“Mmmm, she tastes like whah I imagine daylight would taste like—da sweetest flame.”
Reed growls and shifts to avoid the dagger thrust from Brennus that would’ve cut him in half.
“I tought ye were going ta kill me,” Brennus taunts.
“Jump out of her body and it’s done.”
“Dere’s so much power within her. More dan I realized. ’Tis as if I have da world at me fingertips. I’ll have ta teach her how ta harness all dis power.”
Brennus lowers my brows over my eyes in a razor-sharp look. My lips move in strange ways, forming words that have never before twisted my tongue. Brennus puckers my lips, as if I’ll blow Reed a kiss. Glittering breath emits from my mouth; it sparkles like particles of rock dust, floating and spreading wide. Reed ducks away from the winking light reflecting in the cloud, dodging it. It catches his arm and the swirling mist shreds his skin with tiny glass-like shards. Blood wells up in tears from him.
When Reed glances down at his forearm, Brennus reacts quickly, throwing the dagger in my hand in Reed’s direction. Reed’s green eyes track it. He sidesteps the blade, evading its sharp point. The dagger shoots by him. Then, the ancient blade pauses. Instead of embedding in the wall behind Reed, the dagger chooses to turn abruptly, pursuing Reed with a relentless persistence. My outstretched hand tracts Reed, directing the dagger with a magical spell that Brennus murmurs from my swollen lips.
I use all my strength to shut my gob, hoping to break Brennus’ magic, but it does nothing. Brennus still shifts the dagger to slice at Reed, missing him by inches. Reed blurs around the room at supernatural speed, trying to avoid death.
Zephyr appears at the threshold of our room, watching in confusion as I try to kill Reed. His blue eyes pierce me. He shivers when he sees the darkness within mine. His light brown angel wings launch from his back in a flurry of feathers. They spread wide and serrate with aggression. His confusion is written on his face. He senses danger, but he doesn’t know from where it’s originating.
The dagger Brennus magically wields cuts Reed’s shoulder; blood spurts and stains his charcoal wing with speckles of red. Zephyr growls and barks, “Evie?”
My face turns toward Zephyr momentarily. Brennus lifts my other hand and the door between us immediately slams and seals shut. Muffled bangs and yelling from Zephyr can be heard on the other side, but he’s unable to break through it. I hear him yell to someone, “FIND RUSSELL.”
I’m like a tourist in my own body, I think.
The dagger hasn’t stopped, but continues to pursue Reed relentlessly. In desperation, I concentrate on moving my fingers of my left hand. Energy spirals down my arm. I focus hard; my fingers twitch, and then bend. Lifting my left arm with effort, I bring it towards my face, covering my eyes with my hand. The clatter of the dagger is shockingly loud against the hardwood floor. I exhale a deep breath at its noise.
“Evie?” Reed says my name in question as his heavy breathing draws nearer while I war with Brennus inside me. The cold darkness races and bumps up against what I know to be me in my veins. It grips my skin unseen.
In the next moment, my right hand covers my left, ruthlessly prying them from my eyes, uncovering them. The sharp, unpolished metal of the dagger lifts from the floor and catapults in a whiplash toward Reed. He catches the hilt of it as the dagger point continues to drive on. Reed is propelled backward. His teeth clench and sweat breaks out on his brow as he struggles with the knife. My outstretched right hand glows brighter, forcing energy into the weapon. The tip of the dagger lurches onward to press up against Reed’s bare chest where the image of my wings are branded above his heart.
Fear, like an accelerant, ignites inside of me. I flail my left arm, compelling all the fear and energy I can find into it. This is my heart and it burns for Reed. I’m never going to be the one to hurt him. Inside of me, fire meets ice. The dagger that’s a breath away from cutting into Reed, with a lurch, abruptly changes direction. Reed continues to hold on to its hilt, but now he’s struggling to keep it from crossing the room to me.
Wind from the powerful beat of Reed’s wings causes my hair to blow away from my face. He’s dragged across the floor toward me by the ancient metal in his hands. A deep growl snarls from his lips when the dagger continues its path to me. The deadly point pierces my skin, blood wells from the charcoal-colored wings etched above my heart.
A bead of sweat rolls down from the side of Reed’s face. “NO,” Reed yells at me. “EVIE! DON’T!” He’s so close to me that I can kiss his lips. I don’t, instead I concentrate on the energy controlling the dagger. “BRENNUS!” Reed snarls as he digs his heels into the floor, attempting to keep the blade from entering my heart. “SHE’LL KILL HERSELF!” Pain floods my senses. I focus on Reed’s hands. The tension in them translates to his forearms as he violently resists my will. The dagger buries deeper.
The ice in my veins recedes. It flows backward to collect in the dark place between my heart and my soul. I’m disoriented. The room spins. An image of Brennus, not unlike one of my clones, lifts from me. Brennus glows, shimmering. His ethereal light fades to a normal hue of his skin—or his “new normal”. His skin is much more golden now. His black wings unfold around him, large and menacing. But with the loss of my energy to sustain him, Brennus’ glow fades, but he still remains.
“Do na kill yerself, mo chroí,” Brennus pants as he sags a bit like someone who has just run an excruciating race. “’Tis weak.”
With a firm grip still on the dagger, Reed draws it out of me. I fall forward to be caught in Reed’s arms as he rests me against his chest. He flips the dagger in his hand before throwing it. The blade passes through the shape of Brennus to stick in the wall behind him.
I grit my teeth as Reed rips the edge of the sheet that I have wrapped around me and uses it to stanch the flow of blood coming from my stab wound. “It was the only way to stop you, Brennus. I’m your weakness,” I pant against the pain. “Your tristitiae—I’m your sorrow.”
“No,” Brennus says with his eyes softening for a moment. “Ye’re me love.”
“How did you possess her?” Reed asks while his deft fingers bind and tie the makeshift bandages to me.
“We’re connected trough blood. She gave hers to me.”
Reed’s fingers pause and clench into fists. He glances at Brennus. “I will kill you.”
Brennus’ eyes narrow at Reed. “Ye can na kill me! Ye’re WEAK! Ye make her WEAK, aingeal! Dat’s why ye have ta die.” Brennus replies in disgust. “Do ye na see dat, mo chroí? He’ll let ye be his martyr—he’ll let ye die for him. Ye can na win dis wi’ him. Ye have ta be ruthless! If ye’re meek da aingeals will forsake ye. I know dis ta be true!”
“HOW DO YOU KNOW?” I retort. My blood smears on Reed’s chest as I twist to look at Brennus.
“I KNOW BECAUSE I WAS FORSAKEN! ’TIS WHAH DEY DO! I prayed for Finn—for me—dat day when Aodh made me his sclábhaí! DA AINGEALS DID NA LIFT A FINGER TA HELP US!” He points his finger accusingly at Reed. “I’LL NA HAVE DAT FOR YE! I will na,” he says the last part quietly, shaking his head with a grim expression.