RISING SHADOWS (Shadows Book 2)

Chapter 36

A haunting chill seeped into my bones making each breath I took feel like inhaling shards of ice. The light of the Land of Souls shimmered, causing warped shadows to dance around us. Then there were shouts coming from the stone steps where Rafe was.

Two angels surged forward, peeling Rafe from Azrael's arms where he'd held him back. And there, beneath these ancient tempestuous heavens, Rafe was brought to his knees by celestial decree.

"Rafe!" My voice broke as it crashed against silence, the sound of my own desperation echoing back at me.

Two angels with their wings unfurled in a display of undeniable power, pressed down on his shoulders with a force that belied their ethereal beauty. Their hands glowed with a light that should have been comforting, keeping him in place, keeping him in a position of unyielding obedience.

"Riley," he gasped. "I'll find you."

His words were met with a chorus of derisive laughter.

"I will find you."

My heart clenched. I wanted to reach out and tear him away from their clutches, but I remained rooted, powerless against the might of the Archangels.

"Please," I turned to Samael, the gravity of his presence bearing down upon me. I wanted to hate him, but it was difficult to despise the very being responsible for Rafe being in my life. He stood aloof, his skeletal hand poised as if to conduct the fates themselves. "Spare him. He did nothing wrong. It was me, all me." My voice was a mere whisper amidst the thunderous silence, a plea for mercy in a place where such concepts were as fleeting as the mist.

"Rafe made bargains of his own. He knew the cost," Samael intoned.

"Take me instead," I offered up the words without hesitation.

But Samael's reply was a cold gust that extinguished any hope I nurtured. With a wavy of his bony hand, reality folded upon itself, and I was ripped from the Land of Souls.

I will find you.

I was cast adrift, tumbling through nothingness toward an uncertain fate. As I fell, I clung to Rafe's vow until it pulsed like a heartbeat within me.

The world crashed back into focus with the salty sting of sea spray on my lips and the dark silhouette of the Iron Moon castle looming overhead. I was submerged, tossed about in the roaring waves as if I was a ragdoll in the hands of a child. The angels' message was clear, they had thrown me in at the deep end and it seemed their twisted sense of justice demanded I fulfil my promise immediately.

I reached inward to hook into that core element that had been mine from birth. The water around me began to still, wild waves diminishing to gentle ripples as I imposed order on the seas surrounding me. It was only a reprieve, but I took it.

Then I wrapped my magic around an arctic gust, looping around it until it was as if I'd summoned it myself. With a silent command, it swirled around me and lifted me from the now-placid waters. My whole body shivered violently as wintery winds battered the drenched clothing clinging to me.

Before me, the castle's jagged outline cut against the backdrop of stormy skies, and I saw the staircase winding up the beast's belly. I let the wind guide me onward, propelling me toward the platform at the top of the ascent. My mission was simple: find and kill Nova so I was then free to give myself to Chaos and save my friends. But each step nearer that dank and dark place, the place where Astrea died, twisted my stomach and brought nausea up my throat.

I stepped through the threshold of the Iron Moon castle. Water dripped down my hair and down the back of my neck, each one sending a shiver along my spine. The smell of brine was strong here, the place where the ocean breached the door. Puddles gathered in the uneven seams of the flagged floor, forming mirrored surfaces that reflected the flickering light.