Page 126 of Shadows Ascend
Emon looked back to me expectantly. He didn't need to say the words, I could see it in his eyes and in our bond, and soon enough, he wouldn't just be tethered to me anymore, he would be a part of me. If I died, so would he, and our love would cease to ever exist again. There would be no Eithne for us.
Exhaling slowly, the words trailed from my lips, unwavering. There was no pause, no hesitation, I didn't need them—I would love Emon in pieces, I would love him in death, and I would love him even without an eternal life. I would be undying—our Eithne would be what we make of it, not what was granted."Extremum vitae spiritum edere, to death I give my last breath."
"Extremum vitae spiritum edere, to death I give my last breath,"he growled deeply, his eyes staring deep into my own. Then with a lopsided grin of triumph, he whispered, "It wasn't true. You are real, you are mine and I am yours, little umbra.Amor vincit omnia."
Love conquers all.
Chapter 59
IstoodstrongasEmon'ssoul struck through my chest. I could feel him inside me, all of him and it was like the moment I had first seen his aura unfiltered. So pure, so glorious that time stopped.
But there was something else…and I knew then that Emon had been right. He had been compromised, tainted, the Sanguine burrowing deep within his golden glow. It was a slow poison, one that would consume us both if I allowed it.
My knees crumbled, Riella whispering words of encouragement that I could barely feel over the numbness of what I had actually done.
The cold dark waters enveloped my exposed thighs and I stared out over the glassy reflection of The Well of Souls.
"What now?" I heard Riella ask softly and I wasn't entirely sure if it was to the pookah who was now hanging on her shoulderor to me.
"I obtain the rest of the lilin." There is no warmth left in my voice, I could feel the ice in my heart return, despite holding the purest soul this universe would ever know inside of me. "I pull the rest of the souls from the source instead of each step, we wake up our family, and we obtain your father’s body."
"But without the steps how will the souls be summoned?"
Dipping my hand in the waters, I peered at my blotchy tear stained expression in the dark reflection, the stars shimmering mockingly above it. "We make them come—all of them." Slicing my hand through the water to drive away my own pathetic reflection, I summoned shadows to form a platform and eased my daughter onto it.
She peered at me solemnly, still every bit the warrior queen, her hair that had escaped her braid curling delicately around her beautiful face. Her eyes swirled at me with sadness and determination. Using my wet fingertips, I wiped away the stained trail of tears from her bronze skin.
"No more tears now, my little chickadee." I gave her a grim smile. "We have work to do, daughter of mine." Peering up at the pookah, I reached for him, petting down his odd twitching ears. "Keep each other safe." Then I tapped the shadow spear, still in her hand. "Kill anything that comes for you. Lilin or not, no one touches my daughter."
Her chin tilted upwards. "No one touches you either, maedere. Father would expect it of me."
I gave her a small smile. "Do not worry, little one. No one will ever touch me without my permission. Never again."
Rising, the water sluiced off my skin, sending dark ripples of warning across the glassy surface.
Their goddess was coming.
Stepping forward, my shadows popped up beside me, swirling around my torso and up over my arms as I walked. "Ready to go to work, my loves," I said to them, feeling the pain of losing my previous shadows ease with their presence. It was their turn to avenge the life that was taken from them and in that, I would find my strength.
Sloshing through the water, I walked until instinct told me to stop. The hairs on the back of my neck rose, an ominous tingle rising up my spine, and the thrilling rush of anticipation punching me in the gut.
I bared my teeth at the glassy surface, they lurked beneath…all of them.
"You should have thought twice about who would come to honor your pledge of vengeance, souls of Morta. Now show yourselves and meet the one you wish you could kill but now must serve."
Plunging my hand into the water, I reached out for the shadows that lived and breathed just like the lilin I had already conquered, hovering nearby, ready to intervene if need be.
My power spread in the water like millions of veins flowing and splitting, latching onto every lilin soul floating inside these dark waters. I could feel their resistance but I knew it was fruitless. I was their goddess and their vows were unbreakable even in the depths. They were bound to obey, such was the deal they made.
"Come to me, souls of Morta," I purred to them. "Come to your goddess."
Standing I pulled them upwards with me. Their dark entities slowly rising from the cold waters. The closest were only a few feet away but where the rest of them ended, I could not see. The amount of them seemed endless and I was surrounded on all fronts by their wrathful souls. Energy that was dark and malicious, angry and fierce, and it all was directed at the monster that destroyed their lives, the one they were about to pledge themselves to.
Flicking my long braid over my shoulder and steadying my racing heart, I addressed them with a strong icy voice. "You blame me for your demise but it is I that has come to honor your vows. I shall bear your pain and deaths you suffered when the goddess's light was taken too soon from you. But know this…there is one who has much more to blame, one who gladly sacrificed you in order to flee with her own life. There is one who used you to fulfill her own dark purpose. One whom you once called your leader—Deirdre the queen of Faerie."
All at once the lilin rippled, their figures undulating like the water upon which they floated.
"Should you honor your vows…I, Remnant Ezra Solaire Dark, will be the hand that ends the tyrannous reign of Deirdre Tatianna Maeve Seelie, her life will be forfeit for the pestilence she has brought upon our world and for the deaths she has callously taken, her soul will be forfeit, an eternal life forsaken."
