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Chapter Thirty-Five

VICTOR

Deep snow covered my legs up to the middle of my thighs. Frigid winds battered my unprepared frame. My thin tunic and leggings did little to block the cold. My fingertips had long ago turned blue. I feared to check the rest of my extremities.

We’d spent the entire day journeying high into the mountain tops. Such was the way of character-building quests, I supposed. Fates forbid they took place in tropical settings with eager room service.

My companion suffered no such discomfort. The freckle-faced child floated beside me in a climate-controlled bubble. Though I’d asked many times, he’d assured me there was only room for one celestial being within.

I shouted over the fierce howling of the wind. “The conditions of this journey are deplorable. I’d like to speak to the manager.”

I imagined Runa’s response to my horrible attempt at humor. An image of her saucy smile warmed me from the inside out .

Runa would think I was amusing. Or annoying. Perhaps both. I’d enjoy her reaction either way.

Runa .

Flark, this was taking too long.

“Why do you seek this power?” my celestial guide asked, yet again. And again. And again.

Children and their infernal questions. Though I suspected the temple guardian was an ancient entity and not the youthful boy it pretended to be.

Still, I did not dare to ignore him. Earlier, when I hadn’t answered, he’d blasted me to the beginning of the winding mountain trail and made me start over.

“To take back what is mine,” I answered for the millionth time, refusing to expound.

“ What is mine. What is mine,” Milton taunted in a sing-song voice. “Is that all you can say?”

“What do you want from me?”

“Honesty.”

“I haven’t lied.” Not exactly.

“Nor have you told the truth. Is Runa yours ? Do you do it for her?”

“Yes.”

“ Now , you lie.” He folded his thin arms, glaring at the icy terrain.

“When my strength is restored, I will free her.”

“But you don’t set out on this quest for power for her.”

“Runa is her own person. She understands what I must do.”

He snorted a scoffing inhalation. “Your mate understands that you intend to free and then abandoned her?”

I stiffened. “Runa is not my mate. Not officially. I never claimed her as my Bride.”

“Because you didn’t need to,” he informed me, his manner matter of fact. “There was no need to perform your blood-sucking vampire ceremony because you’re a child of the gods and Hathor’s chosen one. Instead of a predatory wound, you placed a divine brand upon Runa’s throat.”

Flark. It was as I feared then.

“Strange place if you ask me.” He screwed up his freckled face. “Awfully prominent. Idris placed his mark on his queen’s shoulder.”

My laboring heart skipped, then raced in my chest, my pulse pounding in my head. “Do you mean to tell me I’ve claimed Runa for all of eternity?”

“Do you honestly expect me, a child, to explain procreation and claiming to you?”

“Fa-fa-fates no,” I snapped, teeth chattering. “What does a freckle-faced kid know about mates anyway?”

“More than you, apparently,” Milton scoffed. “You didn’t even realize you had one.”

Deep down, I knew he was right. I’d claimed Runa. Flark, but that complicated things.

“What about Carcerem’s throne? Isn’t it yours as well?”

My frozen mind struggled to keep up with the child’s endless prattling.

I dared not lie. There was no telling what the brat would do. “I’ve no interest in Carcerem’s diseased throne.”

“Why not?”

“I’ve one of my own to reclaim once I return to my home. One that cost me centuries of blood, sweat, and tears to obtain. One I refuse to give up.”

“Seems to me you’re rejecting the things that are rightfully yours in favor of something that is not.”

“The mortal underworld owes me,” I growled, plunging one frostbitten foot before the other. “What is mine, I keep.”

“Spoken like an entitled mortal.” Milton sighed. “Your world must be incredibly beautiful for you to choose it over this one.”

In my mind, I pictured my home. My sprawling mansion, while lovely, paled in comparison to Slyborn Castle. Paved roads, rumbling machinery, and the stench of exhaust fumes drifted on the wind. None of it held up when compared to the natural splendor of this land.

“Did your followers worship you in the mortal world?”

“They did not.” I pictured the High Court justices sneering down at me. The bloodthirsty audience, eager to watch me fall.

“Carcerem would worship you,” he quipped, his bubble riding an icy breeze. “Many already do. I fear they will lose hope when you abandon them.”

I bared my fangs, icy lips splitting with the effort. “Until a new prophecy comes along, declaring the rise of yet another fated king.”

“And the mortal world, they are eager for your return, waiting to welcome you?”

“No.”

“Then you must have a wife. One you left behind, as you are about to do here. She must be truly special for you to leave your fated mate in Carcerem. Runa will suffer once you’re gone.

To be separated from one’s fated mate is excruciating.

It seems cruel to have claimed her, knowing you would throw her away. ”

Would she? At the thought of Runa suffering, daggers pierced my heart.

“I think maybe you are not deserving of the realm’s gifts.”

“It doesn’t matter what you think.”

“Perhaps, but it will matter what the keeper of the Empyrean temple thinks.”

“How so?”

“Only those who are worthy shall bathe in Hathor’s power. Should she reject you, you will die.”

“She won’t reject me.” I smirked, throwing his own argument back at him. “I am the lost king.”

“This, sadly, is the truth, even if you do not believe. You are the lost king. The king who has lost his faith in mankind. Who has lost his ability to love. Lost sight of what really matters. Lost his values. His honor.”

In the distance, a stone circle took shape in the frosty haze. I rubbed the ice crystals from my weeping eyeballs.

“Is that…”

“The Empyrean temple,” my floating guide confirmed.

Thank the gods. I didn’t know how much more of the child’s clumsy manipulation I could tolerate without punting his magical sphere down the mountain.

At the entrance, he bowed his head to me. “Good luck, Victor Custodis. I hope you find what it is that you truly seek.”

