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His brows drew tight. “I don’t have parents. Some of my children swear, though.”

Perhaps it was the blood loss. “Did you say children?”

“Your face looks better now.”

“My face?” Strange child. “The woman I was with yesterday. Have you seen her?” Flark, except he wouldn’t recognize her without her glamour activated.

“Yes,” he said, despite my concerns. “Runa was taken by the dark ones.”

Then she lived. Relief flooded me until I replayed his words. “You know her name?”

“Of course. She is Runa Starborn, and you are Victor Custodis.”

“How do you know this?”

He frowned, tawny brows tenting with displeasure. “Yaga said you were searching for me and that I should help you, even though sometimes you’re not very nice.”

“You’re…”

“Milton, the temple guardian.” His frown deepened. “I attempted to tell you yesterday, but you were not ready.”

“Your name is Milton?”

“Yes. Milton the wise. Milton the eternal. Milton the all-knowing. I go by many names.”

Thiswas the all-powerful guardian? The goddess Hathor’s right-hand man? How…underwhelming.

I scanned the remains of the lodge. Little remained standing but for the stone chimney.

“What of Yaga?” I felt obliged to ask.

“Hathor’s priestess fulfilled her duty and journeyed to her next assignment.”

Priestess? The scrappy old woman was a divine priestess? Something to process another day. “She’s alive then?”

“Why wouldn’t she be?” he huffed. “As Hathor’s ambassador, like me, she is undying. Before Yaga left, she asked me to give you a message. She said to tell Hot Britches it’s past time”—he cleared his throat, cheeks reddening—“you pulled your head out of your fine ass.”

I heaved a sigh. She was most definitely alive. “And Runa? What shape was she in when she was captured?”

“Her light was dim.”

My chest tightened. I eyed the gash in my flesh, finding it had stopped bleeding. Already, the wound had improved, healing faster than it would have in the mortal realm. One of the benefits of my divine heritage, I supposed.

I took in my surroundings. Half the buildings still smoldered. Bodies lined the sidewalks. Injured civilians, some with bandages on various extremities, wandered the streets, calling out the names of loved ones. Smashed tents and torn banners fluttered in a somber breeze.

Where yesterday, there’d been celebrating and merriment, today there was death and destruction. It was a scene I wasn’t unfamiliar with. When a new king rose to power, there were often those who fell in their wake. Still, the sight of this small town troubled me. Made mefeelinstead of leaving me with a cold sense of detachment I’d grown accustomed to. The most prominent feeling wasrage.

Amberdale had been a beautiful, thriving village filled with many bright souls. For a short time, I was blessed to walk among them. To be “nobody” with them. And dammit, I’d enjoyed myself. Curse Runa and her plan to woo me, for she’d succeeded. What Idris had done to these people was sacrilege.

At my silence, the guardian put a hand on my shoulder. “I will take you to the Empyrean temple now.”

“Now? I can’t go now! Not with Runa in the hands of—”

“Yaga tried to warn you,” Milton’s tone snapped with censure. His eyes glowed with an eerie golden fire. “She told you that if power is all you want, then power is all you will have.”

I raked my hands through my hair, snarling, “What does that mean? That I must choose? Rescue Runa or reclaim my birthright? Does that mean if I delay saving Runa, she will die?”

The child shrugged. “I am not a seer like Yaga. Only a guide. You must choose your own path.”