Page 2 of Evermore (The Never Sky #3)

Two hours was way too fucking long. Sitting outside Alastor’s office staring at the backside of a closed door, trusting that fucker to keep every secret when there was no bargain on the table, was a godsdamn risk.

But I would wait for her. I’d spent half my existence waiting for her.

Battling my twin brother, just for the chance to love her.

The door swung open and Alastor walked out, unrolling his sleeves as he watched me with a smile that turned my blood to molten lava. “That which was lost was found, Keeper. So sorry about that.”

“What the fuck did you do?”

Alastor straightened his tie. “It’s really about what she did that made the difference.

Controlling these Remnants can be so hard.

I’d imagine it’s a lot like chasing your minions around and hoping they don’t fuck shit up.

” He clapped a hand a little too hard on my shoulder and squeezed.

“I find it’s always best to start at the beginning of a story, don’t you? ”

I ground my teeth together as I flashed a feral grin back to him until he walked away, whistling Irri’s song, his Remnants trailing behind him.

He was angry. Still. All these years later.

But I couldn’t fight a war on two sides.

And he’d walked the line so far, staying on my side of the secrets I’d built around Paesha, but I wasn’t foolish enough to believe it was for anything but his own gain into the Forgotten.

He needed her and he’d figured that out.

Everything always boiled down to her. To the Huntress.

I circled Alastor’s words in my mind as I waited, knowing he’d done something. Paesha had found something and—shit.

I fought every one of my dark desires to bring this place to the ground as I raced out of the Vale and up the narrow stairs into Stirling, not stopping until I rounded the corner where Paesha’d met the little boy I’d paid a sack of coins to pretend to make a bargain with her.

Gods. Even in fury she was breathtaking.

She had him gripped by the collar. “It’s not nice to tell lies.”

I watched a few paces back as everything I’d built began to crumble.

“Please, miss. I don’t know you. I swear it!”

“You know exactly who I am. You stole my story, remember? In the marketplace, when I first arrived in this godforsaken city. You took my memories of being in love.”

The boy shook his head, crying because he had no idea who the hell this woman was. I’d taken that memory from him, just as I’d sat in the alley and taken her memory of Ezra upon her meeting with this boy.

“N—no, miss. I swear on the gods, I’ve never seen you before. Please, you’re hurting me!”

“Paesha, stop.”

Her head snapped up, eyes narrowing as she looked at me with so much fucking hatred, a lesser man might’ve stepped backward. Alastor had told her something. Or showed her something. And now all the chips would fall before I could show her why all of this was necessary.

“Don’t you fucking talk to me. You’re a liar. And I think you made a bargain with the Keeper of Memories to trap me here. You’re a monster.”

True. But I belonged to only her.

She hadn’t figured it all out yet but she would. And when she did, the weight of my sins would crush her. I should have felt guilty about that, but I didn’t. If she knew everything… “I can explain.”

Alastor stepped around the corner from behind her, no fucking smile. No facade. None of his bullshit. Good. At least his games would be on pause for this. He flexed his fingers at his sides and his Remnants rippled. “No. You’ve told enough lies.”

I had done whatever it took. Every move I’d made was to protect her.

Lying was probably the least of my transgressions and Alastor needed to back off.

I tried to command him to do so, but that fucking bargain mark on my neck rippled, reminding me of our most recent deal.

He’d saved her life and in return, I could not interfere.

I pushed beyond it, overpowering him for only a second.

“This has nothing to do with you. Leave us.”

“This has everything to do with me. Or have you forgotten she wouldn’t be alive if not for my help? Nor would she have been rescued if not for my spies. She owes me two more names and it’s time to collect at least one.”

Alastor was cunning. Calculating. He never did anything without purpose.

I wish I knew what he was gaining from this pointless task with Paesha.

Why he’d forced her to give him names. But based on the marks on her neck, the glare on her face, he’d told her something.

Alastor was forcing my hand, and he’d regret that eventually.

It was always a long game with these assholes. Especially where she was concerned.

I stepped forward, reaching for her arm. I could probably still stop this.

She jerked free, ever the stubborn mortal. “No. I’m not going to be a pawn in whatever game the two of you are playing.”

“No one is playing games. I’ve told you this,” I said. Another lie in the bucket.

“You will take your fucking masks off when you speak to me. No more lies.”

There was that bite. That spark of fury that would have made my cock hard in any other instance. But not this one. Because everything was about to break. She had no other name. And the only way to protect her from Alastor’s entrapment was to deliver one myself. That was his fucking plan.

Shit.

His eyes flashed to me, arrogance rippling through his Remnants. “Give her the name.”

She was far too clever to draw any other conclusion at this point than the truth. Which was a problem. Those stunning eyes, the ones that had haunted so many of my years struck me like a dagger as I saw the understanding on her face.

“You? Do you have a broken soul? Are you…”

Here it was.

