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NATALIE
Rehema pinched her nostrils, and I gritted my teeth as the scent of the infected filled the air. It was as if they were in the room with us.
“Just how many of them are there?” Rehema exclaimed. “We need to get out of here.”
I shook my head. “No, we have to stay and help.”
I was still thrown off by the revelation that Tedara wasn’t the one behind the virus. How was someone using her, a Primordial? Who was strong enough to do such a thing?
She’d said her chains hadn't been a part of her original punishment. That meant that even though the Imperium had sealed her away, someone else had put her in chains and was now using her for their own ends.
Who in the God Realm would want to create such destruction? When this had all started, we'd speculated about who might be behind it if it had been a god. But we’d never imagined any god would want to throw the peace in the realm off-balance like this.
We’d been wrong and right, all at the same time.
Tedara hadn't said who was using her, but it had to be a god. Who else could it be?
Because she’d been sealed away for so long, she’d grown weak—weak enough that she’d become susceptible to something like this. And whoever was behind the virus knew it.
That was the only theory I could come up with for this situation. Primordials were said to be very, very powerful.
Tedara had done wrong—I knew that—but she'd already spent so long paying for what she'd done. This—this was taking things too far.
“She’s right, Natalie,” Rumir said. “We need to get back to The City of Souls and tell the Imperium what we know. If Tedara isn’t to be blamed, then we have a whole new set of questions that need to be answered.”
“If we leave now, Urgron City will fall,” I said, looking him dead in the eye. “We can help. I want to help… I feel like I have to, Rumir.”
Another explosion shook the room, and this time several books fell from the shelves.
Without a word, Lucian got up and walked through the door. I wasn't sure whether he intended to stay and fight or leave, but I followed him just to see what was going on.
The others trailed behind me as we stepped into the alleyway.
Ahead of us, out on the main roads, people were running by, screaming in terror. I could smell smoke, blood, burning flesh, and the growing scent of the infected.
My skin prickled when a gorgon, a woman with snakes for hair, fell almost in front of us, and to my horror, a werewolf in his two-legged final form jumped on top of her.
As his claws sliced her shoulder open, and her scream echoed around us, Rehema sent a green arrow flying from her bow.
It pierced the werewolf's side, knocking him off the woman, and we all ran to her aid. The arrow in the werewolf was made of energy, so it vanished, and blood gushed from the wound.
Rehema pulled her bow back and aimed, but held the arrow instead of releasing it. The wolf’s eyes were red instead of black, and blood dripped from his mouth. Whoever this man had been, he was long gone.
I knew that. I could feel it.
He was consumed by chaos.
Lucian stepped in front of me when the wolf snarled and got to his feet, his tail swaying aggressively behind him. The wolf ran at us, but Hydum moved in and lifted a pale hand.
A pulse emitted from his palm, and in seconds, the wolf disintegrated. His fur, skin, and flesh shed from his body, and his bones fell to the ground in a pile.
“You have to go,” Hydum said to me. “There are enough gods and strong supernaturals in this city to handle the infected. You have a job to do, Natalie. Save Tedara. Free her if you have to.”
“I thought you were all for her being locked up?” Rehema asked, as Lucian and Rumir helped the wounded gorgon to a nearby building, where she was taken inside by a fae and another gorgon.
“I was.” Hydum looked around us while people ran by. “But if Tedara’s not the one doing this, if her power is being corrupted and used, things will get increasingly worse. At this point, freeing her, or finding whoever’s behind this are your only two options if you want to end what’s happening.” Hydum turned to face me. “I apologize that I couldn’t be of more help to you.”
I shook my head and looked into his eyes underneath his hood. “You were more helpful than you know. You just helped clear Tedara’s name. It’s only because of you that we now know a part of the truth.”
