Chapter 4

Chapter

Four

SELENE

S oft moonlight illuminated the field of datura flowers as russet red blood splattered against their silken white petals and yellow centers. There was another full moon tonight. That bright, tranquil light usually filled my soul with warmth and hope. But another full moon meant that another month had passed in search for my soul's other half. So now it only mocked me with each second it lingered in the sky, its shimmering glow laughing at my pain.

My heart ached without Emrys, but the moon flower's delicate fragrance calmed my aching soul with the familiar scent of my Mate as I hacked through the remaining guards defending the Umbran Castle. The paddocks filled with the High King's enslaved had been opened in the chaos of my arrival, thousands of innocent people storming their way to freedom as Atrium's Kingsguard focused their attention on me.

My powers writhed in my veins, wanting that sweet release, but I kept that magic in check. I could've easily used it to kill them all at once but I needed to feel their blood on my hands, feel their deaths within my soul.

The monster within me needed to be fed and sated at all times, the bloodlust creeping into my mortal form. I had once said I would rip this realm apart to get back to him and that's exactly what I had done in Emrys' absence. Chills wracked up my spine as I dug my clawed fingertips into the chest of a lowly grunt soldier and ripped out his still-beating heart, chucking it on the ground.

Parts of bodies surrounded me but I couldn't name how many I had killed in my crusade over the past month. Couldn't feel even an ounce of guilt for how many lives I had taken. Soldiers and Raken kept appearing with every inch I covered of Atrium in my search for Emrys but they were all faceless and soulless to me.

They were nothing.

" Where is he ?" my voice echoed as the body fell before me and another soldier charged my way, his palm raised and malice in his hazel eyes.

Shadows shot out towards me from his hand, curling around my neck in a vice but they didn't feel loving nor familiar. Long, midnight-colored hair hung past his shoulders and his beady eyes locked onto me. Those misty tendrils engulfed me, trying to obscure my vision and cling onto me but with every touch they made, they skittered away only to return a second later. Like they were fearful of me, of my power, but their master kept pushing them, forcing them upon me.

The male controlling them was the strongest of his battalion and also the Commander of his dead army, his helmet showcasing how many battles he had won with the engraved markings along his skull.

It was that asshole's power—similar to that of my Mate's, but different. More tainted than what Emrys possessed. The faerie's boots smashed over the moon flowers the closer he got to me and the tighter his magic attempted to restrain me.

I gave him a cruel smile as I tsked with clawed fingertips but he didn't stop his assault of shadows. Pulling on the thread of light gray within my well, I used my magic blessed by Bomris, the God of Mind Manipulation, and appeared right in front of him in an illusion. His eyes bulged out of his too-big head from my show of immense power as his eyes looked back and forth between my corporeal form and the apparition before him. With a burst of speed, I shot through the illusion of myself and latched onto his neck with gore-covered claws.

"Where. Is. He." My nails dug into the Commander's throat, dribbles of blood descending upon the smashed daturas. His shadows evaporated as he clawed at my grip but I wouldn't loosen it. Wouldn't stop in my expedition until my Mate was found.

His light brown eyes pleaded as blood filled his airway and he gurgled his answer, "Please."

I dug my nails in harder, feeling his airway constrict even more. His life was in my hands and I would never tire of the feeling of having the ability to crush it. Smooth scales licked up my arm and along my shoulder, until they reached my neck as my voice came out cold and callous. "Don't plead with me, mortal. I will carve your eyes out with a spoon and force-feed them down your throat," I snarled into his face as my Shadowblade entered his gut. "Tell me what I want and I shall make this swift."

More gurgled gasps left him as his eyes began rolling to the back of his skull, "Chaos ends—" Blood coated his elongated canines as he took another shuddering breath, his life force draining into my blade. "Where it begins. All will ultimately answer for their sins."

Withdrawing my dagger for a second, I swiftly shoved it into the unmarked flesh next to his bleeding wound. "No cryptic bullshit."

