Symphony of Death

Anastasia’s POV

“Bali, baby. It’s Bali.” I posed to the camera.

“You are glowing, Ana.” Angie raved. “You look happy.”

“And in love,” Nat’s head poked into the camera. “We knew you two were happening.” Angie nodded in the background. “But I’m so mad at you for leaving on a trip without telling us.”

“It was sudden.” I smiled forcefully. “Did you two get my gifts?” They nodded. “Did you like them?”

“We loved them,” Angie got in the frame with Nat. “But what’s with this sudden show of affection?” Angie mused. “Is this the color of love? Are you two getting married?” She wiggled her brows. “You are not settling in hell, right?”

“Oh, shut up, Angie,” Nat glared at her. “Have fun, okay? Make lots of memories with Cain.” She smiled. “Did you tell him you love him?” I nodded. “And Cain? Did he reciprocate?”

“More than that,” I chuckled. “He gave me a world I could have never imagined to have.”

“We are so happy for you,” Angie beamed at me. “Have lots of fun and come back with a smile brighter than this, okay?” She slumped on Nat’s shoulder. “We miss you.”

“I miss you guys too,” my facade wavered. “I have to go now. I don’t want to be murdered.”

“Bye, Ana,” they waved at the camera. “Take care.” I disconnected the video call and looked at my reflection.

Two more days.

“What’s taking you–” I looked back when Cain returned to our room. “The fuck!” He stormed towards me angrily.

“Cain!” I gasped when he gripped the string of my top between my breasts and pulled me into his body. “Do you want to tear it?”

“You have no fucking idea,” I squeaked when he groped my hips. “Fuck, Ana. I’m not letting you out in this.”

“I promise I won’t overdo anything.” I grinned at his glare. “Let’s go now. I don’t want to miss all the fun.” I grabbed his hand and dragged him out.

I giggled when Cain glared at every male looking at me. He helped me on the barstool and ordered drinks for us. He was being so human for my sake throughout.

“Stop glaring, Cain,” I groaned. “No one will come near me at this rate.” I shook my head when he glared at me in response as well.

I enjoyed it.

His undivided attention and possessiveness. But at the same time, I wanted to murder every woman throwing flirtatious gestures and gazes his way.

He was paying no heed to them let alone spare a glance. His eyes and his whole attention were solely focused on me but these bitches didn’t get the signal.

I palmed his thigh and glared at a few in a clear warning. I wasn’t a schoolgirl for goodness sake but I wanted to whack them for eye-raping my man.

“Forget it,” I looked at Cain when he snapped suddenly. “Just sit here next to me.”

“That’s not fair,” I pouted. “You promised.” I stared at my drink.

“What’s wrong?” Cain asked when I kept looking at my beverage. “Is it not to your liking?”

“No, it’s good,” I took another sip reluctantly. My insides turned cold with fear.

The last symptoms! They kicked in.

“I was just thinking about something.” I fisted my shaking hand to keep it from Cain. “You know what!” I got off the stool and stood between his legs. “The sooner we are done here.”

Cain raised a skeptical brow when I pulled his unbuttoned shirt apart and ran my fingers from his abs to his chest slowly and seductively.

“The faster we will be able to” Cain grunted when I whispered in his ear and sucked on his pulse. “Get back to our business.”

“You sly little!” Cain grabbed my hips. “You have five minutes.” He kissed me hard with his tongue down my throat for everyone to see. “Get on with it so I can get in–” I palmed his mouth.

“Don’t kill them, okay?” I pecked his lips.

“Fine,” Cain slapped my butt. “Go and have your fun.” I giggled at his brooding expressions.

I went to the dance floor and began dancing sensually. It didn’t take a minute for the group of guys I was targeting to flock me. I smirked when I saw Cain. He was butchering them with his eyes.

“You alone?” One of them asked. “You are too beautiful to be alone.”

“Yeah?” I swayed my hip slowly. “Thank you for the compliment.”

“Wanna join us for drinks later?” Another one offered. “You won’t regret spending time with us.”

“Is that so?” They paled when they saw Cain. “You mind if I join your party with my girl?” He grabbed the one who invited me to drink by the neck and smiled darkly.

“Your-” he stuttered. I pressed my lips together when they looked at me. “I’m sorry. We didn’t know.”

“It’s alright, boys,” Cain was forced to leave that poor thing when I hugged his waist. “Thanks for the invite though.”

