Sinister Seraphim of Mine (Overworld Chronicles Book 8) (46 page)

"What happened?" Elyssa said. Her eyes widened. "Where is Jeremiah?"

I stroked her hair. "He sacrificed himself so I could escape."

"He's dead?"

I would have to tell the others. Moses's death was a staggering loss, but the man had shown me something I already knew. Daelissa might be the most powerful being on the planet. She might have the biggest army and control of the Overworld. But she was missing the key elements that I knew would defeat her in the end.

She had no conscience. She had no friends. And above all, nobody loved her.

I looked at my friends and knew I would die for them. I knew I might have to die for them just as Moses had died to save me. There was no force that could stand up to the power of love.

Not even Daelissa.

I took Elyssa's hand. "Let's go talk to the others. We have a war to win."

Chapter 40

Marbled arches ran high overhead. Statues of demigods lined the cavernous hallway leading to the most important place in Eden. Daelissa saw her own statue in the center of the hall. It was the largest and most elaborately detailed as befitting a goddess.

She heard Qualan whimpering behind her. Heard the murmurings of others in her retinue.
Moses is dead!
She felt joy.
Ezzek is dead.
Sadness clouded the joy. They could not be the same person.
They are. They were. They are dead.

She spun to face her followers. "Silence!"

Serena returned a look of mild surprise. Qualan reeled back as if she had struck him in the face. The wisp of a girl, Lanaeia, said nothing as usual, her eyes locked on the floor. Maulin Kassus wisely kept his eyes averted. He lived only because he had trapped Jeremiah and the Slade boy at Queens Gate by blocking their portals and had removed whatever spells the rebels used to block the portals here in the Grand Nexus.

Kassus had also told her all about El Dorado and the rebels' plans to revive Darklings. Unfortunately, there was little she could do about it with the dragons in the way. It mattered not a bit. The Darklings were inferior. She would crush them. Her young Brightling army had survived the battle of Kobol Prison. Soon, they would be old enough to fight.

Despite her superior forces, she'd heard rumblings from the leaders of various factions. They complained about the defections of the Blue Cloaks and the other legion of Templars. They were inconsequential, though they knew it not. Their forces served only to bridge the gap until she retrieved her true army. Eden would once again discover its past and future queen. Its goddess.

All hail Daelissa! All hail the Divinity!

She smiled up at the towering likeness of herself. She would have an even larger one erected when she revealed herself to the noms.

"Mistress, the Grand Nexus is ready," Serena said as they entered the vaulted chamber where the fabled arch sat.

Daelissa gazed upon its beauty. Its obsidian columns veined with alabaster reached as high and spanned as wide as the Obsidian Arch not more than a hundred yards away on the other side of the cathedral-sized way station. A giant, raised platform occupied the space between the two arches. There were other smaller arches, of course. Serena could hardly stop talking about them, but they were insignificant compared to the magnificence of the Grand Nexus.

The Cyrinthian Rune glowed within its socket in the base of the arch. Daelissa led her retinue inside the circle of silver inlaid in the polished back floor. She looked at Serena. "You may activate the arch." Despite her forced calm, Daelissa felt as giddy as the day she learned her affinity as a Brightling. She felt the heat of her perfect wings as they blazed into existence and spread behind her.

"Yes, Mistress." Serena held a hand over the orb. The rune leapt from the socket and hovered under her hand. The air between the columns glowed milky white, rippled, and changed to sparkling ultraviolet. Energy arced from the base and ran to the top. A deep basso klaxon rumbled through the air, touching Daelissa to her very core.

A gateway split the air and sunshine touched her face. Daelissa threw back her arms and smiled as a breeze whispered over her face. Energy coursed into her.

Seraphina!

Daelissa stepped forward and went home.

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