Cloak of Night (Circle of Shadows #2) - Evelyn Skye Page 0,55

“They’ve been dead since the first attack on Kichona by the Southern Alliance.”

Sora’s giddiness from standing on a pile of vanquished enemies petered out. “The Southern Alliance?” She was afraid to ask, but she had to.

“The united armies and navies of Fale Po Tair, Xerlinis, and Vyratta. But don’t worry. You’ve slaughtered thousands. Including that ex-gemina of yours.”

Oh gods. Daemon?

Horror shuddered through Sora’s body. Her consciousness was fighting back now, reminding her that she was actually swimming in an underground lake in Naimo Ice Caves, not here on a battlefield in the future. But that also meant she was beginning to process what this all meant—that she would become part of the Dragon Prince’s bloody pursuit of the Evermore. That Kichona would be razed by the Southern Alliance. That Sora would kill Daemon.

“This can’t be true,” she said.

“But it is,” Hana said with a smile. “Aren’t you happy we’ve been successful together?”

“Yes. I mean, no!” Sora shook her head to try to get her thoughts straight.

Something shot through the back of her mind like a spear and hurtled to the forefront. It pierced Sora’s consciousness, and a sensation of unbreakable connection washed over her, as if she were tethered by the rope on a harpoon.

Daemon!

He sent surges of confidence to her, and she held fast to their bond, feeling him tugging to extricate her from this so-called prophecy.

She remembered clearly now that she was swimming in the Lake of Nightmares.

Sora grabbed hold of their gemina bond and hauled herself out of the vision, hand over hand as if climbing a rope. Future Hana scowled at her. But Hana was already blurring, and milky white poured out from the center of the scene until it filled all of Sora’s vision again.

She blinked, hard, and the cloudiness dissipated. The vision of the battlefield disappeared, and Sora saw the water again. She was twenty feet down from the surface, still another thirty or so to go to the trap door at the bottom.

Sora clung fiercely to her gemina bond as if it were a lifeline so she didn’t lose her mind.

Daemon Daemon Daemon.

He must have been concentrating intensely, because his emotion soaked her as if she were caught in a rainstorm. It reminded her of ryuu magic, but while that was intoxicating, this was something more, like drinking lightning and the night sky, their brightness and darkness filling her at the same time. These were Daemon’s rawest feelings, unfiltered, and even though Sora didn’t know the thoughts that lay behind them, this was still the closest she’d ever been to anyone, even him. She wanted to keep drinking in this feeling of being one with somebody else, where it wasn’t just about him or her but about them, together.

I’ll find my way back to you, she thought.

But that would happen only after she finished this mission. So with Daemon holding on to her through their gemina bond, Sora refocused on one thing alone—getting to the trap door.

Instead of swimming through the thick water and using precious energy, she tucked her legs into her chest, released a little bit of air from her lungs, and let herself sink slowly like a rock. She swallowed to clear her ears as she descended deeper into the lake. Only when she stopped sinking did Sora jackknife herself and start swimming to the door.

She grabbed on to the heavy iron ring on the front and planted her feet against the lake bottom, which was as frozen as the ice caves above. She allowed herself a couple seconds of rest. I made it. I defied the Lake of Nightmares. I’m still alive.

But that was only half the plan—there was still important work to do.

Broomstick had invented a super adhesive that was waterproof, and Sora smeared it onto one of the bombs. She glued it right next to the trap door’s top hinge, then stuck another one on the bottom hinge. There were four bombs left on her belt.

Matches wouldn’t light underwater, but thankfully she didn’t need to rely on traditional fuses. Sora swam a safe distance away and commanded the ryuu particles to ignite the bombs on the door.

There was a pause, then dual hisses as the magical flame traveled down the length of the fuses.

One of them sputtered.

Light it again, Sora ordered. The emerald particles obeyed swiftly.

The first fuse was nearly at its end. Sora braced herself. The bomb exploded, and the shock waves threw her backward along the glacial bottom of the lake. For a second, she