A Dome of Blood

by Bella Forrest

  Isda gave me a soft nod, a smile flickering on her lips. “Yes. He sometimes takes Derek out in the sunlight. He thinks it’s a leisurely thing, as if he’s doing Derek a favor.”

  “If you ask me, I think Ta’Zan is still trying to get my approval, somehow,” Derek replied. “He sees some kind of kindred spirit in me, as a leader over hybrids. He doesn’t understand the fundamental differences between us, but he does feel the need to talk to me about it.”

  “Could we possibly use that to our advantage?” Rose asked.

  “Maybe,” Derek said. He looked at Isda. “Do you know when he’s coming for me?”

  “Not yet, but, after I’m done here, I’ll check,” Isda replied. “I saw Douma and Raphael, too. They’re okay and calm,” she added. “They’re collared and kept in individual glass boxes, with guards outside.”

  “We’re getting them out, too, when it’s time to roll, right?” Dmitri interjected, his brows furrowed and his expression clearly saying he wasn’t leaving without Douma.

  “I think Amal and Amane are best equipped to handle that,” Isda said.

  “Once the explosive charges are set, Araquiel will let us know,” Derek added. “He’ll notify the twins, too. From there on, it’ll be a race to get the bilocation spell going.”

  “I’ll crack the floor open,” Vesta replied.

  “I’ll help,” Ben said, giving her a confident smile.

  “Heck, count us in!” Lucas cut in, pointing a thumb at himself and Kailyn. “The more fae, the better, and we’ve got plenty in our ranks here!”

  I could no longer ignore the sore knot in my stomach. It made me feel uncomfortable, mainly because I knew it had something to do with my instincts. This was going a little too smoothly for my taste.

  “Does anyone else feel like this is too easy?” I muttered.

  It got me everyone’s attention, while Isda resumed the food dispensing, then made her way out of the diamond dome, accompanied by her fellow Faulties.

  “What do you mean?” Rose asked.

  “We usually bump into some kind of hurdle at this point,” I said. “Yet, nothing so far. I don’t know, I’m getting a bad feeling about this.”

  “What kind of bad feeling?” Nevis replied, concern drawing shadows under his icy blue eyes. “Did you see or hear something? A Perfect’s emotions, or something?”

  I shook my head. “No, nothing like that. It’s kind of hard to explain. A gut feeling, I guess. We’ve been through enough already for me to spot a pattern of sorts.”

  “Maybe you’re just really worried about what we’re about to do,” Grandma Claudia suggested. “It’s quite big and complex, honey. So many things could go wrong, I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

  “Nothing is set in stone here,” Nevis said to me. “It may look seamless now, while we’re in limbo, but a lot could go sideways when we start to roll out the second part of the plan.”

  Maybe he was right. Maybe it was just my concern clouding my judgment. We’d been dragged back so many times that I’d become accustomed to sticks and stones getting stuck in my wheels. Everything depended on this operation. We’d risked everything by turning ourselves in, and we were smack in the middle of enemy territory, under Ta’Zan’s watchful eye.

  “Rose? Elonora? Anyone there?” Harper’s voice came through the comms system.

  I could hear her clearly in my earpiece. “We’re here,” I said. “All of us. In the diamond dome. What’s the scoop?”

  “The fae ship is close to Strava now,” Harper replied. “They’ll stop and wait for your signal before they breach it.”

  “Stand by, then,” Ben said. “We’re waiting for the explosive charges to be set. Once we’re out and we detonate them, the fae will see their signal loud and clear.”

  “Okay, we’ll keep an eye on the colosseum just in case,” Harper replied, then a familiar click followed. The line was clear again.

  Nevis gently gripped my wrist and pulled me away from the group. We were still within earshot of the main conversation, but with enough privacy for him to cup my face and drop a sweet kiss on the tip of my nose.

  “Whatever it is that’s troubling you, Elonora, let it go,” he whispered.

  Gold blossomed around him, his aura mirroring everything he felt for me—and I, for him. I locked my arms around his neck, relishing the feel of his toned frame against my body.

  “There’s a lot of that,” I said. “I don’t think I can drop it all.”