The temple door swung open, and a wave of hot air washed over my frozen frame.

Warmth beckoned, and I hurried inside, closing the door behind me.

Before me was a heated grotto. Steam wafted from a turquoise pool set in its center.

Glowing crystals nestled into the walls, filling the space with light.

Ferns and tropical flowers poked out from the rocks.

I blew into my chilly hands, rubbing my icy skin.

Etched into the stone were ancient runes.

It was in a language I didn’t recognize.

I uttered a curse, trailing my fingers over the carvings, when a golden burst of energy snapped to life.

I jerked my hand away, watching as the odd images shifted, the runes changing.

Words took shape in a language I understood.

Those who seek redemption shall find enlightenment in the water.

Frozen fabric cracked in my grip, and I drew my frozen tunic over my shoulders. The material was stiff as cardboard. I did the same with my remaining garments, relieved to be free of my bedraggled clothing.

This was it.

At the edge of the pool, I dipped a toe, finding the temperature pleasant enough.

Though even ice water would be warmer than what I just trekked through.

Once I was submerged up to my shoulders, I moaned in relief, my body thawing.

This wasn’t so bad. Perhaps the guardian exaggerated when he spoke of death.

I held out my arms and dropped my head back, slushy clumps sliding out of my hair and dropping into the languid waters. I swished my arms. Waiting. Waiting.

Nothing was happening. I cracked an eye open.

It was possible I’d misinterpreted the runes.

Was there an incantation I’d missed? I exhaled a frustrated sigh and dipped beneath the water to rid the silver strands of the clinging ice crystals.

On my way back up, my forehead smacked an invisible ceiling.

My eyes shot open, the surface of the water coming into focus. What the hell? I reached up, and my fingers met an unbreakable force.

I was trapped? Adrenaline spiked my veins. My lungs burned as I pounded the ceiling with my fists. My pulse pounded in my head. My eyes bulged. I might be divine, but I still required oxygen. I needed out. With my pulse racing, I ran my hands over the stones. There had to be a hidden release.

“Why do you seek this power?” a soft, feminine voice asked, the words echoing in my mind instead of my ears.

“What is the meaning of this?” I demanded. “Release me.”

My frantic search for an exit revealed nothing. Bubbles parted my lips. My chest ached to expand—to draw in a breath. Spots swam before my tunneling vision. Spasms racked my frame. My body was no longer mine to control.

Against my will, my reflexes took over, and I sucked in a mouthful of water. The thick liquid flowed down my throat. It filled my lungs, and still, I continued to breathe.

I was drowning and breathing all at once. Alive and dead. Everything and nothing.

Serenity filled the hollow space at my center. A void that had been there since my youth. Since I was cut off from Carcerem. It healed me where I was broken. Soothed me where I was hurting. Took away all my pain, making me whole .

“Why do you seek this power?” again, the soothing voice asked.

This time, I was calm enough to hear her.

“Because it’s…” I faltered, realizing it wasn’t water that flowed through me but obsidian.

Through it, I was connected. Connected to something so much bigger than me.

The thrust of Carcerem’s mountains. The rush of her rivers.

Warmth of her sun and tranquility of her twin moons.

She was all around me. I was Carcerem, and Carcerem was me.

This feeling. This sense of belonging. It was exquisite.

Voices flooded my mind. Not the deity’s. Like me, there were others here. The low murmur grew louder. Only it wasn’t overwhelming, each individual speaking in harmony. Hundreds of them. All connected. At the center was the sacred arbor, guiding them, enabling the ebb and flow.

“Why do you seek this power?” the woman asked once more.

“Because it’s…” How could I claim this place, this sensation, this magic as mine? It would be like trying to seize the stars. My ignorant words sounded ridiculous now. I was so foolish. So blinded by my own importance.

The presence of the others surrounded me. Comforted me. Grounded me. Our souls were connected. All of us were part of the divine. I was no longer alone. Adrift.

In the darkness, a single flame flickered, calling to me. Instinctively, I sensed it was my mate.

Runa.

She was here as well. The sorceress was a servant of the realm. A keeper of her faith. I reached for my mate, deepening the connection. Only instead of the warmth I expected, cold greeted me. My mate’s light was dim.

Runa.

My pulse raced. I had to find her. She was in danger.

The rapture that consumed me seconds ago turned bitter. The comfort I’d found here, connected to Carcerem, filled with obsidian, faded. In its place was something oily and tainted. Someone drained Carcerem’s strength, stealing her life force.

The destroyer’s presence lingered like stink on a corpse.

Idris. He was killing the kingdom.

“Why do you seek this power?” she asked again.

I needed to fix this. To save the realm from the damage he’d done.

A sense of purpose welled inside of me. My mind cleared of all the confusion I’d found in the mortal realm.

All the noise, the politics, the posturing.

The greed to have more and be more. Nothing was ever enough.

The mortal way of life had poisoned me as surely as Idris poisoned this land.

This was what I was meant to do.

“Because it is ours. Because I belong here. I seek this power to return to Carcerem all that was stolen.”

Turned out, my goal was true. It was the destination I had wrong.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Carcerem’s guardian,” I stated, firm in my belief.

“Who are you?”

From deep in my psyche, I shouted my answer, “Victor Custodis, the lost king of Carcerem. Prophesied heir to the throne.”

“Welcome home, child.” Her response was warm and inviting.

Water flowed over me, sweeping me up. I rose higher. Higher. Once more, my lungs burned. My temples pounded. I kicked my legs, swimming with all my strength until…

Bubbles erupted. I broke through the surface, flung my head back, and roared at the ceiling. Energy infused every molecule of my being. I glanced down at my body. Every inch of my flesh glowed with vitality, with power, with purpose.

I emerged—reborn.