Page 8

P haedra woke to a body made of shattered glass. Every breath was a cruel punishment. Pale, shimmering blue lights lit up the dark, and the echo of hooves on stone accompanied a sense of slow, steady movement. Tears clouded her vision as she dared move her head to the side. Aurora’s bruised, unconscious face met her own. She was breathing. Phaedra’s relieved sob ripped through her broken body. They were here together at the end of the world. She’d made it after all.

Phaedra sought Aurora’s hand, threading their fingers together.

How the actual fuck was anyone supposed to be a match for Drakon? The beast had unleashed a cataclysm of divine proportions. It had turned the desert into a volcanic explosion, replete with ash-choked air, molten rock raining down from the sky and fire so hot it melted everything it touched. How was anyone meant to stop that? How was anyone meant to survive? Phaedra couldn’t even dream of a power great enough to stop Drakon, except perhaps the Triad themselves. Trisia was doomed.

“Your Highness?” Silvanus asked.

“I’m awake,” Phaedra answered through gritted teeth.

“Try not to move. You broke numerous bones.”

“No shit.”

“We’re safe now. I’ll get us to a healer.”

“How? We’re inside a thrice-damned mountain.”

“There is a… settlement here.”

That didn’t sound suspicious at all . But beggars couldn’t be choosers.

“Can you… put me into a deep sleep?” she asked. She would give anything to escape back into blissful unconsciousness.

“I… no. But I can help.”

Silvanus limped to her side. Merciful Triad, he looked a fright. Bloody and bruised over every inch of visible skin. She supposed she looked worse. At least he could move. The look he gave her was inscrutable in the dim light.

“Try to keep an open mind, Your Highness.”

His crystal-clear blue eyes flashed and Phaedra’s blood ran cold. Gone were the eyes of a man. In their place—irises like faceted, glowing gems. Divine eyes. A power borne by the greatest villains in history. Meddlers in fate, trespassers in the sacred Tapestry.

“Monster,” she cursed.

He frowned, placing his hand on her forehead.

“Don’t fucking touch me! I’d rather choke on blood than get help from you.” Phaedra tried to shrug off his touch, but she was held immobile by the wreckage of her body. In this state, she couldn’t protect herself, never mind her best friend. She clutched Aurora’s hand tighter.

Her mother had warned of people with this brand of forbidden wild magic. They had toppled kings and queens, reworked fate decided by divine mandate, cut short the lives of entire bloodlines in an instant. The Viridian crown had been especially keen to rid Trisia of people who manifested this magic. Wherever they spawned, the crown ensured they perished. And now he was going to kill her.

“I would like to say that you’re wrong, that I’m not a monster. But I am. Though you of all people should know that even monsters are capable of compassion on occasion.”

The worst of the jagged edges of her pain were sanded down. Finally, she could take in a full breath. Silvanus winced, removing his hand. His eyes returned to normal. It must be a trick.

“What did you do?”

“I took some of your pain.”

“Why? Why not just kill me? My family has hunted down your ilk since ancient times. And here you have me, helpless. Do you think this will prevent your death? That I’ll show mercy once I can walk again?”

Silvanus sighed. He left her side, limping more heavily than before. He whispered something hushed as a loper whickered softly. They were on the move once more.

“I live in hope.”

“Delusion, more like.”

“Believe what you wish. Ignorance is the speciality of the imperial family, after all.”

“I knew about your kind, did I not?” Phaedra hissed, testing the limits of her body. She was still trapped, unable to move without causing greater pain. He’d only dulled the worst pangs, not healed her. Damn.

“But not about the mountain.”

She wouldn’t dignify that jab with a response. If she survived, the whole Dragon’s Spine Mountain range was going to be properly mapped. There would be no hideouts left for monsters like him. She tried to pay attention to her surroundings, but there were no landmarks in the dark. As far as she could tell, she had been laid down in a small cart. Did this hideout keep such things just lying about? Maybe they had some other trappings of civilisation—like communication crystals. If she could get a message to her mother, then perhaps they could plan a counter-offensive against Drakon and Silvanus.

“Where did you get this cart?”

