Chapter 143: Falling Together
When I came to, the world was silent and dark. I felt exhausted; mana exhausted as well. Trying to break Lorelei’s binding was the last thing I could remember, but I struggled to put together why I felt like I needed to move. My whole body burned—but not with holy magic. Really, I’d forgotten the feeling of painful heat, and it took me some moments to separate the why from the pain.
I smelled charcoal first. Then, blinking, I got one eye open—the other still dark. Ash and cinders drifted up above me toward the burnt sticks of pine trees. The sky directly up was clear, although the tail of a dark gray cloud was visible at the edge of my perception.
I tried to move, but I didn’t have any luck. Right now, I couldn’t even feel my limbs. Are they even still there? Will they grow back?
All I could hear at first was a loud ringing noise that faded into complete silence. Complete silence save for a pair of footsteps.
Still unmoving, I listened until the footsteps stopped, just to my side. Demon Lorelei leaned over me, her four eyes narrowed and her hair singed. Around her neck, where the binding collar had been, was a wicked-looking scar thicker around than my thumb.
Trying to speak, I stared up at her. No words came out, only a faint choking sound. She clenched and unclenched her two right hands, then stared at her claws.
“Why?” Lorelei’s question was soft, pained.
I tried to answer, but I couldn’t. The burning pain started to flare my vision white.
“Why?!” she roared.
I didn’t feel the kick that sent me tumbling over onto my face—just her claws sinking into me. I wanted so badly to answer her, even as I breathed in soot and ash, my face pressed against rocks so hot they still steamed. For a long, tense moment, nothing happened. Then, I heard faint sobbing from Lorelei.
“For what it’s worth,” Lorelei hissed, “I’m sorry.”
Eyes wide, staring into dirt, I braced for another blow. Instead, I heard the clack of claws on stone, rapidly fading as Lorelei sprinted away.
I’m an idiot. A colossal idiot. If she goes back south, we won’t catch her now—and they’ll know what I can do.
But… will she go back? Her binding is broken.
I didn’t know. The only thing I knew for sure was that I’d made yet another massive mistake. Yet again, I should be dead by what was effectively my own damn hand.
I can’t keep making these decisions. Someone’s going to get hurt—or worse.
***
Kartania and Joisse had dispatched the remaining demon—a slender wrath demon with a wicked-looking array of horns on her head. Seyari didn’t wait any longer than their return to point in the direction of the smoking ruin where Zarenna had gone. Immediately, the three-quarters angel took off in a run.
She almost used the very last of her wind magic to speed her progress, but she couldn’t risk passing out. Anxiety for Renna warred against a burning fury for being tricked into separating so easily. Just what was going on that could keep Zarenna occupied this long?
Is she…
Seyari pushed the thought away. If it was just fire, Zarenna should be fine. But if she was fine… the three-quarters angel felt acutely how her balance had changed from her missing hand. How did she not notice our fight?
Without Nelys’s recently-granted power, Seyari would be dead. Taava and Brynna and Nelys too, probably. Without Nelys, Kartania, and Joisse, they’d certainly all be dead. Whoever had sent this attack—probably Mordwell—had truly meant to kill them this time. She had to hope Zarenna understood that more than superficially.
Rapid footfalls next to her—two pairs—made Seyari jump. The last of her magic coalesced into holy light at her fingertips. Nelys and Joisse were right behind her, the latter in her demon form.
Joisse passed her, sweeping the half angel up into her arms. “Mom’s hurt—bad.”
Seyari fought back a protest. Like mother, like daughter, I guess. The warmth of the idle thought stuck out harshly against the panic she felt, highlighting just how worried Seyari was.
“She’s not dead, but close,” Nelys gasped beside Joisse, barely able to keep up with the wrath demon. “The contract would have ended if… if she was dead.”
“How… what if this is another trap?” Seyari gasped as she bumped along in Joisse’s arms.
Joisse hissed, tusks creaking as she set her jaw, hard.
“Then… we’re going into it, I guess,” Nelys answered, their words strained between breaths.
“Set me down when we get close,” Seyari said.
Joisse nodded, and the trio continued on to the burned hilltop, passing through a forest dusted in still-falling ash. When they broke through the blackened spines of trees into a clearing of scorched earth, Joisse set the mostly-angel down. Seyari gasped and ran out in front.
