59. Oz

59

Oz

" H oly fuck." I watch as lovely little Kami turns into something terrifying.

Not much scares me anymore. But Kami turning into Death on two legs is something else.

"Is everyone seeing this?" Ries asks, his voice a pitch higher than it usually is.

"I told you we should have killed her," Malkar mutters, but he doesn't sound so sure. Instead, he sounds…delighted?

Crash must hear it as well. He turns incredulous eyes on the demon. "You sound like you're enjoying this. Just two seconds ago, you wanted to end her."

"No, two seconds ago you were crying your eyes out." Crash opens his mouth, and Malkar interrupts, "Which you should have long ago. That was way overdue. I feel lighter as well. But my secrets are not meant for outsiders, only for my blood brothers."

"And sister," I point out.

"No. Kami is not and never will be my sister." Malkar is such a dick. "I don't fuck my sisters. And I plan on knotting the dryad as soon as we can get rid of this vampire."

"Oh." Maybe not such a dick as much as thinking with his dick.

He's right though. Poor Crash needed to unburden himself.

Even my pain, though over a decade old, feels fresh, like tearing the scab off a slowly-healing wound. All the hurt Daleyne caused, my grief over my father, my abandonment, rushed back when I shared it.

But now, I feel better. So much better. And I don't want any of us to suffer for having bonded.

Kami isn't herself. That much is clear. She's turned a dark shade of blue-green, her skin mottled with symbols carving themselves into her flesh. And she's growing. No longer a small dryad, she's now twice the size of the vampire she's stalking.

"By Poseidon's Cock, what is she?" Ries asks, his voice hushed, as Kami lifts the vampire by the neck, her six-fingered hand closing around him like he's nothing.

"Why isn't he fighting back?" Malkar asks.

And that's another secret we need to get back to, because when Malkar shared his truths, I saw him shimmer into a beast I couldn't possibly have seen.

But then, I'm watching the girl I'm falling for turn into a giant death fae, so what the hell do I know?

Serl dangles from Kami's grip, whispering words I cannot hear.

She pulls him closer to her ear to listen.

"Kami, no. Be careful," I shout. I don't trust the vampire not to hurt her, but Ries is still holding me back.

I could push past him if I wanted to, but honestly, I need to see this play out. If Kami's lost to her necromancer side—because that's obviously what's going on here—it might be smarter to let her remember who she really is before jumping in.

"That necromancer is your dryad." Malkar points at her.

"Our dryad," Crash says, his eyes puffy but his expression sincere. "You may be afraid of her, but I'm not."

"I'm not afraid." Malkar huffs.

"You are," I say bluntly. "And that's interesting, because I didn't think your kind was afraid of much."

Everyone looks at me, Malkar especially.

Yep. There go his eyes again, the pupils slit, the irises flushing with bright magic, a flush of scales across his cheeks and forehead.

I'm so astonished at those I've been working alongside that for a moment, I can't speak.

I stare at Ries—a royal water fae.

Then at Crash—one of the fire mages who took part in the overthrow of a monarch and his archangel.

Insane.

Except it's not, because I'm watching the embodiment of fucking Caethybdue , a death goddess, threatening an assassin vampire alongside who I suspect to be a deadly, mythical dragon that isn't supposed to exist.

What the ever-loving hell has my life become?