Wicked Glory

by Gladden, DelSheree

  Somewhere in the back of my mind, I do appreciate him rescuing me, but I am too far gone to really process it. I turn back to the fight, expecting another attack, but I stop in my tracks and stare as Oscar strides comfortably into the middle of the fray completely untouched. Noah slips up next to me. I think he says something, but I don’t hear a word. My attention is focused solely on Oscar, and I realize that I’m not the only one. Dozens of fights that broke out between Godling and the Eroi that followed us after I attacked James all slowly come to a stop.

  It takes me a minute to realize that it isn’t just Oscar that is drawing everyone’s attention. I was too fixated on saving Zander when I first ran into the circle at full throttle that I didn’t even think to consider where David might be. Now I know. He walks as confidently as Oscar, maybe even more so, but I know his is largely overconfidence. Oscar’s is not.

  I am one of the few people in this world who has seen Oscar use his power, and even I know I have only seen a fraction of his strength. Fear and anticipation of what is about to happen is enough to blast away the emptiness. I take a step closer to Noah, my eyes furtively scanning the immediate area for Ketchup. He and Ivy were ordered to stay out of the fight, along with Noah—who clearly didn’t listen—but I know they must be here somewhere. I spot Ketchup on the opposite side of the circle as David comes to a stop in front of Oscar.

  I’m sure the next thing everyone expects is to see Oscar and David clash in a Titanesque brawl, but a rustling from behind him snaps Oscar’s eyes away from his foe. All eyes follow his as James attempts to cheap shot Zander with a knife to the back. Nobody moves to stop him when he is suddenly right next to James. The entire compound is silent as he grabs James by his neck and rips the knife from his hand. It pings against the cobblestones that are largely torn to bits from James and Zander’s fight.

  Nobody makes a sound as their eyes meet. Oscar is only a few inches taller than James is, but he has his feet dangling above the ground. I have never seen Oscar so angry in my entire life. His eyes are burning with fury, and every single person in the compound knows James is about to pay the price. No one breathes. No one even blinks.

  Everyone hears the snap.

  James’ body drops to the ground, the sound of dead weight hitting stone echoing through the courtyard.

  Shock is plastered across every face but David’s. He is the only one smiling, the only one who seemed to be expecting everything. He takes a step toward Oscar, but a sound he was not expecting snaps his head around. Isolde’s heels click across the stones. If everyone was stunned at Oscar’s quick dispatching of James, they are positively shaken by David’s reaction to the slender, icy demon that is Isolde.

  I actually step back from them in fear, grabbing Noah for support. Every Godling in the inner circle can feel David’s hunger rising to a brutal level. I have seen him angry. I have even seen him furious. I have never seen David like this. His body is rigid with fury. It almost seems to ripple around him, making everyone take a step back. Oscar is the only one who seems bored by the whole exchange.

  Stepping between the two, Oscar rolls his head in her direction. “Isolde who is made of ice, what makes you think I will let you interrupt my revenge?”

  “Revenge?” she asks, her lips curling up at the edges. There is something sickly seductive in her glance as she turns just enough to meet Oscar’s gaze without losing sight of David. “I thought this was about glory?”

  Oscar’s eyes narrow by the smallest amount. “David can keep his wicked glory. I have no use for it.” Oscar takes a lazy step closer to Isolde, close enough to take a strand of her long, blonde hair between his fingers. He lets it run through his fingers as he steps away. “Hunger, power, glory. I don’t need any of it. But I will have the wicked revenge I desire. His life is mine, little ice queen.”

  Instead of being irritated by the nickname, Isolde only smirks at him. “I have not come here to stop you, only to watch.”

  “Enough!” David shouts. “Enough of this! She is the one who deserves death! She is the one…” David snaps his mouth closed as he continues to glare holes through Isolde.

  “I am the one who what?” she says slowly.

  David shakes his head violently. His scarlet face looks ready to explode. “She is the reason this war continues!” he screams. “She is the one who should die! She is everything we have fought against! Kill her! Kill her!”

