Riven (The Illumine Series)

by Anders, Alivia

  “Enough,” Kayden snarled, eyes flashing in warning. The sudden change in his behavior startled me; the moment Arielle said Juliet, Kayden’s sense of poise and control had vanished. Unmistakable rage quelled just under the surface, shimmering red scales rising on his cheeks, his arms subtly shaking. He barely managed to speak between tightly clenched teeth. “That isn’t your story to tell, sea-witch.”

  “I guess not. Pity,” Arielle smirked in delight, taunting him like a foolish child would taunt a lion in a cage. Her attempt at faking pity was laughable at best. “Even a soulless, heartless bastard like yourself should be allowed the chance at a happy ending. Of course, not that it would matter much now.” What little sympathy she had tried to display washed clean from her voice and face. “You are here now, and I will have justice for what you have done.”

  Kayden’s mouth pulled tight for the faintest moment, eyes flashing. He immediately switched tactics. “Arielle, please,” he tried desperately to stall. “We’ve only just arrived. Can’t we discuss a punishment later?”

  Ari and I exchanged a quiet glance, his arms still holding one of the Sirens hostage. His face said exactly what I felt; Kayden’s dark past extended far deeper, and appeared far more twisted than either of us could have imagined. Now, we might pay the price.

  Across the room, Arielle let out a ear-shattering cry. “And have you vanish like you had before? I think not.” She snapped her fingers twice, the guards around us inching closer at her command.

  Kayden ignored her brash fury, boldly stepping closer toward her and her throne. His hands tightened on the last lifeline we could use to our advantage in his arms. “I will not beg,” his voice was low, stained with uncertainty. “But I will ask of you to please hear us out, hear me out. We came for your help, because I know you’re the only one who can help us. The only one I know who loathes Lucretia and her family more than I do.”

  The anger in Arielle’s face wavered, uncertainty flickering on her beautiful face. “Do not play me for a fool, Kayden.”

  “I’m not, and you would see that if only you listened, dammit,” he continued to inch closer, the gap between him, Ari and I widening. Nausea rolled in my stomach, a dull ache spreading through my body as I ached to unleash my fire like a wild, uncontrollable torch. “Think back to why we came to know another in the first place. Have you already forgotten what she has done to you, what her mother and her mother’s mother has done to you?”

  Light blazed in her eyes, bright and determined. “I have not forgotten.”

  “Then hear me out,” Kayden pressed harder, his feet inches from the her golden throne. Smoke hazed off his shoulders and arms, his physical body barely solid. Gingerly he raised his arms up, holding Zeevna to her like an offering. “Time is key. Take your daughter, and help me save our only hope at destroying Lucretia.”

  The room was silent, all eyes and ears on the demon and their Queen. It was like a single key had been struck on a piano, ringing endlessly without quiver, waiting for the rest of the song to follow. High above, the ocean water over the glass dome changed to a dark, burned navy, sharks of varying sizes drifting as if they too, were watching the scene below unfold.

  Arielle reached out, tentatively, placing her hands under her quiet child. Carefully cradling her, she pulled back, Kayden’s arms dropping to his side and stepping back. Zeevna stirred in her Mother’s protective embrace, eyes fluttering briefly before going still once more.

  The words that came next severed all chances of a peaceful interaction. Arielle let out a long, tired sigh, staring at her daughter affectionately. She swept a strand of hair off her face, her voice barely heard over my heart hammering in my chest. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...” Her head snapped up, eyes quickly meeting each warrior in the room. “Take them. Kill the demon if necessary.”

  Arielle’s words acted like a firecracker thrown into an unsuspecting crowd. Adult Sirens grabbed their children, fleeing faster than I would have imagined. Few of them made noise, preferring to scatter rather than attract attention to them. Quickly the vast town center boiled down to the three of us, Arielle holding Zeevna, and more than three dozen Siren guard, each sporting some type of weapon fashioned from pure gold.

  Pain slashed at my stomach, nausea forcing bile to the back of my throat. I swallowed it back, swearing under my breath. Beside me, Ari was staring down Kayden, each eyeballing the other as if they were sharing a private conversation amongst themselves. Or planning a way to get us safely out of here.

