Blood Flows Deep in the Empire by N. Isabelle Blanco Read Free Book Online Page B

to help you.”
    She stopped next to Ismini and leaned down, moving to place a hand on her forehead, then apparently thinking better of it.
    Her rainbow eyes flashed red, and her brow tensed. Ismini flinched when a low inhuman growl humbled from Nylicia’s throat and her irises darkened to pure black.
    “Seeing you like this kills me, Ismini. I never wanted to see another woman, especially one I care about, in the same situation as me.” She sighed. “But even I can’t change this.”
    Vedlyl focused on Nylicia, his pupils flashing yellow again. “You said it yourself, the wheels of Destiny are shifting.”
    “What . . . what’s happening to me?” Ismini asked.
    Nylicia and Vedlyl exchanged a look.
    “I . . . I am not the controller of Destiny. I’m just the one who watches and guides.”
    Vedlyl smirked, his boyish face rueful. “And the one who interferes whenever she sees an opening.”
    Nylicia glared at Vedlyl before turning back to Ismini.
    “Although I know what Destiny is trying to achieve, I cannot fully confirm it yet.” Nylicia paused and crossed her arms, her expression slightly fearful.
    Ismini forced herself to speak past the lump in her throat. “I won’t tell him, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”
    Another look was exchanged between the two beings before her.
    Vedlyl shrugged. “If I’m going to lock it inside her and give her the strength to rise from this bed, you’re going to have to tell her, Nylicia. She needs to know.”
    Nylicia faced Ismini, her expression reflecting aeons of bitterness. “It’s an R’mmanev . It’s unbelievably rare when it comes to the gods, so much so that most don’t even know much about it. It has only happened a handful of times between a human and a higher being. And to date, it’s never happened between two humans.
    “You’re mated, Ismini. In the most violent sense of the word. But . . . it’s unrequited, as of right now, so it’s becoming a Fieren . A fury. Your soul is turning against you. It’s punishing your body for not being able to ‘attract’ the one you belong to.”
    Nylicia’s voice was no more than a pain-filled whisper, but her words shot through Ismini with the swiftness of an arrow.
    For a few seconds, all she could do was stare at the canopy overhead and breathe deeply. “So . . . even if Dyletri didn’t have to sacrifice me, I’d still be doomed to die anyway. Right?”
    She couldn’t bring herself to look at them. Their silence was more of an answer than anything they might have said aloud. Suddenly, even though it was painful, Ismini couldn’t help but laugh at the irony of it all.
    Ismini saw Vedlyl shift, and when she raised her eyes, she found him staring at her sympathetically. “You’re human and therefore weaker, so we’re not certain, but we can help you survive.   Long enough, at least, for—”
    Ismini interrupted him, the bitterness she felt leaking into her tone. “At least until Dyletri gets his sacrifice.”
    “Ismini, it is not for certain—”
    Ismini shook her head. This changed nothing. She’d always known that she wasn’t good enough. The Fieren inside her was merely more proof of that.
    Regardless, her purpose was still the same. Ismini was there to help the man she now belonged to get back his one true love and keep the Universe safe. It was a shitty fate. More than unfair. But it was a fate Ismini was determined to face with her head held high.
    She’d stuffed down her fears before, and she sure as hell could do so again.
    Ismini locked eyes with Vedlyl. “What do you have to do to ‘push it back,’ as you put it?”
    “It’s going to hurt,” he warned.
    She laughed again, unable to stop herself. As if that freaking mattered at this point.
    “Just do it. Hurry. I don’t want to spend my last days in this fucking bed. And I sure as hell don’t want Dyletri to know what’s happening to me. His pity is the last thing I need.”
    Vedlyl stood. “Brace