I couldn’t stop laughing when they scampered away.

“I didn’t beat them yet,” Cain muttered. “Your wish is incomplete.”

“Didn’t you see their faces?” I snickered. “They were half dead just by looking at you.”

“Are we done now?” Cain grabbed my waist possessively. “I don’t think I can keep up with their lecherous thoughts. One more time I heard those deplorable men leering after you in their heads,” he dipped his head to my level, “I’m setting this place ablaze.”

“Seriously!” I looked at him incredulously. “Damn,” I tiptoed and kissed his cheek. “But can we have a private swim somewhere?” I whispered seductively. “I don’t want this swimsuit to go to waste.”

Cain dragged me away and teleported us as soon as we were alone.

I looked around in awe. This place was nothing less than paradise. The sand was rich, the water as blue as the sapphire under the blazing sky, and the foliage was exotic. They enveloped the beach in their lush curtains and hid it perfectly.

I had never seen nature in such magnificence before. The evening only made everything look even more ethereal.

Cain undid the knot of my sarong. His scowl morphed into a dazzling smile when he carried me in his arms and took me into the water.

“You are the only one who can dare to mess with me,” my breaths turned shallow when Cain meshed our frames together. “Damn you, Ana.”

I threw my head back when Cain kissed my neck and his mouth traveled slowly over my chest. His hands rubbed, stroked, and squeezed my body everywhere. I tugged on his hair when he kissed me deeply.

Cain brushed my wet locks back and cupped my face before angling it back.

“You are so fucking beautiful, Ana.” Cain nipped on my chin. “I can look at you all day, all night, all my life, and never get tired.” He licked the fresh love bite on my neck. “Never.”

“Cain,” I grabbed his hand before it could have yanked off my bottom. I looked into the depths of his blue-green oceans. “Take me wherever you want.” I rubbed his chest. “I just want to be with you.” I hugged him tightly and kissed him fervently. “Only you.”

I looked around when the scene changed. We were standing in front of a gorgeous mansion by a frozen lake.

Under the northern lights.

Cain carried me inside and straight to the room upstairs.

“Where are we?” I asked Cain.

“Finland,” Cain hugged my waist. “Change before you catch a cold.” He kissed my temple. “I’ll fix you something to eat.” I grabbed his arm to stop him from leaving.

“I’m not hungry,” his brows creased at my reply. “Let’s just sit outside. I want to stay with you for now.”

“We will,” Cain palmed my cheek. “I’m not going anywhere, love. Why are you so anxious?” His frown deepened the longer he looked at me. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” I nodded. “I’m absolutely fine.” I could see the reflection of my lies in his eyes.

I was fearing every moment now. I lost my appetite and sense of taste. I didn’t know when I was going to lose the remaining of my senses. The fear was grabbing me in its poisonous hold from inside.

Every second was worse than death.

“I’ll change first.” I grabbed my sleeping suit and went to the bathroom to take a quick hot shower.

I breathed in relief when I felt the temperature burning my skin. I looked at my hands and the water cascading down through the cracks between my fingers.

“You can’t fall weak, Ana.” I whispered to myself. “You have to stay strong to the very end.”

I was going to make the best of the little time I was left with. I was going to etch Cain’s existence into my being.

Before I lost the ability to feel him forever.

I turned off the shower, changed quickly, and ran out of the bathroom. Cain was out on the terrace. He changed into a black vest and sweatpants. Cain looked at me when I came outside as well.

“You are not dressed warm enough,” he lit the fire and dragged me to the recliner. Cain covered it with multiple blankets and threw several throw pillows on it to make it comfortable.

He sat down and pulled me in his arms. I smiled when he cocooned us in another blanket and hugged me tightly.

“It’s beautiful,” I gazed at the dancing lights in the sky. I snuggled into his chest and sighed deeply. “This is nice.” I closed my eyes and smiled. “Peace at last.” I looked up at him when he kissed my head. “I like the color of your flames more.”

“Yeah!” Cain chuckled deeply and hummed against my forehead. “You are the first one then.”

“Can you shape your flames into a hummingbird?” I asked innocently. Cain just took his hand out of the blanket and fulfilled my silly request. I beamed over the bird in his palm like a child. “A deer! Make a deer now.”

I was awestruck when five deers surrounded us.

“Lion,” I grinned at Cain. “I want to see elephants, panthers, and kangaroos too.”

“You are a child at heart,” Cain mused over my excitement. “Little things make you happy.”

