Page 2 of Interion

A faint tremor rose from the depths of the water, where the two stones joined together.

“You’re the one who doesn’t understand!” Serguei glared at the face of the woman he had once loved. Loved, he thought with disgust, laughing at his own misfortune. He still loved her so much that every part of him ached from making her suffer. He was forcing himself to ignore the feeling, because Ravena had to be stopped, and he was the only one with the power to face her. “Our people are already saved. Our home is here. You’re conspiring against your own brothers.”

“You spit on our ancestors by following his orders.” Ravena tried to scream and kick, but his weight crushed the air from her lungs, cutting off her voice. “I would never bow to the tyrant who fears my brothers, our power, and everything we represent.” She gasped for breath. “We’re better than this, Serguei.”

The man knew this conversation was pointless. Even though killing her would destroy him, it was the only way to keep his brothers from being condemned to death. The future was already decided, and he was only delaying the inevitable because he was weak enough to still love her. Talking only complicated things and was starting to erode his resolve, letting doubt creep into his mind. He wasn’t there to question—he had to kill her. Otherwise, the new king would slaughter his people.

Serguei decided to finish Ravena off quickly, before the situation destroyed him first. He forced against her mental protections, making her barrier crack like glass. The sound of those cracks seeped into the psychic’s core, spreading like fire through the eternity of his memories.

While she was running, Ravena had known she would die and had prepared herself for it. But now, trapped beneath him, she couldn’t accept death. She wanted desperately to see another tomorrow, and realized too late that she wasn’t ready to leave this life.

For five seconds, she felt the impact against her mind, then gathered her strength to strike back. The assault was powerful, but she had no idea what she would find when she threw herself against Serguei. To her despair, she discovered that his mental barriers were thick and impenetrable to her power.

With one final blow, Serguei broke into the fae’s mind. The glass shattered in all directions, and the sound of the violation reverberated through his being. He would never forget that haunting noise, not in a thousand years. The psychic took control of Ravena’s mind, and soon her body went limp in his arms.

The world slowed its spin; waves broke against the distant rocks; sand and salt scattered on the wind. Serguei wanted to be rock, to withstand the crashing surf, but he was born a storm. In his eyes, tempests threatened to consume the world.

“I’m sorry, Ravena.” A treacherous tear escaped his eyes and dripped onto her cheek. He caressed her face with his fingertips, as if touching something precious and delicate. “I love you so much.” His voice broke, choked with tears. “You’ll go first, but I promise I’ll find you soon.”

Serguei expanded his consciousness and took hold of the woman’s mind. Soon he found the core of her being. The sphere radiated the glory of her essence, the power of Ravena’s soul. Looking at that flame, he could have sworn it was the center of his own universe—the sun illuminating his darkness.

He stared into her green eyes—the eyes of the woman he loved, the person who had always given meaning to his days. She met his gaze with a mixture of desperation, fear, and pleading. He caressed his beloved’s cheek and pressed a kiss to her lips, lips that had once sworn to love him forever. Then he did the hardest and most unthinkable thing of his life: he crushed her mental core in his grasp without letting himself think, because storms don’t think—they only strike.

It was like flipping a switch.

But before everything ended, Ravena hurled one last remnant of her consciousness into his head. Memories exploded against Serguei’s mental barrier.

Little Ravena, six years old, playing with him on the lawn. Serguei falling from the swing, and her reaching out to him. The girl’s hands pulling him up as she smiled and the sun bathed their bodies in light. In that memory, Serguei’s irises, through her eyes, were like whole constellations—brilliant and infinite.

The memories rushed forward in a blur of images—Serguei growing up—then sharpened again. Now it was a memory of the two of them at fourteen, learning to fight side by side. Of Ravena discovering that the tiny feeling for her friend, though small, was overwhelming in her chest—and it was called love.

Then she saw the two of them at eighteen. Him changing clothes while she watched and, in secret, desired him. Serguei commanding the Night Squadron. And then image after image of him leading, being her personal hero. The feel of his body as he held her on a cold night, after they’d fled from soldiers. Finally, the night they were together. Endless images of how their bodies worshipped each other; fragments of countless encounters and the thought that she was complete.

The images moved through the years and stopped at a mission Ravena had done alone—one that kept her away for years. Her belly growing and the face of a child. Pure love overflowing for that small creature. Then, the face of a woman they both knew and a basket with the baby inside.

Finally, the last image: Serguei on top of her, pinning her to the cold floor in that cavern that reeked of rot and radiated a sickly silence. Yet instead of a monster, she saw only the man she loved. Her last thought was that his eyes were the most precious sight in the world. They had the same tones as their son’s irises—the son she could no longer protect.

“Forgive me,” she whispered in his mind.

Serguei couldn’t say whether the words were for the child or for himself. The images vanished in a snap, like a rope suddenly severed. Ravena, limp in his arms, had lost the only thread connecting soul to body.

Serguei felt something stretch and snap inside his chest. The rupture seemed so vast he didn’t even notice the tremor shaking the cavern’s structure—perhaps it extended to the world outside. He was dazed, tears streaming down his face like waterfalls. He was lost, and the pain was so great he could barely breathe. He watched his plan crumble to ashes: he couldn’t leave with his beloved. There was a child whose eyes were identical to his. — A son, by the gods, how? — He couldn’t think. He held Ravena’s body tight and buried his face in her black hair, breathing in the scent of wild blackberries for the last time.

Then a scream of pure pain echoed through the cavern, filling the tunnels and recesses below.

The outburst of pain faded until it reached total and absolute…

Silence.

Chapter 1

The air reeked of mold, and the chains burned against my ankles. In the basement where they kept me, the darkness had grown so thick I could only make out the sliver of light seeping through the cracks around the door hinges.

I stared into the emptiness around me, my dying lung burning as if fire filled every breath. Soon the coughing fit started up again, and I trembled with each attempt to draw air. Even so, I heard footsteps on the floor above and clamped my hands over my mouth, trying to stay as quiet as possible, terrified someone might come down. A moment of muffled silence followed, marked only by the desperate pounding of my heart. Then the door swung open, and two soldiers descended the stairs carrying a wounded body. I pressed myself against the wall and curled into the rags I called a bed, trying to disappear into them.

One soldier spoke to the other, and through their conversation, I caught the sounds of battle drifting in from the open door.

“Things went sideways, man. I’m telling you, I’ve never seen anything like it.”