"I–I–I–I—" the stupid fuck kept stuttering while his crimson blood pooled below us. "In… Ins… Insu…" He couldn't get the words out but I wouldn't let his life slip away just yet. Not when I was this close to getting my answer. I was a Goddess of Death. I controlled every breath he breathed, every drop of blood his pathetic body held onto.

I controlled his soul and he would answer to me.

"I–I–I—" I repeated while tilting my head to the side. "Spit it the fuck out before I skin you alive."

The Commander's eyelids fluttered shut for a moment, his breathing stuttering as he tried to inhale. He wasn't dead yet, I could still feel his fading pulse through my hand around his throat but he was on the edge of it, about to fall to his demise. His hazel eyes flashed open, revealing his pupils that I assumed were blown wide from adrenaline, but the longer he stared into my shattered soul, I could see the color of soft soil shifting to obsidian and those pupils grew larger.

Medies.

Black veins crawled up the soldier's neck and his body began convulsing. His voice became deeper, more raspy as all of his teeth elongated and sharpened, "The Devourer of Light will come for you. The Destroyer of Worlds will come." Ashy skin flaked off, his flesh rotting from the inside out as the dark magic took hold of his soul, but he kept chanting, "They will come with eternal night. The Devourer of Light will come for you. The Destroyer of Worlds will come."

My heart raced in my chest and my hands began to shake as an image of cloaked shapes with hooved feet dancing around large flames filled my mind. The Destroyer of Worlds was just another name for the Ruler of Infernum, the figure that haunted my dreams before the High King took Emrys. They had created the Crown of Daemonium within the fiery pits of the Infernal Realm. They were the entire reason why the High King had become more powerful over the past few months.

I could still smell the brimstone and sulfur, could taste it on my tongue from that nightmare as the Commander kept crooning, "The Devourer of Light will come for you. The Destroyer of Worlds will come. They will come with eternal night."

Golden light flooded my palms, my magic answering to the soldier's possession, beyond my control. My eyes widened in horror as I tried to pull back my powers but it was as if someone else had taken a hold of the reins within me. The Commander's voice became louder, more boisterous like an echoing chorus of his chant as more panic overwhelmed me. His body fell from my grip as I released him but his feet still hovered over the gory mud, his form floating in mid-air.

"Oh Gods," I stumbled backwards, tripping over a decomposing body and falling onto the ground. The Blade of Vita slipped from my sweaty palms and sunk into the dirt, but I didn't reach for it. I couldn't move, couldn't speak as that golden light streamed from both of my hands and into his body, like he was absorbing my magic.

His eyes were fully black, not a hint of the male from before as he inhaled the defiled air. Clouds moved overhead, blotting out the moonlight and covering the land in complete darkness. His serrated teeth formed into a hateful smile as he spat out onyx blood. "The realm of the living will fall."

The voice shifted once more, no longer a gaggle of multiple tones but one that was familiar, yet I couldn't place where I knew it from. It was both masculine and feminine, raspy yet soft and utterly consuming as it said, "You will find your Mate in Ladon." My powers stopped abruptly, not by my command, as his body exploded, sending bits of armor and flesh across the field of daturas.

I didn't have time to process the shock of what had happened. The possession, the consuming of my powers, or the creepy fucking voices that came from his mouth. My mind could only focus on the one thing that kept me grounded, and that was my Mate—and he was still on my home continent.

My body vibrated with excitement as I pulled my dagger from the mud and sheathed it on my thigh. Bones cracked and muscles adjusted as my claws and limbs elongated. My vision changed, my pupils splitting down the middle as they zeroed in on the Castle of Umbra just a few miles away where all of my Mate's pain and suffering began. Iridescent scales broke out across my body until I shifted fully into my dragon form.

I was going to get my Mate.

I was going to find him.

Right after I burned the Umbran Castle to the ground.