through him and made him falter momentarily. Dante didn’t have a choice. He never had. He would gladly damn the world if it ensured she was safe. He was not a hero and had never aspired to be.

He slipped the pendant off, holding it out to Idris in a closed hand. The pendant had cooled down. He wasn’t sure if it was in response to Lucian or proximity to Rieka. The pain that had run rampant through him moments ago was a distant memory as he focused on Rieka. Anger flashed across her face as she gasped, shaking her head.

“Give me Rieka, and you can have the pendant.”

“You would give up everything for the hybrid?” Idris stopped. “Your potential legacy and unlimited power. The Anki will give you everything you have worked for. A permanent place in Atlantean and human history will be but a taste of what they can offer you.”

A look of shock crossed her face as she stared at him, and she blinked as if she hadn’t understood what he had said.

In a heartbeat.

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