Page 89 of A Kiss From Death (Oath of Vengeance #1)

I soak up the comforting words from Hade down the bond and use them as armor. He’s right. Even though we didn’t have as many years together as I thought, we still had four very real ones, full of love and memories, and that will never change.

“After Hesti dropped you at the orphanage, she came back to finish our plan. By the time she returned…” My mother pauses, choking on her words. She looks like a shell of a woman, and my he art aches for her. “It was too late. Airestol killed your father and was looking for you.”

Papa is dead? No, that can’t be true. I never got to say goodbye, never got to hug him one last time and tell him how much I loved him. I was his miniature in every way. We shared our dark hair and our night magic.

My mother gives me a knowing look. “It has been difficult without your father, but I had to hold on for you. Now is that time, my dear. I wish we had more time, but I’m afraid time is a currency we run low on.”

I file away another painful ache in a neat box to unravel later and focus back on my mother. She looks so weak and tired, and I can tell being alive without Papa has been taxing on her.

“All magic requires balance. As such, there must be checks and balances put in place, even in regards to dark magic. One must give in order to take, especially the amount Airestol was channeling. So, I struck a deal with him.”

My eyes go wide in horror. Why would she make a deal with the devil? My heart hammers in my chest, waiting for the ball to drop and my life to do a one-eighty again.

“What did you promise him?” I ask hesitantly, waiting for the impending doom to strike its blow.

“My life for yours.” My mother gathers herself. “Airestol linked the curse to my life. I am the balance. I am what’s standing between the life we live now and the life everyone deserves.”

My brows pucker in confusion. This is all too much for me to process and handle after weeks of brutally fighting to stay alive. I had one mission: fight, stay alive, and get my revenge. Now, I have…and I’m on to the next.

Life never stops, it seems.

“Airestol was furious you had disappeared, afraid you would return one day and retaliate. To steal all the magic, the curse required a tether. I am that tether. He was more than willing to use me as the balance in his plan, thinking it would stop you from ever trying to break the curse. He had no idea I glamoured you and wiped your memories. I had Hesti watch over you, guide you through life, eventually guiding you back to me when the time was right.”

Each word out of my mother’s mouth only scrambles my brain further. How can this be real life? I struggle to breathe and keep pace with the never ending words.

“The deal I struck with Airestol ensured a way for you to make it back to me. I created the Reaper Crucible and conjured up the riddle as a failsafe. I spun the idea to Airestol as a way to control our citizens and hold power over their heads. How else would we explain why some citizens had magic up here while others below did not? I would be the face, and he would be the brains behind the scenes. He was to start by taking all the magic from Fallout, and then, after getting used to the abundance of magic within his possession, he would start tapping into Lunaria’s reserves.

I bargained that too much magic would overwhelm him. ”

Sighing, she nibbles her lip as she looks over to Hesti for support, who gives her a single reassuring nod.

“As you now remember, I am no Impart. I am a Scorch disguised as an Impart. Airestol granted me a small chuck of the magic he stole from Fallout each year to gift the winner of the Crucible. Truly, it was just removing the curse preventing their magic from surfacing. The curse not only stripped all citizens of their magic below, but it also planted a false memory that magic never existed. They no longer remembered that everyone once had magic, or that I was their loving queen with a doting family. I was spun to be their evil Empress, who ruled over both Fallout and Lunaria, so that the once compassionate Lunarians were now hateful and excited to watch members of Fallout fight to the death. I spent so much time living down in Fallout as a way to watch over you.”

She grits her teeth, hissing for a moment with her eyes closed before looking back at me.

“The only thing I didn’t account for was the curse tethered to me, slowly taking over my body and soul.

At first, it felt like nothing, but over the past four years, it has slowly seeped more into my soul, corrupting chunks of me, leaving behind the vile Empress you have been acquainted with.

I have moments like right now, when I’m lucid enough to take control of my body, but I have to fight hard to remain in control.

It is painful, but I can manage for short periods.

The rest of the time, I’m afraid it is the curse controlling my body and actions.

I was losing all hope until my beautiful, storm cloud-eyed daughter showed up at my doorstep with vengeance in her eyes, and I knew I had made the right decision. ”

She leans forward slowly, gripping my hand in hers.

“You are a force of nature. You are the tide that washes away the evil to make way for a brighter future, full of justice and change. You are going to make a wonderful queen to our people. Words will never be able to truly express the immense pride I have in being able to call you my daughter. You, my dear, are the roots that will bind us all together again. You will fight, you will not cower in the face of evil, and you will resurrect the injustice ripped away from our people.”

She grips my cheeks in a way that almost feels like a goodbye while she looks at me with the last fraction of light shining through her eyes.

“Take back what is rightfully yours and make all who stand in your way bow before the holy ground you leave in your wake. Do not let them think you are anything less than what Mother Nature has deemed you, because you are the god of all gods . Make them bow at your holy throne.”

