Page 4 of Rose and Shadows
It had Vorzyr whispering to Nyx and shifting how they were evacuating everyone—moving them with bursts of speed from Vorzyr and some hybrids that had vampire abilities off to the side, before taking the time to do big-time teleportation that was taking a while to conjure when transporting so many, especially having to do it over and over.
My dad was having them clear the way.
He knew something was coming.
Something clearly that Sylas was going to do, but that he couldn’t do without causing collateral damage, until the hybrids were clear behind him.
“You have learned a great deal in the time that I’ve been gone,” Morien commented.
“Does that time include you abandoning our family? Or are we just talking about the years you spent as death’s little bitch? You know, until you had to rely on that twisted fucker, Corvin Morvain, to rescue you?”
“You are rewriting history. Your mother cast me out.”
“You left her no choice. You chose power over her, Raina, and me. Just had to try to rule the world, huh? And it worked out gloriously. Falling spectacularly. Becoming dependent on a madman to spare you. And, fuck, the state of you… let’s not neglect mentioning that—you’re consumed by black magic. Barely more than Animated Fleshwork. What a degrading position to be in for a necromancer, wouldn’t you say,Father?”
Morien’s lips twisted. “Look at you daring to stand there and challenge me, to dismantle me with your biting accusations.” He took a step forward, making Sylas tense at the ready. “How do you think this was made possible? I made you in my image. I ensured it was so, choreographed it, you might say.” His eyes gleamed. “Everything you are, all that esteemed power, the significant moves you’ve made, the dangerous paths you’ve ventured down… all because of me.” He smirked.“Son.”
Holy. Shit.
“Haughty claims and a fuckload of misappropriation. My, my, how desperate you are.” He took a step closer to Morien. “How deeply you fear me, Father.”
“The haughty claims belong to you. Careful of that arrogance. You forget yourself, Sylas. I hold the key to you becoming whole again. This power you somehow wield once again is merely temporary. I possess the portion of your necromantic core you require to be restored permanently.” He smiled. “And it will be the key to everything for me.Youwill be.”
“You intend to become me, yeah, I’m well aware. It’s a whole other level of fucked up. The psychological ramifications are demented beyond belief. And sad. So very sad that you need to become me in order to feel worthy. You can’t be great on your own, so you steal from your son—my power, my very life.”
“What can I say? You were nothing but a means to an end.”
“That only became the case when you realized I was stronger than you, when you had my true potential read as a boy. You couldn’t handle it.”
Morien’s gray power sparked. “You didn’t deserve it!” he suddenly roared. “That belonged to me! You took my position, took what I was supposed to be!”
I started forward.
My dad’s warning—well, his command—to stay out of it was crumbling with every moment that passed. I wanted to tearinto that piece of shit and his backup, rip Ketheron away from their mind-meddling influence, rip Velra, Cassius, my dad, and everyone away, and destroy the whole nightmare that they had basically brought to our door.
I couldn’t continue to stay out of it.
Besides, with Sylas here now, any necromantic shit that Morien and his bitches tried to pull could be overcome.
The warning my dad had given me was basically moot in light of that.
“You enter the battlefield under these specific circumstances, and you need to be prepared to kill.”
I jolted at my his voice carrying to me on the wind again, a barely-there whisper, yet one that held a fuckload of weight to it.
I looked to see him eyeing me across the distance. He gestured discreetly behind him, and I saw that all the hybrids had been moved a couple hundred feet away out of the firing line. Vorzyr was conjuring a portal now, using that to move them through to a Guardian sanctuary and all that. Nyx was ushering them through, while also looking out at Kai still suspended by Undead Domination. It was clear he was barely holding it together all the while Kai was in danger. And there was also Ryker, one of Ariana’s dads. Him being in the line of fire was no small thing to them either. Nyx’s gaze flicked from Kai to Ketheron, and pain played on his face. The two of them had a friendship and Nyx had been in Ketheron’s mind once through his dreamwalking, helping him. So he knew his damage and mental anguish well and seeing him enduring this now was obviously hard for him to stomach.
No fucking kidding.
My dad was telling me that the wait was over anyway.
To hang on just a little while longer.
I whispered back,“I’ll bodycheck Ketheron, pull him away from them.”
“You do that and you’ll be assaulted with the mind-meddling magic intended for him. Celestial-enhanced mind-meddling. It could very well fracture your mind, Lazriel.”
“I can’t just stand by and—”
