He doesn’t matter, not anymore. He fulfilled his role.
The words renewed the rage Nikolai had buried, and he shoved the voice out of his head. The man he’d thought of as a father was dead. The white-haired women would come for him. And on the other side of that doorway, a life essence called to him.
He strode to where the thin figures had vanished. The gateway’s pulse rippled over his skin, dissipating every instant that he hesitated.
The core’s energy buzzed through him, only a trickle left, now, but enough. Nikolai grabbed hold of it and infused it with his own essence, working off an instinct he didn’t know he possessed.
The gateway flickered, and then in a blaze of light, flared back to life.
Her emotions were, in an instant, stronger. Pain. Fear. Someone had hurt her, and Nikolai had a good idea as to who.
He had to stop the thin man.
Nikolai took a deep breath, and stepped through.
* * *
In her basement cell, Aria paced.
Thoughts of what Demeti intended for Lucas had her snarling and raking her talons along the doorframe. She dislodged a few small bits of stone. If she had a month, she might dig herself out.
Lucas didn’t have a month. She’d never felt so utterly helpless. Her logical side pointed out that there was little she could have done, even if the Torshin had tortured Lucas directly in front of her. It didn’t help.
Her stomach twisted as she remembered the look in the Torshin’s eyes...
Demeti radiated evil. And he had Lucas.
Aria didn’t understand the depth of her concern; she’d only just met the young man. And he’d interfered at a crucial moment in Udo’s display room. But Aria knew the truth of it—his attempts to save her hadn’t altered the outcome. She’d been doomed the moment she’d snapped that collar around her throat.
Lucas. Those remarkable eyes had bored straight through to her soul, and for a few moments, it had seemed as though they’d shared a deep connection. An emotional link? Was that possible with someone she’d just met? Something niggled at her, like she should know him from somewhere. He was at once familiar, and compelling. Like something out of a dream...
But standing around fretting wasn’t going to help him. She had to get out of here.
Aria pounded her fists against the unyielding stone until the bones ached. It was only one more discomfort to add to the list—she’d never hurt like she did right now. As though every cell had been scorched into submission.
She gave up pounding on the stone and slid to a crouch with her back against it. Her body wouldn’t stop shaking. Demeti’s torture had sucked her dry—she craved crystal dust like an addict needed his fix.
As a result, when she first felt the buzz of energy across her skin, she didn’t immediately recognize it. But then recognition dawned. Someone had activated a gateway. What was going on? Was Demeti leaving? Or was someone else arriving?
Was Lucas okay?
She folded her arms around her legs and dropped her head onto them, and envisioned running her tail spike through that sharding Torshin.
When the gate pulsed again, she scrambled to her feet. And then it altered, turning vicious and dark. Suddenly power thrummed, colliding not far from where she flattened herself against the wall. From somewhere above her, the wind shrieked, and she was sure she heard the crack of thunder.
A shout—Demeti? And it was followed by the scurry of clawed feet. Then the screaming started. Hoarse, half-howls of pain, abruptly cut off. And another yell, indecipherable, but with fear laced through it. Aria gasped as something passed through her—an energy that seemed oddly familiar, that reached for the last of the power contained by the crystal in her blood—and yanked it away.
No.In its wake, Aria was powerless to stop the relentless draining of her life essence, and her legs gave way. She slumped against the cold stone, struggling to breathe...
* * *
Lucas writhed against the chains.
The wind howled as though a tornado had dropped from above, slamming the shutters against the outer wall and shattering two windows. It had come out of nowhere—heralded by howls of panic from the Dires, and shouting somewhere deeper in the building.
The smell of ozone filled the air.
Moments later, a giant invisible hand reached deep within him, hooked into his spirit, and yanked his life away.