“It’s not a cart.”

“I’m in it right now. If you’re going to lie, at least try to be believable.”

“Is that what the imperial tutors teach princesses?”

“Fine, don’t answer.”

“…The cart is the holy sword.”

“Excuse me?”

“The sword changes shape according to my will.”

She’d noticed in the fight against the monstrosities that he’d wielded several different weapons, each glowing with divine light. She could wrap her head around that. It had been mentioned in old histories about the hero. But a cart? Didn’t the sword have a will of its own? Or was she misremembering her lessons?

Phaedra snickered, an action she immediately regretted. Goddess, how many ribs had she broken?

“You turned a holy sword into a cart? Isn’t that blasphemous?”

“The sword wasn’t too pleased about it, but needs must. What, don’t you think ‘the holy horse cart of Justice’ has a nice ring to it?”

She felt a belly laugh coming on. A tide of pain rose up, washing over her battered body.

“Fuck. Don’t make me laugh.”

“Doom and gloom only. Duly noted, Your Highness.”

Phaedra controlled her breathing as best she could. She focused on slow, shallow breaths. No gasps. What a bloody mess.

“Just call me Phaedra. If you’re going to brutally murder me after stealing my fate, the least you can do is say my actual name, preferably with less venom than you say, ‘your highness.’”

“As you wish…Phaedra,” he replied, his voice deepening as he said her name. It sent a shiver down her spine.

What the fuck was that? Best to ignore it.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice your distinct lack of promises not to kill me, Silvanus .”

“Hmm, I didn’t think you knew my name.” She could swear she heard a smile in his tone.

“I knew your name. I chose not to use it.”

“How very genteel of you, Phaedra. ”

“That’s me. Genteel. A true paragon.” Phaedra breathed through the next wave of pain. Damn it. She’d told him not to make her laugh.

They were quiet for a time. She tried to focus on something other than the horror of her physical reality.

“Distract me. That’s an order,” she whispered.

“What do you want to discuss?”

“Anything.”

He was quiet, considering. Sweat trickled down her forehead and into her cuts. She hissed.

“I could tell you about how I keep Neptune’s coat glossy.”

“If you’re going to kill me, at least make it fast and painless.”

Silvanus chuckled.

“Why don’t you tell me how you made it into the mountain? I was sure you’d…”

“Gotten melted?”

“Mmm.”

Phaedra sighed, closing her eyes.

“You were there. It was hopeless. Drakon was toying with us, killing us one by one. I saw the paladins behind me die in that cursed purple fire. I knew we were next. And then…I don’t know. Everything around me stopped.”

“Everything?”

“Everything. I saw that blast of fire above me. Could feel the heat of it, but it was stuck. The monstrosities were still as statues. I tried to make our loper move, tried to tell that paladin woman to ride while we could, but they were both suspended. I didn’t know how long my reprieve would be, so I fought my way off the saddle and ran for Aurora. Too soon, everything started moving again. The blast threw me up into the air and I saw the two of you disappear into that entrance. I used the last of my strength to blast myself inside while I could. What happened after I don’t recall. Clearly, I made it inside.”

Her heart hammered against her chest. She shouldn’t have tried to speak so much. Deeper breaths only meant greater pain. He was supposed to distract her , not the other way around. Silvanus returned to her side, his eyes like eerie jewels. Instinctively, she recoiled. He placed his hand on her forehead again, dulling the pain. Why?

“I felt Aurora’s magic, like a flash, gone in a moment. I had no idea she had such potential,” Silvanus said.

Phaedra squeezed Aurora’s hand. Guess she was a proper hero after all. There would be no protecting her now. Don’t think about it .

“What, your divine eyes didn’t tell you everything about her?”

When his eyes returned to normal, he groaned, gritting his teeth as he gripped the side of the cart.

“Contrary to your fairy tales, I don’t use my wild magic so recklessly. In any case, this changes things. She does have the power to defeat Drakon, I just need to help her control it. If she can freeze time long enough…”

“Even if she could stop time again, how would you defeat Drakon? It can literally throw flaming boulders from the sky, melt anything its breath touches, oh, and it’s a great flying serpent. How would you even get to it?”

