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An hour ago, Natalie had consumed the chaos in everyone, allowing the infected to die peacefully. But she’d almost died in the process.
It had taken several minutes before she’d stopped screaming, and then many more before anyone could touch her.
By then, a crowd had gathered, so now Natalie’s secret—that she was infected but hadn’t gone mad like all the others—was spreading. I closed my eyes, fighting back tears. I couldn’t stop hearing Natalie’s cries or seeing all the blood that had spilled from her eyes as tears.
Hydum had locked her in a room and placed a protective seal around her.
So here I was with Lucian and Rumir in Hydum’s home while Natalie remained locked away in case her powers grew unstable. I couldn't imagine what she was going through. I'd tried to use my own powers to put her to sleep, but it didn't work.
When Hydum walked in, Rumir jumped to his feet. “How is she?”
“Lucky to be alive,” Hydum answered and pulled his hood down. "She should be either dead or completely broken. Instead… she's silent."
“Silent?” Lucian asked.
His hands were clasped so tightly together, they seemed drained of blood. “She hasn’t uttered a sound since being placed in the room. She also hasn’t moved.” Hydum walked over to the window to stand beside me, watching as more people appeared with flowers. “She saved many lives today.”
“She could have died,” I mumbled, my voice shaking. I bit down on my lip to contain my emotions.
“You will have to make it clear to her that she’s never to do that again.” Hydum turned around and looked at all of us. “If she ever does that again, consumes any more divinity, she'll die for sure. She won't go mad. She'll die.”
He shook his head and ran a hand down his face. It was the most expressive I’d seen him since we met hours ago.
"Even now, the fact that she’s retaining so much divinity is baffling to me," he added. “I’ve never heard of anything like it.”
Lucian leaned forward and pushed his hand through his hair. “Well, we all knew Natalie was special.”
No one spoke after that, and I turned my attention to the people outside.
Hydum had nothing to worry about. No one in this room would let Natalie try something like this again—ever. Still, I couldn’t help being proud of her for doing it—even though it had been terrifying to watch.
She’d truly saved countless lives and ended the torment the infected souls faced.
Seeing firsthand what a world falling apart looked like, I could better understand what those on Earth must have felt during the vampire war.
Not just that war, either.
While I'd never been to Earth, there had been several incidents there that had been big enough to draw the attention of people in this realm.
Despite knowing many souls who’d come to this realm after dying during times of war in Earth’s history, I never truly understood their relief at living eternally in a place where there was only peace. I'd never known anything but peace, so true appreciation for it wasn't something I'd ever felt—until now.
Knowing that Tedara was being used, that someone in this realm was the real villain, made me furious.
While the others seemed to think only a god could be behind this virus, I wasn’t so sure. And I doubted it would be anyone who'd lived and died on Earth, either. No one who'd endured life on Earth could want to ruin the afterlife like this.
I still couldn’t believe what I’d witnessed. Natalie had acted without thinking, putting herself in danger to help others. She was the bravest person I’ve ever known. Even though Hydum told her she’d die if she ever did something like this again, somehow, I knew this wouldn’t be the last time she'd act recklessly to save others.
The memory of the witch I'd killed surfaced in my mind…
I'd been trying not to think about it, but I couldn’t seem to put it out of my mind. Even though I knew that Lucian was right about my actions saving that woman and her child, it didn’t seem to matter. My heart was still broken about what I'd done.
That poor witch hadn't deserved what happened to her. But I had no choice. She’d been seconds away from slaughtering a woman and an innocent child. I had to act.
I spotted a little human girl, no more than ten years old, watching us through the window. She reminded me of the girl the minotaur had killed. In fact, she looked so much like that unfortunate girl that they could’ve been related. A woman with the same color hair stood behind the girl, her hands on the child’s shoulders.
The woman wept, but the girl wasn't crying. Her eyes were swollen and red—so she had been—but there was a rigid set to her features as she placed a red flower amongst the rest. Then she looked up at the window, and her eyes met mine. The coldness in her stare gave me chills.
She wore a gold bracelet like me, meaning she had been born in this realm, and my heart went out to her. She’d lost her sister to violence that never should have existed here.
There was betrayal in her stare, and I understood the way she felt. This wasn't the home the gods promised us. Perhaps Tedara had been right, in a sense. We were nothing more than slaves, whose only purpose was to worship and keep the gods alive.
“Rehema?”
I turned to Lucian. “Yes?”
“Are you okay?”
I nodded, though I wasn’t. Even after this all ended, no matter the outcome, this realm would never be the same again. And I hated it.
