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And he’d just stepped between me and death.

Doru’s red eyes fixed on Laurent. Slowly, the god took Laurent’s face in both hands and…looked at him. For the longest time. For an eternity and no time at all. Laurent’s shoulders shook, and I couldn’t see his face but I knew he was sobbing.

After a moment—how long I couldn’t say—Doru moved Laurent gently aside. Now, the god stood before me. Just when I expected him to strike me down, a female stepped from behind him.

She was as beautiful and terrible as Doru. Her skin was whole, but there was no mistaking her for anything other than a goddess. Her body was perfect—most of it bared by the ropes that served as her sole covering. Thin and red, they formed a diamond-patterned web over her torso. Her full breasts were circled by rope and totally exposed, the plump mounds swollen in their bindings. Nipples as red and glossy as her hair puckered in the center of each firm breast. More rope passed between her legs, nothing but a thin red strip covering the seam of her sex. A knot lodged firmly against her mound. Two thick bands circled her upper thighs. Another band wrapped around her neck.

Her lips were black, as were the glyphs under her bright golden eyes. Regret filled me as I realized I didn’t know what they meant. Rolund had forbidden me to learn.

The goddess’s black lips curved. She stepped close and took me into her arms. Her breasts brushed mine as she bent her head and kissed me.

LEGA.

Of course. She was the goddess of restraint.

She deepened the kiss, her hot, silky tongue stroking against mine.

YOU ARE GIVEN.

Yes, I thought, confusion clouding my thoughts. I was Given. But even as the thought formed, I knew it was wrong. Lega spoke again, her voice as terrible as her beauty.

YOU ARE GIVEN. I GIVE MY BLY’AD TO YOU.

Her fangs punched into my tongue. Blood filled my mouth in a scalding rush.

RICTI.

My body ripped apart. It wasn’t pain. Pain was nothing. Pain was not this.

This exceeded pain. The air grew teeth and tore me to pieces. I turned inside out, the raw pulp of my flesh exposed to the cruel jaws of death. Blood poured down my throat, and I swallowed so I didn’t choke. The bly’ad stabbed into my tongue. It lodged there, a thousand tentacles burrowing under the muscle. Digging in and becoming part of me.

RICTI.

I had to speak it.

RICTI.

If I wanted to own it, I had to spit it out.

RICTI.

If I didn’t, I would fall into Doru’s eyes and lose myself forever.

But it hurt. It hurt so badly.

Laurent’s hand filled mine. Squeezed. His pulse fluttered against my wrist. His heartbeat filled my ears, and then our hearts beat together.

I opened my mouth and screamed until my heart tore loose from the sinew and ligaments that fastened it to my spine. “RICTI!”

Lega broke off our kiss. As I panted, I wondered if she’d kissed me the entire time. She breathed against my lips, gorgeous and unsettling. Her nipples poked my chest, and her golden eyes seemed to stare directly into my mind. She licked blood from the corner of my mouth.

REM.

The bly’ad landed on my tongue like ripples widening after a rock splashes into a still lake. Instantly, I understood that rem—release—was part of every power word. It was useless on its own. I’d earned it by speaking ricti.

Lega turned to Doru, and he lifted her hand to his lips. A forked tongue flashed between his lips as he tasted her skin. The next moment, she was gone.

Laurent kept a firm grip on my hand as Doru’s gaze settled on him once more. The god lifted a hand and stroked a bloody thumb from Laurent’s forehead to his heart.