Page 47 of Queen of the Wicked
The chamber is quiet except for the sound of our breathing.
Kaius stands across from Rowan, sleeves rolled to his elbows, crimson eyes fixed on the small obsidian bowl between them where a thin stream of incense curls upward with white smoke. I kneel in the center of a summoning circle, legs folded beneath me, head bowed as though bracing for a storm. The Bloodstones are in a circle around me, connected by lines drawn in our blood where I sit.
Rowan notices me fidgeting, nervous energy flooding the room.
“It’s okay to be afraid,” he murmurs.
My eyes lift to his, and Kaius adds: “We’re here with you.”
I give them both a forced smile, trying my best to stay calm. “I know.”
The magic inside me feels like it’s choking me now. Like Eternity knows her time is coming and is currently clawing her way up my throat. Her voice begins to press like knives into my skull as Kaius and Rowan begin chanting in a language I can’t recognize, something old and forgotten.
Mine. You are mine.
For a breath, terror takes root in me. But then my hands reach out for theirs. Kaius’ grip is steady, Rowan’s burns hot, and our bond line ignites in unison, searing bright as if it could scorch the very night sky.
I am not alone. Not anymore. And for the first time, I do not tremble at what I carry. I find the courage to embrace it.
Eternity lashes out. Her power strikes like a storm, cold and merciless, but we meet it together. The force nearly splits me apart, tearing my breath from my lungs, but Kaius and Rowan anchor me.
Together, we push back.
You cannot unmake me,Eternity shrieks, her form splitting into jagged shards inside me.
“Yes,” I whisper, the sound torn raw from my throat. “I can.”
The rot surges up my arms, desperate and furious, but I don’t fight it alone. I let Kaius’ strength bleed into me, Rowan’s confidence twine with mine. I let them hold the pieces of me I can’t hold together alone.
And then I let go.
Not to surrender. Tofree. Free us. Free this world.
Eternity’s power rips out of me in a torrent of light so blinding it scorches the room. She screams through my throat, a sound that rattles the marrow of the world, before she fractures completely.
What are you doing? I am Eternity. You bow to me! To me! Me!
Black smoke escapes my mouth, my nose, my ears and I begin to bleed from my eyes, but I don’t stop. I endure the pain as eachpart of that jagged goddess removes itself from me. Some of the shards scatter, dissolving into ash.
Eternity stumbles to her feet like a walking corpse, her skin falling off in pieces and her hair ripping out in chunks. Her sharp, black claws reach for me and she grabs me by the throat.
And we vanish.
We vanish into that place I’ve seen her before, when I died. When I saw her opposite me and didn’t realize I was looking in a mirror. When Kaius was just on the other side of this purgatory.
I can see them still, Kaius and Rowan, their expressions terrified that they’ve lost me again, but having faith in the golden lines that bond us.
I turn to Eternity, on her hands and knees like a distressed cat, her spine contorted and her face no longer recognizable as mine. She hisses as I take a step toward her, but instead of harming her like I so desperately want to, I kneel next to her.
I take her decaying hands in mine.
“All that power, and look at where you’ve ended up. I almost feel sorry for you.” I take a deep breath.
“Almost.”
I pull the enchanted dagger I once used to sacrifice myself from my boot, shoving it into Eternity’s gut. The Priestesses ancient magic still lingers on the blade, consuming Eternity vein by vein.
She writhes and screeches and moans as her body continues to contort and bend in unnatural ways.
