Divine Evolution (2021 Watty Awards Shortlist)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Cyann raced past the Pythia's house, hiking her bulky robes to her knees. She cursed as they slowed her down and tangled around her legs. Worse, as twilight turned to full dark, it was difficult to make out the uneven stones in the pathway. She ended up falling and skinning both her palms during her panicked flight. She hauled herself up just as quickly despite the pain, resuming her breakneck run past the temple and down the Sacred Way.

Fear nipped at her heart, her lungs, her brain. She could barely think past the memory of Silvator's clawed hands and amber eyes. He was shifting, some part of her mind realized. Whatever animal his House had been crossbred with, he was changing into it now. And when he was finished changing, then what? What would he do to her? That thought alone spurred new terror and Cyann doubled her pace.

She made it to the beginning of the Sacred Way and almost off the temple hill before stopping to hazard a look back. She immediately regretted the move. Silvator had just cleared the temple and by the Abyss, the man was on fire! He lit up the night like a sun, bright enough to sear anyone's gaze. Waves of flames radiated off him and danced on his taloned palms. She could actually feel the heat despite the distance between them. On his back were...wings. Huge, draping things that extended many hand spans above his head and dragged on the ground behind him when he walked.

He was bare-chested, having torn away his shirt. His shoulders, chest, and abdomen were heavily muscled, but the muscles appeared exaggerated and distorted. They'd developed to accommodate the weight of his wings, but they looked almost painful as his skin pulled tight over them. Still, the wings seemed improbably functional, like he could flap them with enough force to actually fly. His arms had changed too. They'd grown thicker and longer until they tapered into clawed hands. Whatever he was becoming, none of Cyann's memories showed this twisted, almost painful looking version of shifting Silvator embraced. Why would he go out of his way to make himself so horrifying?

"Come to me Cyann," he crooned in a voice gone harsh and raspy. "You'll be mine eventually. Once I've killed Edrigu, it won't matter whether he accepted your repudiation or not. You've always belonged to House Cabeena, to me. And when you're pregnant with House Cabeena's heir, no one will refute my ownership."

Pregnant? Has he lost his mind? Her disgust bounced the fear right out of her. "You're never laying a hand on me!"

He smirked. "Trust me, getting you pregnant is a task I'm going to enjoy regardless of what you want."

"I'm not your brood mare! I wasn't made to serve you."

"Based on House Cabeena records, I'd say that's the only reason you exist. And once I've Claimed you, I'll have finally put an end to House Edrigu and everything that's stood in my way."

"Dream all you want, but I'm never going to ask you to Claim me."

"Oh, it will happen. You'll be begging me to Claim you," he assured her with smug confidence. "When you fail as Chosen and this world doesn't become part of the Galactic Homogeny, the Council of Lords will expel House Edrigu and revoke its House status. This world will be sterilized because no House wants a world that's already broken two Chosen."

She been planning to run, hoping to hide from him, but what she heard in his voice made her stop, made the anger harden into fury. "You're not touching this world."

"Why? So fond of it already?"

Cyann thought of the work she'd put in, the things she'd learned, and the people she'd come to know. No one should have their fate decided by someone like House Cabeena. "You don't have any right to judge a world you know nothing about."

"Maybe, but what matters is that it belongs to Edrigu. I'll take this from him just as I've taken everything else. All the plans I put into motion decades ago will finally bear fruit."