Zarenna lay face down in the center of the clearing, burned, battered, and wearing the shredded remains of her dress. Her limbs were broken, twisted, or simply… gone. Seyari could only tell that her fiancée was alive by the flickering aura that still surrounded her. Soot-coated rocks crunched underfoot as Seyari ran to her love, passing a discarded, half-burned shoe on the way.
“Zarenna!” she shouted, relief blossoming in her chest when the broken body groaned.
With Nelys and Joisse behind her, Seyari flipped Zarenna over, uncaring that her hand and stump blistered from the heat of her lover’s skin. Zarenna stared up at her with blue eyes clouded by pain, and a face that looked like it was half burned off, jaw hanging limp.
Raw fury welled up within Seyari. “Who! How?!” she screamed.
Joisse ambled next to her. “Mom… please no…”
Moments later, a distraught Nelys took Seyari’s other side. “I couldn’t find anything or anyone nearby,” they whispered.
Zarenna groaned again and Seyari snapped her gaze down. “What? What is it?” she cradled Zarenna’s head with her good hand.
Zarenna’s eyes moved slowly over to Seyari’s handless arm, and they welled with tears.
***
No…
I stared at Seyari’s handless arm, the stump already healed by her magic. I’m out of chances.
Vivian was the last reminder I’d had; the last reminder I deserved. There, I’d made the right call in the end, but I’d missed the warning signs and lacked caution. Here, I’d screwed up, completely and totally.
From my fiancée, I felt fury, raw and hot. I didn’t want to consume it—I couldn’t bear to deny Seyari what she deserved to feel toward me and my failure. Nelys too burned with anger, and our connection through the contract blazed. Joisse fell to her knees, crying even as her fury threatened to spiral out of control.
“I…” her voice hitched, and I felt her fury come undone.
I was helpless to stop her, and I couldn’t warn the others beyond staring at my newly adopted daughter as she jittered and flexed her claws.
No… gods no…
Joisse roared, startling Seyari. Overwhelmed with fury, she lost control, and I watched her massive arm, hand tipped with wicked claws, bear down toward Seyari. Nelys leapt between, crackling with magic, and I watched as Joisse’s claws shredded through their shoulder to the bone. I felt the string that connected me to my daughter pull taught, tight and furious.
“Joisse!” Nelys shrieked, coherent even through their pain. “Stop! We’re your friends and fam—” They cut themselves off to roll under another swipe of Joisse’s claws.
Missing twice and delirious, she charged Nelys, and I felt something horrible in my gut. Our contract burned to life, blazing words across my vision.
“Joisse shall not harm without reason.”
The air cracked and a wall of ice formed in front of Joisse’s attack, blocking it. Tania.
“Take…” Seyari shouted, shaking me. I didn’t make out the rest of the words over the ones in my mind, repeating over and over again.
“Joisse shall not harm without reason.”
The contract smoldered and frayed apart, falling through my claws. She’s already broken it. I watched as the wall of ice fell. Joisse locked eyes with me, tears forming as she mouthed an apology before she fell to her knees, then to the ground like a puppet with her strings cut.
Power threatened to rush from her to me, and my ravaged body wanted to welcome it. Wanted me to consume my daughter’s soul so soon after she’d joined me.
“—my fucking wrath!” Seyari shouted, and the intensity of her voice, the burning power of her hand on mine bringing a moment of clarity.
I did as I was told, pulling Seyari’s fury into me. Guilt warred as I tasted her emotion and realized it was not directed at me, rather at whatever had harmed me.
She doesn’t know this is all my fault.
But I couldn’t worry about that right now. Power surged through me, and I heard bones snapping back into place and a stretching sound of skin regrowing. I managed to roll over, holding Joisse’s soul close even as I threatened to consume it.
I threw an arm forward toward her, trying and failing to stumble to my feet. The limb missed, and my focus wavered. Seyari grabbed my hand, her the contact burning both of us from our opposing magic. With her one good hand and what little muscles I had, my hand made it to Joisse’s chest.
With an effort of will and instincts I never knew I had, I pushed. I am not my instincts. For all my faults, my naiveté, and my idealism, I am the Sovereign of Wrath. I would not be ruled by wrath, I owned wrath.
