Page 82 of A Kingdom of Sand and Ice (Kingdom of Gods #2)

‘Hecate is a goddess. She cannot truly die. But the curse altered her essence in a way none foresaw. It forced her to be reborn as a witch with every lifetime. Mortal, fragile, and unaware of who she truly was. Each time, she would live among witches, grow up believing she was one of them. And each time, fate would draw her back to Hadrian. She would fall in love, bear his child, lose him… lose herself… and begin again. And again. And again.’ Freya’s voice lowered to almost a whisper.

‘I think you’ve already guessed the tale I speak of, the story of Hadrian and Tabitha Wysteria. ’

‘Does she not remember who she is, in each life?’ Kage asked, his voice low, uncertain.

‘Not always,’ Freya replied gently. ‘She is reborn as a witch, unaware of her true nature. And without the memory of being Hecate, she cannot access her divine powers. In some lives she ends up remembering, in others she dies before she recalls the truth. Regardless, the curse runs deep in her blood… and in Hades’.

As well as in any child born of their union. ’

‘They never had children,’ Kage said flatly.

But Freya merely offered a quiet, wistful smile.

‘They did. Flesh of their flesh, born of godly blood and placed into your mother’s womb.’

Kage stepped back, his breath catching, eyes widening with the weight of her words.

‘Your sister, Mal Blackburn, is the daughter of Hades and Hecate. She is the goddess of shadows. And the curse that clings to her parents passed to her the moment she drew her first breath.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘It means the cycle will never end,’ Freya said softly. ‘Mal will fall in love with Ash Acheron. And, as it has always been, another will take him from her. She will not endure a world without him and she will end her own life. And so, the curse will begin again. Over and over, across the ages.’

‘And why should I believe you?’

Freya turned to him and in the faint light of that realm, Kage saw the sorrow etched into the fine lines of her face, the honesty that rattled in the quiet stillness of her expression.

‘Why would I lie?’

She had a point. Kage searched for some hidden motive, some advantage she might gain from deceit.

But so far, he could find none. Still, he knew she hadn’t yet revealed the full truth.

Whatever she had brought him here to say…

it was coming. And then, perhaps, he’d be able to sift the truth from the lies.

‘Hades is planning to use your sister as a weapon,’ Freya said quietly.

‘Gods cannot be slain in their own realms, but on mortal soil, the rules are different. A god can be killed here. Of course, they don’t truly die.

They are gods, therefore they return to their realms. But…

if there existed a god who could walk freely between all realms and kill them permanently… ’

‘Mal can kill gods,’ Kage whispered, more to himself than to her, the weight of the truth settling like iron in his chest.

‘She can,’ Freya confirmed. ‘That is why he created her. Your sister is the god-killer.’

She spoke the words with reverence and dread alike.

‘For millennia, the gods feared the idea of such a being. In time, they dismissed the stories and grew complacent, as gods tend to do. But Hades remembered. He wanted such a creature, one he could command, one whose power would bring the others to their knees. A weapon forged from his own blood, to do his bidding. But the others… they did not agree. Now, they seek to destroy him.’

‘And you want to stop him, too.’

Freya’s eyes turned sombre. ‘He will ruin everything, Kage. Even your sister.’

Kage turned his attention to the sea, its roar distant but ever-present.

He had never given it much thought as a boy.

His childhood had been spent tucked within stone walls, beneath the flicker of blue wyverian flames, nose buried in books and old histories.

The castle itself stood far from the shoreline, but he knew, further out, there were beaches that stretched endlessly, great black sands kissed by the darkest waters, cold and untamed. Waters that few dared enter.

Mal had often ventured out with the wyverns, soaring high above the cliffs to catch glimpses of the ocean’s vast, restless expanse.

She would always return with windswept hair and a thousand questions, pressing Kage for answers about what lay beyond the horizon.

Was there more land? Had the gods fashioned anything beyond the borders of their known realms? Kage never had the answers she sought.

The scrolls and tomes he’d studied held no truth about lands beyond the sea. He had come across stories of ancient deep-sea creatures, but he’d long dismissed them, setting aside such fanciful tales as the ramblings of myth-makers. He had little patience for legends that lacked foundation.

‘If Hades succeeds,’ Freya said, her voice low and final, ‘the war with the witches will become irrelevant. Every land will fall. Every living soul within it will be devoured. You will all die.’

Kage’s breath drew tight in his chest. ‘What can I do?’

‘You must convince your sister to kill Hades,’ Freya replied, turning to face him fully, her expression as hard as carved stone. ‘It is the only way the kingdoms can be saved.’

Kage gave a small nod, his features impassive, the mask he had worn for years settling effortlessly into place.

He knew better than to reveal his thoughts too soon.

Whether Freya was a god or something else entirely, it didn’t change what he had trained himself to do—read people.

Tone, gesture, silence. He could pick apart truth from fabrication as easily as ink from parchment .

He believed Freya wanted Hades dead. That much rang true.

But there was more to the tale. Of that, he was certain.

And whatever it was she had yet to reveal, he knew he needed to speak to Mal before it was too late.

‘We could bring her back, you know.’

