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CHAPTER

TWENTY-TWO

Oralia

“This one feels…odd,” I muttered, adjusting the baldric I’d strapped across my chest.

After the attack on the mountainside, Drystan and the rest of the inner circle—save Mecrucio, who we’d sent back to Aethera to spy—had agreed that from this point forward I would be outfitted with more weapons than Ren’s dagger. Though I had little experience wielding it, Ren’s spare axe was affixed to my chest, along with a few short knives. The cloak around my shoulders was heavy enough to keep in the warmth wherever it was we went next.

“The baldric?” Drystan asked, gesturing to the strap I was adjusting.

“No…” My gaze drifted across Thorne’s workshop, where the pieces of Ren were stashed away. Each table and counter gleamed with meticulous cleaning, and I spied the blades of a few knives where they were tucked beneath his workbench.

“The next piece?” Aelestor guessed, shifting his own weaponry, running his thumb across a particularly deadly-looking short sword before sheathing it.

I nodded, dropping my hands when I realized my adjustments were becoming more anxiety-induced than necessary. “It is farther, and yet, it calls to me more than every other as if it is begging to be found.”

Both froze.

“Are you worried?” Drystan asked.

I drew up the hood of my cloak, offering them each an arm. “I am no more worried than I was for the others.”

Neither hesitated to grab hold, which softened me a bit. I was expecting Aelestor to question me, to suggest we bring others—Thorne perhaps—but he only searched my face and nodded. Something had changed between us since our time on the mountain. I knew he’d respected me before, but some final wall I had not known remained had fallen. I trusted him to speak his mind, and knew I could count on him in moments of uncertainty.

The silver thread within me hummed and tugged. I frowned, unease clawing through my gut as the shadows flared from my chest, enveloping us. Aelestor and Drystan relaxed in the hold of my magic, finally comfortable after enough time traveling this way. As one, we stepped through the darkness, and for a moment, I thought I saw a shimmer of someone standing within the dark of the in-between. No, not one but two: a man and a woman with great silver wings. But they were gone in the next breath, wiped away by the shadows as they dissipated.

I blinked as sulfur stung my eyes and burned my nose. For a moment, I was frozen in the dark, thinking we were still shadow-walking before my eyes slowly adjusted. Ahead, lay a gnarled tree, spider-like branches reaching out in all directions and dipping into an eerily calm pitch-black lake. The ground squelched beneath my feet as I shifted my weight, and farther off, a bubbling noise emanated from a collection of rocks.

“ Stars ,” Aelestor cursed, voice dropping to a whisper. “Where are we?”

Neither of us responded, and I heard more than saw the two of them withdraw their swords. The axe was heavy in my hand as I pulled it from its sheath, but a shimmer of warmth trickled up my arm as if Ren was here with me in this place.

“Tread carefully,” I cautioned, taking a small step forward.

With each step, the ground suctioned our feet until we were panting, tugging at our limbs as though the ground would rather keep us as its prisoner. The navy sky deepened to near black. Heavy mist droplets fell over our faces and slicked through our hair. My eyes stung as sweat rolled down my forehead, and I wiped it away hastily with a corner of my cloak.

The tang of something cloying and sweet danced across my tongue, my limbs all at once heavy and light. Each step was more difficult than the last, and a strange haze crept into my thoughts. Was I dreaming? Had we not left for the next piece of Ren yet?

When we had walked about a mile, I stopped, frowning at the tree. “We have not moved.”

Drystan panted, hands on his knees before straightening. “ Burning Suns , it cannot be the same.”

“It is,” Aelestor wheezed, stumbling as he dragged one foot from the spongy ground. “And the same lake beneath it.”

“Is this real?” I murmured, running a hand over my hair, tugging at the strands, and trying to quantify the pain zinging up my scalp.

Aelestor’s hand closed over my shoulder, squeezing hard enough I hissed. “It is real, but there is a strange magic here, Oralia. Can you feel it?”

I could. The magic was heavy in the air. Awareness prickled on the back of my neck. I whirled, axe thrust forward, a cry slipping through my teeth, only to stumble back a step when my blade was mere inches from Drystan’s throat, the tree still in front of me. Again, there was the tap of power, now on my temple, and when I turned to find it, it was to see I was standing in the same place.

