Born of Blood and Ash

I leaned in, my lips brushing the curve of her ear. “There is no room for forgiveness and fairness. I’m the reaction to your past actions. I am the consequence.” Tendrils of eather rose from the floor. Strands of pure energy swirled around us. “You should be grateful, Veses.”

“Really?” she gasped.

“A part of me wanted to make your death last for years—for the length of the deal you made with my husband. I wanted you to feel every painful, choking second of desperation and humiliation. I wanted to witness your pleas turning to silent screams of hopelessness. And gods…” I laughed again, the sound throaty and twisted. “That does sound like a good idea.”

“Liessa,” came the soft warning.

“But I am not cruel,” I said. “That is the difference between you and me. I don’t want to find pleasure in another’s suffering.”

She cried out as the eather lashed over her leg, stinging her skin.

“Okay. I lied. I do find a little bit of pleasure in your suffering,” I said, tilting my head. “But I will not extend it. Because for whatever fucked-up reason, you did try to warn us. For that, I will not draw this out.”

She inhaled sharply.

“I will take your Court, Veses, and I will make sure all knowledge and memory of you is stripped away. No generation going forward will know of you. You will not be forgotten, Veses. You will be unknown.” The eather lashed out again, taking a strip of flesh. “You will die today.”

Veses tensed, and I felt her summoning eather. It was too late for that. Jerking her head back, I struck, sinking my fangs into her throat. I drank deeply and hard, not allowing myself to taste her almost too-sweet blood.

She broke my hold on her arms, but Ash was there. He would touch her to protect me. He caught her wrists, holding them down as I pulled more and more of her life force into me. She bucked under me as another draken crashed into the palace. I drank and drank until I felt her heart stutter. I released my fangs then.

I lifted my head and, guided by instinct, placed my hand on her chest. Strangely, I didn’t look her in the eye. I didn’t want to as I willed the essence from her body. Her back bowed, lifting clear off the floor. I drew my hand back. Thin filaments of eather stretched from her chest to my palm. The essence soaked through my flesh, causing my breath to catch. Her eather pulsed and flowed, making light dance across the broken mirrors and walls. It poured out of her, and the floor began to tremble, the walls shuddering.

I didn’t want to look at her.

But I did.

I made myself meet her gaze.

“Sera,” Ash whispered. “Look at me.”

I couldn’t.

I shook my head, holding Veses’ stare as the last of her essence left her body and entered mine—as the eather receded from her eyes and veins. I didn’t know why I said what I did next. Maybe it was because I knew what Veses had gone through. At one point, she had been different but had become something cruel and sick due to Kolis’s actions and influence. Perhaps she even willingly became what she was. But she wasn’t always like this. Maybe I truly had no idea why I said what I did.

“I wish it could’ve been different for you,” I said, my voice hoarse as the life flickered from her eyes. “I’m sorry it wasn’t.”