Page 35 of Princess of Bael
I sucked in a breath, needing to breathe, yet found myself choking on his fury and sorrow instead. I clawed at the binds around me, only then realizing they were arms.
And it wasn’t emotion suffocating me, but hishands.
Around my throat.
Because he blamed me for this.
Or am I blaming myself? Is he even strangling me? Is this all a nightmare? Where’s my fight? What am I even doing?
I couldn’t decide, couldn’t see, couldn’t fuckingbreathe.
I did this.I’d caused the tear in the veil, the one that had called the Divinity to the human realm, the one that had allowed Kristina to be captured. I hadn’t realized it would happen like this because I hadn’t known what tool Ashmedai had given me. However, I only had myself to blame for notasking. All of this had been done for my own selfish need.
Well, not entirely, but a significant part of it had been tied to my desire for revenge.
I’d wanted to warn Johanna, too. As well as help Alastor. But the largest part had been driven by my need to kill Ezra.
And now Kristina wasdead.
I deserved this punishment.
I’d caused a fracture in the Divinity.
Sensing Ezra’s agony now overshadowed everything with a fresh perspective. Sensing the irreversible shift in the balance did as well.
My needs were futile in the grand scheme of the universe.
Everything is falling apart, I realized, darkness overtaking my vision.The veil is going to self-destruct. War is coming. Civilization will fall.
The three realms—Heaven, Earth, and Hell—would converge and collapse onto each other.
Death and destruction would reign.
Pain and suffering.
Blood and soul-crushing devastation.
I could taste it on my tongue, envision it in my dying mind. Part of me knew it wasn’t real—not yet—that this was just a nightmarish response to the reality unfolding around me, but itfeltreal.
Just as I could have sworn Ezra’s hands had been around my throat moments ago.
However, I couldn’t feel him now.
Because he hadn’t touched me at all.
It’d been his agony, coupled with the fracture in the balance—along with my own self-blame—strangling me. I blinked to find him still kneeling over Kristina’s body.
Then flames danced around us. Invisible to everything but my own eyes.
Flames of despair.
Flames of the future.
Flames of a destiny I’d destroyed through my own selfish means.
The scales have tipped. There’s no stopping fate now,I realized, my heart ceasing to beat.We’re already doomed.
Ezra