“Something is wrong…” I breathed with my heart racing in my chest.

A zing rent the air like an arrow flying through the sky. My shadows threaded up to meet it, only to find nothing above. I shifted my weight, but my feet would not move. Pulling, I glanced down, a bubble of panic rising through my throat as black tar slithered up my boots and around my calves. The handle of the axe slipped in my sweaty palm as I tugged fruitlessly on my feet.

But when I lifted my head to ask for help, Drystan and Aelestor were gone.

In their place stood Ren, resplendent in his black finery from our soul-bonding ceremony, obsidian crown gleaming upon his head. He smiled, but the smile was wrong, too cold for his face. This was the smile he’d managed when we first met, one of bitterness and grief. I blinked, and the fine clothing was gone, replaced by his tunic and leathers, cloak slithering across the ground.

“ Ren ,” I whimpered, arms splayed wide to keep my balance.

Another blink and he was spattered in blood, horror dripping from his cheeks. Another blink and his ceremonial clothes returned, but there was no smile for me anymore, merely a cold calculation in his gaze. Disgust slithered across his face, and he took a step closer. The scent of him was odd in my nose, and it took me a moment to realize it was the absence of mine on his skin.

“Was it you?” he asked, fine tunic disappearing in another heartbeat, axe gleaming in his hand. “Did you betray me?”

“What?” I shook my head, but Ren caught my chin, grip so tight pain flared across my face.

“Was this your plan all along? To lure me into Aethera so my brother could destroy me?” Cold, so cold, the voice of a god who had lost so much.

A god who had nothing left to lose.

My heart drummed in my ears, and I tried to shake my head again but was stopped by his punishing grip. Sunlight hurt my eyes, and the cloying scent of wildflowers was overwhelming until I could no longer catch his scent at all. Was that what he believed? That my love for him had been nothing but a charade, a game in a war of kings?

A fissure cracked within my chest. “Of course, not. I am yours: your mate, your eshar—”

His hand closed over my throat, squeezing until the words cut off with a gasp. A small bone in my neck cracked, hot pain spreading out from my spine to my head, and the world tilted. Ren’s eyes glittered in the bright light of the sun, moon-pale skin flushed with anger. My fingers scrambled over his wrists as I fought for small sips of air.

“You are nothing to me,” Ren growled. “Nothing at all.”

My arms grew limp, my head spun with a lack of oxygen, and I did not fight as his hand tightened. Instead, I used the last of my energy to raise my own, cupping his cheek as I’d done on our first meeting. When I’d believed I could destroy him in a single touch.

How wrong I’d been.

The hand on my throat jerked, grip loosening until I wheezed in a deep lungful of air. Something warm splashed across my face, and we both looked down at the arrow protruding from his chest, dark unearthly metal snapping out to hold it in place while a chain tugged Ren back a step. Ice hardened in his eyes even as he faltered, another arrow blasting through his arm and drawing it wide.

I dropped with him. My throat was raw. The scream was merely an approximation of a wounded animal as my hands slipped over the metal. Blood pooled between us. Another arrow and yet his face did not change. Not even when his arms splayed wide and a golden sword gleamed in the morning light. I wrapped my arms around his chest, my cheek pressed to his, and closed my eyes tight, waiting for the final blow.

We would not be separated, not this time.

But the strike never came. I tipped forward, mud shooting up my nose when Ren vanished, sun winking out in a blink. Feminine laughter curled through my ears, dancing the line between bone-chilling and kind. Coughing, I pushed to my knees, wiping a hand over my face to clear the mud from my eyes.

Not real. It was not real. An illusion, a trick. But not real . And yet the crack in my chest did not ease. The panic skittering down my chest did not wane.

“Not real, not real, not real,” I repeated. My hands tremored as I pressed my palms together.

“The dramatics, my goodness,” someone mused, a strange clicking noise accompanying the words, like the tread of heels of marble but…different.

