Page 11 of Evermore (The Never Sky #3)

Thorne

“ I do so hate to see you go, Reverius, my darling. Perhaps you would consider staying a teeny bit longer?” Vesalia tapped her talon-like nails against the hourglass, her venomous smile turning my stomach. “It’s much happier here. I can promise you that.”

“Your concept of happiness is skewed. Don’t make me push.”

She snapped her fingers and the glass vanished, the grains of red sand spilling onto the floor as some of the other prisoners began to shout, begging to be freed.

“I’ll give you a little hint on our Huntress, Keeper. She’s gone home. As predictable and foolish as ever.”

I stalked forward, gripping her throat. “Tell me how she broke the fucking veil.”

“Squeeze harder, darling. I can still breathe.”

I dragged her toward me. “If I find out you’re the one that told her, my grip is going to be the least of your fucking worries.”

“She’s always been clever. Foolish, but clever. She… gained some power and broke it. Honestly, if anyone, it was probably Alastor. You know how he loves his broken things.”

“Why do I get the feeling you’re not telling the whole story?”

She smiled, moving to her tiptoes to be closer. “I’ve never been good with storytelling. That’s your specialty. All those lies catching up to you, dear?”

“Tell me how she broke the fucking veil. Don’t play games.”

“She stole power that belonged to me.”

Farris. Fuck.

“Just because you wanted it doesn’t make it yours.”

She choked. “Tell that to yourself tonight before you fall asleep alone.”

I squeezed until I was sure she couldn’t draw a breath. “Stay away from her, Vesalia. You know how that will end.”

Her eyes widened, and she managed a nod.

Maybe I’d spent too much time chasing down my destiny and not enough time putting these assholes in their place.

“She killed Farris, collected the power he’d been stealing and used it to break the veil.

You will blink once for yes and twice for no.

If you lie, I’ll set your prisoners free and have you banished. ”

One exaggerated blink.

“Ezra was there?”

One blink.

“He told her everything, didn’t he?”

Two blinks.

“Does she think she’s safe?”

Her face turned purple. I released my grip enough for a single ragged breath to squeeze past my palm. Still, she didn’t answer.

“Does she know the danger she is in? Yes or fucking no?”

Vesalia lifted a shoulder.

I threw her to the ground in frustration, ignoring the dramatic cry of pain.

“You have a choice to make right here and now. You either stay in my good graces, or I will take it all, Vesalia. You’ll lose your power, your memories, and every comfort in the world.

You’ll spend eternity in the Forgotten and all of time will become obsolete.

Don’t fuck with me. Don’t fuck with her or I will end you.

You and I both know my bite is far worse than Ezra’s bark. ”

“Ezra’s in Requiem,” she said quietly, eyes to the floor, no longer the goddess vying for control, but rather in her place. “I hear he’s waiting for you to find him.”

“Good thing he’s shit at hiding,” I said, slamming my palm into the door and storming out.

“Care to tell me why you have sand in your hair, Boss?” Tuck asked, leaning against the wall of the clock tower as I strode out of Vesalia’s temple.

“Not particularly,” I answered, jutting my chin forward so he would fall into step with me. “I need every update. And quickly.”

“I’ve been with Salt up at the castle. The old king’s got them doing rotations along the northern border with some of his old guards to get them trained.

He’s giving them a decent wage and sent provisions to Noctus House for the orphans.

No one has seen Archer, Jasper, or your bride since Farris died. ”

“Jasper’s no longer going to be a concern of ours. Who do they think killed the little prick?”

Tuck halted, his voice falling. “He was killed in the back of a whorehouse. They claim his lover shoved a dagger in his chest.

His lover?

Why the fuck would they assume it was his lover?

They’d have to have evidence to make that assumption.

Had Paesha tricked him into bed? Had she wrapped those fucking thighs around him before she buried the dagger?

She let him touch her? I needed to find something to throw.

To break. Or find a way to bring that asshole back to life so I could kill him all over again.

