me.
“Well, perhaps you’re still weak from our visits,” Zaros mused, a wicked glint in his black eyes. “Here, let’s undo your wrists.”
A guard stepped forward and took the black bands off my wrists. I knew they were to stop me from using my elemental powers. Not that it really mattered now. I was far too weak to conjure my own breath. “We’re here to use your Void to bring back a very special person. Aren’t you excited to see your beloved?”
I blanched. Deep down inside I knew that was what we were doing. Calix hadn’t wanted to come back. He’d told me many times he didn’t want this. I didn’t want this for him. I missed him like crazy, but to see him the way he’d be… it would kill me. I’d rather die than bring him back into this world.
“No,” I whispered. “No.”
“No?” Zaros acted surprised. “I thought you loved the Mortae?”
“I love Calix, the man, not the monster,” I whispered. “You aren’t bringing him back. You’re bringing back something dark, something to control because you’re angry and weak.”
Zaros reached out and struck me hard across my face, making my knees buckle as I collapsed onto the cold, stone floor.
“Let me tell you something, girl,” he reached down and wrapped his fingers around my neck, choking me.
I rasped as he squeezed harder making black spots splinter my vision.
“You know nothing of my anger, but you will. And by the end of it, all those you love will be begging for my mercy. I’ll make you watch as I slowly take and kill anyone you’ve ever loved. This I promise you.”
He released me, and I coughed as tears slipped from my eyes. He walked around to the dais and pulled the sheet back enough to reveal the arm of someone—of someone I’d loved—before slitting the wrist. Thick, red blood oozed from the wound. Zaros captured it in a silver goblet. I watched in horror as he approached me with the goblet, the chanting becoming louder.
He stood before me, slit his own wrist letting his blood run thick into the goblet. I cried out as the guards grabbed me and pinned me to the ground with Zaros looming over me. He brought his dagger down over my own wrist, and I screamed as the blade pierced my skin. He let my blood flow into the cup he held before releasing me. I whimpered as I watched him swirl all of our blood together before returning to the body on the table. He pulled the sheet down and blocked Calix from my view as he poured some of the blood into Calix’s mouth. Zaros quickly placed the sheet back over his head before taking a long dreg from the glass. When he lowered the cup, his mouth was painted red with the blood.
I gagged and tried to crawl away, but the guards seized me again and held me. One’s hand was in my hair, forcing my head up. Another’s hand on my jaw forced it open. I struggled against them as Zaros approached me, that evil glint in his eyes, as he tipped the goblet to my lips.
I sputtered and choked on the bitter river he poured into my mouth, the thick blood snaking its way down my throat. It was a mess, covering my face, my neck, my dress. Zaros pulled the goblet away from my mouth, and I fell forward on all fours, choking on it.
Then it began to burn. It started in the pit of my stomach and grew to agonizing pain until I was left panting on the ground.
“It’s working,” Zaros yelled excitedly, the Ankh of Dominus clutched in his hands now. “Open the portal.”
I clawed at the stone floor, my nails breaking, as I fought his compulsion.
“I command you to open the Void.” Zaros yelled, spit flying from his mouth. “Open it. Open the Void.”
I shrieked as I clambered to my feet, no longer able to control my movements. They seemed to be on autopilot. Despite the pain inside of me, I threw my arms out, and the room began to shake. The men in robes continued to chant as a black portal opened in the center of the room. Sweat beaded from my forehead as I continued to struggle against the compulsion, as I tried to will myself to close the Void.
Zaros began speaking in another language. The men around him chanted louder. My hands shook as I maintained the portal, my head wanting to explode.