Dance of Fate

Chapter Forty Six

I was in a room I somewhat recognized- though I didn't know from where. All I knew was that terrible things always happened here.

A few feet in front of me, a large male with the most unforgivingly dark eyes I had ever seen was smiling at me wickedly, sat upon a throne. A throne made of bones. I recognized him, too- and I knew that nothing good lay beneath those cold, empty eyes.

There were armored guards everywhere, including four that were grasping onto me. I tried to break free from their hold, but they were much stronger than me. I reached for my power, but found it to be absent. Panic began to spread through my veins as I looked around.

To my left, was Tamlin, and at his side, Lucien- I couldn't for the life of me recall what they were doing here.

I immediately regretted looking to my right. Feyre was sobbing on the floor, her two sisters hugging each other behind her- yet there was something different about them. Their skin was smoother, their limbs longer... and their ears, which had been round- pointed, like my own. Like those of the High Fae.

But it was the corspe that Feyre was grasping onto that made my blood turned cold in my veins.

A scream escaped my lips as I realized that Rhysand, Cassian, and Mor lay lifeless on the ground. The male, the one sat on the throne chuckled, a cold, merciless thing. I turned my attention to him, rage spreading through my body.

I then saw Azriel, who was a few feet in front of me, on his knees. His back was facing me, which allowed me to a bolt piercing through his chest, a pool of blood dripping from it. I screamed his name, and Azriel turned to look at me.

The look in Azriel's eyes was the worst thing I would ever see. He was the picture of agony, but whether it was from the pain he surely felt, or from all his friends being killed I did not know.

"Don't do it Asteria." He said, begged, his voice raspy and pained. Don't do what? I was about to ask, but there was a bright light, and he fell limp to the floor.

And I felt it. I felt him die, like half of my soul was being ripped away from me. It was the worst thing I had ever felt, an agony so blinding that I could not control myself.

The next few moments passed by so quickly my brain hardly registered them.

An enormous blast of purple and black light flooded the room, throwing every guard flying back. I fell to my knees and crawled to Azriel. I think I was screaming, though I couldn't hear anything, couldn't see anything besides Azriel's limp body on the floor.

I pulled Azriel onto my lap, cradling his head. The ground was violently shaking, and not just in the room. No, the entire world was quaking, and the room was erupting in purple and black flames.

I was tearing apart the world. But I didn't care.

I held Azriel against me, sobbing and screaming, my power continuing to flow out of me with no end.

In the distance, I heard someone laugh maliciously. I forced myself to raise my head, to see the male laughing at me. Despite everything and everyone else being affected by my power, he was not.

I then noticed a large iron tub like thing filled with nothing but a swirling darkness beside him, shielding him from the effects of my power. From the feel of utter power and ancientness that flowed off of it, I immediately knew it could be nothing but the Cauldron.

"The choice is yours, my dear." He said with a snake like smile. "I trust you will choose wisely."

I gasped, nothing but darkness around me. No sign of the Cauldron, or of Hybern, or of Azriel.