“I’m assuming you’re going after the Huntress, but I’m not sure that’s wise.”

“Did I ask for your opinion?”

“She has no fucking clue who she was dealing with in Stirling, I can promise you that.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Ezra never showed himself to her until she broke the damn veil. He was hiding as he always does.”

Tuck paused. “Right, but she doesn’t know that. Wait, how’d you know he was there when the veil broke?”

A trace of Vesalia’s pulse beneath my fist stroked my memory. “You’re not the only persuasive fucker around here.”

“Nice to see you got your mood under control while you were away.”

“Sarcasm doesn’t become you, dick.”

He chuckled, scratching his dark brown beard. “Good thing I’m not trying to impress anyone.”

“What happened to the Cimmerians? Any word on that front?” I started walking again, and Tuck did the same.

“Far as we can tell, they’re free. A couple of the Fray went hunting last night.

They were looking for Archer and Jasper, but ran into Burke and Toggs instead.

The masks and robes they always wore? Gone.

It was like they’d shed their Cimmerian skins entirely.

They wore regular clothes, simple tunics, and trousers.

You could still see the mark on their arm, but they were themselves.

They seemed normal. The guys came and found me at the castle to report it.

But I’d assumed that would happen when Farris died. The bond simply broke. Problem solved.”

“All right. I’ve got shit to do. Keep an eye out for Archer. If you find anything, you know how to get ahold of me.”

“You going to do something stupid?”

“Probably.”

“Maybe I should come.”

“I need you here for now. Keep an eye on the king, make sure the fucking Cimmerians don’t do anything strange. We need to know if they’re bound to Themis at all, and for gods’ sake, man, take an hour or two off.”

“That’s rich coming from you,” he called out as I walked away, headed straight for Perth.

I knew where my brother would be without even trying, but I wasn’t expecting what I found in Requiem.

The streets were gold, the buildings marble, and in the midday sun I had to shield my eyes from the glare.

It looked exactly like Etherium. Which only meant one thing.

Fucking Aeris had been here. Which was never a good sign.

I’d been prepared for the rot and neglect of my temple here.

Even with everything in the twin cities restored, I expected my place to be falling to ash.

A half-hung door, cobwebs, maybe even full collapse.

But instead, the temple was in way better shape than I’d expected.

The marble pillars out front stood tall and clean, no cracks, no grime, nothing.

Each one carved with twisting symbols, circles and vines, and they all gleamed like they’d been polished.

The double doors were wide open, because of course they fucking were.

Ezarius likely left them that way on purpose.

I stormed inside. The air tasted like it did before a storm.

Fitting. The hall held ornate mirrors, catching the glow from floating balls of light that drifted lazily back and forth overhead.

The black and white tiles on the floor seemed to move in the flickering light, twisting patterns that made my eyes ache if I stared too long.

An annoying little gift from Aeris, no doubt. Renewal my ass.

The walls on either side of the hall were covered with shelves crammed with scrolls and thick, heavy books, each stamped with my mark.

Some of history, some records I allowed to be public, a list of gods and their tiers likely buried somewhere within.

In the middle of it all, hanging from a thin chain, was an hourglass, huge and shining.

The sand inside wasn’t normal; it shimmered, shifting colors as it fell.

Gold, white, black, a mirage of time itself, stuck in that damn glass cage.

Vesalia’s most coveted desire. She thought one day it would be hers, back when she hoped we’d be lovers.

She was the Goddess of Time, but I was the creator of it.

With my brother, of course. But none of these things were real.

They were replicas from home. Etherium. A place I only wanted to go back to when this fucking mess was over.

But what really hit me were the statues.

They were everywhere, tucked between columns and half-hidden in the shadows.

Each one was a perfect carving of Paesha and me.

Every damn life we’d lived together, carved into cold stone.

Every time she’d been hunted. In one, she was holding my face, the look in her eyes like she’d saved my life.

In another, I was cradling her, red paint showed the blood soaking the front of my shirt.