I blink through the tears slowly cascading down my face. My mother pulls our foreheads together as the tremble in her hands slowly takes over her body. She’s fighting so hard to stay in this moment with me as my mother and not the evil taking over her body.

My mother has sacrificed so much for me and this kingdom. She keeps saying how strong I am, but at this moment, the only strength worth admiring is the woman fighting to remain pure in front of me, no matter how painful it may be. She has been fighting for me this entire time.

There’s one last piece I’m still scrambling for answers to. I look up into my mother’s dulling eyes that no longer show any ounce of light, a shadow casted across them. I’m losing her.

“And the riddle?” I ask her on a gasp.

She nods against my forehead sadly as I replay her words from all those weeks ago.

Where three meet, one left behind. A sacrifice greater than mankind. A piercing cry from the one black eye. For that shall reset time before the ultimate crime.

My wide, pleading eyes clash with my mother’s, who just smiles back while wrapping her hand around my other hand.

Our hands move together as one, a single tear dribbling down her cheek while my brain processes the reality of the riddle’s answer.

I put the pieces together right before my mother speaks in a strangled tone.

“I would have sacrificed myself a thousand times over if it meant keeping you safe. I love you, Nyxi .”

A slicing echoes around us, and I scream when I notice what she’s done.

I hadn’t realized I still had Hade’s sword clutched in my grasp, the same hand my mother had wrapped hers around and slowly moved towards her labored chest. She pushes our conjoined hands a little harder until it fully sheathes itself into her heart while simultaneously shattering mine.

Her death is the answer to the riddle.

She slouches on the couch, and I scream again, jumping to kneel over her. “MAMA? No, you can’t leave me too. I cannot do this without you. I just got you back.” I try to press my hands around the protruding sword to stifle the blood, but there’s too much.

A haunting peace takes over her face, looking as if she is finally accepting her fate and welcoming the soft bliss about to sweep her away.

“Please don’t leave me,” I beg, sobbing above my mother.

“This w-was the only way to break the curse, love. Do not mourn my loss. I have co-completed my journey here, and you are ready to take over. I am able to finally reunite with your father, who has b-been waiting for me.” I sob on her chest as she grips my bloody hands.

“You must be s-strong now in the face of these new trials. You are the only one who can defeat Airestol. Hesti will guide you in my absence.” With one last, strangled breath, she looks behind my shoulder where Hade now stands. “Take care of our girl.”

My mother’s eyes close, and her chest refuses to rise again, even with the immense pressure I still hold over her wound. I collapse onto her chest, screaming and crying until my throat goes raw.

“Please don’t leave me. I will not allow it. Do you hear me, Mama? You can’t leave me here alone to deal with this mess. I am not capable. I cannot do this without you.”

I wait and wait for her eyes to open again, for her chest to rise and fall, but it doesn’t and it won’t.

She’s dead, and so is Papa.

I am all that remains.

I am our last hope for freedom.

Hade rubs my back as I cry, mourning the mother I just got back. My body shakes, but as the vibrations become more intense, I realize it’s not me, but the air around me.

Magic… It’s back. I feel it all around me. The curse is broken at the price of my mother sacrificing herself. I hear shouts and commotion is the distance, but I pay them no heed as a tingling sensation buzzes over my body. It’s strange and unfamiliar .

Pulling my body off my mother’s, I’m met with two pairs of wide eyes. They look at me as if they’ve never seen me before. Hade is rendered speechless, and Hesti looks at me in awe.

Rushing to the closest mirror, I gasp when I see bright red flames licking over the roots of half my hair. I’m about to sprint to the nearest washroom to put it out, but I stop as I see the flame slowly travel down half my head, leaving bright red hair in its wake all the way to the tips.

My skin begins to sparkle and glow like Hesti’s, and when I lift my hands to examine it, a dark ball of magic appears in one hand while a bright ball of fire appears in the other.

Half black, half red.

Half night magic, half fire magic.

Half my father, half my mother.

All god.

This was what Airestol was afraid of. Each god is stronger than the last.

Two abilities is unheard of, but magic loves its balance. I spin around and almost lose my footing when Hade comes into view, down on his knees before me, bowing deeply. He’s looking at me like I’m his savior, his deity.

“You are the most majestic thing I’ve ever laid witness to, the only god I will worship every sunrise and sunset.

Make no mistake, I am a greedy man, Nyxi.

You are a rarity I intend to hide from the rest of the world.

” He swears under his breath. “My lungs only breathe for you. My heart only beats for you. My love only lives on in my heart for you. I am yours ,” he growls.

“Same as I am yours,” I breathe. “You own every piece of me, Hade.” Choking on a sob, I grasp his hand. With a shaky hand, he pulls my knuckles to his lips and takes his time kissing each one, worshiping my skin.

“I have something I need to show you,” Hade says, and I’m afraid my world is about to spin once again.