Irina:“What is going on?” I asked, frowning at the sight of the place getting evacuated.Women and men were running, the cries of children filled the air around us. And it wasn’t until the smell of blood filled my nostrils that my eyes widened in surprise.“You need to leave the building, ma’am. There is a woman whose been hurt, and we are going to need to evacuate tourists who haven’t been on this side. There are others who are being questioned, but do run along, there is nothing to see her.” A man dressed in a security suit said, making me frown. The man was no human. He seemed to be too calm to be one. Plus, the way he spoke and kicked us out, in Italy, told me that he wasn’t one of the security men.I looked at Kai for a moment, and he shook his head, silently letting me know that even he didn’t know what was going on.The two of us turned to leave, we were going to need to find a different path inside. “Could Cosimo really have done this to ensure that we didn’t…?”“I don’t know
Kai:“You really believe in yourself a little too much, don’t you, Cosimo?” Luna Claudia asked, looking at the man who cheated her. “But then again, if that was true, I doubt that you would have had so many men lurking around. It was only a shame that you had to get rid of one of your people to ensure that we were kicked out…”“You would wish that I would do so. I believe that you thought that I was scared of you, didn’t you?” He asked, making me frown.“You didn’t…?”“Why would I? I would rather face you than find myself dealing with you later. It seems to me that you are not going to stop until you die, and since you are in the center, it would be good. The women would give me their crests, and I would be getting Bartolomeo’s…”“Over my dead body,” Lea said, stopping him.“That can and will be arranged. And trust me, I am going to be sure that you and that twin sister of yours see it before you take your last breaths. You know, I would have rather had my sons watch, but they would b
Irina:Flashback:“Hi,” I said, smiling at the man who stood in front of a rose bush. It was one that I loved, I took care of it myself.“Hello,” he said, turning to face me. His eyes were grim, and if anything, I would say that he was angry. Though what he was angry about, I had no way of finding out.“Do you want a flower? I grew them myself.” I said, and he raised an eyebrow.“You are willing to kill a flower just to give it to me?” He asked, and I smiled.“It doesn’t count as killing it, though. Flowers are there to make others happy, and you don’t seem very happy. I figure to give you one to make you smile.” I said, and the man nodded. I picked one flower and careful not to cut my finger, plucked it before handing it to him. “Now, you are going to tell the flower your name, and its scent would give you the happiness of all the world.”“Auditore, Bartolomeo Auditore.” He said, and I nodded.“Irina,” I said, extending a hand to him. “Why are you out here on your own? I saw you with
Kai:I let out a low growl as I caught sight of whatever sand beings rose from the ground.Mom’s eyes met mine, and she returned the growl. We were going to have to fight our way out of this, and I knew that even mom saw it.“We are going to need to distract them for the girls to get past them.” Mom said, and I shook my head.“YOU are not going to…”“I have fought and have survived more than this, Kai. And we are not alone.” She said, nodding behind me. Rustem, Aunt Yelena, and Viktor walked toward me.“How…?”“Your father was cruel. Very cruel, but he was foolish when he brought all of us here.” She said, nodding at the now frozen men. “Your wife is strong, and though she was here for intentions not so pure…”Lea’s body was flung back, and she hit the colosseum wall behind her, dropping to the ground. Irina’s eyes were fixed on the beings. She fought, but I knew that she was fighting with both pain and rage, and the two different aspects were going to end up hurting her.“You are goi
Irina:I stood on a cloud. At least, that is what it felt like.Kai’s eyes were fixed on mine for a moment, and I shook my head in question, trying to understand how things got to where they were or what even happened in the first place. Either way, I had no answer to give, and I knew that neither did he.“Are you okay?” He asked, and I nodded, taking a deep breath, processing what we saw.The colosseum walls were stable, and the ground was back to normal. There were no sandmen, and we stood, calm and collected. However, it wasn’t until we heard sobs that we snapped out of what was supposedly the reality of what we had lived.Anastasia or Katerina, whatever her name was for that matter, lay dead on the floor with her mother looking at her. The fact that Cosimo had been cold enough to hide a daughter from her mother for all this time. To be cruel enough to not even tell her where the girl was told me a lot about him.“You’re bleeding.” I said, looking at Kai. His left eyebrow had blood
Kai:“What is…?”“This is what we’ve been looking for.” Mario said, choosing to stop me as he responded. “This is the sept that we were looking for. The one would separate us good from those who are…”“You and Irina have been chosen to be the ones to enter. You were the ones who were chosen to unlock the door.” Claudia said, looking at me. Her eyes were filled with pain and though I saw her anger in her eyes, she was curious about what was going on, but I knew that this was something that she wanted to see. If this was something that they were looking for, I knew that they would want to see what it was, no matter the pain.“What?” I asked, wrapping my arm around Irina, who just like me, was trying to understand what was going on. The idea of this being a reality wasn’t one that I wanted to think of. Not when I knew that everything was just turning against us.“Go, Kai.” Mom said, looking at me. Her eyes held a sense of pride that I didn’t understand, but I knew that it was one to valu
Irina:If anyone would have told me that I would be standing in a sept of peace, wondering what it meant to be in peace, I would have called them foolish. But here I was, I was standing in the one place where others would be more than willing to be in my place. A place that I know, that even the woman that called herself my sister wanted to be in.“What is peace?” I asked, shaking my head in question. “Because as far as I am concerned, we neither surrounded by it, nor do we know what it is.”“It is the place where you are going to find yourself questioning. But the questions would have their answers.” She said, the lady in gold. Kai looked at me, and for a moment, I doubted what she said. This wasn’t my ideal picture of peace. This place, I knew that it wasn’t. and I knew for fact that I was not fit to be ‘queen’. Whatever that was and whatever she meant, I knew that it wasn’t me.“I am supposed to believe that what you are telling me is true, right? Is that what you expect of me?” I
Claudia:My eyes were fixed on the girl, my daughter, for a few moments as I allowed myself to process that she was alive, in front of me, sitting up, taking a breath after I saw her slaughter herself.Cosimo took her away from me, but she was right here, in front of me. The man didn’t take her from me. She didn’t die.“Mama,” she repeated again, the word coming out like music to my ears. Music that I couldn’t understand the lyrics to, but music nevertheless.She stood, nearly losing her balance only to be taken by surprise when Ezra wrapped his arm around her, steadying her. Her mate was standing by her side, and the pain that I saw in his eyes told me that he wasn’t going to want to lose her.He allowed her to walk toward me, making sure that she wasn’t going to fall. I hesitated for a moment, but extended my hand, daring to touch her face. Her standing in front of me was far too surreal for me to believe it.She wasn’t here. I doubted that this was true. It was a dream. But if it w