  Not a single soul moves.

  Folding her arms across her chest, Isolde smiles a cruel smile. “Godlings follow strength, David, and you have never had as much as you claimed. If you want me dead, you must kill me yourself.”

  “She is The Watcher!” David shrieks.

  I have no clue what that means, but Noah is suddenly dragging me backwards, cursing with every step. I see other people backing away in fear, some outright running, but Zander stays a few steps behind Oscar, who, of course, look like he couldn’t possibly be more bored.

  “Isolde,” Oscar drawls, popping the “D” at the end of her name as if he finds it amusing, “if you feel so inclined to watch, do so at a distance, though I suspect I will be coming for you next.”

  She finally looks away from a furious David and flashes a terrifying smile at my brother. “You can certainly try,” she says as she takes a step back.

  David finally loses it. He springs at Isolde, blazing fury bursting out of him as his hunger rages. She doesn’t move an inch. Every step he takes seems to be made in slow motion. My heart beats once in the time it takes him to cover half the distance to the woman he hates more than anything else in this world. The only thing that seems to be moving at a normal pace, strangely, is Ivy as she runs straight for Oscar.

  I try to stop her, thinking she means to interfere, but Noah wraps me up and tackles me to the ground. I fight against him without taking my eyes off her, but confusion slaps me in the face as she falls to her knees at Oscar’s side. The exact second before David slams into Isolde, Oscar’s fingers clamp down around his neck and he whips David’s body away from her as if he were a ragdoll. Another monstrous impact rocks the courtyard as David slams into the stones and dirt.

  The force knocked Zander to the ground, but he scrambles back to his feet as he sees Oscar reach for Ivy. He might have made it to her if not for the sudden influx of power and hunger that rips through the circle. Even Noah is so stunned that he forgets to hold onto me. I stumble up to my feet, but as the ground begins to shake beneath us, we struggle to keep our footing. I’ve barely gotten my balance when a supernova of white-hot power swells out of Oscar’s hands.

  The screaming starts immediately. The running begins only a second later. Noah and I cling to each other as terrified Eroi and Godlings alike sprint away from the massive explosion they know is about the tear apart the courtyard. Noah is screaming at me that we should run, but my feet are rooted to the spot as Oscar’s hand leaves David’s chest, only to come crashing back down a split second later. Power engulfs them both, incinerating David’s body in a flash of light and pain. Everyone still standing is blown from their feet. Only Oscar and Ivy are unaffected by the torrent of power, yet the second Oscar release his grip on her, her body begins to fall.

  Chapter Thirty-Five: Weight

  (Zander)

  I am frozen as I watch her eyes roll back in her head. My feet start moving the second she begins to fall. Somewhere in the back of my mind, memory pulls my thoughts toward Oscar, to the insane amount of power he just expended, but Ivy consumes my focus. I slide to my knees, reaching out, catching her head before it hits the stones. The impact jars her. She gasps in a breath, but it is fragile and frail.

  “Ivy. Ivy!” I practically shout in her face. I want to shake her, make her look at me, but I’m terrified of moving her. “Ivy, please,” I beg. “Open your eyes.”

  The courtyard is quiet as Oscar gets up from his crouch next to David’s destroyed body and walks toward me. Filled to the brim with fury, I round on him. “What did you do to her?” I screa
m.

  I expect a flippant answer, a shrug that will send my fist flying into his mouth. Instead, Oscar kneels down beside me and rests his hand gently on the side of Ivy’s pale face. “I did nothing to harm her. The choice was hers.”

  Everyone else suddenly converges on us. Van drops to her knees at my side, her eyes wide and brimming with uncertainty, while Noah comes to a slow stop behind her. Ketchup is right behind them. He slams into Van from the opposite direction and wraps her up in his protective arms, staring down at Ivy in confusion. Annabelle is the last to reach us. Her small hand drops to my shoulder in comfort, but she is quiet as she takes in Ivy’s unmoving body.

