Black Blood (Series of Blood Book 4) by Emma Hamm (scary books to read .TXT) 📕

here, combining present and future in one painful conglomerate Lydia could not control.

Strands of her white hair slid over her shoulder and dangled thousands of feet above the ground. The darkness was an open maw before her, clouds brushing against the sheer edge of the mountain top and Dragons crying out below her.

This was not her world, at least not one she recognized.

“So this is the old dimension,” she said. She did not let go of the edge. Exhilaration thrummed through her veins, making her heart race with the threat of danger.

“You’re here.”

Lydia jumped, the stones slicing into her palms as she spun, teetering dangerously at the edge.

Standing behind her was the Goddess she had been watching for so long. Sil in all her glory, golden and burning so bright she was blinding.

“Are you-” Lydia stammered, “are you talking to me?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t think we could talk with each other.”

“In a way, we cannot. This is our first and last true conversation.”

There was a difference in listening to a goddess and conversing with one, Lydia realized. Sil’s voice had always been laced with power. But all her attention was focused upon Lydia now. The strength of the sound pushed hard on Lydia’s psyche. If she had not been prepared for it, she might have gone mad.

“It’s an honor.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you,” Sil whispered. “I know you have struggled with loneliness your entire life. I would have liked to live with you.”

“Pitch would have liked that as well.” Lydia felt as though it had to be said. The man was practically standing between them.

“He would have. But it was not the right choice for him, nor I.”

Lydia’s brow wrinkled. “Choice?”

“You’ve already learned that our existence is based off of choices. We are not like the others. Everything I have ever done was a choice for someone else. To better my world, to get you to this point, to prove to Pitch that souls always find each other in the end.”

“Except yours didn’t,” Lydia pointed out. “My soul took its place. And I don’t mind being second best, really I don’t. It’s just… If the lesson you wanted to teach him was that your souls would find each other, they didn’t. He guarded you for centuries and you left him.”

“I should have known it would be you to call me to task for that.”

Sil walked forward, the golden light of her power dimming. By the time she reached Lydia’s side, she was little more than a mortal.

This close, Lydia could see what plagued the glorious goddess.

“You’re tired,” Lydia said.

“I am infinitely tired. I cannot keep saving the world only to see it fall apart all over again.”

“I know that look. I’ve seen it in Pitch too.”

“He is exhausted, but there is much more he can give.” Sil shook her head. “He lost himself, after he lost me. You found him in the darkness he had created, even I could not have done that. I knew you were the perfect choice when you did that.”

“I did nothing. I laid in my bed and slept most of the time.”

“That’s the funny thing about love, it blooms even in our weakest moments.”

Lydia didn’t know what to say. She didn’t think Pitch loved her although she had always thought it could grow. They had created a kind of steadfast trust between them. She considered that just as valuable as true love.

But she wasn’t here to argue, and she could see Sil fading before her eyes.

“Oh, please don’t go,” Lydia cried out. “There are so many questions I want to ask.”

“There is nothing I can answer which he cannot.”

“Why do you love him?”

The question flew from her mouth, bursting like a bubble before Sil.

“I-” it was the goddess’s turn to stammer. Her eyes widened in surprised. “Do you really not know?”

“I’m not sure even he knows.”

“He saw a monster inside himself, but I saw a man who would bend heaven and rip stars from the sky just to see me smile.”

“Thank you,” Lydia said. “Thank you for being honest with me.”

“I wish you the best of luck.”

Sil faded from the past, present, and future. She exploded into bursts of stars that soared into the sky and solidified themselves among her brethren. The only lingering essence of her magic remained deeply embedded within Lydia’s own chest.

Gravel crunched behind her and a few rocks cracked against the mountain as they tumbled off the ledge. This was just the beginning of the goddess’s last lesson, Lydia realized.

She was on the edge already, kneeling still on her knees. Perhaps it had been in supplication. It was the appropriate position for one to take when a goddess was giving direction.

She pivoted, looked over her shoulder to find what she was afraid to see.

Pitch. But not Pitch at all.

Shadows threaded over his shoulders in a great cloak of midnight. His hair was long, billowing in a breeze she did not feel. His hands were tipped in blackened claws, the shadows ringing his neck and wrists like manacles.

He was consumed by the madness within him. His eyes swirled with power and rage, their gaze piercing as they cut toward her. Lydia knew he could not see her, he was in the past and she the present. Still she flinched back.

Meeting those turbulent eyes was like looking into eye of a storm. He wanted to hurt something.

Alone, he stared down into the void of darkness below them and flexed his hands.

“Sisters. Brothers.” His voice echoed. “Come to me.”

They had been waiting for his approval to join him. They slithered up the mountain, pooling at his feet like puppies. Their dark masses quivered in anticipation of his next words.

“Our work is complete,” Pitch said.

“It is,” one of his siblings crowed. “We have nearly drained ourselves of power. The Dark creatures will overpower the light, and soon we shall see nothing but night.”

“This was how the world was meant to be,” another sibling called out. “You have helped us to see the true meaning