Architecti realises she’s toppled me over and reaches for me, offering a helping hand.But I hesitate.
Her expression goes dark.“So you know,” she snarls.
Shit.I was hoping to keep the fact I knew she was going to betray me secret a little longer.
This is not how it was supposed to go.I need to get control, but my body is already throbbing and bruised.
Architecti is yanked back by her wings, and the two angels batter the shit out of each other while they scramble to reach me.
Architecti lunges ahead, her hand clenching my throat and squeezing as she hauls me up.Her fingers are so tight against my throat it stops my air.I panic and kick my legs, but she opens her mouth, and my skin flares to life.
The light and power are flowing from my body to hers.
She spins us, aiming me at her sister.A burst of power pours from my chest and my insides feel like they’re going to rip apart.
It hurts.Fuck, it hurts like nothing I’ve ever experienced.As if my entire being is being pulled out of me.It’s hot and searing, with the intense sting of electric shocks all over my skin.She reaches deep into my bones and all the way to that space where my heart was and she draws everything out of me.Her moth flutters around my head, zipping this way and that in excitement.
Interitus screeches in agony, buckling over as her wings begin to disintegrate.But she claws her way up and flings herself at Architecti, crashing into the pair of us.
I’m flung backwards and they hit the ground.I flip onto my knees, gasping for oxygen, my lungs burning and my throat aching.She’s weakened me.But there’s no time to recover.
Both angels are already back on their feet.Architecti kicks Interitus in the chest, and she flies through the air, slamming into one of the turrets.It rumbles and creaks and several slate tiles slip and fall to the earth below.
The pair of them smash into each other and keep going this time.They careen into me, and I’m knocked over, my head crunching against a stone sculpture.Everything goes static and grey, and my scalp is wet.
I wipe my hair and it comes away deep red.
That is not good.
This has to end.
I stand but I’m woozy now.
Interitus dives for Architecti and I see the opportunity.Hauling myself up, I twist out of the way and hurl power at them.
Interitus shrieks as white light and ribbons land on her first and bury themselves in her skin.It spreads like a virus to her sister.
And then they’re both on the ground, hissing and screeching and swearing at me.They are pressed together, chest to chest, arms pinned to their sides, their bodies wrapped in layers and layers of white ribbon mesh.Architecti’s moth slams into the ribbons and threads over and over, until her little wings sizzle and smoke.
“THIS STOPS NOW,” I boom.
“Pathetic,” Architecti says.“Your only purpose here is to serve me.”
I kneel beside them both.“You may have taught me how to use my power in order to wield it to kill Interitus, but you forget, I have a piece of each of you inside me.I know exactly what your plans are.”
That makes her fall silent.
“Interitus wants to end fate.And you want to end her.”
“And you?What do you want?”Interitus says.
I stand, ready to end this.“To be free.It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
“Killing us isn’t going to make you free.You’ll never be free of what you are,” Architecti says.
Interitus huffs out a laugh.“I never agree with my sister, but on this she is right.You cannot hide from who you are, only accept it.”
I close my eyes and let my mind sink into the power.I unravel, letting all my remaining strength filter into the runes.Deeper and deeper I sink.Power surges in waves through my body, light billows around us, stretching into the night sky and through the ribbon-like mesh imprisoning them.