  I look up at Oscar, pleading for a better explanation, but a tiny movement from the girl in my arms steals my focus. “Ivy?” I beg. My eyes skim over her, searching for some sign that I hadn’t imagined it. My heart nearly stops when I see her fingers twitch. A moment later, her eyes flutter open, but she only manages to lift them halfway.

  “Zander,” she whispers, “I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry for what?” I ask as I stroke her hair back from her face.

  She tries to smile, but her body is too weak to complete the effort. “For… not being… stronger for you.”

  A tear slips past her eyelid and runs down her cheek. Brushing it away quickly, I shake my head at her. “No, no. You are strong. You’re okay. You’re going to be okay.”

  Her eyes close and more tears fall. “No,” she says so faintly I can barely hear her. “I… made my… choice.”

  “Your choice?” I press my hand to her face to try and keep her awake. “Your choice about what?”

  The effort it takes for her to smile up at me through her tears breaks my heart. “The meaning… of my death.”

  “No, Ivy, please.” My hand starts shaking as it brushes away more tears. “I’m not ready to say goodbye. Please, just hold on. It’s not over yet.”

  She shakes her head slowly. Her cold, trembling fingers touch my arm briefly before falling back to her side in weakness. Oscar’s touch is as soft as a lamb as he tenderly picks up Ivy’s hand and places it on mine. The movement seems to hurt her. Pain flashes in her eyes, but Oscar closes his own eyes, rouses his hunger, and takes it all away, making her smile so weakly that it kills me.

  “The Richiamos are not meant to lure Godlings to their deaths,” Oscar says softly. “They are meant to soak up the pain of others, taking it from those they touch to ease their suffering, to hold it until we can access it, make it into something better.”

  Ivy’s chest convulses, her hand tightens around mine for just a moment. “Not to… kill,” she pleads.

  Oscar shakes his head. His kind expression calms her, and I am thankful for it.

  “Then for what?” Noah asks.

  “I do not yet know,” Oscar replies without looking away from her. He only breaks his attention away from Ivy to look up at me. “She made her choice. A brave choice. It is to be respected.”

  His words break me. There is nothing I can do to save her. He knows. He knows because he took what was left of her life to end David’s threat, protecting us all from his madness and obsession. I shake my head as tears roll down my cheeks. He didn’t take it from her. She gave it willingly. She knew what it would cost her, yet she gave the last of her short life to save mine. To save all of our lives. My whole body convulses as I pull her fully into my arms.

  “I love you,” Ivy whispers. “I always have.”

  Curling around her, I rock her body back and forth with mine. “I love you, too, Ivy. I’m so sorry, so sorry.”

  “I’m not,” she says softly.

  I press my lips to her forehead and close my eyes. There are so many things left to say, but not a single one can slip past my ravaged emotions.

  “Please,” Ivy whispers, “save Sonya.” They are the last words to pass her lips before her body finally gives out. She sinks into my arms, the weight of her sacrifice forever mine to carry.

  Nobody stops me from cradling her in my arms. Not a soul makes a sound as I hold her. I fought so hard to be with her, only to be betrayed by her, but even more, by those who pitted us against each other. I fought so hard to hate her after that betrayal. It should have been easy, but the truth complicated everything. I tried to understand it all before time ran out. I would have saved her if I could have. I wanted to save her. I believe what I told her, that if our worlds had not been so twisted and wrong, we might have had a chance to at least be friends.

  Annabelle’s hand tightens on my shoulder, trying to ease my pain. I love Annabelle, and I will spend my life trying to make her happy, but I was lying to myself when I tried to pass off what I felt for Ivy as nothing. Every ounce of hatred I once had for her is gone, leaving only loss and love. Oscar’s words echo in my mind. Her choice deserves respect.

  Everything the Eroi put her through deserves vengeance. It is suddenly impossible for me to think of anything other than making sure her life, her death, meant something. She was found and taken by the Eroi as a toddler, controlled, made into a weapon, forced into a role she never wanted. Survival meant swallowing their lies, accepting their edicts. When she fell in love, death for us both seemed to be the only option.