“I never got to live as a child, Cain,” my smile fell a little. “Laurel!” I sucked in a shaky breath. “She didn’t let me go out or make any friends.” I put my head on his chest sideways and stared at the mini safari he created around us. “She loved me but she was always busy and barely around. I was all alone until I moved to Seattle.”

I will never forgive her for betraying my trust.

I thought of her as my family and blamed myself for her death every second.

But I was nothing but a pawn she needed to protect.

I could never forget that she tried to use me to get to Cain.

“You can do whatever you want now,” Cain pinched my chin and made me look at him. “Everything that you wish and desire. I will fulfill it.” He pecked my nose. “And you will never be alone.”

Cain pulled my hand out and caressed my palm. I watched bedazzled when an indigo butterfly rose from my palm and fluttered among the bunch flying around us.

“Thank you,” I grabbed his hands and put them against my cheeks.

I would not be able to feel his touch any moment now.

I kissed his palms and all over his face. I touched him wherever I could and as much as I could.

Cain didn’t say anything. He just watched me shower affection on him in every way possible.

This is so cruel.

“Thank you.” I buried my face in his neck. “For everything. For every moment.”

Goodbye, my love.

****

Cain’s POV

I chuckled when I found her sound asleep. This woman’s energy was on another level. It was nearly impossible to put her to sleep during these three days.

I adjusted her carefully in my arms and carried her back into the room. I laid her down and covered her with the blanket. Anastasia sighed when I ran my index finger on her lips.

“Sleep, my love,” I kissed her forehead and stood up. I looked at her pendant when it came undone after getting stuck on my vest. My heart started beating in a different rhythm when I looked at Anastasia.

It wasn’t the pendant that came undone. It was the spell that was concealing her condition all this time.

I pulled down the blanket from Anastasia’s upper torso. Anger consumed me whole with something venomous when I saw the black marks on her body.

Her life force was on the brink of vanishing.

Everything rattled in the room when my anger got the best of me. The sky stirred with my wrath and spat it everywhere.

The source of my outrage and anguish stirred as well.

“Cain?” Anastasia looked at me sleepily. “What’s wrong?” She sat up and looked outside when lightning struck the lake. “Why–” her face ashen upon seeing the pendant in my hand.

“So these were your last wishes!” I spat angrily.

Anastasia trembled visibly when she looked at her body. She couldn’t meet my eyes and I didn’t need her to look at me to know how frightened she was right now.

Of me and her looming death.

Anastasia screamed when the sky thundered. I grabbed her arms and pulled her out of the bed roughly. I could only feel bones under the black and ashy skin in my hold.

“Why?” Anastasia whimpered when I yelled in her face. I pushed her through the portal and threw her on the bed in my room. “You fucking lied to me, Anastasia.”

She shook her head pleadingly.

“Shut up,” I grabbed her hair and pulled her head back roughly. “I don’t want to hear a fucking thing.” Her eyes pooled with tears.

I pushed her back and faced Einar when he came with Clarissa.

“You were in on this, weren’t you?” I sauntered toward him menacingly. “You betrayed me.” I glared at Anastasia when she jumped in between. “Get out of my way.”

“There is no way,” she screamed. “There is no freaking way to save me, Cain, because Harold destroyed it in front of my eyes.” She broke down. “That heart under his palace in Vozothis–It was Omisha’s heart.” I looked at Einar.

“He kept her heart alive all this time because it was the only way to break the curse.” Einar steadied Anastasia. “He burnt it before my eyes, Cain. He came to meet me that day in his last moments.”

“Dalim and Lyra concreted everything later,” Einar said grimly.

My heart twisted painfully when I looked at Anastasia’s tear-struck face.

I felt things at this moment I never encountered in my entire life. None of them were pleasant. I tasted rancor in my mouth and saw blood before my eyes.

“They told her she had only five days and–”

“I wanted to live with you.” Einar looked at Anastasia gravely when she interjected sharply.

She was still hiding something!

“I didn’t want to lie, Cain,” Anastasia whispered tiredly. “But there was no point. We couldn’t do anything anymore. I couldn’t see you like that. I didn’t want to live these counted breaths crying and grieving.”

“You hid it from me, Anastasia,” I felt thorns in my veins when her spirits broke further at my words. I didn’t want to behave like this but I couldn’t simmer my anger. “Don’t expect me to understand you now.”

“Cain!” Einar yelled after me.