  He smiled. “Don’t think of what’s coming as the next stage in saving the world. It might feel overwhelming. Think about it as the next stage in our relationship.”

  I blinked several times, confused by the concept. He chuckled softly.

  “What will you do to get the two of us together, forever, undisturbed by anyone?” he continued, then pressed his lips against mine for a moment. It gave me enough time to think of an answer.

  “Anything?”

  “Therefore, what will we do in order to get out of here and be together?” he asked, his eyes closed as he rested his forehead against mine. His warm breath tickled my face, and I realized, right then and there, that I’d never be able to define happiness without him, without his touch and his calm, low voice.

  “Everything,” I breathed, then tilted my head backward and kissed him.

  His heart thundered in his chest, sending echoes through mine. His lips were soft, the taste of him forever seared into my memory. I didn’t even notice his arms snaking and tightening around my waist, as he pulled me close and deepened the kiss.

  “Elonora, I will do anything, as long as you’re with me. I’ll endure everything, as long as I know that, at the end of it all, you’ll be waiting,” he said, covering my face with delicate kisses.

  “Just so we’re clear, I’m totally into the icy Athelathan weather, but I do hope we can slip out on the occasional tropical cruise once we’re done with this fresh hell,” I said breathlessly, prompting him to laugh lightly.

  He ran a hand through my hair, looking at me like I was the most precious thing in the world. “We’ll go wherever you want to go, Elonora. I’m afraid I’m far too addicted to be away from you, ever again.”

  How had we come to this? How deep could this bond between us be, if we were so emotionally dependent on each other already? In any other situation, I would’ve been concerned about how quickly I’d fallen for Nevis, but in this case, I had to admit I was thankful.

  I had him as my anchor, the rock I held on to when the waters got too choppy.

  “I can’t wait to see the look on your parents’ faces when they see you and the Snow Cone here together.” Grandma Claudia giggled from ten feet away.

  It was enough to make us take a polite step back and turn around to face her. I was sure Nevis and I both looked as though we were two teenagers, caught making out behind the bleachers during a football game. Grandma Claudia would’ve made a fine superintendent.

  “Yeah, me too,” Varga said, crossing his arms and grinning like a hungry daemon. He didn’t even need his vampire fangs out to send shivers down anyone’s spine. “I’ll bet you Dad will have Nevis take the Trials, just for kicks.”

  That made Grandpa Yuri laugh, maybe a little too hard for Varga’s comfort. “Wait until he has you take them.”

  It was enough to wipe the smile from my brother’s face.

  “I’d rather not think about that,” Varga muttered. “That throne is a long way from me right now.”

  “Yeah, I don’t see you taking the helm anytime in this century.” I chuckled.

  Nevis sighed. “Personally, I look forward to visiting Nevertide. And should Elonora’s father decide to put me through these… Trials, whatever they may be, I’ll gladly take them.”

  “Hah. Looks like you got yourself one bold fighter, Lenny!” Grandpa Yuri said.

  We all laughed this time, but our moment was short-lived.

  The double doors opened, and Ta’Zan entered, accompanied by two Perfect guard
s. It was only now that I got to notice the beautiful, bejeweled details on his silvery tunic. Diamonds clustered around his neck and on the sleeves—combined with the light refracted through the dome itself, it adorned Ta’Zan in a myriad of colorful lights, as if he’d stepped out of a dream.

  This splendor of his was a complete mismatch with the evil festering in his soul. I couldn’t, for the life of me, connect his beauty and elegance to the murders he’d committed, as well as the mass destruction he was about to unleash upon the universe. It just didn’t fit together in the same package.

  Even so, I braced myself. Ta’Zan was evil, and he showed no mercy, unless it served his agenda. With that in mind, I was able to take my eyes off him and focus on what he said.

  “Derek. I would like to talk to you. In private,” he demanded.

  We’d seen this coming, thanks to Isda, but Derek was quick enough to display some surprise. “What? Why? What could you possibly want to talk to me about?”

  “You’ll see, once you step outside with me,” Ta’Zan replied, then handed Derek a small pill. “Take this. We’re getting a breath of fresh air today. The sunset is particularly beautiful on the west side.”

