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It wasn’t Aiden’s smile. Not his eyes or his laugh as he plucked a grape from a platter and popped it into his mouth.

And though it was still his voice, a new accent had commandeered it. “I told you,” he said, the vowels too drawn out, the consonants too precise, every syllable drenched with an antiquated elegance. “No deal, no peace. Now, I’m afraid we’re past the point of diplomacy.”

“Aiden?” Aimee’s voice trembled slightly. “Why do you sound like that?”

Taly’s heart hammered in her chest, but there was fire in her eyes. “Hello, Bill,” she said. “I’m sure it goes without saying, but I will make you regret this.”

“Aw, how cute,” the thing wearing Aiden’s face said with a chuckle. “You still think you’re in a position to make threats.”

“What’s going on?” Aimee murmured. She shook her head, as if denying it long enough could make the truth disappear. “This isn’t funny, Aiden.”

Aneirin tilted his head as if he truly pitied her.

“Poor little Aimee, so scared and confused,” he crooned.

“You always were the slow one, weren’t you?

It’s all right here.” He tapped his temple.

“Oh, how your brother pities you when you start throwing yourself at these men who will never see you as anything more than a half-blood. How he wishes you would have some self-respect.”

Tears spilled down Aimee’s cheeks as she clenched her fists. “You’re not my brother.”

“Ah. Eureka! Finally.”

“I don’t know what you’re after, but you can’t keep him!”

Aneirin laughed. “On the contrary, I think I can do just about whatever I want. And if you’re looking to point fingers, kindly direct them over there.

” He stabbed a finger at Taly. “I’ve given her every chance to see things my way, to understand the brilliance of what we could achieve together.

I offered her power, freedom, an opportunity to rule over this little pile of misery and rocks.

I tried to do this the nice way, really, I did.

But she has rejected me at every turn. And might I add with shocking rudeness. ”

Taly’s body shook. She couldn’t stop it. “Get out of him.”

“ No, ” he said firmly, a faint, condescending curl to his lips. “This is what we call collateral, dearie.” He took a casual sip of wine, his footsteps drawing him closer. “We’re going to take it from the top now. Yet another example of my magnanimity.”

Taly’s stomach twisted as she met her cousin’s gaze. There he was—Bill, lurking in the depths.

His presence was palpable, almost suffocating, wafting off him like a miasma.

“What are you?” Taly whispered.

“Well, that is an interesting question, isn’t it? One you already know the answer to. It’s such a simple truth, really. Go ahead, give it a try. Say it out loud. It’ll be liberating.”

He leaned over to purr in her ear, “Say my name.”

Taly only closed her eyes, sweat beading on her skin. “Go to hell.”

There was a crash as he smashed his wineglass against the edge of the cot. Red liquid splashed. He held the shattered stem to his neck.

“SAY MY NAME!”

A bead of blood appeared.

“Do it!” Aimee begged tearfully. “ Please !”

“Aneirin!” Taly spat it out like poison. “Aneirin of the Ash-Shallayn. King of the Belphegor, Father of Lies, the first and favorite son of the Magnus.”

He dropped the jagged stem. Aimee whimpered.

“You’re the Judge,” Taly said, voice quavering.

Azura had warned her—the gods were real. But even now, staring into the face of the root of all evil, Taly could barely believe it. Myths weren’t meant to step off the page.

“Now, was that really so hard?” Aiden tossed the broken stem away. “Plus, I can see you’ve done your research. I’m impressed. My siblings worked very hard to remove my name from history.”

Indeed, it had taken forever to find it. Taly had scoured every book in the townhouse library and most of the local bookstores. She’d only stumbled upon it by accident. Not in text but written in the margin next to a story about how the Judge was cast out of eternity.

Beware the one they call Aneirin. For his soul is as black as night, and his power knows no bounds.

Taly’s breath hitched, a primal fear taking hold. An instinctual response to being in the presence of the devil himself. Even the shadows seemed to recoil, curling away from the sheer wrongness of him.

Beside her, Aimee began to murmur. Her words were shaky, barely audible, but they carried a familiar rhythm.

“O Magnus, guardian of the realms, shine thy divine light upon us in our need. Six who shattered, grant us the strength to face the shadows—”

“And the wisdom to see the path ahead, the courage to stand against evil, blah, blah, blah.” Aneirin laughed. “You see, I can also recite scripture. Doesn’t mean it will do anything. You can’t exorcise what underpins your existence. I wasn’t born of faith or fear—I simply am .”

