Page 185 of Evermore

“Wait.” The voice was smooth, amused, laced with arrogance. “Surely you weren’t planning to start without us?”

Alastor strode into the chamber as if he owned them, Irri trailing behind him like a brightly colored shadow. Her eyes were clearer today, more focused than I’d seen them since her return from the Forgotten. She met my gaze with unsettling directness, a smile playing at her lips.

Paesha sat a little straighter. “Alastor. We obviously weren’t expecting you.”

“Clearly.” He made his way around the table, pausing behind Quill’s chair. The child stiffened, her shoulders drawing up toward her ears as she pressed closer to Paesha. My power surged beneath my skin, ready to rip him apart if he so much as touched either of them.

He leaned down, close enough that only Paesha and I could hear his next words. “I’m not here for you, Keeper. I’m here because I always liked the thieving king.” His eyes glittered with something that might have been genuine regret, though it was gone before I could be certain. “And I have a feeling you’re hiding something. This sudden action tastes like vengeance, and we’re here for that alone.”

Paesha’s expression didn’t change, but I felt the subtle shift in her power, the darkness curling at the edges of her being, eager to be unleashed. My own darkness answered, reaching for hers with hungry tendrils. We were bound in this, as in all things.

Her voice carried the weight of command that came naturally to her. “Take a seat then. If you’re brave enough to see this through.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t miss it.” Alastor settled into an empty chair, Irri perching on its arm like an exotic bird.

The door closed with a heavy finality, sealing us in with our secrets, our grief, our burning need for justice.

“Why is the child here again?” Serene asked, her eyes fixed on Quill with poorly disguised distaste. “Surely even you can see the danger in this now.”

The contempt in her voice made my power stir, eager to show her exactly what I thought of her concern. To hell with diplomacy and allies, I wanted to wrap my hands around her throat until that musical voice cracked. But Paesha squeezed Quill’s hand, a silent signal for calm that I read as clearly as if she’d shouted. For her, I swallowed my rage. Only for her.

“The child stays,” she said, her tone brooking no argument.

Serene exchanged a look with Raeth, the God of Joy and Sorrow, something unspoken passing between them. I caught it, another fucking tally in the growing list of gods to keep my eyes on.

“The Fera has no place in these discussions. Particularly if there’s any possibility of traveling to Etherium. As an… unknown, she should not be permitted near our sacred realms.”

Paesha’s eyes hardened, and I stepped closer, my hand moving to her shoulder, a reminder that she wasn’t alone in this, that I was here. Through every battle, every nightmare, every godsdamned apocalypse if necessary.

Before she could respond, Minerva cleared her throat. “I know exactly what the girl is. And that is all any of you need to trouble yourselves with.” Her gaze swept the table, daring anyone to challenge her. None did. Even Alastor, who had been old when most of them were newly formed, inclined his head in reluctant deference. “Now, perhaps we should move on to the matter at hand.”

All eyes turned to Paesha, waiting. I could feel the weight of expectation pressing down, the tension drawn taut as a bowstring. Whatever she decided here, whatever path she chose, would ripple through the realms with consequences none of us could fully predict. But she would lead, and I would follow. Forever. Until the stars burned out and the last realm crumbled. Until the end of everything.

“I’m not going to be a hero today, so if that’s what you’ve come to witness, you can leave. Today’s not about doing the right thing. It’s not even about good versus evil. If it were, you’re all standing on the wrong side. I have no fucking desire for happily ever after. Only blood. And destruction. I’m taking a page from an old friend’s book and doing something reckless.”

Archer’s words. His philosophy. His legacy that lived on through her choices. The grief sat so heavily in the room, Quill’s power no doubt, I could hardly swallow around it. But alongside it was fierce pride. Paesha would be magnificent, terrible, unstoppable. And I’d be right beside her, carving a bloody path wherevershedirected.

Power rolled off her in waves, darkness seeping from her skin like smoke, spreading across the floor, climbing the walls until the entire room was smothered in shadow. Only Quill remained untouched, a small island of light amid the encroaching dark.

Our company, the gods that had agreed to help us, shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Even Alastor, who had seen this power firsthand, watched with newfound wariness. Good. Let them be afraid. Let them see what became of those who crossed us, who took what was ours, who broke the rules of their own making.

Paesha stood, pulling a dagger from her thigh and twisting it between her fingers. A gesture she’d no doubt learned from Death’s Maiden. “This is your last chance to walk away. Once we leave this room, you either stand beside me or beneath me.”

I stepped forward, drawing on my power to open the portal to Etherium. Golden light spilled from my hands, cutting through the darkness, creating a doorway. My power always answered her call, as I did. Just as I always fucking would.

“Choose,” Paesha commanded, rising to her feet, her hand still firmly holding Quill’s.

One by one, the gods made their choice. Minerva and Tuck moved to stand behind Paesha without hesitation. Alastor and Irri exchanged a look before joining them, curiosity and anticipation evident in their stance. Orathis hesitated, calculating the odds as he always did, before stepping forward. Veurs, Raeth and Nyaxis were slow to rise, but eventually only Serene remained seated, her expression unreadable.

“The Fates are not to be trifled with,” she warned. “Not even by gods.”

“Then it’s fortunate I’m more than that now,” Paesha replied, though none at the table save our inner circle understood the full truth of her words. None knew of Aeris’s death. Of Paesha’s ascension. Of what my Ever had become.

“They will see us coming. Likely they already have. That’s how they work,” Orathis warned.

Paesha tilted her head to the side.

Irri mirrored it. “That sounds like fear. Interesting.”