by Anna Carven
She had to do this, even if it meant going into a situation where her life might be at risk.
She sent a burst of energy through their bond, trying to pull Imril back. Damn it, Imril. You’re not fucking allowed to die on me.
Mael turned to Sara, and impossibly, his expression softened. “Go downstairs, Sara. Tell the Vradhu and the humans to get inside the vault. You must be the first to go inside. When I take Esania through to the other side, the shadowveil will fall, and you will be vulnerable until I return.”
“The vault?” For a moment, Sara looked mildly horrified, but then she managed to pull herself together, a determined look entering her eyes.
“Don’t be afraid,” Mael said, his voice low and reassuring. “The Vradhu are competent warriors, and they’ll have no trouble defending you once you’re inside the vault. I will return as soon as possible.” For the first time, Esania heard a sliver of worry in his voice. Menacing, intimidating Mael was actually worried enough to let it show. “Go now, Sara.”
“We have to go,” she urged. “He’s—”
“I know.” He rose to his feet, his tail waving behind him. Mael closed his eyes and took a deep breath. As soon as he opened them again, bright sunlight shot through the high windows, bathing them in blinding light. Esania gasped and shielded her eyes.
A deep, shuddering sigh escaped Mael’s lips, and it was as if a great weight had been lifted from him. “The shadowveil is gone,” he said quietly. “Let’s go.”
“You better come back, Mael,” Sara said forcefully, shooting him a glare before turning toward the exit. “And bring my girl back to me in one piece.” She met Esania’s eyes for a second, giving her a nod. “Right. The vault. I’m out of here. You’re coming back with Imril, okay, Esania? You’re coming back.”
“We are coming back,” Esania repeated, using the words like a mantra, hoping that just by saying them, they would somehow come true.
Mael did something with his hands, a look of intense concentration crossing his features. A tiny speck of shadow appeared in front of him, growing larger and larger until it was just big enough for a person to fit through. Shadows rose all around him, snaking, writhing tendrils of darkness that seemed like they could consume her whole and make her disappear forever.
A ripple of unease crawled over her skin, entering the pit of her belly, sinking deep into her bones. Suddenly, Esania felt cold all over. She could feel the flow of her vir as Mael drew upon it, using it to create this monstrous dark portal.
He was feeding from her, and he felt so different to Imril. Where Imril’s touch was warm, gentle, seductive, an irresistible caress, Mael was cold. Forceful. All-consuming. Darkness incarnate. She was being sucked into his endless vortex.
Mael’s darkness closed in around her, and suddenly, Esania was terrified. Her breath caught in her throat. Her heart hammered like a butterfly in a cage. Her body was frozen.
Nothing, nothing could have prepared her for this.
It was a deep, primal, human thing, and all the logic in the Universe couldn’t guard against this terrible feeling.
What the hell are you, Mael?
Imril’s brother. Wrought from the very same stuff as her lover.
Mael turned to her, beckoning with one hand. “Come, Imril’s lukara. I will take you to him.”
Even his voice had changed, becoming deep and powerful and resonant.
The shadows wrapped around her, and everything felt wrong. Esania tried to scream, but nothing came out. She forgot who she was, where she was.
She was nothing, a tiny insignificant speck in the endless Universe.
Nothing.
Mael’s arms closed around her, and suddenly they were falling, and Esania started to lose her mind.
She screamed, but her voice was swallowed by the endless void. The only thing tethering her to this reality was the cold fire that burned through her elgida.
I’m coming, Imril.
Chapter Forty-Three
Whoosh.
There was something hard and cold beneath her. Esania blinked, trying to find her bearings.
Where am I? What just happened?
Darkness surrounded her. She sat up and looked around wildly. Behind her, something—someone—let out great shuddering breaths.
He coughed. He gasped.
Mael.
He took me through, I don’t know…
A portal? Had Mael created a portal through time? Through space?
Anything was possible on Khira. Just like the Medusa had done when it ripped through the Netherverse, they’d skipped through time and space, only Mael could somehow accomplish such a thing using his will alone.
But Esania didn’t care about all that now.
“Where is he?” she demanded, feeling her way around on the floor, totally blind in the darkness. There was a strange smell in here; the smell of cinder and ash and death. “Imril?”
She could feel his life ebbing away through their bond, but the sensation of closeness was palpable.
He was here!
“Imril!”
No response.
But a familiar sensation crept over her, even as Mael backed away.
Her vir was drifting toward him. Even though he was unresponsive, his body was absorbing her energy. Esania latched onto the sensation and followed it.
Her elgida started to throb again.
He’s here!
Her bare hands slid over something impossibly smooth and yet hard at the same time, like velvet over steel.
His body.
Cold!
Imril had always felt blissfully warm, and now his body was cold. As she ran her hands over him, guided only by touch, her vir flowed into him, becoming a powerful torrent.
Stars, he was weaker than ever. What had happened here?
“Imril, wake up,” she pleaded. “Wake up!”
In the background, Mael’s breathing was harsh and labored, and he groaned deeply, as if in pain. Despite his obvious suffering, he stayed strictly outside her radius, not drawing on her vir at all.
