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“She’s pouting,” he said. “She always did hate getting outsmarted. And you know what the saddest part is? She could’ve been everything that she aspired to—wise, noble, a beauty beyond compare—if she just hadn’t been such a raving cunt .”

At that, the Time Shard flickered. Taly felt the pulse echo in her blood, in the thunder that rolled across a red-hued sky.

“Oh, c’mon, it’s true ,” Aneirin shot back. “You manipulated our siblings, sowed doubt, and painted me as a threat to your precious order. And all because I gave your favorite little plaything a way out. You knew you couldn’t destroy me outright, so you sought to corrupt me instead.”

He roared across the desolate wasteland, “I was a god of Life!” And there was genuine grief there beneath the divine fury. “But you ,” he snarled at the Time Shard. “You thought you could replace Life with Death—as if the two were opposites.”

With a furious yell, he flung his arms over the field where the ranks of undead stretched across the barren expanse. “Well?” he bellowed, voice shaking the earth, the air, the sky itself. “Is this enough death for you? Did I live up to your expectations?”

There was no answer. Only the wind moved, howling through the bones of the fallen.

His eyes were wild with hatred, red hair lashing around his face. “We’re going to do a little ritual now,” he said to Taly. “You see, three of my siblings are on the other side of that Gate, and we’re overdue for a reunion.”

Aiden grabbed Taly by the arm, dragging her in front of the Time Shard. With a hard shove, he forced her to her knees.

“You don’t have enough juice to open the Aion Gate—not on your own.

But what you do have is… potential. This is the part that would normally require a sacrifice.

That’s why we brought her.” He jerked his head toward Aimee, sobbing silently as two dark-robed figures restrained her.

“But you have something sweeter to offer, don’t you?

Something Lachesis has been dying to sink her teeth into.

That’s another thing the history books left out—your gods don’t care about your suffering. The pain’s the point.”

Taly was on her knees, hair damp with sweat, but she met his gaze without blinking.

The storm behind his eyes quieted, if only for a moment.

“You’re just like her, you know.” He reached for a lock of blonde hair, fallen from its braid.

Taly flinched away, and his expression hardened.

“I would find it maddening, but I know you can’t help yourself.

You were designed, after all, to entice her. ”

Another dark-robed figure handed him a knife that he used to cut the bindings on her wrists.

Taly was immediately on her feet. She wrenched back the sleeve of her tunic and thrust her arm forward. The ink was still fresh, the skin around it healing—two concentric circles with a solid line dividing them down the middle.

Having seen what it did to Aneirin when he was in Kalahad’s body, Ivain had insisted they all get the symbol placed somewhere it couldn’t be removed.

Aneirin took one look at it and laughed.

“That’s right, you did find that little gem, didn’t you?

And not to downplay the achievement—I will kill whoever brought that wretched thing into the light of day.

But it won’t protect you from her.” He gestured to the Time Shard.

“And it won’t protect him from me doing this. ”

He raised the curved, wicked edge of the dagger to his throat.

“You won’t be able to save him in time,” he said. “Just in case you were thinking about being defiant. My essence is slowly poisoning his blood. Even if he is half human, it’s still a tight fit.”

“What does that mean?” Taly growled through clenched teeth.

“It means, dearie, that humans are mine. My most devious little creation and the reason for my fall from grace. They bear enough of my, shall we say, spark to let me slip in and out. That’s why Lachesis was so eager to get her hands on you.

You’re the only one alive compatible with her essence.

She slipped away from me more than once trying to get a look at you, but that’s okay—you seemed far more amenable to her overtures than mine, and really, it was just about ticking off boxes in the end. The offerings, the trials—”

“What trials?”

“The ones Azura was so kind to oversee. Trials of separation, persistence, death .” He mimed ripping out a heart, chuckling. “Ringing any bells?”

Taly shook her head. “No.” She swallowed hard, trying to work some moisture back onto her tongue. “Azura wouldn’t. Why would she…?”

“Give up power willingly?” he supplied. “Or perhaps, it’s the sting of betrayal that unsettles you?”

It must’ve shown in her face—the devastation.

He tutted softly, as though he were indulging a na?ve child.

“Oh, you poor thing. Let this be a lesson. Azura is on Azura’s side—always has been.

Don’t believe me, just ask her predecessor.

Except, oh wait… you can’t.” He leaned in, his smile sharp.