I didn’t look back when I heard her heart-wrenching cries behind me. They enraged me more.

I went to Acreoterra and unleashed my resentment. I stood atop the tower and looked at the vast spread of my realm. I never felt loath for this place before like I was feeling now.

I wanted to annihilate it to the last root.

I punched my chest aggressively when a pain I never felt before clutched it from every direction. I couldn’t breathe and think straight. Everything suffocated and provoked me.

I obliterated everything that came into my line of vision.

“Cain!” I grabbed Einar’s throat and smashed him into the tower.

“You lied to me,” I snarled into his face. “You fucking lied to me, Einar. She lied to me.” The pain in my chest worsened a hundred folds. “She cannot leave me. I won’t fucking let her leave me.”

“Listen to me, damn it,” Einar gripped my wrist. “Don’t hurt Anastasia more. She is already suffering. Anastasia has begun to lose her senses.”

I felt someone gut me hard.

“Know first why she made such a decision,” Einar removed my hand from his neck. “Don’t think that it was easy for her. She died every second while smiling for your sake. She is ready to die only for you.”

I turned away from him and raked my hair.

“Dalim offered to save her,” I looked back at Einar. “But he placed a condition before her. Both Dalim and Lyra did. They always knew of the cure.”

“Of course!” I scoffed bitterly. “But I’d like to hear it from their fucking mouths,” I smirked when the space distorted around us. “I want them to tell me what they used to torment my heart.”

I faced Dalim squarely when he appeared across us with Lyra.

“You showed your true colors at last,” I spat at Lyra. “I understand you abhor me but you could have spared your precious Anastasia. So!” I looked at Dalim contemptuously, “what did you ask Anastasia in return for saving her life?”

“What do you think we could have asked?” Dalim smiled. “Alas, she didn’t possess the heart to save the world from a terror like you. It’s not her fault. She is created that way.”

I balled my fists angrily.

“We can still save her.” Dalim stepped toward me. “Do you possess the heart to sacrifice for her the same way she is doing for you?” I watched him silently. “That’s what I thought,” Dalim chuckled. “There is no cure to the effects of the forbidden curses. She is going to die.”

“Cain,” Einar grabbed my shoulder.

“She made her decision and you made yours,” Dalim slammed his staff on the ground. “Now you face the consequences. Come, Lyra.” He disappeared into the mist.

“Anastasia didn’t bat a lash when Dalim offered her help. She refused to choose herself over you.” A single tear rolled down her cheek. “But I always knew you could never choose her over your evilness.” Lyra looked at me in contempt. “Her death is on you, Cain. She is dying because you didn’t want weakness.”

“They asked for the wing you retrieved,” Einar told me once Lyra left. “They said you needed to give it up for her life.”

I turned and returned to my room. Anastasia was out on the terrace. Her frame was shaking violently.

“Why are you sitting outside?” She looked at me with her tear-filled eyes when I came near her.

“I’m sorry,” Anastasia sobbed. “I didn’t – I have lost my sense of smell too.” She tried smiling through her pain. “I don’t have–”

Her tears fell on my cheeks when I kissed her to silence.

This can’t happen. I won’t let fate fuck with me like this.

“I didn’t want this,” Anastasia grabbed my collar and cried loudly. “But I have no other choice.” She gripped my hands. “Just stay with me a little more.”

“Ana!” I scowled when she grabbed my hands and moved them over her body.

“I can’t feel it.” The terror in her eyes shook me to my core. “I can’t feel you, Cain.” I grabbed her hands when she slapped them on her ears. “I can’t hear you. I can’t–”

I held her in my arms when she went limp.

“Ana?” I patted her cheek. “Anastasia!” My heart dropped in the pit of my stomach when her eyes stopped moving like her body. Her heart was beating weakly but her body was not responding. “Einar!”

He pushed past me when I laid her on the bed and began casting spells upon spells on her still form.

“She had two more days,” I yelled.

“And you triggered her condition,” Einar yelled back at me. Clarissa and my brothers came rushing but didn’t question the entire situation after looking at me. “There is nothing that can be done now.” He closed her still eyes.

She is dying because you didn’t want weakness.

The darkness consumed me whole.

I know you don’t want me anymore. You don’t need me. You never did.

I know you won’t love me but I want to love both of us. For as long as I can.

“This world doesn’t need to exist any longer.” I chuckled darkly. “It will know the true terror of death in the form of Dalazar Daemmone.”