Esania barely noticed. She was entirely focused on Imril, on his still, lifeless form. She couldn’t detect a heartbeat. He didn’t even breathe. The only thing giving her hope was the fact that he continued to draw upon her vir.
She ran her hands over the powerful contours of his body. He was naked; she couldn’t feel any remaining traces of his dark armor. Her fingers met the bony curve of one of his wings. Imril was lying on his side, curled up in the fetal position, his wings outstretched. That was as much as she could make out in the darkness.
Something warm and wet and sticky seeped through the thin fabric of her dress. Blood? Was this his blood?
But she couldn’t see a thing.
“Mael, help me,” she said softly as she found the strong curve of his jaw. Her fingers traced over soft lips, over proud cheekbones and his imposing brow, finally reaching his soft hair. “I need to see what’s going on.”
There was a pause, then…
“I can’t bring the light,” Mael whispered, his voice cracking. “Only he can. If I come close to you as I am now, I will take all of your energy. He needs it more than I.”
Esania’s right hand was really throbbing now, the skin under her elgida growing hot. The sensation wasn’t unpleasant though, just… strange.
The silence stretched between them, punctuated only by the quiet sounds of Mael’s suffering.
“Traveling through the void really hit you hard, huh?” The words came out as if she were in some sort of surreal trance. She lay down on her side next to Imril, facing him, not caring that his blood seeped through her clothes. Esania placed her hand on his chest, willing her strength into him, even as she grew weaker.
“I’ve never taken another through the void. Even when I’m on my own, it’s a supremely difficult and dangerous feat. I didn’t know if it was possible.”
“But you took me anyway?” Perhaps Esania should have been angry, but she wasn’t.<
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“I had no choice.”
“You would have risked my life… for him?”
“He is my brother.”
Perhaps Esania should have felt chilled to the bone that Mael could so easily sacrifice her life, but instead she felt relieved and strangely grateful.
“If my concentration had lapsed even just for the shortest time, I would have been lost, too.”
Oh.
Esania ran her fingers over Imril’s powerful chest, desperately wanting him to wake up. We’re just fumbling in the dark without you, Imril. Wake up!
Then his chest moved. Up. Down.
He coughed.
A breath!
Hope surged in her chest.
“He’s alive,” Mael rasped. There was a note of relief in his voice. “My brother isn’t so easily killed.”
“When you first encountered each other in the tower room… why did you fight like that? I got the feeling you were trying to kill each other.”
Imril’s arm twitched. Esania curled her fingers around his powerful biceps. He’s alive!
“After I escaped the Hythra, I was mad. Utterly mad. I did some bad things to my brother and his people.”
Imril’s arm moved again. Suddenly, it was curled around Esania’s body, fitting perfectly into the curve of her waist, squeezing tightly, his muscles flexing.
He’s alive.
A soft groan escaped his lips. His head shifted, moving closer to hers. His sensual lips met her forehead, and he kissed her gently. “I think you just redeemed yourself, Mael,” he rumbled, and Esania snuggled closer, the flow of her vir a rich, unstoppable torrent.
Yours. It’s all yours, Imril.
His hand closed around hers, and he sent a gentle stream of power through her elgida. Warmth spread through her body, suffusing every part of her, from her hand right down to her toes.
She closed her eyes and sighed in relief as she grew weaker still, as Imril’s undeniable need consumed her.
So tired…
So weak, and yet she was ecstatic.
He’s alive!
“And you are incredible,” he murmured, his powerful arm tightening around her body.
Esania let herself be consumed by him, not caring that her strength was fading away.
He kissed her on the lips; a long, slow, lingering kiss that made her want to surrender everything. His hands were everywhere, velvet-tipped fingers running over her shoulders, her neck, face, her hair.
Gentle. Reverent.
He kissed her again, and a soft glow sparked between them, illuminating Imril’s face. She stared into golden eyes that held thousands of years of longing.
But there was something else there too, something raw and pure and innocent.
Imril went very still, his gaze piercing right through her. “I’ve done some terrible things in my life, Esania. I have been merciless and immoral and I’ve killed far too easily. This… what you see here is the aftermath of my ignorance, my recklessness.”
“Why are you saying this to me?”
“Because now I understand.”
“Oh?”
“The value of an existence.”
“You only get one, you know.”
“I only want one.”
Esania’s heart fluttered as a thousand and one questions raced through her mind. “That’s easy enough for someone as old as you to say. What’s the average lifespan of your species, anyway?”
“I don’t know.” Somehow, he managed to look apologetic. “Our sire only told us what he wanted us to know. There are so many gaps in our knowledge.”
“Well, my kind only live for a hundred-and-thirty years or so, so you have to make the most of it.”
He was going to outlive her, perhaps by thousands of years, and yet here they were, lying on the floor and staring into each other’s eyes, contemplating the meaning of their existence.
“No,” Imril growled, pulling her closer. “When it’s complete, the elgida binds your soul to mine. You will live for as long as I do.”
So I’ll live for thousands of years… perhaps longer?
The thought was both thrilling and terrifying. “You didn’t tell me that when you started.”
