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I looked at her, dead in the eye. “You say the rest of you, but you stand alone.”

In the dark of my mind I saw the unseen number of statues littered across the terrain of Irobel. The rest of her ‘Faithful’ were bound in stone, guarding the islands like sentinel guards.

“I am not alone,” Rafaela said, laying a hand on her chest. “Nor are you. If only you know where to look.”

I turned to Erix and buried my face in his chest. “I can’t lose him, Erix.” My knees buckled, the force of the very real chance weighing heavy on me.

“Then have faith,” Erix encouraged. “Do not give up on him yet. Duncan is, as you well know, persistent. He has survived a change before, he can do it again.” He lowered his lips to my head and whispered.

“I’m scared,” I admitted.

“Me too.” His hand brushed down the back of my head. “I don’t want to lose him either.”

Knowing my tether to keep Duncan in his realm was not solitary helped, if only a little.

“This is different,” I said, voice shaking. “No outcome is guaranteed.”

“But remember, Duncanisdifferent,” Rafaela reminded me. “He was born for this. Born to be made.”

Small brass bells danced in the winds, casting a gentle sound around the room. It swelled around me, pressing in on my skin, until the very notes were etched into my bones.

“This process is not pleasant,” Rafaela warned. “I would advise that you both wait outside until it is complete.”

“No,” I said, swallowing my weakness, trying to grapple the little strength I had left. “I’m not leaving him. Not for a second.”

I caught Rafaela looking to Erix for assistance, but his silence was refusal enough. When she understood neither of us would leave, she offered us a final warning. “Do not let go of one another. Stay beyond the pool. If you interrupt the ceremony, itwillhinder the results… possibly ruin them, in fact.”

It was not a request, but a clear warning.

Rafaela didn’t wait for our agreement, because there was no room for an answer. It was clear and simple. Don’t interrupt, don’t stop the ceremony.

“You’ve done this before?” I asked just as Rafaela reached for Duncan’s lips and parted them with her fingers.

“Many times. I have even faced this judgement myself. The Creator has seen my heart and deemed me worthy – which suggests that He does not support Cassial’s plans. Remember, it is the wielder who is evil, not the weapon. The same sword, in a different hand, can either protect a person or kill them.”

I couldn’t argue her point, nor did I have the energy left to do so.

The bells chimed louder, casting an unnatural ripple over the already unnatural waters. I couldn’t believe what they were at first, not as Rafaela had hurriedly explained the process on our way here.

“After the Game of Monsters, the Creator hid within the cracked and ruined remains of his lands and wept for his loss of Duwar. It is in those tears of grief that we offer our mortal bodies up for judgement. It was from those tears that his first Nephilim were made, from the bodies of his fallen humans, altered and given the Creator’s own strength. And from that day, the practice had continued. If worthy, the transformation will begin. If the Creator does not find an offering worthy, then death befalls them.”

“Please, Rafaela. Do everything you can to make sure he survives this,” I commanded, toying with the idea of praying to a god I had never believed in, or cared for.

But Duncan once did, under the wings of Abbot Nathanial. Comfort came in small measures at the knowledge of that.

I wondered if Nathanial knew the truth about Duncan. All those orphans he cared for; had they been delivered to him for a purpose? How many more people like Duncan lingered in Durmain, left to play a part in this strange turn of fates. He’d told me an angel once came to him, and I put it down to age and a fragile mind.

Now I knew the truth.

“Duncan, I swear you better survive this,” Erix whispered, lip curling as he spoke to the floating body beneath us.

I risked a glance at him again, to find a furrowed brow and determined gaze fixed to the unconscious body in the pool of the Creator’s tears.

When Erix spoke again, it was to Duncan directly. “Do you hear me? Survive this for Robin. For me. Fuck, do it for us. We have unfinished business.”

Unfinished business.

“It is time I begin,” Rafaela said, her gentle fingers still covering Duncan’s mouth.