“No, Azkiel is the evil one,” Dephina exclaims, and moves her hands so the dagger is pointed downward, over her stomach. I’m just grateful it’s a little further away from Ari, who is shaking despite her attempt to appear brave.
She thinks Essentria will bring her back.
“You’ve brought a great imbalance to our fragile society,” Everest spits.
“I did nothing,” I argue, but Dephina interrupts me, her lofty tone echoing in the chamber.
“If you had just allowed your sister to come here, when Azkiel picked her, instead of trying to stop her destiny, then you wouldn’t have to see this. So many people wouldn’t have had to die.”
They knew about this from the beginning. Nausea grips me as I stare at them.
I step forward as they walk her toward the altar. “Don’t hurt her. She doesn’t want to die. Right, Ari? Tell them you don’t want to die!”
They halt. Her rosy lips part, and a raspy breath passes through them. “Essentria will bring me back.”
“You can’t trust the gods.”
“They told me everything,” she says, her eyes pinched with fresh tears. “I returned to complete the prophecy. Azkiel has destroyed the balance of our world. This is the only way to stop The Harvest, to restore balance, and to save you from Cyna. We made a deal.”
“He does not intend to keep it!”
“Please don’t shout,” she begs, and I see a flash of the little girl I’d spent my life protecting, in the tremble of her lower lip, and the innocence in her eyes.
Shadows from the flames of the torches flicker against the sides of their faces, highlighting Ari’s red, raw cheeks. She’d already been crying.
Her voice breaks when she whispers, “You killed me, in our past life. We were like daughters to Essentria. She loved us, and Death corrupted you.”
My eyes bulge, jaw slacking as the information sinks into my mind. “What? That’s not true.”
“It’s why you have his power, Cali,” she says as she stands beside the altar. “He loved you and he gifted you his most ethereal magic, then it destroyed you.”
I can’t stand her looking at me like that, as if I’m the dangerous one—a threat—while the real villains stand beside her, daggers drawn. “No. They’re just saying all of this to us just to get you to sacrifice yourself.”
Drake clears his throat. “It’s true. The gods spoke to us in our dreams.”
Tears slide down my cheeks. “Don’t you talk to me! I trusted you,” I shout at Drake. “We have known each other our whole lives.”
“I’m doing this for you!” he growls back. “Essentria will bring Ari back. I wouldn’t have helped if I didn’t believe it.”
I turn my stony stare to him. “I hate you,” I hiss and his nostrils flare, his brow twitching.
Ari turns to look at me before climbing the stone steps to the marble slab. “This is my choice,” she says.
“Don’t do this. I beg you, please.”
“You can’t stop me.”
My shadows snake from my body as I race forward, desperate as they lay Ari to her death. I’ll kill them all if I have to.
Before I can take six steps, a barrier of shadows forms an invisible barrier. Shockwaves force me against the pillar, echoes of pain traveling down my legs and arms. A haze of blue mist hits me next, waltzing into my nose, lulling my mind into a false sense of calm.
Everist and Dephina unleash their powers, and I wrestle their darkness as shadows bind me to a pillar. “Stop!” I scream. “Ari fucking listen! They cut out the hearts of sacrifices in this ritual. You can’t be resurrected without a heart. Even you know that. Once the body is destroyed, too far gone, it’s—”
“They will not cut out my heart. They will…” she glances at Dephina, then at the dagger, as if it’s the first time she’s thought about how she will die. “They will cut my throat.”
A shiver shudders through my bones, slinking down my back and spreading goosebumps along my arms. “Don’t be naive!”
I twist my body against their magic, the haze of calm stealing my strength piece by piece.
The altar is blurry through my tears, but I can still make out the stone slab adorned with beautiful flowers, just like my vision of the sacrifices who were once killed here. There is a basket waiting for a heart.
They adorn her body with petals, then mumble some words over her body. The silk of her robes cascade down the sides of the altar as she shifts position. When she refuses to turn her head to look at me, I look at Drake. “They’re going to take her heart. Drake. Help her!” I beg as hopelessness claws into me.
I slam my fists against their magic, pins and needles shocking through my fingers with each hit against the pillar, going right through the black smoke. This must have been what Alaric felt. Oh, the fucking irony.
Dephina glides the dagger to Ari’s throat, then hovers the pointed blade lower, stopping over her chest.
I must save her. It can’t end like this. A newfound strength rushes through my body, and I remember when I tamed his shadows, but these are unlike his—they don’t answer to me.
I can still save her.
Ari’s voice reaches me from the table. “I’ll come back. They promised. I know you don’t understand it now, but I am atoning for both our sins. I’ll make everything right…”
Her words are lost to my screams as the dagger is plunged into her chest. Confusion sweeps her features as she looks at Dephina, her lips parting as her brows crease for the last time.
“NO!”
Rage courses through me as I hammer against the shadows, every anguished scream lost to the adrenaline in my veins. Time stretches for an eternity, the world falling into slow motion as I watch blood spatters over them like a painting.
