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As our lips met, the throne room faded away into obscurity. There was only us, entwined, unbreakable, enduring.

When we parted, Vela was laughing. It was a high-pitched, strangled sound.

“It’s not possible,” she gasped with a hand to her mouth. Her eyes narrowed. “Get back here,” she commanded Draven. “Now.”

In answer, my mate languidly lifted one hand. Instantly, Vela flew into the air, dark ties pinioning her wrists, her ankles.

With a flick of his wrist, Draven sent her plunging across the room and into the nearest wall.

She screamed as she slid to the floor.

“Enough,” my father’s voice rang out. “What is the meaning of this?”

“I’m sorry,” Draven said, not sounding sorry at all. “Isn’t this what we’re all here for? I thought I was simply moving things along. Or did you want to keep reminiscing about the past for another few hours?” My mate put his arm around me. “We came here to destroy you. And you’re here because you think you can stop us. Is that an accurate summary?”

My father’s face darkened. “Where is the grail?”

“You know damned well where it is,” I said. “Gone.”

Something flickered over his face. So he had not known. Not for certain.

“That’s not possible.” Vela had pulled herself off the floor and now stood closer to my father, a few feet from the throne. “There’s no way to destroy any of the objects. Not without destroying the world.”

“The world? Is that what he told you?” I looked at my father. “As if he’s ever cared about this world.”

“It would destroy us,” Vela insisted. “We’d lose everything. Aercanum could collapse.”

“Lies,” I said calmly. “The grail is gone. The world is still standing. And it’ll remain that way, if I have any say in it.”

“You don’t know what you’ve done,” Vela said angrily. “Without the three objects...” She glanced at my father.

“What?” I prompted. “What will you lose? Are we not gods, after all? What do we have to be afraid of?”

A look of dismay passed over Vela’s face, and I smiled slightly.

“Ah. Not gods then.”

My father snarled. “She didn’t say that.”

“But we’re not,” I said quietly. “You may be Perun. The real Perun. She may be Vela. Somewhere inside of me, I may even have the seed of your daughter Marzanna. But we’re not gods. I don’t even know if such things as gods exist. But either way, you didn’t make this world, did you, Father? You simply arrived in it.”

He said nothing.

“That’s what I thought.” I shook my head. “Creators? We didn’t create anything. You probably don’t even know who did.”

“You dare to speak to your father in such a way?” Vela exclaimed. “He is the oldest, the most powerful, the most ancient...”

“The most powerful what? The most ancient what? He’s not a man. But he’s not a god either. He’s a being.” I shook my head. “No, not a being. A thing. A monster. An abomination.”

My father’s eyes were cold as ice as he stared at me in silence. What had he expected? My worship?

“We can never die,” Vela whispered. “What creature can say such a thing? Of course we are gods.”

“Deathlessness is not a blessing but a curse,” I said stingingly. “All creatures who live should also die. It is the way of things. The right way. You’ve both had far too much time on this plane of existence as it is.”

“You say that,” Vela retorted. “Yet you stand here in a new body. A new woman with Marzanna’s memories. Each time you fall, you’ll rise again. Reborn to a new life.”

“Perhaps,” I said softly. “Or perhaps it will end with this one. If I choose.”