There was one where we stood back-to-back, swords raised against some unseen threat.

But the threat had always been there. In every life of hers. It’d always been me and Ezra.

Each statue felt like a punch to the gut. It was all too perfect, too clean. Like someone had reached into my head, ripped out my memories, and displayed them for anyone to see. I wanted to break every one of them, to watch them crumble and fall apart like the lies I’d told had.

The whole damn temple had been restored, polished to look like it had in the old days, back when the gods still mattered here.

Back when war happened between mortals and the gods were only present in the shadows of their temples.

Back when this city belonged to Wisteria.

Now that Paesha knew the truth, this place was only a reminder of everything I’d lost. Fucking Aeris.

I hadn’t come here for nostalgia, anyway.

I hadn’t come to see how much I used to be worshiped.

I’d come for him. And as I made my way deeper into the restored temple, I could feel the universe shoving us apart.

We were never meant to exist in the same space.

Or maybe we both weren’t meant to exist at all.

Maybe it was always supposed to be one. No balance.

“I was beginning to wonder if you’d come at all, brother,” Ezarius crooned from my throne, back hunched, elbows on his knees as he looked at me with more hatred than I’d ever known from him.

I probably fucking deserved that glare. In fact, I knew I did. I cracked my knuckles and strode forward. If this asshole wanted to face me, perfect. “I was detained, but I’m here now.”

“You broke the rules, Rev.”

I threw that look right back at him. “I never agreed to your fucking rules, Ezra.”

“Bullshit.” He stood, balling his fists at his sides.

I shoved my hands in my pockets because I knew it would fuck with him. “Tell me you didn’t love her. Tell me you didn’t fucking worship the ground she walked on.”

“Doesn’t that prove my point? Because she loved me too, brother. She loved me until it broke her. That was the deal wasn’t it? If she loved me and not you, you’d finally fucking see that you’re no one special.”

I shook my head. “It wasn’t the same, and she’s not dead.”

“Oh, but she will be. Just you fucking wait.”

“You agreed you wouldn’t kill her this time. That was the deal. And you broke that when you tried to have her poisoned.”

“None of this matters and you know it. The terms were shattered the moment you took my memories, asshole. You’re going to pay for that mistake. Fates help me, this is the end of this.”

Rage boiled below the surface. I knew light was bursting from me without having to look down. I couldn’t contain it. Not with him so fucking close and testing me. “Stay away from her, Ezarius.”

He surged forward, gripping the collar of my shirt.

“I’ve got something better in mind for our girl, brother.

It’s not going to be a swift arrow or a blade to the back this time.

It’s going to be so much fucking worse. It’s going to be slow and painful and you’re going to watch every one of her final seconds. And then this shit is over.”

Before I could fully consider the consequences, I slammed a fist into Ezra’s face with all the force I could muster.

The satisfying crunch of bone against bone reverberated through the temple halls as he stumbled back, nearly losing his footing.

He steadied himself against one of the marble columns.

Slowly, deliberately, he reached up and wiped the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.

Then, to my utter disbelief and fury, the bastard started laughing. A cold, mirthless sound that echoed mockingly off the vaulted ceilings and polished floors. The floating orbs of light flickered and dimmed, as if cowering from the darkness emanating from my twin.

“Is that all you’ve got, brother?” He straightened to his full height.

His eyes, mirrors of my own, glinted with cruel amusement.

“A single punch? Honestly, I’m disappointed.

But that’s nothing new.” He reached into his pocket, pulled out my Quoralis, the book I’d used to communicate with Paesha, and dropped it on the floor before me.

“Run to her, Reverius. Watch her slip through your fingers again.”

It took every ounce of self-control not to throw my power out until it incinerated us both from the inside.

Maybe I would die, but he’d go down with me.

Right now though, the only thing keeping me from depleting myself was her.

It was the look on her fucking face the moment she’d spoken my true name.

I wouldn’t run.

Not this time.

This time, I was going to rewrite the story, no matter the cost.