Page 81 of Up In Flames
“Ara!” I shouted as I dashed out of bed.
Xae woke instantly and shot out of bed, arms flung out as he tried to process where he was. “Where's my sword?”
I didn't have time to tell Xae what was wrong or where his damn sword was. It wouldn't help. I ran out of the bedroom in only my undershorts and followed the cord binding me to Ara. Fear was shivering down it. No—terror.
“Aranren!” I screamed.
Men came pouring out of rooms and into the corridor—both my lovers and the lords who had come with us to the citadel. Two of them were on watch duty, but they'd be on the walls, not in the fortress.
“What's wrong?” Kel shouted after me.
“I don't know!” I shouted back as I kept running. “He's afraid.”
Without their bond fully settled, they apparently didn't feel what I felt from Ara. Maybe they didn't feel anything from him. But that didn't matter. I felt enough for all of us.
“Ara!” I called again as men fell into a run behind me, many of them armed.
“Ember!” a wounded voice shrieked at last.
“I'm coming! Hold on!”
But then a wave of pain lashed through me, sending me to my knees.
“Ember!” Rath knelt beside me, his arm on my back.
“Oh, Goddess,” I whispered in horror. “He's here. Death is here, and he's clawing at our bond.”
“He can't break it,” Rath helped me to my feet. “Come on, Ember. Where is he? Take us to Aranren.”
I took a steadying breath and started to run again. I came to an imposing door. Arched and carved. Heavy wood. It was open. Beyond it lay only darkness.
“Fuck,” I whispered. “Oh, fuck me. We've been fools.”
“What the fuck is that?” one of the Tigers growled.
“Death's domain,” I said. “I thought it would have vanished without Ara to anchor it.”
“I was here long before Aranren,” Death said as he manifested in the doorway. “Humans worshiped me on this very spot. I need no anchor.”
“You can't have him,” I said. “He's protected by Spirit now.”
“Is he?” Death drawled. “Did you feel my cage shatter? The bones turn to dust? Were you so certain that he was free of me?” He laughed cruelly. “I am a god! You cannot defeat me so easily. I withdrew until only a speck of myself remained in him. Small enough that you couldn't find me. Small enough that you'd feel safe in freeing him. When he warded himself with Spirit, it only pushed me deeper. And what did you do? You came back here!” He laughed again. “Do you think Aranren had that thought on his own? I was always there, guiding him so subtly that he didn't know it. And all of you fell for it. Even him.”
“He's distracting us,” Xae growled and ran right through the shadow-man.
I flinched, but nothing happened to Xae. Death roared but couldn't stop him. He couldn't stop the rest of us from following either. But once we were past the threshold, we were in his world.
I couldn't see. Everything turned to ink. Blinding darkness. Shouts from the other lords echoed around me. But I didn't need to see to find my lovers. I followed the cords of our bond to them, and they to me. We converged on each other in seconds, hands grasping until we formed a line.
“This way,” I said, following the last cord attached to my soul, the one they couldn't sense.
The other lords would have to find their own way. We couldn't help them. But Ara was the one who needed our help the most. I didn't shout for him, just went to him. As I did, the darkness lightened. Death knew there was nothing he could do to stop me from finding Aranren, not even in his domain.
Or did he?
“Mother?” Xae stared off into the shadows.
Someone was there, walking toward us. A tall woman with long, golden hair and pale skin.
