Page 21 of Evermore

Alastor smirked. Centuries of built-up justice written across his face. “I will doexactlythis. And you will stand there and do nothing because you have no say over what happens here.”

My heart began to race as the tone of that threat curled around me. This was no longer the meadow I’d danced half my life in, no longer my escape from the weary, no longer my place of peace. This was a battleground forged by gods, commanded by gods, and would ultimately be destroyed by gods. Because that’s what they fucking did. They took and took and destroyed. Everything. And everyone. Even themselves.

My Remnants, the ones I no longer mistook for Alastor’s, hissed. Both men turned to me, glancing at the fists clenched to my sides and then the shadows rippling across the ground like giant claws, with nails ripping into the fresh earth as if they heard my thoughts and meant to mark this space as their own, rather than handing it over to these bastards that thought they had some kind of claim over me.

Thorne looked at me. Not Reverius, the god, but the shadow of the man that’d needed to hold me after cutting off an arm. The man that’d danced with me in a goddess’s temple, forcing me to focus on him rather than my fear of the Cimmerians. The man that’d sat beside my bed to keep the nightmares away.

“Don’t fucking look at me like that,” I said with disgust. “That mask no longer becomes you.”

Still, his eyes sank. Still, he drew back. “I’m sorry.”

The Remnants roared, swiping at the earth before him.

“Don’t you dare lie to me.”

“I’d love to sit here and watch this battle unfurl, but I’ve got things to do.” Alastor said, turning to face me. “You owe me a final name, Huntress. I’ve come to collect.”

Reverius cleared his throat. His hazel eyes were wide and full of desperation. I took a step back. Why the sudden shift? Whywas he so worried? “I don’t have a name. I haven’t had time to find the final broken soul.”

Alastor laughed. His eyes darkened. His Remnants surged forward.

“Alastor,” Reverius begged.

I whipped my head around to look at him. “What do you know? What’s happening?”

“Let me guess, you never told her the terms of the bargain.” Alastor shook his head.

“Thorne…”

“You see, Huntress, sometimes gods learn their lessons the hard way too.” Alastor stepped in front of me, blocking my view of the world as his Remnants swirled around me, smothering any trace of mine.

“What did you do?” I screamed as the shadows circled my ankles and wrists, holding me in place. “What the fuck did you do, Reverius?”

“You were so faint. So, so close to death. And once again, the Keeper has failed you,” Alastor crooned, turning toward Reverius. “So many chances, and you still couldn’t tell her the truth. This is on you.”

The shadows at my wrists and ankles began to burn, searing into my flesh like molten iron. I thrashed against their grip, but they only tightened, biting deeper. Panic clawed my throat, threatening to choke me. This couldn’t be happening. Not again. I couldn’t be bound, not after everything I’d fought for.

“What’s happening? Someone tell me what’s happening?” I screamed, my voice raw and desperate as the familiar shackles of control tightened around me, my free will dissipating. The meadow spun, the once peaceful night now a nightmare landscape of writhing shadows and accusatory stares.

Alastor’s face loomed before me, his eyes twin pools of endless darkness. His smile was cruel, predatory. “You made a bargain, little Huntress. And now it’s time to pay.”

“I didn’t,” I screamed. “I didn’t agree to this.”

“You did,” Reverius whispered or shouted. I couldn’t tell.

“Tell her the bargain, Keeper. Every bit. Tell her what you pushed her into.”

I looked at him. Pled with him in that glance. “Please tell me.” I could not be shackled again. I could not be a prisoner.

“Should he request a name and you’re unable to deliver, you become bound to him.”

My heart absolutely shattered. Exploded into a million pieces of hurt, betrayal and rage, until the darkness took over. Until the monster swelling within me grew too big, too angry. But I pushed back, swallowing everything, building all the walls. I needed to keep it chained, keep everything I’d become a secret. The push and pull battled until darkness descended. They couldn’t see the beast I’d become. Not when the power to control it had just been taken from me.

Burning, raging magic shoved against my ribs, roaring to be released, to break the world. To rip both of the gods from their forms and drown them in an eternity of misery.

I didn’t choose this. I didn’t choose this.

I could not be bound. I could not be chained.