  Derek looked at Sofia, then gave us an over-the-shoulder glance. He swallowed the pill and went outside with Ta’Zan and his two guards. The uneasiness of watching him go with our arch-nemesis took a toll on my body.

  My stomach growled, a dull pain spreading outward.

  “Sofia, is he going to be okay?” I asked. “I mean, I get that he’s gone on these walks with Ta’Zan before, but we hadn’t torn down his towers back then, nor had we blown up his ships.”

  Sofia sighed heavily. “I don’t know, Lenny. Ta’Zan has a soft spot for Derek, whether he wants to admit it or not. That much I could tell from my own conversations with the guy. I think that, even now, after we’ve repeatedly irked him, Ta’Zan still craves something that only Derek can give him. Whether it’s his approval or something else, I don’t know.”

  “It might work in our favor,” Ben replied. “I’m sure Dad knows it, too.”

  Sofia nodded. “He most certainly does. He’s kept things civil every time, for the most part.”

  “Until he took you, that is. Derek lost it, then,” Xavier chimed in.

  “I’m only worried about the timing here,” Lucas added, frowning. “Derek is out there with that bastard now, while our Perfect allies are planting bombs in the colosseum. It stinks.”

  Lucas was right. It could throw a wrench in our plan, if Ta’Zan didn’t bring Derek back soon. We had to get ready for the bilocation spell, and we all needed to be present in order for the magical copies to be created. Sofia gasped, then covered her mouth, as she probably thought of leaving this place without Derek. That was suddenly a possibility.

  Looking at Nevis, I had to accept the hard truth he’d uttered earlier. Anything could go wrong, at any moment. Nothing was going smoothly in this operation. Derek leaving with Ta’Zan was the first sign of trouble.

  More was bound to pop up, and we all had to adapt.

  Derek

  Ta’Zan’s timing couldn’t have been worse.

  Still, I couldn’t refuse his so-called invitation, which was an order, anyway. I couldn’t let him get suspicious of me or my people. Everything had to proceed as usual. I’d go out with him, he’d tell me something to further chip away at my resolve, I’d bask in the sun for a bit, thanks to his special pills, and then I’d go back to the diamond dome.

  I had my earpiece on, discreetly nestled beneath my growing hair, and I made sure to stay on his right side, so he wouldn’t spot it by accident. The best I could do, at this point, was to try and keep this conversation short. The sooner I got back to the dome, the faster we’d set up the bilocation spell.

  “Rose, Derek?” Araquiel’s voice came through the earpiece, just as I walked up the stairs with Ta’Zan, headed for the upper levels.

  “Araquiel! We’re here,” my daughter replied. “Talk to me.”

  “We’re inside. I’ll let you know when all the charges are set,” Araquiel said.

  “Roger that,” Rose replied.

  “Roger what?” Araquiel asked, and I had to press my lips into a thin line to stifle a chuckle. The Perfect knew nothing of our radio lingo.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Ben came through the comms channel. “Do what you have to do. We’ll be waiting.”

  Ta’Zan’s low voice ripped me from the conversation altogether. “Something on your mind, Derek?”

  He was carefully watching me, standing at the top of the stairs. I’d fallen behind, so I climbed the rest of the stairs to reach him.

  “Yeah. Just wondering why you wanted me out,” I replied. “You said you had something to tell me, if I’m not mistaken, and you’ve yet to do that.”

  Ta’Zan smirked. “I would’ve expected you to at least thank me for sparing Sofia’s life, before anything else. I believe it’s called common sense.”

  My blood was already boiling, but it didn’t feel like rage, per se. I was a tad lightheaded, too, and my breathing was faster than usual. My body wasn’t all mine—or, at least, that was the impression I had. I couldn’t help but wonder if it had something to do with that sunlight pill he’d given me. But I didn’t want Ta’Zan to perceive any kind of weakness on my part.

  “There’s no common sense required, since you’re the one who took Sofia from me in the first place,” I retorted.

  “I value this friendship between us, Derek. Please don’t let your pride soil it,” he said, then continued walking.

