Chapter 22

Senka

Istood silent as death itself, watching Lady Saldan through the gossamer drapes that danced with the steam that filled the room. The air was chill, yet it held nothing compared to the cold cruelty of Merikh"s command. My orders were clear: end her before the sun claimed the sky.

I slipped into the palace's hot spring baths, a ghost in black amidst a world of opulence. The marbled floor was warm underfoot. The baths were much grander than the ones beneath The Smoke.

Two other ladies waded out of the steaming water, their laughter echoing softly against the high-vaulted ceilings adorned with crystal chandeliers that glittered in the torchlight. They exchanged pleasantries with Lady Saldan, who responded with a voice like honey.

"Enjoy your bath," Sasha said, her gaze sliding over me without recognition. I was a shadow. A wraith. A void of nothingness perched in a lonely corner of the room.

"Thank you, darlings," Saldan replied, her eyes closed in serene oblivion as they left.

As the door closed behind them, her solitude became deafening. I watched, a silent predator, as steam rose in lazy spirals and converged with the lingering scent of roses that permeated the room. Petals floated atop the water's surface, delicate reds and pinks dotting the darkness swirling below.

How different this world was—the palace"s grandeur, the sheer excess of it all—compared to the dark, cramped confines below The Smoke. Here, even the water smelled of luxury, infused with oils and fragrances.

The irony was not lost on me; the hot springs, a sanctuary of cleansing and renewal, would today witness the taint of death. But there was no place for sentimentality in the heart of a deathbringer.

I stepped closer, the hem of my dress barely grazing the wet ground.

I let the silence settle around us, thick and expectant. The heat of the springs tried to seep into my bones, but I was ice, untouched, the bearer of an eternal winter that clung to my soul.

Lady Saldan reclined on the edge of the spring, her skin aglow with health and vitality. I reached for the darkness within, feeling it stir and stretch like a living entity at my command.

With every step closer, my heart thrummed a bit quieter, my breaths became more shallow. Not out of fear—no, fear was a luxury I could not afford—but in anticipation of completing Merikh's order.

I was behind her now, close enough to note the scent of roses clinging to her hair. My hands settled on those unsuspecting shoulders, as gentle as a lover"s caress, but beneath my fingertips, the shadows surged with a hunger all their own.

My eyes, once a pale silver, turned obsidian—a void to swallow the light. Shadows cascaded down my arms, wrapping themselves around my limbs like serpents of darkness. They slithered from my skin, an extension of my will, reaching for the woman's life force.

"Wha—" Lady Saldan"s startled gasp cut short as the tendrils of darkness plunged into her, finding the spark of life within and smothering it without mercy.

The connection was instantaneous, a tether that bound her life to my soul for one fleeting moment before it was extinguished. Her body went limp, the light in her eyes fading, leaving behind nothing but the empty shell of the woman she once was.

Death was always an intimate affair, but never one of pleasure. As her last breath escaped in a soft sigh, a chill ran through me, the weight of it pressing against my chest. The shadows retreated back into me, sated.

Pain lanced through me, sharp and unforgiving. The shadows recoiled back into my flesh. I staggered, reaching for the marble wall of the bathhouse for support, but it was too far away. My knees buckled, and I fell to the cold, wet floor. My head bounced off of the hard ground and my vision went dark.

The roses that once perfumed the air now suffocated me with their sweet scent, overpowering as it mingled with the iron tang of death that seemed to cling to my very soul. My breaths came in ragged gasps, each one slicing through my chest like a blade.

I could feel Lady Saldan's final moments—her confusion, her fear—as if they were my own. Her heartbeat had thundered in my ears, frantic and then faltering, until it faded to nothingness, dragging a piece of me along with it into the abyss.

"Forgive me," I whispered, the words lost amidst the steam rising from the hot springs. But there was no forgiveness for the likes of me—a deathbringer bound by blood and shadow.

My body pitched forward as pain lanced through my spine, my shadows seizing up inside of me, and I rolled right into the steaming waters of the hot spring, the heat enveloping me with the cruel hands of irony.

Water closed over my head, and panic clawed at my throat. My limbs, heavy with the burden of death, refused to obey my desperate commands to move, to fight, to survive. Bubbles escaped my lips as I tried to scream, the sound muffled and distorted by the liquid tomb that sought to claim me.

In the depths of the water, shadows danced before my eyes—not the ones I commanded, but those born of light and reflection, mocking me with their taste of freedom.

My chest burned, screaming for air that was just beyond reach, and the darkness that always lingered at the edge of my senses began to creep in, threatening to swallow me whole.

Beau…I thought wildly, reaching out for the brother I had lost so long ago, the memory of his bright eyes and brighter smile as familiar to me as my own reflection.

But it wasn't enough to drive back the shadows or fill my lungs with the breath I desperately needed.

As consciousness waned, I realized that the water would be my grave, an ironic end for one who dealt in death, to be claimed by it in such a mundane way.

Would Merikh find humor in this, I wondered? Or would she simply send another to take my place?

"Senka!" The voice cut through the fog that had settled over my mind, familiar and edged with panic. "Holy gods," the same voice muttered followed by a series of hissed curses that were muffled by the water.

Wolfe. It was Wolfe's voice calling for me through the darkness. He was too late. Too late to save me. I could feel myself fading.