The air was a throat closing around her.Smoke filled her lungs, stung her eyes, and the sound of blows off stone was a funeral march."Mariam!" Adrian's voice broke, raspy broke through the fog. She saw him stumble under the weight of two men, his blood spreading across the floor in crimson stripes. He fought like a cornered beast, raw fists, wild eyes, but he was breaking. And Samuel intact, carved in the mist like a devil forged of fire. His sword blazed, the smoke curling around him as if even chaos submitted to his command. His hand reached out to her, calm, firm, as if he already knew what she would do."Choose," he breathed, soft and lethal. "Him, or me. One lives.". One dies.Mariam's chest convulsed, her heart beating against her ribs as though desperate to burst out. Her knees shook. Her fingers dug into her palms so hard that her nails penetrated skin.Her mind raged.There's no way. No way I can choose.But the altar hummed against her spine, vibrating through her vertebrae. It knew. It hummed to the beat of her heart as if mocking her: every choice is blood, every blood is choice."No! "she gasped, voice cracking. "You don't get to make me choose "Samuel's grin became sharper. "I don't need to. Destiny has already made up its mind."Another shot echoed. Stone shattered inches from her ankles. She screamed, backing away, her shoulder crashing into the altar.Adrian's roar came later, ragged and bestial. He tore a blade from one of the men and plunged it into his throat. Blood splattered, hot and metal-tasting in the smoke. The body dropped, but another soldier slammed into Adrian's back, sending him crashing to the ground.
Mariam!
Adrian tried to reach for her even as he lurched under fists and boots. His arm reached out through the mist, blood-slicked, trembling, frantic.
"Don't …don't you go to him"
Samuel's voice cut in like a knife smeared with honey.
Or rescue him, Mariam. Come to me now, and I'll call them off. A word from me, and he lives.Her stomach roiled. Her heart was racing.Adrian's voice ripped to shreds by pain.Samuel's hand steadfast, hot, deadly.Her body split between them, halved down the middle.If I go to Adrian, Samuel will kill him. If I go to Samuel, Adrian will despise me. Either way, I lose him.Her head spun. The smoke thickened. The altar behind her throbbed faster, almost animate now, muttering blood, blood, blood.She walked forward, choking. "Stop!" she screamed, mascara running down her eyes. "I'll do anything you desire, just stop!"The room froze.Even the smoke ceased to rise.Samuel's eyes flashed. He pulled out his knife slowly, deliberately, though the curve of his smile predicted he'd already won. "Then choose," he whispered.Adrian's body bent beneath the blow of fists and boots. Blood traced his face, but his eyes God, his eyes blazed at her in the haze, pleading with her silently.Her soul tore in two.Her Choice.Her feet took her before her mind could hold her back.One step. Two.The smoke cleared, falling away like a curtain.She touched out .Her hand caressed warm flesh.Gasps shattered around the room. Adrian's breath stranded.". Samuel's grin twisted like fate itself."Mariam." Adrian snarled. "No."She clapped her hand on Samuel's chest.The world exploded around them.The altar behind her slammed so hard the floor vibrated. Candles toppled, flames dripping onto the stone. The men holding Adrian back faltered, mid-strike, heads snapping to hers. Even Samuel lurched, his breath stuttering as her hand burned against his chest.A jolt shot Mariam, a wave so raw it stole her breath. Her eyes flashed white, then red. She staggered back, gasping, clutching at her chest. The thrum of the altar now pulsed through her veins. She could taste iron, coppery and hot, filling her mouth.Samuel's eyes widened not with triumph, but realization. His mask was broken for the first time."It's begun," he whispered.Adrian bellowed, shoving one of the men off him. His body lurched, bloodied and stumbling, but his voice thundered with fury."You damn bastard! What have you done to her?"Samuel did not answer. He smiled at Mariam, reverent and respectful, as if she had just come out of the altar itself."She's waking up."Mariam's legs buckled. Her palms thudded onto the floor, blood trickling from her nose. Her heart thudded out of rhythm, too fast, too wild. And then she heard it.Whispers.Not out there. In here. Voices writhing up in her marrow, muttering languages she did not understand but understand. Blood for blood. Fire for fire. The key is chosen."No!" she screamed, slamming her fists on the ground. "Leave my head alone!"Her scream shattered the air. Stone cracked. A serrated slash of steel cut across the altar behind her, cleaving her name in two.A entire room stumbled.The FalloutSamuel's men lost their minds, some running back, others covering their ears as if her voice had shattered their skulls. Adrian reeled to his feet, anger and horror mingling in his gaze."Mariam!" he roared, shoving a corpse aside, stumbling forward towards her.But Samuel was faster. He gripped her chin, his gaze lifting to hers. Cold and burning simultaneously. His fevered grin was on the edge of madness."Feel it, love? The power of the blood? This is what you are."Her tears were hot, her breath labored as the voices tore through her mind."No. I'm not your sword. I'm not" "Not mine," Samuel cut in, his gaze aflame. "Theirs.". The prophecy is not mine. It is yours. But only I know how to use it."Adrian slammed into them like a storm, jerking Samuel's hand from her face and shoving him back. His fists flew, knuckles cracking against Samuel's jaw. Blood spat, but Samuel laughed only, spitting crimson on the ground."You'll crack, Adrian," Samuel taunted, flashing up his blade again. "You always do."The two men crashed, steel against steel, fury against fury.Mariam hauled herself up, shivering, her body screaming with weakness and fire at once. The voices continued to mutter, but beneath them her own mind wrestled, snarling for air. Run. Fight. Choose.Her eyes flashed .Adrian and Samuel staring at each other in blood and steel. The altar pulsed, torn open but not dead.And her own blood spilling onto the floor, being absorbed into the stone like it was hungry for her.Her chest was pumping. A notion, wild and mad, seared her brain.What if I don't choose one of them?
What if I choose me?Her fists locked.Her heart pounded.Esther could have sworn she heard something whispering inside her, and they became screams.And the room groaned again.Stone poured down on the ceiling candle burst.Men shouted, rushing toward the doors as the entire room crashed around them.Adrian shoved Samuel aside with a roar, turning his body to her."Mariam! Don't …don't listen to it!Fight it!"Samuel's voice thundered through the chaos, savage and commanding."Embrace it! Take your place, Mariam become what you were born to be! "Her chest heaved.Power scoured up her spine, white and unstemmable, savage.Her scream shredded the chamber, breaking air, stone, and blood.And then blackness.