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Pregnant? A cold sensation snaked through my veins, while a fist of agony squeezed my chest. “Pregnant? Then, she would have survived. She would have survived that night.”
“Yes. Just because the prophecy exists, doesn’t mean the cursed cannot be murdered.”
Air expelled from my lungs, my knees wobbling with weakness, while I stared off. A baby?
The shock faded for the black, toxic rage that exploded through my muscles. I turned and slammed my fist square into Adimus’s jaw, knocking the angel back onto his ass. “You sent her there!” Before he could push to his feet, I scrambled over top of him and pounded another punch to his face. And another. “You rotten motherfucker! You sent her straight to my father! To be tormented!” Another punch. And another.
As I drew back my fist again, a force held it upright, keeping me from launching it into that fucking nose of his.
“It is not our decision to send the Met’Lazan there! It is as it has been for centuries! Your father was a fool for seeking her out. The purpose of the temple is to erase all memory of the Omni upon death. Chances are, Lustina remembered nothing.” Daubing the blood from his lip and eye, Adimus pushed me off himself, and I fell to the side, finally released of whatever spell he had placed on me. He turned to Vaszhago, sneering. “Thanks for the help.”
With a grin, Vaszhago pulled the black cigarette he’d lit from between his lips. “Was hoping I’d get to see him finish you off, to be honest. I’m a bit disappointed.”
Every muscle in my body shook with rage, my chest locked up with the tension as I stared back at Adimus. “You never once tried to save her.”
“To enter Infernium now would be a death sentence for an angel.”
“Why did you not tell me? I would have gone after her. Why did you not let me save her from that hell?” It explained the nightmares Farryn kept having about the place. She was remembering Lustina’s time there.
He hiked a knee up, resting his elbow atop it. “They die here. Their souls are cleansed, and they fade into the black abyss until they are reborn. Your time with her would’ve been cut short.”
“At the time, I’d have traded my soul for a single minute more with her. I would do so for Farryn now. Clearly, you’ve not loved, if you cannot understand that.” I pushed to my feet and strode past Vaszhago in the direction of Infernium.
“I have loved,” Adimus said from behind. “I happened to love your mother very much.”
The urge to throw another fist in his face tugged at me, but I didn’t want to waste any more time than I already had. “Not enough,” I said over my shoulder.
“She stayed to protect her. Lustina.” Adimus spoke at my back, as I didn’t slow my pace, and his words took me back to that day, knelt at my mother’s bedside, as she lay dying. She’d told me toprotect the girl at all costs. At the time, I’d thought it was simply her affection toward Lustina which had prompted her to say so.
“She knew she was Met’Lazan,” I said, looking ahead to see the mountain not far from where we strode.
“Yes. For years, your father tormented her to get her to confess. He fed off her vitaeilem and subjected her to unspeakable acts of cruelty, and still, she refused to divulge the name of the girl she’d been sent to protect.”
The confession stabbed my heart, knowing my mother had given her life to protect Lustina, and I couldn’t save neither her, nor Lustina, in the end.
“Lustina would have lost the memory when she passed, only to remember it when she was reborn.” Adimus trailed after me, his words fading for the rage simmering in my head.
“Farryn now carries this memory and is at risk because shelives. The odds of her remembering the Omni are frighteningly good so long as her heart still beats”
“You better pray that it still beats if you’re so holy. Because if anything should happen to her, I will bring Hell to the heavens.”
* * *
It wasn’t long before we arrived at the gates of Infernium. The decayed asylum sat at the base of the mountain, the mere appearance of it a threat, with its gargoyle statues and dark vines climbing the outside of it. A darkness loomed over the building, separated by a wavering wall that shimmered where the light from where we stood hit it.
The very edge of Eradye’s border.
“This is as far as I go,” Adimus said, staring up at the ominous building. “I cannot stay long in Nightshade, as I’m sure The Fallen have already sensed my presence here. The entrance to the labyrinth lies in the tunnels beneath the asylum.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial, which he handed off to me. “This should be enough vitaeilem for you to summon a bolt straight through the heart of Letifer, which resides in the center of the labyrinth. Retrieve Farryn and exit quickly, for once the portal is closed, you cannot escape.”
“This is why my father sought Farryn out. If she can access vitaeilem, she can power Eradye.”
“Up until she dies. Then Letifer will seek out the next Met’Lazan. And the next. And the next. Until all of Etheriusz is drained.”
“I will not let that happen.”
“Godspeed.”
“I do not need your holy well wishes. They mean nothing in Infernium.” On those parting words, Vaszhago and I strode through the gates toward the staircase. I took small comfort in knowing that Farryn was likely alive, given that Vaszhago showed no sign of pain.