  “So,” I weakly offered, breaking the silence. “I’m guessing this means we can’t talk this out.”

  Turning her back, Arielle laughed at my poor attempt to talk. “Afraid not, little mortal. Well?” She glanced over her shoulder, glaring at her unmoving, non-fighting men. “What are you waiting for, a damn invitation? Seize them, and annihilate the demon!”

  “Seriously, Arielle, it’s Essallie, not little mortal, and Kayden, not demon. We need to improve your memory with names when I’m done feasting on the lovely spread of fish you’ve given me,” Kayden shook his head slightly, his ever-infuriating smirk spreading across his lips. Spinning around to face the mass of Sirens waiting to fight, he raised a hand, beckoning them to him. “Come and get it, you bunch of spineless tadpoles.”

  Five of them moved forward, screeching like a murder of crows. With a wink, Kayden exploded into a mass of black smoke, shouting at Ari in the same move. Ari had already leapt into action, flames of dazzling white igniting the person in his grasp. He tossed the broiled Siren into Kayden’s smoke, turned over his shoulder to face me, and pointed up at Arielle.

  “Don’t let her get away!”

  Swirls of fire flared off my skin, spiraling over my arms and hands, burning hotter on the spear as it formed a golden torch of blue and black. In the smoke, screams choked off, the sound of snapping bone and tearing flesh twisting sickeningly at my gut.

  Ari spiraled around the room, swifter than a lion latching onto its prey. Fire blasted from his palms in short, violent bursts, searing off faces and limbs, igniting bodies in his wake. They collapsed to the ground, rolling and roaring in agony as the smell of their melting skin filled the air, black smoke coiling off their injuries while they lay motionless.

  “Essallie, move!” Ari shouted, sprinting. I spun around, a spear thrusting for my face. I collapsed to the ground, shoving my spear high and pushing a wave of fire from the tip into the oncoming Siren’s face. It sliced into his cheek, hands dropping his weapon as they desperately tried to pat out the flames spreading across his face.

  I leapt up to my feet, tossing the spear aside and making a run for the steps. Arielle was already halfway up the sky-high staircase, tail swishing left and right as she sped off like a frightened child into the nothing. Oh hell no, not after all the misery we had endured to get here. If I had to hold the fish-woman thing by her tail and make her help us, I would.

  A shattering cry from below stopped me cold in my tracks. Spinning around, I looked down at the mass destruction below. Kayden stood nearly a meter away from the pack of Siren surrounding Ari, his body contorted at an awkward shape as he crouched over the ground. Smoke billowed off his skin, clouding the air around him. He thrashed, twisting his neck and arms, almost as if he were struggling to keep something in place. A long, sea-foam colored hand reached out from the smoke, quivering with the final stretch of life.

  His body shuddered, and he whipped his head around faster than I could register with my mind. Boiling white rage colored every inch of his eyes, smoldering with a heat hot enough to scald me with a look. Blood dripped from his mouth, his gleaming white teeth smeared in cherry red, a strip of sea-foam colored flesh clinging to his cheek. He held a limp, tiny body alongside him, pressed tightly against his side in a vain attempt to hide his kill.

  I heard my breath catch, shaking on my lips. His eyes flickered black for the faintest moment, then narrowed into slits as white covered them once more. A slow, predatory smile slid ov
er his lips, and just before he flexed his newfound black claws, he licked them as if he could taste the future blood on them.

  Two Siren appeared from the thinning black smoke, grabbing at Kayden while he moved forward to slaughter another one of their own. The first encased his arms around him, Kayden flailing and kicking back as he struggled to free himself, while the other grabbed a sword of gold, its hilt a mass of emeralds and onyx. Pulling the blade back, the Siren swung forward, straight for Kayden’s neck.

  It all happened so fast, I could barely think, only react. “Kayden!” I screamed, scrambling to my feet. I had barely made it a few steps before I collapsed, head swimming as darkness threatened to pull me under once more. A new round of nausea gripped me, voices whispering in my head. The scream barely left my lips, and I choked on my desperate plea to them that I knew he’d never hear in time. “Don’t hurt him, stop!”

