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CHAPTER

THIRTY-NINE

Renwick

My head spun as I was flung back into the in-between.

I groaned, clutching my temples, and waved off my mother’s assistance. Oralia’s face was burned into my mind, the empty coldness in her expression a mirror to the feeling I’d carried with me for so long. Her power had rippled across her like a storm. It had been unfathomable to stare into her eyes and feel the deep well of magic inside her, ready to spill over. I could understand why Samarah had plucked me from the in-between, but it had cost us both. Even now, I was panting, my magic depleted, and I could feel each tear in my body as if Typhon was once again ripping me apart piece by piece.

“Where are they?” Asteria asked.

Rolling to my knees, I propped my hands on my thighs and let my head hang. My wings flexed, steadying me with the movement, and I squeezed my eyes shut so I could not see them skimming the ground behind me.

“Iapetos. With the others.” My voice was as cold as Oralia had been.

Asteria gave a soft sound that might have been a gasp or a hum, but she did not press me for more. She only stroked my hair from my face and smoothed the shoulders of my tunic. The magic of the in-between had altered my clothing as I’d worn it for centuries—the two slits in the back open for my wings and closing with magic.

I described the state in which I’d found Oralia, the icy rage, the blank look in her eyes before it faded into grief. Her desperation.

“It is much to hang upon one soul,” Asteria murmured.

“She is not alone,” I rumbled, unable to keep the venom from my voice.

Oralia was not alone and would not be alone. This was the final piece, I knew, and soon, I would be restored. Soon, I would rise from this grave to seek retribution for all Typhon had taken…starting with my mate’s gentleness. I was not sure there was much left in her now, not with the trembling rage. As Samarah had catapulted me back into the in-between, I thought someone had said she’d snapped a neck while another murmured of her violence and how well-suited we were as a pair.

“And what will you do when I am gone?” The question was a tired one, but one I could not help but ask as I had countless times before.

Asteria shrugged, silver wings mirroring the movement while she finger-combed her long black hair. But her expression was distant. Asteria did not fidget, she did not pace, she merely stood, head tilting ever so slightly to the side, lips moving as if she were singing to herself.

“We need to find a way to get you out of here,” I pressed, gesturing to the landscape around us.

She did not answer, though I thought I caught a snatch of the song she hummed beneath her breath. The old language was liquid on her tongue, an echo of one I’d heard countless times in my existence. It was the same song Oralia sang when she brought life, a song my mother had taught her when she was merely a child.

But nothing could be changed here in the in-between. How many times had she told me that? For thousands of years, Asteria had endured, wandering aimlessly through the world in search of a way out, only to find nothing but loneliness broken by brief moments of connection with the outside world. But she’d had none for centuries, not since Oralia had been fevered in her bed and traveled into this realm unknowingly.

Asteria’s left hand spread wide, fingers fluttering as if she played some phantom instrument. I observed for a few long minutes, wondering what it was she was doing. But as those minutes lengthened, I caught the glimmer beneath her hand, starlight glittering through her fingertips.

“Mother…” I rose to my feet and made to grab her wrist.

Beneath us, the ground shook, cracked, and a rumble of thunder clapped overhead.

The everlasting twilight plunged into midnight darkness.