Along with Joisse’s amalgam soul, some of my own magic, born of Seyari’s fury, poured in along with. Please, please work. I didn’t need to take her soul!
“Convince me, right now, that she will not be a threat,” Kartania hissed over me.
“She…” I hissed, my voice raw and awful. “Is my daughter, and she is not a threat.” I saw Joisse’s soul through aura sight, a blinding crimson thing with thin bands of white, as it came to rest within her. Turbulence started to show throughout it, and her aura that absorbed it shifted a little from what I had known.
“Are you certain… Sister?” Kartania’s voice lost its sternness and I heard the sound of a blade being sheathed. She was looking at me instead of Joisse, and Seyari was too.
“She’ll be fine,” Nelys wheezed. “Just like me… right?” They held one arm to their shoulder, blood dripping between their fingers. Their face was a little pale, and they walked shakily near Seyari who gave a pained sigh before using her magic. Nelys winced and hissed as the holy magic burned into them, but the bleeding stopped.
“I’m certain, Tania,” I croaked.
Seyari leaned down and used her one hand to check Joisse’s pulse. “She’ll live… I hope.” My fiancée then turned to me. “Zarenna, what on Varra happened?”
She’ll live! I wanted to cry for joy and sorrow both. More than that, I wanted to give anything I could to do today over again.
“…Lorelei,” I coughed. “She was the demon w-watching us.”
“What?” “Fuck!”
Kartania and Seyari shouted at the same time.
Before they could ask any other questions, however, Joisse’s aura pulsed. Seyari and Tania followed my head to Joisse, and my sister’s eyes went wide.
“Taava! Brynna! Get back!” Kartania shouted, and I heard rapid shuffling from behind me. “Zarenna!”
“I don’t know!”
Seyari glared at my sister. Tania opened her mouth and closed it, frowning even as she took a defensive stance. “I’m sorry, Sister. You’re hurt.”
I nodded, but didn’t answer, focusing instead on Joisse. The glow from her aura moved over her entire body, and I expected a drain on my magic, or what little was left that Seyari had given me that wasn’t trying to regrow my top left arm.
No contract. And… I can never make one with Joisse again. I won’t have a link to help with her wrath, or to know if she’s okay or in danger.
Through the glow, Joisse’s form shimmered and convulsed. I lay facing her, and I watched as my daughter’s face shifted, tusks receding to smaller points. Harsh lines softened, and spines evened out into a neat mane. Joisse slumped a little forward, eyes still closed, as her spine straightened and shrunk with a series of snapping pops. The last thing to change were her limbs; they shrank to more human proportion, though she retained her wickedly long claws.
Or at least, I thought that to be the end. As we all watched, her aura pulsed one last time, and a second pair of arms erupted from below the first. Only then did the glow subside. Joisse’s aura had changed. What was once a faint crimson halo was now a pale crimson mass, ringed in bright white.
While the others were stunned, I crawled toward Joisse, toward my adopted daughter. Seyari saw me move, and helped both Joisse and myself into a sitting position, even as her eyes fluttered open. Red like before, they focused on me.
“Mom?” she asked.
“Y-yes?” I choked.
“What happened?” Joisse scrunched her nose. “I feel… different.”
My next words stopped in my throat. Instead of forcing them, I pulled Joisse into a three-armed embrace. She hugged me back, and I felt her lower pair of arms jolt when they moved for the first time.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m so sorry.”
“Why? What happened?”
“The contract… it—”
“It’s okay, Mom. I don’t… I don’t feel my wrath right now. It’s like it’s gone away somewhere, but it’s never been gone before.”
I blinked my blurry eyes. “But, your soul… and your body… I can’t—I don’t want to replace—”
“You’re not replacing anyone,” Joisse cut me off. She reached a now-smaller hand up and felt her face, pulling away with a smile. “Human Joisse had a human mom, and demon Joisse has a demon mom. They’re both my moms, just different.”
I couldn’t help it anymore. The dam burst and my tears spilled forth. Between Lorelei, my colossal mistake, Seyari’s hand, and Joisse’s contract, I couldn’t keep it together. As I fell apart, I felt the warm touch of Seyari and the cold reliability of my sister as they cradled me along with my daughter.