A shadow fell over the mud. I clambered onto my backside, feet locked into place. The woman was unassuming in stature, olive skin clean with the barest hint of rose upon her cheeks. She would have been beautiful if it hadn’t been for the hardness in her features, the tight set of her mouth, and the strange decorative band dipping between her brows.

She took a step forward, clicking with the sway of her hips, when I realized the ornate embellishment around her chest was not metal, but bones . Whether they were god, demigod, or human I could not tell, but they clattered with each step. Similar, smaller bones blackened with time decorated her brow.

“You are an interesting creature,” she mused, the edge of her dark gown tattered as it dragged through the mud. My fingers scrambled over my baldric, only to find it empty. The woman clucked her tongue, violet eyes flashing as she shook her head. “Your first mistake was bringing weapons into my land.” She paused, pursing her lips. “Well, it was the second mistake. The first mistake was coming here at all.”

“We meant no offense. We are not here for you,” I gritted through my teeth. My pulse raced in my throat.

A soft, delighted laugh filled the space between us before black-tipped fingers shot out to wrap around my chin. “Such a political answer, though I should expect nothing less from a queen.” She patted my cheek. “I know what you are here for, child. I allowed the sunlight soldiers to leave alive, after all. In fact, I am a bit put out it took you so long.”

Heat rushed through me, and my power shot forward, shadows rippling out to wrap around her throat, but she only laughed again, slicing her hand through the darkness as if it were mist.

“Where was this fight a moment ago when your king had his hands wrapped around your throat?” She leaned forward, and her lips brushed my ear. “Or do you like that sort of thing, Oralia Solis?”

I lunged, only to find my hands trapped within the mud, rooted into place. A growl slipped through my lips, my shadows flinging forward before heat sparked. My gaze narrowed, and I allowed the fire to catch, ropes of flame wrapping around her waist, her throat, and her wrists. “I will send your magic back to the earth before you utter that name again.”

Another tinkling laugh. Black-tipped hands clapped in delight before she inspected the fire. “Careful, sweetling, or I might start to like you.”

My flames winked out as the ground beneath me bubbled like tar. But I did not fight it. I only stared in fury while it climbed my legs. The heavy beat of the kettledrum inside my chest vibrated through my ribs, loud enough I wondered if she could hear it. We stared at one another, her violet gaze flicking over my face before they widened in surprise.

“Oh, I do like you.” The god, for she had to be one, leaned forward again, drawing in a deep breath. “You smell like the night and the day. Like a cavern where a heart might lay. Like you have drowned in blood and been born again.”

I cringed away as her claw-like hands gripped my chin once more, the wet heat of her tongue slid up my face to catch the tears staining my skin.

“Once so starved and now you cannot feast. Once so full and now you have broken piece by piece.”

Nails bit, pain slicing over my cheeks, and I gasped, kratus resin stinging through the shallow cuts. But her tongue soothed the wounds, lapping at the blood with a hum.

“Yes, you will do quite nicely,” she murmured. The pressure around my legs and hands disappeared, the stinging across my cheek evaporating in the next moment. The woman’s lips covered mine in a passionless kiss. “I think I will keep you.”

With a bright smile, she pushed to her feet turning to face my companions who appeared suddenly behind her. The back of her dress clicked with the movement, bleached vertebrae lined her spine, sliding down the back of the gown to give the illusion of a tail.

Drystan turned, eyes wild when they rested on me. His cheeks gleamed in the dim light from tears on his face. The sigh of relief he gave was as tangible as it was visceral.

“You’re safe,” he groaned before falling to his knees, and weeping into his palms.

Behind him, Aelestor was screaming, reaching for something he could not see. He tore at his hair, bowing forward as Josette’s name fell from his lips. After a few long moments, his cries quieted even while his shoulders shook. I could not move, my knees too weak, but I nodded at Drystan.

“I am,” I murmured, though I was not sure if it was true with how volatile this unknown god appeared to be.

My voice shook Aelestor from his trance. Slowly, he turned, ruddy-faced and looking between Drystan and me before his eyes fell on the god between us.

She spread her arms wide, darkness dripping from her arms like shadowy wings.

“Hello, boys.”