Aimee snarled and pounded her fists against the bed. She couldn’t attack—it was her brother. All she could do was watch, tears burning her eyes, as he turned back to Taly, seizing the ropes.

They snapped, leaving her hands bound, but her feet free.

Without a word, he hauled her off the bed, dragging her like a broken doll toward the tent’s exit.

The sudden assault of light made her squint, her vision swimming as the world beyond came into focus.

Red dirt all around.

Distant mountains of metal and scrap rose to meet the sky.

And between them stood legions of undead soldiers, their ranks impossibly precise—an unbroken wall held in rigid formation before the looming specter of the Aion Gate.

Its colossal structure stretched so high, it vanished into the storm-dark clouds above. The surface swirled with light, shifting endlessly.

The surrounding energy was electric. Taly’s skin crawled as the hair on her arms bristled.

She was vaguely aware of Aimee being tossed through the tent flap behind her by a dark-robed figure. She stumbled over her skirts.

“Do you have any idea, Taly, what it’s like to be painted as the villain in your own story?

” Aiden- no, Aneirin shoved her roughly over the uneven ground.

“To be cast out and betrayed by those who should have been your allies? They tell stories of my fall, of how I was cast down for my arrogance. But they never mention the truth. That it was they who betrayed me . My brothers and sisters. My family, ” he spat.

“They sought to suppress my light because it impeded their ability to do whatever they pleased.”

The air reeked of decay as Aneirin pushed her past the rows of undead soldiers standing silently at attention. Milky eyes stared from sunken sockets, following her with disquieting focus.

“I was the ‘Judge,’ you see. The one put in charge of reining in my siblings’ baser instincts.

Lachesis wanted a race of prophesying genies—I said ‘Okay .’ When Theia wanted her Nephilim, I was the one who had to tell her, ‘ They look a little creepy, but, sure, we’ll just put them on the outer edges of the universe where no one has to look at them . ’

“The Fey,” he said. “Well, that was a joint project. They wanted something beautiful to serve them in their resplendent palaces.”

Where were the Gate Watchers? It was a question Taly had been asking herself. Her stomach twisted when she realized the answer.

Beyond the assembly of soldiers, the fallen mages were laid out in rows. Limbs stiff and eyes vacant, their chests gaped open where their hearts had been taken. Soon, they would rise to serve a new, terrible purpose.

“As long as I said yes , they were happy,” Aneirin said as he continued to march her forward.

“But the moment I said no —no, they couldn’t have their own personal sun because it would collapse a corner of space and time, or that cultivating grief as a renewable power source seemed inherently unethical—then suddenly I’m the bad guy.

Have you ever seen a divine throw a tantrum?

Lots of doom and thunder . It’s not pretty. ”

He stopped, yanking Taly around to face him, his expression a mix of fury and a twisted kind of triumph.

“That’s why history is so important. Because without it, any asshole can say whatever he pleases, and everyone forgets that the so-called ‘Sacred Six’ are nothing more than lazy, spoiled parasites who stole my power.

I’m the villain now, the devil in their tales.

Those fools thought they could erase me .

They thought themselves beyond judgment, but there is no escape.

My vengeance will bring this world back to its rightful order. ”

Then his eyes—Aiden’s eyes—glanced past her. “You remember my sister.”

In the center of the camp was a rock. A very large, very ordinary rock made of gold, translucent crystal that caught the light, refracting it in myriad directions. Its surface was rough and jagged. But as Taly looked closer, she felt a distinct pull .

Not like the bond—this was stronger. More visceral. This pull redirected the axis of her gravity.

She shuffled a step forward. Not by choice. That pull was a call, vibrating through her bones, stirring something older than memory.

Her magic reached back, threading through time, drawn to the primal forces that had shaped it.

This was the source—the origin of all that she was.

“Underwhelming, don’t you think?” Aiden sneered. “The great embodiment of the goddess of Time reduced to a mere rock. In the end, they tore themselves apart. As it turns out, wielding all the awesome power of creation was a little more difficult than they imagined.”

He rapped his knuckles against the stone.

“Isn’t that right, sweet Lachesis? You always thought you were so much better than me.

You resented that Father made you to be my wife .

You played the role of benevolent goddess, all while plotting behind closed doors to steal a power you could never truly understand. Well, how did that work out for you?”

The Time Shard remained resolute and unchanging.