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Follow the river.
Obviously,I’d snarled back inwardly at its vague reply.
The scent of ozone had drifted to me, and I’d turned to discover dark storm clouds looming in the distance.
Fuck…
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
My wings pounded through the air, propelling me forward, flying just above the tree line, as my eyes scanned the river and everything in its vicinity.
Mile after mile passed, my anxiety soaring higher than I ever had as Mareina remained nowhere to be found. By the time the sun finally finished its descent and Atratus’ moons illuminated the sky, I was on the verge of full-blown panic - tremors and all.
Despite how much I detested this female.
When I passed the fifth town, I considered doubling back to see if somehow, too gripped by panic, I’d missed her, but my Knowingness urged me on.
Scents of all kinds reached me - hundreds of them - yet none of themhers.
Thunder rumbled as dense, ominous clouds blotted out the moons above. I could onlyprayI wouldn’t be among the things the approaching lightning chose to strike.
With a silent prayer on the tip of my tongue toAkashand all the gods that served her, I resorted to begging.
Please. Please let me find my soulbound.
Guilt weighed heavily on my winged shoulders that I’d spent our only days together spewing hatred at her and trying to manipulate her.
The pace of my wings slowed as if urged by some unknowable guidance. I lowered and continued beyond a small marina where the river’s mouth gaped, and the current slowed.
Finally, hope flared like an explosion in my chest in time with a flicker of life through our tether. Mareina’s scent reached out to me like a beckoning hand. I dove, landing on the landing bay of the riverbank so hard it cracked the cobblestones.
The scent of her blood in the air had my blood turning to ice. Only thawed by my fiery rage.
The skies began to weep as I sprinted down road after road until I found myself in a filthy alleyway replete with refuse and scurrying rats. The skies chose that precise moment to open up, turning the rain into a deluge and stealing the last of her scent.
Muffled by the pounding storm, my ears pricked at the sound of voices… There were too many of them, and still, none of them belonged to Mareina.
Pulling at our tether again drew me towards a dark set of stairs towards the end of the alley. Several males stood beneath an overhang that kept them out of the rain. The group of them did a double take at the sight of me stalking towards them.
As much as I wanted to relish in the satisfaction of ending them with fist and blade, I knew I didn’t have the time. Mareina didn’t have the time. Iwilledmy magic forward to take hold of the blood in their veins. I increased the pressure in every vessel and organ in their bodies until blood wept from every orifice. It was the work of a moment for them to collapse dead.
I descended the steps to the basement door, reaching out with my senses, feeling each of their heartbeats, including Mareina’s, which beat a furious pace. My magic poured from me, and the iron door in front of me groaned, denting and caving in as I pressed onto it with intensifying gravity.
Shouts rose up on the other side. The moment the door’s bolt warped, I push kicked it open. The hinges flew, sending the iron surface flying across the room, crushing a male beneath it on the floor.
And now…
Rage and horror, unlike anything I’d ever experienced, consumed me as my mind registered the sight of Mareina hanging in shackles, her precious body bared to the males surrounding her. One of the males, a sanguinati, levelled a broadsword at her neck.
I recognized him.These males were a part of my Uprising… How many of its members participated or idly allowed such unforgivable behaviour?
“I’ll remove her head from?—
The male's words cut off abruptly as Iwilledthe air from their lungs. Their brains barely had time to register that they were suffocating before I sped into the room, cleaving my blade through each of their bodies so swiftly it was a blur.
