Page 7 of Immortal Alliance

I stand up, in order to follow her, clearing my throat to make my presence known. Eilish casts her brilliant gaze on me and a smile blooms on her stunning face. She lifts her hand and I grasp it gently, walking beside her through the chamber. “Why are you awake?” I ask quietly, even though I keep my eyes on the Sentinels. The strange, insect-like creatures make me nervous. I catch the small shrug of her shoulders from the corner of my eye.

“I can’t stop thinking about Cambion.” Her soft voice barely echoes through the space between us.

“You should do us all a favor and stop,” I grumble. “What a disappointment he turned out to be.”

She shakes her head. “It’s not that simple, Dragan.” I look down at her and she continues, but not before taking my hand and squeezing it. “The four of us have been through so much together, we owe him the chance to explain what happened. Especially after I saw Theren in my vision.”

I shake my head. Cambion can fucking rot in hell for all I care. He turned on us and joined forces with his fucking brother, Theren. And then Theren did what we all knew he would—he turned on his own brother, just like he did all those years ago.

“Your visions aren’t… reliable,” I say to her.

She pauses and then looks up at me. “This vision was different… it’s an omen. I’m sure of it.”

“Eilish... your visions…” I’m not sure how to say this because I don’t want to offend her. “Your visions led us to Morrigan and look what became of that? We can’t risk any more losses,” I finish on a sigh. “Making it out of the Veil Forest was hard enough. Now, Morrigan’s out there somewhere, plotting against us.”

“I know this vision was different,” she insists and looks at me with a yearning expression. “You have no reason to believe in my visions, I understand that. But try to believe inme, Dragan,” she implores. “Please.”

“I want to believe Cambion wouldn’t endanger us without reason, but I’m not so sure. And Theren... he’s not the man you think he is.”

“Dragan…”

I shake my head. “You don’t know him, Eilish. The rest of us do. Theren was carefully bred to become the perfect leader to the Unseelie, the dark fae. Everything about him is corrupt.”

Eilish squeezes my hand again and I can see the truth in her eyes—she doesn’t believe me. “Then what about you and Baron? You were chosen to be kings for a reason, and I see those reasons in each of you.”

“No,” I mutter as I shake my head. “I don’t believe any of that fate and destiny bullshit anymore. I’ve even begun to doubt myself.”

“You can’t,” she starts but I interrupt.

“You weren’t there in the beginning, Eilish. We were young and arrogant, but our skills spoke for themselves—Morrigan chose us because she knew she could mold us into what she wanted. She chose us because we were strong but impressionable. It had nothing to do with destiny.”

“That can’t be why,” Eilish says.

“Cambion, Variant, and Theren already knew Morrigan from their training with her, so she knew what they were capable of. I was different. I came from a race, the gargoyles, who simply came to be.”

“What do you mean?”

I shrug. “We were created and then used as soldiers for whatever king or nation called on us at the time. Morrigan needed to have the backing of the gargoyles because we are a powerful race. She chose me to lead my kind because, of all the gargoyles, I was the most ruthless.”

Eilish falls quiet as she listens. I stop beside the glittering pool of energy at the heart of the chamber and look up at the enormous statue of an elven woman weeping into the vat of magic that shifts in color like opals in the sun.

“We were all chosen by Morrigan because she saw us as weak,” I continue. “She chose us because she knew we’d be easy to manipulate and then cast aside when she was done with us. And we’ve done nothing but prove her right.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“It’s true nonetheless, as much as I wish it weren’t,” I reply with another shrug. “The power was within the oath, not within us or even Morrigan.”

“The oath?”

I nod. “It was Silvanus’ oath that ended the Singularity. Morrigan played us for fools and gave us thrones we were never meant to occupy. We weren’t ready to be leaders, much less kings. And she knew that. With Abedon locked away, the only thing that stood between Morrigan and ultimate power was Silvanus and… us.” I take a breath and try to force my anger back down again. Thinking about Morrigan upsets me. “She defeated us once before and she knows she can do it again. This fight is doomed to end in her favor.”

“How can you think that?” Eilish demands, shaking her head as she releases my hand and then throws her arms into the air, to further drive home the point that this conversation is frustrating her. “Look at you! Look at all of us.” She stares into my eyes and I wish I still possessed her naiveté, her belief that good can still triumph.

But, I know better.

“We might be facing difficult times, Dragan, but you can’t just give up!” she continues. “We’re still alive! We’re still fighting, and that means Morrigan never defeated us. So long as there’s breath in our lungs, we’ll continue to fight.”

“The world hasn’t been kind to you, Eilish,” I say in a low voice as I bring my fingers up to trace the line of her cheek and jaw. She’s the most beautiful fucking creature I’ve ever seen. And she’s also the most deluded. “How can you still have so much hope?”

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