Page 117 of Evermore

“The Fates never said they were going to help you. They said they would hear your questions. You get the kid on the throne and then they’ll see you, remember? There’s no timeline on that anyway. Did you see Aldus walk today? He hasn’t done that in weeks. He needed his son. Mortals need their family. You can’t change this. You’re going to have to be patient.”

“If you think I want Archer on that fucking throne, you’re wrong. Dead wrong. And you know why. But we aren’t the only gods circling. Fucking Bellatora was here today. Did you know that? She’s been coming to see Aldus. Alastor is still a godsdamn wild card. Ezra’s on the hunt. Where the fuck is Themis, Tuck? Have you seen Vesalia lately? Something’s not right. I can feel it in the air. And we’re sitting ducks fucking waiting to see who’s going to show their hand.”

Tuck nodded once before moving toward the door. “Then I guess it’s time we start stacking the deck.”

38

Paesha

He was there again, standing in the treeline, voice low as he and Tuck talked back and forth. I used to dance for thousands and now I only danced for him. And he and I both knew it. The stars offered little light as I moved across the rooftop, but I didn’t need it. The Remnants had grown stronger in the dark, more insistent, their whispers a constant hiss across my skin and for once, Thorne’s presence wasn’t what set them off. They’d moved beyond that now. Beyond him. Beyond everything.

Burn it, Winter’s voice cut through the others.Burn it all down.

She flashed before me, a ghostly figure with a bloody nose, bathed in snowflakes.

“Go away.”

Feel how the darkness calls, another hissed.Feel how it hungers.

I closed my eyes, letting my feet find their own rhythm. The movement helped quiet them, if only for moments at a time. But tonight was different. Tonight they wanted more than my attention. They wanted control.

My arms swept outward as I spun, trying to lose myself in the familiar patterns of an old ballet routine. But with each turn, with each graceful arc of my body, the whispers grew stronger. The Remnants were no longer content to simply speak, they moved with me, through me, as if the dance itself was awakening something terrible.

Let us show you what you truly are, they whispered in unison.Let us free.

I pushed harder, spinning faster, my feet barely touching the ground as I leaped across the rooftop. The physical exertion should have exhausted me, should have quieted my mind, but instead it fed the darkness. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Dancing had been my only escape. Each movement felt like striking matches in my soul, threatening to ignite an inferno I couldn’t control. And it made no sense. Unless he was never truly the target.

You can feel it growing, Sylvie purred.The power. The hunger.

They were right. With each passing day, the force inside me grew stronger. It wasn’t just voices anymore, it was a presence, a weight that pressed against my bones, begging to be unleashed. Only one voice offered any peace, one nameless Remnant that met me in that quiet corner of my mind where the others couldn’t reach. But she was silent tonight.

Break the walls, they screamed.Tear down the sky.

Let them see what power truly means.

Show them destruction.

Show them chaos.

Show them the end of everything.

The voices overlapped, a symphony of madness that matched the frantic rhythm of my feet. I couldn’t tell if I was dancing to silence them, or dancing to their tune. Each spin brought a new vision of devastation. Cities crumbled, mountains fell,rivers boiled. The power surged through my veins like liquid fire, and the Remnants fed on it, growing stronger with each passing second.

You are not meant for peace, Winter taunted.You are meant for this.

I threw my head back and laughed, the sound bordering on hysteria as I pirouetted on the edge of sanity. The rain fell harder now, soaking through my clothes, but I barely felt it. The heat beneath my skin, the burning in my blood, consumed everything else.

Let go, they urged.Let us show them what destruction truly means.

“Please,” I gasped, but I wasn’t sure what I was begging for. Peace? Silence? An end to the constant war within my own mind? The Remnants surged at my weakness, their whispers becoming screams that echoed through me. I knew I was reaching a breaking point. They’d been pushing and pushing for days. It seemed like something had happened. Like leaving Thorne in the Forgotten wasn’t about revenge, but rather locking away someone who might have the ability to cage them. End them. But he couldn’t. No one could.

I was sad. Truly and deeply sad. My entire heart ached as I fought a battle I couldn’t win. And so I danced. Because it was the only thing I knew without thinking. Without feeling. Without needing. I danced because it used to mean joy. And escape. I danced because now it meant something else. Yearning. For myself. For the way things used to be.

My legs finally gave out as the rain pounded against the rooftop, matching the thundering of my heart while I fought against the tide of chaos threatening to break free. And then strong arms wrapped around me, pulling me against a familiar chest. I didn’t have to look up to know it was Thorne. He saidnothing, just held me as I shook, one hand cradling my head while the other traced soothing patterns on my back.

I should have pushed him away. Should have maintained the careful distance I’d tried to keep. But the voices weren’t screaming about him anymore. They were screaming about everything. The stars, the rain, the air I breathed. They wanted it all destroyed, reduced to nothing but ash and memory.

“I can’t,” I whispered against his chest. “I can’t keep fighting them.”