“Who do you think tipped me off about your little plan to blow up my fortress? Not very nice, by the way—blowing up a man’s evil stronghold. ”

The dagger glinted menacingly as he dragged it across the skin, leaving a faint, threatening line. “Do you really want to test me right now? Or will you behave like a good girl?”

Aimee let out a loud sob, straining against the arms that held her. “Please, don’t hurt him. Taly, just do what he says!”

There were no exits, no allies, no miracles waiting to be grasped. Just the suffocating presence of inevitability closing in, leaving her nowhere to go and no way out.

Slowly, Taly sank back to her knees.

“There,” Aiden said, lowering the dagger. “I knew you could be compliant, given the right motivation. Everyone has their soft underbelly. It’s just a matter of rooting it out.”

He patted Taly’s head like a well-behaved pet before turning to all those assembled. Spreading his arms wide, he declared, “Beneath the watchful eyes of the Father and the Mother, I summon the currents of creation that flow through all things.”

The shades beat their chests in unison, the sound echoing like a thunderclap across the wasteland. The mages moving among them cheered and clapped.

“By the ancients, by the will of the eternal, we shall bind this mortal vessel to the divine essence that awaits her. She has completed the trials. The offerings have been accepted. All that remains is the final rite.”

A black-eyed boy smudged something red and tar-like on Taly’s brow, drawing a symbol. It was thick, grainy, and dripped into her eyes. Someone else placed a wreath of white chriselmyne on her head.

Graveyard flowers to honor the loss of body, mind, and will.

She could hear Ivain’s voice, their many conversations over the past few weeks. He’d told her about the final rite that would come before the Time Shard possessed her—an impossible sacrifice that would only present itself when she was at the altar.

Trust in yourself , Ivain had urged. There will be moments when you doubt your sanity, times when the shadows will seem to swallow you whole. But remember—evil has to be invited in.

“The sacrifice has been chosen,” Aneirin declared to the cheering masses.

“For the sixth and final gift, I bring the question.” Then he stepped close, brushing her hair behind her ear as he said, low and reverent, “Corinna Venwraith, do you accept the call of your patron goddess, to join her in the infinite and divine? Will you become her vessel, her voice, and help her with everything that you have, everything that you are, to fulfill her holy purpose?”

Mages and undead cheered with fervor, and weapons clattered together as shields banged. The sound was relentless.

“Well?” Aneirin pressed, teasing the tip of the dagger across Aiden’s chin. On his skin, black lines were already surfacing. “Do you accept—yes or no?”

Say no.

Azura’s warning clanged through her memory.

You will be asked a question…

Say no.

Beside her, Aimee’s screams mixed with the chaos, “Please, Taly. Please, don’t let him kill my brother!”

Say no.

Taly clamped her hands over her ears so she wouldn’t have to hear her cousin’s sobs. Aimee didn’t know what she was asking. Being possessed by the goddess of Time—at first, it was exhilarating, like plugging into the heart of a star.

But then, it swallowed her whole.

The rush became a vortex, the vortex a storm, the storm a maelstrom of divine will.

Lachesis had promised strength, but there was no room for both. Power shoved in, forcing Taly out.

Say no.

“Tick-tock, Taly,” Aneirin taunted, a cruel smile playing on his lips. “Make your choice, or I’ll make it for you.”

Blood trickled, bright red against pale skin

Say no.

“Please, Taly! He’s my brother. He’s all I have left.”

Say no.

The presence of the goddess loomed at the edge of her consciousness, like a predator testing a perimeter. Seeking weakness, looking for a way in.

She could sense the desire, the hunger .

She could see Aimee’s tear-streaked face, the terror in her eyes, the desperation.

She saw Aiden, her friend.

Say no, the Queen had warned her. But what was that worth now, next to her betrayal?

“Please,” Aimee sobbed as her legs gave out, folding between the unmoving figures that held her in place. “Please, please… I can’t do this again. I can’t.”

Say no.

But Taly had already taken away too much from them. Her cousins. Her family. Maybe they’d forgiven her, but she never would.

In her heart of hearts, she knew—she was the reason they didn’t have a father. His life had been traded so hers could go on.

It was always going to happen this way. No matter what, she could never seem to shake the invisible crimson that clung to her skin.

Say no.

Taly’s voice when it came out was broken, barely audible.

“Yes.”

And like an axe coming down, she felt a cleaving in her mind as the bond was severed. Like an exchanging of hands, the goddess of Time came rushing in.