Kage froze. The chill that swept through his body was sharp and unforgiving, as if ice had threaded through his very veins.

He turned slowly to Freya, only it wasn’t Freya any longer.

The softness of the valkyrian’s face had vanished, peeled away to reveal something colder, older, and far more dangerous.

This was Persephone speaking now, not the warrior of the skies, but the goddess cloaked in life and death.

The warmth in her eyes had burnt away, leaving behind a glint of something ancient, something cruel.

He found himself wondering what she had looked like before she had ever become valkyrian.

‘The dead cannot be brought back,’ he said, his voice sharp as a blade, laced with warning. If she toyed with him like this, he didn’t care if she was a god. He would not hesitate to silence her.

‘They can,’ she replied softly, ‘if it’s done correctly.

I belong to both the Kingdom of Fauna, my own creation, and the Kingdom of Darkness, which Hades shaped.

I dwell in the realms of both life and death.

When I married him, he granted me a sliver of his power.

Not much… but enough. Something poor Hecate never had. ’

Her tone turned reflective, almost reverent.

‘That is why gods wed one another, why they bear children together. Marriage binds power. It passes from one to the other. But our children…’ She paused, her eyes gleaming.

‘They inherit only from one parent. Mal is the exception. She possesses power from both. That is why she is so rare, so feared. So extraordinary. ’

Freya smiled then, darkly.

‘I have enough of death’s magic in me to bring Haven back.’

Kage didn’t think. He reacted. In one swift movement, he seized her by the throat, his fingers curling into her flesh with unflinching force. Teeth clenched, he dragged her closer until their noses almost touched.

‘Do not play games with me,’ he growled. ‘You yourself said the dead should not be brought back.’

‘I… am not,’ she rasped, gasping as she clawed at his grip. ‘I can bring…her…back. Whether you should…or shouldn’t…is up to your own morality.’

His grip tightened.

Panic bloomed in her eyes.

‘You cannot kill me,’ she whispered hoarsely, her face reddening with each strangled breath. ‘Only the… god-killer…can end me.’

With a final glare, Kage released her. She crumpled to the ground, coughing, breathless. He stepped back, chest rising and falling with quiet fury.

He did not fear her. Nor did he fear the others.

Let them come.

They had taken his sister. And he would meet them, not with reverence, but with tooth and claw, fire and wrath. Let the gods learn what it meant to provoke a wyverian.

‘If I convince Mal to kill Hades, you will bring her back.’

It wasn’t a question. There was no hesitation in his voice, no doubt as he stood with his back to her, eyes fixed on the endless sweep of sea and sky. Behind him, Freya still knelt, fingers grazing her throat where his grip had left its mark.

‘I will,’ she replied.

Kage smiled.

He smiled not from joy, but because he knew, knew, that the woman behind him was no longer pretending.

She wasn’t the wounded valkyrian rubbing away pain she hadn’t truly felt.

No, he could almost hear it, the subtle curl of her lips as they twisted into something cold and cruel.

A smile that belonged not to Freya, but to the goddess who had played this game for centuries.

She believed she had won.

She thought she had brought him to his knees. That she had accomplished the impossible: coaxed a wyverian prince into betraying his sister, into persuading her to commit the unthinkable. To kill a god.

But she wasn’t wrong.

He would do it.

Kage would walk into fire and shadow. He would beg, lie, and force his sister’s hand if it meant bringing Haven back. He would tear down the heavens themselves, claw the stars from the sky, and leave the gods bleeding on their thrones. If it meant seeing Haven again, he would burn the world.

‘I know how deeply you love your sister,’ Freya said softly. ‘More than anyone in the world. Mal would understand, Kage. If you told her, if you explained the danger we all face, she would do it.’

Of course she would.

Mal would offer herself without hesitation if it meant saving another.

She always had. Kage had never known anyone so selfless.

In truth, none of his siblings had ever paused when it came to choosing what was right.

Haven, Kai, and Mal possessed hearts unclouded by selfishness, brilliant and unyieldingly kind.

Sometimes, Kage wondered how he could possibly be their brother.

Because where they would give everything for others , he would burn the world to keep them safe.

He had never held much reverence for nobility or virtue. The woes of strangers were none of his concern. His love was precise, razor-sharp and reserved only for his family. The rest of the world could crumble into ash and he would not mourn it.

Until.

Until that devil of a girl spoke with her laughter that scattered his shadows like startled birds. Until she smiled at him, again and again, until the walls he’d spent a lifetime building began to crack.

Damn Wren Wynter and her foolish, radiant grin.

For making him care. For making him hope.

For knowing what her brother would come to mean to him.

Kage had done everything to avoid thinking of Bryn since he left.

It was no use. He missed him. Missed the quiet strength, the dimples, the stillness that wrapped around them like a shared secret.

For the first time in his life, Kage had wanted more, more than dust-covered tomes and firelit libraries. More than solitude.

‘Will you save us?’ Freya asked, her voice no longer sweet but expectant, her hand extended in quiet demand.

Kage glanced down at it.

Of course he would save them.

He would save them all.

Just not in the way Freya was expecting.