  We stopped at the bottom of the last set of stairs leading up to the terrace. The only thing left between me and pure sunshine. A sliding door had been mounted horizontally above it, operating on a motion sensor. As soon as Ta’Zan climbed the first step, the door slid back, and the raw, unfiltered sunlight came through, warming my skin in a most pleasant way.

  “Whatever friendship you thought we had was gone the moment your goon, Cassiel, put a knife to my wife’s throat,” I replied, gritting my teeth. “You’ve done nothing but harm, and you have zero compassion, even for your own creations.”

  “Compassion is unnecessary,” Ta’Zan returned, then stopped at the top of the stairs and took a deep breath. He seemed to enjoy being outside. Or maybe he was doing this to mock me, to remind me that it was only thanks to him that I was capable of being outside like this. “Love. Compassion. Empathy. All fictional and useless. I have no need for such trivial emotions in my world. And neither do my children.”

  “You wouldn’t understand love, anyway,” I said, looking around at the vast jungle framing the colosseum for miles. Beyond the layer of green was the turquoise ocean, sprinkled with more islands, each with a colosseum of its own—as beautiful as I remembered it from my last outing. Such a shame that it was home to all this vileness. “You lacked it from the very beginning.”

  Ta’Zan frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “A mother. You never had one, did you?” I asked, and Ta’Zan shook his head. “A mother would’ve taught you all about love and empathy. You wouldn’t have considered them useless, then.”

  “My father, my creator, taught me everything I needed to know,” Ta’Zan replied. “His lessons pushed me forward to become the leader I am today. I doubt love would’ve made a difference when I was clearly destined for greatness.”

  We started walking along the edge of the colosseum, passing several guards as we headed toward the south side. The wind brushed through the trees and caressed my face. For a moment, I forgot Ta’Zan was even there, until he decided to talk some more.

  “Derek, my army of Arch-Perfects is almost complete,” he said. “Our ships will be fully functional by the next full moon. The Perfects are currently mining for serium to power them. I’ve managed to combine your designs with my magi-tech. The end result will impress you.”

  “I guarantee you it won’t,” I answered. “Nothing created for death and destruction could possibly impress
me. Its beauty and ingenuity are immediately canceled out by its purpose. But you wouldn’t be able to understand that because you’re too wrapped up in your delusions of grandeur.”

  “Once we take flight, we’ll start with our galaxy. There are other inhabited planets in Meahiri. I’ll take them, one by one, until it’s all… Perfect.”

  “It’s like you’re not even listening to what I’m saying,” I murmured, shaking my head in dismay. My arms and legs felt a little weak, and my skin tingled. This was different from my last exposure. Not worse or better but… different. “What’s in the pill you gave me?”

  Ta’Zan raised an eyebrow at me. “Nothing I didn’t use before. Why?”

  “Just curious. You never gave me the recipe to begin with. I could get used to all this sunshine.”

  “Stay with me willingly, and you will,” Ta’Zan replied, smiling.

  I scoffed. “You’re a piece of work, you know that? What do you want from me, exactly? What possible reason could you have to keep me around? Do you need my approval for something? Do you want me as a pet? What is it?”

  Ta’Zan stilled, his eyes wide as he stared at me. “Can’t I simply enjoy your company, Derek? I told you before, you and I are very much alike, whether you want to admit it or not.”

  “You never want anything if it doesn’t serve your agenda, and you’re nothing like me, Ta’Zan. I have a family. I understand love. I foster peace, not war under the false pretense of peace. You and I are diametrically opposed, in every single aspect of life,” I said.

  Heavy silence settled between us. Minutes went by as I wondered what his endgame was. The whole “pleasure of my company” excuse was a load of crap. Ta’Zan wanted something from me, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to give it to him. He’d threatened to kill my wife. He’d had Cassiel murder one of my people in front of me. His sins were unforgivable, and there was nothing he had that could warrant some kind of compromise on my part.

  At this point, I just wanted to get the hell out of here and get back in the diamond dome. Our bilocation spell was waiting, and I had no intention of staying behind while everyone else fled the colosseum. I wanted to put some distance between Ta’Zan and me, so I could plan an effective attack and obliterate him, once and for all. For the time being, I was vulnerable. The collar around my neck was already warm, picking up on my brainwaves.