  I don’t blame her for that any longer.

  I blame the ones who tried to remake her into something she was never meant to be.

  The thought that any other child should be ripped from their family and home repulses me. Ivy lost so much. They promised her an end to the pain, but all they really gave her was a way to torture herself mercilessly, for years. The Eroi took away her family in payment for their so-called salvation. The people who promised to save her took everything from her in the end but her right to choose the meaning of her life, the purpose behind her death. Pressing her to my chest one more time, I breathe out slowly, determined to live up to her gift.

  “There are others like her,” I say, drying my face with the back of my hand.

  “There are,” Oscar says as he stands and surveys the wreckage. His eyes pass over the huddled, terrified groups of Godlings, the ruined courtyard, and what is left of David’s body, just as everyone else’s eyes do the same. “We’ll find them,” Oscar promises, “and we won’t let any more of them be used as weapons.”

  Annabelle kneels down beside me, taking my free hand in hers. “That will mean going up against Isolde and the other Eroi leaders,” she says softly.

  Fire races through me, snapping my eyes up. “Where is she?” I seethe. “Where is Isolde?”

  Everyone seems startled by the question, but as their eyes search for the woman David claimed was responsible for this war, we are all left with nothing but questions.

  Chapter Thirty-Six: The Matchmaker

  (Zander)

  Everyone is on their feet, searching for any sign of her. For any sign of the Eroi at all. I sit, holding Ivy’s body, as the realization slowly sinks in. They are gone. Every last one of them are gone.

  “Where did they go?” Van shrieks.

  Annabelle’s panic has her turning every which way. She stays near me though, as if she’s afraid I will fall apart if she gets too far away from me. Ketchup and Noah are pushing through the crowds of hapless Godlings and bodies left carelessly untended on the ground. They search, but they find nothing. None of the Godlings seems to know when or how the Eroi disappeared. Like me, they were too focused on David, and on the aftermath of Oscar’s power.

  Only Oscar stands still. Less than a foot from me, I hear his voice clearly as he says, “I can’t go back this time, little brother.”

  My nod is slow. “They probably already know you’re gone anyway.”

  “I don’t know if you and Van should go back either.”

  “If we don’t, we’ll all be fugitives.” I sigh and look down at Ivy’s lifeless form. “It won’t be that big of a surprise that you escaped the hospital. They’ll question Van and me, but we’ll lie, play at being distraught, and they’ll go away and put your picture on the news. No o
ne wants to harass the orphans whose grandmother is dying.”

  Oscar nods, agreeing. His lack of argument is somewhat disturbing, but I choose not to comment. I can tell by his expression that there are a million thoughts running through his mind. There are at least double that running through mine right now, but I suspect his and mine are quite different.

  “Do you think…?” Oscar’s mouth twitches. His hands clench into fists, though out of nerves and not anger. “Will she give me a chance?”

  I reach up and take my brother’s hand in mine. “Emily loves you, Oscar. Of course she’ll want to be with you. So will Joshua.”

  The twitching worsens as he tries to hold his emotions in check. His lips part to say something else, but snap shut again as the others run back to us. They aren’t the only ones. The Godlings who didn’t run, maybe who didn’t know where else to run, slowly crowd in around us. I realize then that Isolde was right. Godlings follow power. Whether that is right or not, all eyes turn toward the white-haired wildings in their midst.

  Oscar is suddenly back to business. Catching Ketchup’s eyes first, he asks, “Any sign of them?”

  Ketchup shakes his head. “Everyone was too stunned by your crazy fireworks and watching their manic leader bite the dust, rather literally, to have noticed them sneaking away.”

  “Who were the runners?” Oscar demands. The way his eyes narrow and his mouth twists in disgust makes everyone here very glad they stayed put.

  “Mainly David’s people,” Van answers, “except… Chris didn’t run.” She frowns, as though she isn’t sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

  “Wounded?”

  Annabelle fields this one, nodding slowly. “None too serious, though. They’ll either heal on their own or the medical staff will take care of the injuries easily.”