“Is that an objection?”
“No. All of this… it’s just a lot to take in.”
“Nothing you can’t handle, though.”
“True.” Since landing on Khira, she’d been forced to deal with all kinds of stressful and terrifying situations, and somehow, she’d survived.
And now she had a fierce, fire-wielding Drakhin all to herself.
Hardly able to believe her luck, Esania ran her hand over his chest, her fingers gliding over the smooth surface as she admired his perfectly honed form. Her hand dropped lower, tracing over impossibly well developed abdominal muscles, until she felt…
Blood.
“You’re hurt,” she whispered, bringing her fingers up to her face. Bright cerulean blood glistened on her fingertips.
“Almost killed me,” Imril whispered, a faint smile curving his lips. “Maybe this was the reason I had to start the elgida before I left you.”
Esania shuddered. “I wouldn’t have felt it, otherwise. I wouldn’t have known that you were hurt…” Dying. Now she understood how he was able to read her so easily. If her vir gave away just a fraction of the emotion she felt from him, then she was an open book.
There were no secrets between them.
Not now, not ever.
Imril held her tightly, shifting one massive wing so it curved over her body, enclosing her in a protective cocoon. “Fate,” he whispered. “You came to me for a reason. You’re mine now.”
As her energy melded with his, as he drank from her until her limbs grew heavy and her eyelids drooped from sheer exhaustion, Esania closed her eyes and let go, allowing him to possess her completely.
She never thought she’d ever allow another being to have such complete power over her, but right now, she didn’t care.
She could feel his emotions; a rich, dark, complicated song of shadow and light that radiated from his body, growing stronger and stronger as he drained her vir.
He would never hurt her. He would never abuse this power he had over her. She knew it with absolute certainty, because they were bonded.
And the most astonishing thing of all… the most sublime, impossible, wonderful emotion coming from him right now?
Love.
Chapter Forty-Four
Imril was careful not to cast light over Nykithus’s charred remains as he guided Esania out of the chamber. She walked slowly but confidently, staying just far enough behind him that he couldn’t drink any more of her vir.
He’d taken enough from her already, and although he could return some strength to her in the form of power, at this stage the elgida wasn’t developed enough to be able to truly merge her energy with his.
When he was done with her, she would be a creature of energy and light, able to tap into the vast power he generated from her vir, and she would be as long-lived as he.
The science of energy transfer was complicated and mysterious. Acheros had told Imril only the necessary details; that females of certain species were conduits to the rich veins of living energy—vir—that ran through the Universe.
Females gave life. They nurtured it. They were life itself, and Imril was just a tool, a weapon; able to take her glorious energy, amplify it, and turn it into something physical.
He turned and met her gaze, and she found the strength to smile back at him, even though she was clearly exhausted.
“You’re beautiful,” he murmured, unable to help himself. This euphoria… he’d never felt anything like it. They were still deep in the bowels of Nykithus’s eyrie. He was weak, recovering from a near-fatal stab wound in his belly, and his scale-armor had burned away, leaving him completely exposed, but he was ecstatic.
He was alive, and he was with his lukara. That was all that mattered.
Color rose in her cheeks, a
subtle, delicious shade of dusky pink that made her dewy skin look even more appealing.
He just wanted to devour her whole.
Every. Last. Morsel.
“Imril,” she whispered, and it was both a plea and a half-hearted protest. “You’re hurt. I’m exhausted. We need to find Rachel. We need to get out of here.”
“I know that, but can’t a man just take a moment to appreciate his good fortune? Don’t worry, Mael has already gone in search of your human.” Maybe his belly wound had stopped bleeding because all the blood was currently pooling in his cock. He had an erection again, and it was sheer torture.
How much longer did he have to endure this insanity? Imril vowed to finish creating his elgida as soon as possible. He could just picture Esania in his mind, his mark decorating every curve and plane of her glorious body, his power filling the intricate channels he’d carved in her skin.
Only then could he truly claim her, taste her, possess her.
Esania stopped dead in her tracks and stared at him, her expression unreadable. Being just outside the radius of her vir, he couldn’t read her so well, but he could feel the undercurrent of her desire through the bond.
It drove him mad. Imril gritted his teeth, his nostrils flaring. He was just going to have to endure it.
“It’s driving me crazy too,” she said at last, her lips parting to give him a tantalizing glimpse of her sweet pink tongue. “But don’t get ahead of yourself, big boy. I’m just glad you’re alive.”
“Yes.” Oh, how he wanted to go to her, to take her into his arms and fly away, to leave this monstrous dark city and its terrible memories behind.
But he couldn’t touch her. Not yet. Because he was a monster, and right now his touch would do more harm than good. The elgida wasn’t strong enough yet.
Imril beckoned to her. Come. “I’m yours, Esania. I’ll do anything for you. Anything you desire… anything.”
“Then let’s find Rachel, and then… I want you to take me home.”
Home.
Now that was something he hadn’t thought about in a long time. Where was home? In Kunlo’s decaying eyrie? In the abandoned halls of Eleia, his lofty eyrie above the waves?