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“You can’t go around killing people, especially in public.”

“They had it coming and so does anyone else with a green sash in their pockets that I see. Publicity is necessary to send a message.”

“He’s not wrong,” Piper chimed in.

“He was threatening you not even ten minutes ago,” Layala said.

“Well, I’ve said the group should be wiped out for a while now. Thane doesn’t want to be seen as a tyrant like Tenebris. I’ve told him we could take a small group and get it done in secret, but he won’t give me the go-ahead.”

Hel laughed and turned in his saddle to look at Piper. “Did we just come to an understanding, Red?”

“I think this is probably the only thing we agree on.”

“You’re both confusing.” Layala forced herself to keep a straight face but some sick part of her deep down relished in the fact that Hel killed them. Someone stood up for her and with how many people hated her and wished her dead, it struck a chord. It wasn’t that Thane wouldn’t, but being High King came with responsibilities and consequences Hel didn’t have to think about. For Thane, people had to cross a line before he’d take life. Hel wasn’t burdened with such misgivings.

“We got sidetracked. So, what are these better things you have to do besides stir up drama?”

He chuckled, bringing out the dimple on his cheek. “Save your ass, for one. Plan the demise of others. Get your and War’s memories back. Even if I’d like to snap his neck, I need him.”

I knew it,she thought.His threats to nail him to a wall weren’t legitimate.

“For what?” Layala was surprised he was opening up to her some and even more that she could have a conversation with him that didn’t involve threats.

He looked her in the face. “I’m not sure how much to tell you. You don’t even believe you are who you truly are.” He tore his garnet eyes away and gripped the saddle horn tighter. The horse hooves clopped along the stone. “But we’ve been through this before. We can do it again.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean this isn’t the first life we’ve lived since we were banished from Runevale. Every time you, War, and I get together, they send someone to kill us. It may or may not have something to do with my threats of revenge. But they always start with you.” He flicked a stray piece of hair out of his eyes. “I think so that War and I will suffer more… Then they get to us eventually, and we start this all over again.”

Layala’s chest constricted. “How many times?”

“I remember Runevale, and twice before this. It’s why I did something different this life.”

“The Void…” The black bubbling tar, the decaying earth, and wall of black mist came to mind. But surrounding Hel and his tower was a lush reddish garden.

“Yes.”

“The goddess in the stone and scepter said it made you stronger.”

“Much. The land decayed because it was strengthening me, and with each passing year in my sleep my magic grew stronger. I may not be immortal anymore but close.”

“What of the jungle there surrounding you? It didn’t decay.”

“I don’t truly know. It must have come from my subconscious.”

“So why didn’t the council kill Thane or me this time before I could wake you?”

“My theory is that since you and Thane didn’t use your powers often, the council didn’t know until recently. They don’t know when or who we’ll be born to. We may always look the same, but they can’t come here themselves anymore. They can only send spies to watch for signs.”

“The owls,” Layala mused though she didn’t know how she knew that.

He nodded. “Owls, crows, people. The crows and owls are likely War’s father, and he wouldn’t send assassins, so if he knew, he kept it quiet. Thane’s elf father might have been a prick, but his true father is kind.” He took a deep breath and looked up as if he might find him among the clouds. “But before, none of us ever lived much past our early twenties, about the time when memories started coming back. We’d find each other and then they’d find us, but in this life something changed. I was here three hundred years without finding you or War. I didn’t remember who I was until I was almost thirty. And once I did, I earned the title of Black Mage. And about twenty years later, the curse came. It wasn’t that the Runevale gods didn’t send people to assassinate me. They certainly knew who I was, but by the time they did, I was much too powerful. And I was asleep for so long, they wouldn’t know when I’d wake.”

“Where were you in the two months since the tower?”

His red eyes found hers. “Learning what happened over the last few hundred years.”

“Was that you who warned me I was in danger in my room? Was it an assassin?”