Page 39 of Immortal Alliance

A voice calls behind me, but it’s muffled by the trees. Deep bellows mix with the roar of the terrifying beast that chases after me. I know that voice… at least, I think I do... but nothing is certain and I can hardly see in front of my face.

Suddenly, another voice enters the chaos.

This one is a woman…

I shoot up from the pillows and pull mouthfuls of air into my lungs as the dream begins to fade. Silvanus was there, but... it was Cambion who erased my memories! And it was Cambion who drugged me!

Seething anger blinds me for a moment and I nearly knock over the lantern beside me.

Dragan rolls over and places his arm on my chest; the weight of him helps to calm me.

“Eilish?” he asks.

“I had a nightmare,” I pant.

“Another memory?” he asks as he sits up and collects me in his arms.

“It was…” I’m so flabbergasted by the vision dream that I forget I’m still upset with Dragan for withholding information about my father. But none of that seems important any longer. Not now—not when I know the truth.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“I know who took my memories,” I tell him. He sits up even straighter and faces me with concern.

“Eilish, you just woke up from a dream…”

“It was Cambion,” I interrupt. “He took my memories after my mother and sister were killed. I went to him, asking that he protect them, and in return I had sex with him. And he failed to keep his word. It was his fault they died.”

I push away from him and stand up, needing some distance as the thoughts race through my mind. I’m still so much in shock. I can’t believe Cambion would deceive me like this! And to have covered it up all this time!

“He had the fucking gall to pretend to make that Transmutation Stone when all along he knew it wouldn’t return my memories!” I yell at Dragan.

Dragan frowns slightly. “I know Cambion can be more than a little cruel, but I don’t think he would purposely erase your memories.”

“He did this to me, Dragan,” I insist. “I know it.” I take a deep breath. “And he took me back to his palace but he was afraid it would get out that he took my memories so he… he doped me up with Atacomite,” I continue as my voice cracks. “He… he made me addicted to it!”

“Cambion wouldn’t,” Dragan starts.

“He did!” I yell at him. “ I know the truth, Dragan!”

Dragan inhales deeply. “If he did this, there has to be more to it.”

My anger is far too fresh to allow for any other alternative. I’m convinced the vision I saw was the truth. It was a memory. It was real. And Cambion is the reason for my memory loss and he’s the reason I no longer have any family. And he’s the reason I got addicted to Atacomite.

“If Cambion took your memories, it must be because he wanted to shield you from the pain of losing your family in such a brutal manner,” Dragan offers, his voice soft.

I don’t know what to think but I really don’t want to believe Cambion’s capable of such evil.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

BARON

The Veil

Pyre’s blood is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It makes a mockery of what I felt while using the Transmutation Stone to try and recover my memories. The magic allows me to feel the Veil, not just walk through it. Everything seems to slow down and allow me to tune into its frequencies. And the knowing glances Pyre sends me tell me he’s more than aware of his blood’s effects on me.

“Come on,” he says. “Let’s get you back to the Spire, now that the Veil is…” he stops talking and lifts his hand to say I shouldn’t speak either. It appears as though he’s listening to something but I hear nothing.

“The mirror,” Pyre says, finally. “I can sense the catoptromancy mirror, but it’s covered in Cambion’s magical signature. I think he’s trying to reach out to us. Can you sense him?”

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