  Around me, the room began to spin, twisting sideways before narrowing into a thin slit, black swimming around my sight. The battle continued on; Kayden had broken from the grip of the Siren, having used him like a shield for the sword to sink into. Ari volleyed between seven Siren of varying height and weight, sprinting and launching off them like tiny green trampolines, each kick incinerating their face. Behind me, Arielle surged onward, not even sparing a glance back at me. Everything seemed fine, only the rapidly growing roar in my head warned me of what was to come.

  I staggered to my feet, turning to move after Arielle once more, but collapsed. My vision continued to swim, narrowing further as it dissolved into black smoke. My name was called out, screaming through the growing darkness, but all I could see was black thick and impenetrable. It cloaked me, like pressing a pillow to my face, pulling me into the deep recesses of my mind to join the last person I wanted to see.

  Ebony stood amidst the vacant dark, hands laced in front of her like a prim and proper lady. Black hair swung over her shoulders, sailing past her hips and tickling the ends of her kneecaps. A sweetheart cut, black corset trimmed with red velvet lace, and matching red velvet skirt gave me the distinct impression that she enjoyed the darker things in life. Judging by how stained and tainted my soul no doubt was, she probably thrived off my ends of me I would prefer to forget.

  “You look like you’ve had better days, darling,” she spoke sweetly, raising a hand to cover her mouth as she let out a tiny, feminine giggle. “You look so... tired.”

  I was in no mood to play with her stupid little games. “What is going on? What are you, or who are you, why are you-”

  She vanished with a blink, reappearing behind me, hands pressing on my shoulders to hold me in place. “Who I am,” she whispered, heat from her breath and body hot on my neck and cheek. “Is your undoing.”

  Jerking my shoulder, I tried to snap free from her growingly painful grasp. Her hands held firm, nails digging into my shirt, pinching my soft skin. “I don’t understand.”

  “Of course you wouldn’t,” she threw her head back and laughed, the weight of her movement pulling me back against her chest. “You’re just a stupid little girl with some shiny magic gift. You wouldn’t even know the first thing about real magic.”

  I shook my shoulders hard and winced, her nails scratching through the fabric as I broke free from her hands. Turning to meet her face-to-face, I glared at her surprised, subtle smug attitude. “And you would? You’re in my head, you’re not even real.”

  “Oh? Did you tell that to the Siren who saw me, who saw us?” Ebony countered, grinning devilishly. She closed the distance between us, bringing her face close enough until our noses brushed. “Newsflash, Essallie. I’m very real, I’m here to stay, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

  I couldn’t believe it; my own mind was fracturing me, running with my delusion. Hands her her chest, I shoved Ebony back, watching her stumble in an angered shock. “Look, I get it. Obviously my mind went out the window when I was captured, but enough is enough-”

  “You don’t get a damn thing,” she growled. “It looks like I have to show you.” Reaching her hand out in front of her, a small brass hand-held mirror materialized in her grasp. She turned the mirror to face me. “Tell me, Essallie, what do you see?”

  Scoffing, I leaned forward, staring at the tiny sheet of glass. It displayed an arial view of dome, Kayden and Ari relentlessly fighting droves of weapon-clad Siren while I sat motionless on the staircase. With each kill, Ari shouted my name, racing for me when more enemies would appear, forcing him to help Kayden or both would die.

  “Okay, fine, so you’re showing me the fight. You act as if I didn’t know it was going on,” I rolled my eyes, unfazed by her actions.

  Turning the mirror back toward her, Ebony shook her head. “You’re missing the point, stupid girl. Did you not see yourself, lifeless, unmoving?” She held up her free hand, examining the nails with mild interest before plunging it into the mirror. My gut contracted, white hot fire searing in my abdomen. A malevolent grin tilted her lips, and she reached in further, pushing her arm deeper into the mirror. “With you in here, I can control your every move in your place, and all you can do is watch.”

