Oath of the Alpha - Eva Dresden Page 0,38
of it. They told her she had no power of her own to keep her weak and scared, afraid of their magic and what they might do to her with it.
“I can see you do not want it.”
“I never wanted any of it.” Aida scrambled from his lap, pushing to her feet to stand over him breathless with the staggering rage building in her chest. Fists glowing white hot and clenched at her sides, she shouted at him, “I wanted to feel the sun on my face, smell the wind in a field. To run and be free!”
“Sit down, Omega—”
“My name is… I have no name.”
Aida’s laugh was high and thready, control slipping through her fingers as her thoughts began to race in every direction. There were so many paths, each of them with yet more branching from them. Her life could be her own for the first time, for the last time. Nothing could stop her, not Er’it, not Rhyn, not the darkness residing deep in the trees that watched her even now.
“Kou’va, sit down,” Er’it said, voice nearing serene as he pushed at the air with flattened palms. “You are inexperienced. The magic, the power, it makes you think things that are not possible.”
“But it is possible!” Aida shrieked, flinging her hand in a wide arc to the side. The forest burst into life, blades of grass erupting from the ground in thick clumps, speeding through their growth. Delicate flowers sprung into existence with violent rustling, moss hissing as it spread up nearby trees groaning with the sudden weight of full-fledged leaves.
Another wild swing of her arm laid waste to the path leading to the road. Blackened wood grinding, their bone shuddering cracks filled the trembling night, the ground rumbling as they crashed down in a single file line, a veritable wall of destruction.
“You do not want this,” Er’it said as he gained his feet, hand extended palm out to Aida.
“What do any of you know of what I want?”
“Then tell me.”
“You do not care!”
“What do you know of what I want?” Er’it asked, drawing himself to his full height to tower over her. Her light reflected in his narrowed gaze, turning the bright topaz a shining pale gold.
“You’ve told me what you want.” Aida scoffed, lip curling in a mockery of his usual sneer.
“I have told you what will happen, what I need.”
“There is no difference.”
“Ask me, if you would have the truth of it.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Aida sobbed, hands raking through her tangled curls and fisting the length of it to pull at the strands.
“It does. Ask me.” Chin tipped up, he looked as proud and cold as ever. Yet his eyes, the golden sheen of them so unlike the gloomy crimson of his power, remained quiet, his anger gone, replaced by a calm she craved.
Er’it stood his ground as Aida’s power began to surge in vicious flares around her. Spiraling up into the night, it changed the landscape around them in uncontrolled bursts. He shook his head as Kal edged closer to Aida with gentle rumbles.
“Ask me, kou’va,” Er’it demanded, taking a step forward as Aida began to reach for Kal.
“What do you want?” Weary, on the verge of tears she couldn’t explain, Aida turned to him. Keeping him in her line of sight, a prickle of warning clawed at her spine as sweat broke out on her forehead, a chill trickle of it sliding down her neck to stain the ragged collar of her tunic.
“I want my people safe. To give them a home where they do not have to live in fear of another coming and stealing it all away. Not again. A place where they can live and thrive. I swore it to all of them.”
“How noble. Do they know how you will manage this? Losing your soul to the Abyss, or whatever it is you believe in. Becoming no better than those you defeat as you are stripped of your humanity. Tell me, will you steal a girl child someday, raising her to be terrified of everything? Shaping her to be the vessel of your perverted desires and greed?”
“I will do whatever it takes to keep my people safe.”
“That is not a denial,” Aida said with a shaky laugh dripping with venom. Hugging herself tight around the empty ache there, she shook her head, lip curling as if she tasted something foul. Blinking hard through a bleary haze, she struggled to keep him in focus.
“Ask me what else I want.”
“Tell me,