“If you have a choice to show it… it means…You’re a god? And you knew. You knew I needed your name, and you kept it from me. You really did try to trap me here.”

The step back she took killed me. “Paesha. Darling. All of this is for you. Every life. Every choice. It’s always been for you.”

“Give me the name,” Alastor commanded her, forcing a conversation that needed to slow down.

“Thorne Noctus,” she whispered, but she knew it wouldn’t work. Those names were a prayer, her last bit of hope in me going up in flames.

“I need his real name.”

I held a fist tight at my side to keep from lashing out.

From scaring her more than she likely already was.

She wasn’t a mouse. Not fragile. She’d never been, no matter how many times she’d reincarnated, she was always so strong.

So fucking fierce. And she’d always been mine. Her soul belonged to me.

“Ezra Prophet.”

My mind raced. My brother? Had she seen my twin and assumed we were the same?

Every piece of information I had, proved he hadn’t revealed himself to her since she stepped into Stirling.

He’d bound Jasper to himself. He’d used the old fool to trap her.

He’d sent his minions to capture the king and lure her in, but he hadn’t otherwise shown his face.

The only way she could have assumed he and I were the same was if…

My eyes slid to Alastor. He’d shown her a death.

And she’d assumed Ezra and I were the same.

My blood burned like molten iron in my veins, each heartbeat a thunderous war drum against my ribs.

I imagined tearing Alastor’s throat out with my bare hands, watching him slowly heal only to do it again and again as he realized too late who truly held the power between us.

But I kept my face a mask of stone, my breathing measured and deliberate.

She needed my control now, not my chaos.

She’d said my brother’s name and I hated the way it sounded on those perfect lips, but now was not the time to show her how fucking wrong she was.

“If you want to save her, give her your name, Keeper,” Alastor said, as if he had any right to command me.

I looked her in the eye, gritting my teeth. Wishing there was another way. Wishing I’d been smart enough to see what the God of Lost Things had been orchestrating for his revenge. I should have known he didn’t fear my wrath the second he strolled into that meeting and mentioned her lineage.

Releasing a fraction of my essence, I let the gold shine through, watching the fucking devastation fall over her beautiful features until it broke something in me.

And then I pushed a little harder, letting the truth of my soul shine through.

I was broken. Because of her. She’d broken me time and time again and I’d fucking let her.

She’d always been my weakness. But I couldn’t handle that look on her face.

The reflection of my betrayal that eviscerated everything.

“My name is Reverius Hawthorne Noctus, Supreme Sovereign, the Unerring Arbiter of Beginnings and Endings, the Keeper of All Realms, the Keeper of Memories, and I’m so fucking sorry.”

She didn’t react at all. Didn’t cry. Didn’t blanch. Just stood there and said the name with no feeling whatsoever, as if she’d gone completely numb. “Reverius Hawthorne Noctus.”

Frozen in place, I watched Alastor’s Remnants rush for her. I ran forward, catching her before she hit the hard ground. But she was already gone mentally. Lost to whatever hell Alastor had planned for her. And there was nothing I could do.

“If you hurt her?—”

“You’ll do nothing, Keeper. As was our bargain. Remember? You cannot interfere.” He slid his hands into his pockets with a smile. “Or have you forgotten so soon? Besides, what’s a little mental anguish between family members?”

“You’re not her fucking family. No matter what your power says, she doesn’t belong to you. She can’t kill you and take your place. Your blood doesn’t flow through her veins.”

Alastor crouched down, swiping a lock of hair from her face. “I’ve never been one to worry about a long life, Rev. Merely a vengeful one.”

“Then go back to Etherium and spend some time with Kaelor. I’m sure he’d fucking love that.”

“I think we both know that’s never going to happen. Not until you give her back.” He rose and his Remnants grew agitated, covering Paesha in my arms until she vanished. “We’ve got to get going, but enjoy your time,” he said, before disappearing into his shadows.

Fucker.

I rose, straightening my tie.

“He’s always had such a way with words,” Vesalia said from behind me, her voice wrapping around my spine like the serpent she was as she circled me.

“I’ll be far less clever as I remind you that time is still owed to satisfy our bargain.

As you know, I cannot take time from an immortal, so you must give it.

I believe it was five additional days. My memory is fickle.

Perhaps you could remind me what you agreed to when I let you out early to save our precious girl from dying. Again.”

I was drowning in bargains for her. Dammit. “Now’s not the time, Vesalia. Fuck off.”

She laughed, clapping her hands together. “I see what you did there, Keeper. So clever. But I think it’s indeed the perfect time. And no one would know better than me.”

Her smile was ruthless as she looked up and grains of red sand began falling over me.

Raining down from wherever she’d pulled them from.

She’d always preferred the dramatics, no matter the cost to use power so frivolously.

The sand swirled like a crimson cyclone right in the middle of the walk until Stirling faded and her temple appeared.

Glass formed around me, effectively trapping me in her damn hourglass, once again.