Page 45 of I Am the Storm

I nod and prepare myself for whatever is about to happen.

But nothing can prepare me for the creature being released from the stone slab and crawling over my head, covering my face with its body, wrapping around me until I can't breathe.

Invisible cuffs hold me to the chair, and I try to scream but nothing comes out.

Fear takes hold of me and I pull out my power, but nothing happens.

The creature's voice fills my mind.

Eveeeeeeeeee, you have questions for me. What are they, Eveeeeeeee?

I can't speak, but as I think my first question, the creature seems to understand. And though I can't breathe, somehow I do not run out of air.

Where is the missing dragon egg? I think.

The creature hums in my head as if searching for the answer.

It is nearer than you know but farther than you are. Seek it in the place you will be, when your world is about to crumble.

Of course. Of course, the answers would just be more riddles.

Next question Eveeee. I cannot release you until you ask all three.

What am I?

It seems amused.

Delightful and doubtful and despairing of truth. You are all of them and more and none of them in lore. You cannot be hidden or brought out. You are the answer and the question.

For the love of all that's holy, I'm so tired of this. Okay, I get one last question. Maybe a yes or no will give me a clearer response, though I'm not optimistic.

Is my brother evil?

The creature sniffs. Evil is as evil does. Does motive or madness matter? Do ends and beginnings tell the same story? Nothing is at it appears. Least of all, fate's twins.

And with the last question, the creature removes itself from my head, leaving me sticky with its tentacle goo, which has completely destroyed my mask and costume.

Nicholas notices my disheveled state and waves his hand over me. In a rush of magic, the goo disappears, and my costume is restored. He reaches for my hand to help me to my feet, and though I don't want to touch him, I'm too unsteady to rise on my own.

"Well, my dear, did you get the answers you were hoping for?"

His grin is maddening. He knew what kind of response I would get from the Viden, but I don't want to play his game. "Oh yes. It was most illuminating. Particularly in relation to what I am," I whisper.

He flinches, stepping back.

Dizziness overtakes me as I attempt to walk back to my chair, and Lilith steadies me and guides me out of the auction room and through a door leading outside. Once there, Cole greets us.

"What happened to her?" he asks, lifting me into his arms when I sway and nearly fall.

"Nicholas punished her in his own way," Lilith says.

Cole growls under his breath, and the feel of his chest rumbling is soothing to me. My head flops against his torso and the world fades in and out.

When darkness takes me, it is Cole's darkness that I feel. Cole's that I fall into blissfully, forgetting all the horrors of the night.

I regain my consciousness—and my memory of the evening—several hours later and wake to find myself in front of a fireplace in the library, a knitted blanket covering me. Matilda is crocheting in the chair across from me and smiles when I wake. "Welcome back," she says. "You've had quite the adventure."

I sit up, clutching my head as I do to keep it from rolling off my shoulders or exploding.