Page 5 of Immortal Alliance

“No, you didn’t. Nothing you did was intentional, remember? We’ve already been over this, and I don’t think you’re guilty of anything other than loving your brother,” my old friend says. “If my sister were in the same situation, I wouldn’t know what to do. I’d slaughter everyone until I got to her, but you... you can make something out of this. This is an opportunity in disguise.”

I attempt to answer, but the door to the cell opens with a bang as it hits the wall.

Variant.

He walks into the grimy little room with bars on the windows and wards all around, whistling a merry tune. My enemy stops right in front of me and taps my forehead with his finger. There’s something not right about his eyes or the rune on the side of his head, hiding in his hairline.

“Your friends were caught in an explosion. We don’t know if anyone survived.”

I don't say anything. Baron is already dead, Pyre is a necromancer with insane power, Dragan and Kolvar are too stubborn to die, and Eilish and the others are always protected. There’s no way they’re dead. Variant must see the disbelief in my gaze, because he grips my jaw painfully.

“Morrigan has escaped, and your little friends can’t hide in the spirit world forever, Cambion. I’m on my way to finding a key to that font of magic the necromancer has at his disposal. And when I get my hands on it... let’s just say things will get very,verybad for all of you.”

“Whatever plan Morrigan has will be stopped, Variant,” I respond, my voice coming out icy.

“And what makes you think that?” he asks smugly. “Last I checked, your allies were scattered and you’re here being tortured and chained to a wall.”

I reach out with my magic and probe Variant’s mind. There are barriers and I’m weakened by the beatings, but I fight my way through. A flood of information prickles at my consciousness.

***

VARIANT

Nowhere

Darkness... there’s so much darkness here. And I, a creature of light and power, grow weaker with every passing second. Seconds? Does time even matter anymore? Whatever spell Morrigan has woven around me won’t unfurl its clutches.

I once thought I loved her, that we shared a connection no one else understood. She, the ancient being with infinite knowledge, and I, a king on the rise towards greatness. But she besmears my name and the legacy established by my father and his father before him.

I have visions, visions of angels falling from the sky. Their wings are torn and burning from their backs. When they finally hit the ground, I see their women, their mates, crying over their bodies, holding bloodied feathers in their hands. I did this... not themethat I am or themethat I thrive to be, but themeI never wanted to become—a dark, vile creature that thirsts only for the pain of others.

Morrigan reached inside me and found that part of me. She took it into her palm and defiled it, forging something new and much more dangerous...

I stand in the throne room, with tendrils of ice surrounding me. Baron’s lifeless body rests at my feet, but unlike the angels, he’s alone in his death. No woman cries over the loss of his life. The allies he depended on are too late and I... I’m the one who did this to him...

No. No, that isn’t right. I’m not in the throne room, I’m in the darkness…

I’m in the place where Morrigan locked me away with her power. Even weakened by Silvanus’ mirror, she’s still formidable in her own right. What magic she can’t wield on her own, she syphons from enchanted objects or... wait... I’m supposed to remember something important, something about autumn. No, not autumn, butharvest.

Morrigan is harvesting innocent fae to fuel her talisman…

She needs an angel.

She needs an angel and a mirror. She needs a talisman and a vampire to kill a god... she needs an angel... Not just any angel, buttheangel, the one who will either bring great destruction or carry the way to redemption on her wings.

Her? Yes, her.

Eilish is her name.

***

CAMBION

Oronrel

Variant tears himself away from me, eyeing me suspiciously.

“What did you see?” he barks. I feign ignorance, shaking my head and blinking at him in mock confusion. He grows irritated and storms out of the cell. When I no longer hear footfalls down the corridor, I turn to Aima.

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