  The fire spread from my stomach to my chest, boiling like lava erupting from an agitated volcano. “You... you... you can’t-”

  Her second arm plunged in, pain splicing up the back of my spine, rocketing to the base of my neck. I buckled onto the pitch black ground, screaming. It felt as if I were being flayed alive, my skull pulled back for her to poke and prod as she wished, only to pour ink over my vulnerable brain.

  “Oh, but see, I can,” she assured over my moans of pain, her sickeningly cheerful demeanor revealing her inner monster. Ebony was actually enjoying watching me squirm in pain. “See, you’re no longer alone in your mind. That’s the beauty of the spell that birthed me; eventually I will take over completely, and you will cease to exist.”

  I opened my mouth to shout back, but arched in agony as she stretched the tiny mirror, diving through until she vanished completely. A pain far worse than anything I could have ever dreamt of made home in my skin, slipping and sliding underneath me like a moving parasite. I could feel Ebony stretching into my physical body outside, wiggling her- my fingers -experimentally. Pushing against the pain flowing within, I dragged myself to the tiny mirror, forced to watch through the tiny narrow glass as she played dress up in my skin.

  Looking past her, I could see we were in trouble. Ari and Kayden stood nearly back-to-back, spinning about the ground and taking out who they could. Part of me wanted to laugh; of course, the one time they chose to fight side-by-side, and I wasn’t there to help them, forced to watch like a prisoner behind bars.

  Kayden exploded into smoke, coating the room in a thick sheet of black. Bursts of white flared inside, screams of various Sirens filling the air as they were flung outward, fire burning them alive. He took on his physical form once more, black eyes smoldering with murderous delight as he tore through flesh and bone like a child with tissue paper.

  A shout cut through the fight, and I angled the mirror to see Ari calling to Kayden, warning him. He turned around, but not fast enough. A blade sailed through the air from up above, striking Kayden in the chest. Giving the mirror another turn, I spotted Arielle high on the staircase, triumph at hitting her mark written on her face. Zeevna stirred at her feet, body faintly twitching.

  “No!” The scream tore from my throat, wild and raw. As she posed as me, Ebony blazed fire over my hands, rage coloring her vision a dark, bloody red. “You can’t kill him!”

  Leaping up onto my feet, Ebony surged my body forward, back down the steps and further from Arielle. Fire sparked on my hands as she fashioned it like a whip, snapping it around the wrist of a Siren who had taken aim at him with a golden blade. The whip seared off his hand as if it were nothing, and in seconds she stood before Kayden, yanking out the blade from his chest.

  Smoke poured from the wound, but the skin had already begun to heal. He paid little attention to my body, craning his
neck to spot his true mark above. “You didn’t think that would actually kill me, did you?” He taunted, puffing out his chest to show her the healed mark. “Tsk-tsk. Silly mermaid.”

  Arielle let out a wild screech, her tail splitting into two, long scale coated limbs. She sprinted down the steps, abandoning her barely conscious daughter to grab a set of spears left behind on the ground.

  Ebony was faster. Quickly sparing a darting glance between a nearby Siren and Arielle, she grabbed the Siren, breaking his neck with a single twist. His weapon became hers, and as she maneuvered towards Arielle, the blade in her hand ignited in a display of wild, damning black fire.

  The Queen Siren sprinted, hands outstretched for her weapons, when Ebony sliced at her arms, watching Arielle stumble backward with a howl of rage. Flinging the blade, Ebony closed the gap between the two, wrapping her hands around the Siren’s throat, and squeezing.

  Arielle fought to breathe, gasping in greedy, shallow gulps of air. “R-r-release me.”

  “I don’t think so,” Ebony mused, tilting her head to the side, watching Arielle’s lips begin to color purple like her eyes. “See, I think you need a little reality check. Kayden, bless his vacant heart, came here for your help, and you try and kill him?” Pressing her face against Arielle’s, Ebony’s lips curled into a bile-churning snarl. “Apologize.”

  The Siren twisted her head left and right, eyes rolling up into the back of her head as lack of oxygen starved her organs. Ebony squeezed tighter, digging her nails into the scales on her neck. The pain was barely enough to shock Arielle back to focus, dragging a thin breath between her pruple-blue lips.