Silvanus sighed, limping back to the loper’s side.

“I’ll figure that out when I’ve had more than a few hours of sleep.”

Goddess, a soft bed, and something to dull the pain enough to sleep, sounded absolutely sublime. Not that she was likely to get that in this thrice-damned mountain hideout. He was probably lying about the healer. That would be appropriate for a monster, letting her hope until the pain was too much to bear, then throwing her into a pit of despair. It was a technique her less savoury imperial tutors had discussed at length.

“Will we actually be safe in here?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“Maybe, if you prove worthy of that information, I’ll tell you.”

She snorted with derision. There was no one more worthy of the information than she.

“Triad’s titties, you sure you’re not one of Orithyia’s henchmen? You sound just like her.”

He grunted angrily.

“I could leave you here.”

Why did that make him so angry? Wasn’t an avatar supposed to be devoted to the high priestesses? Though maybe not. The temples hunted down those with divine eyes almost as zealously as the Viridian crown did. After all, high priestesses could have their fates stolen and altered just as easily as princesses by people like him. She shouldn’t forget what he was, even if his smooth voice was the only thing that helped keep her mind off the pain.

“You don’t strike me as a coward.”

“Just a monster?”

Phaedra kept her counsel, turning her head. He was a monster by anyone’s estimates. But perhaps he could be useful too. Aurora slept on. Lucky, that. Less lucky was her fate. Could a fate such as hers even be altered by someone with divine eyes? Could Phaedra take this terrible burden from Aurora’s shoulders?

“Can you change someone’s fate?” Phaedra asked softly.

He was quiet for so long, she didn’t think he would answer.

“After a fashion.”

“Make me a promise, Silvanus.”

“No, Phaedra.”

“You haven’t heard what I was going to say.”

“I don’t use my magic to benefit the Viridian crown.”

“I wasn’t going to ask for myself.”

“Still no.”

She ignored him.

“Promise me that if Aurora’s fate is to die and mine is to live, that you’ll switch our fates.”

The cart stopped.

“Don’t ask that of me.”

Fuck him. How dare he? If Phaedra wanted to keep her best friend alive by all means at her disposal, who was he to stop her? Viridis had six princesses. It only had one Aurora.

“Why not? You hate me, don’t you?”

He hobbled over to the cart and glared down at her, his eyes glittering like faceted sapphires.

“Do you want to know what I see when I stand in the Tapestry?”

“What? What do you see?” she hissed. His eyes terrified her. They were the eyes of monsters who tore empresses to pieces, who ensured innocents died like dogs. They saw all a person’s hidden things. All their ugliness. All the horrors that had touched them. Yet she refused to show him her fear. Phaedra glared back.

“I see Fate’s thread connecting us, one steeped in the colours of Passion and Death. I see someone destined to find me across lifetimes, for good or ill. You are my fate, Phaedra. And I am yours. Always and forever.”

“No,” she whispered, horrified. She couldn’t be tied to a monster for all eternity. Why would her fate be so cruel?

“My sentiments exactly,” he snarled, his eyes returning to normal.

Anger replaced her despair. If she were in any shape to do more than fume, she’d have snatched his breath for such an insult.

“How dare you!”

“You think I wanted this?”

“You should be so lucky. I’m a princess . I’m the one who got the raw deal here, not you!”

“Lucky?! You’re as much my boogeyman as I am yours, princess .”

“So we’re fated to be enemies then, chasing each other across the cycles, like Aurora and Drakon? Then why won’t you promise to save Aurora? Do you hate me so much that you would let her die just to spite me?”

“Damn it, Phaedra!” He pounded his fist on the side of the cart, sending a painful jolt through her broken bones. “We don’t have to be enemies!”

“What else is there?!” she shouted, heedless of the agony it brought her.

His face was a kaleidoscope of emotions. Fury. Resentment. Mortification. Vulnerability. Hope.

“Oh no. No, no, no. No!”

If their bond was not one of mortal enemies, destined to slay each other, that left only one other possibility. Death’s gemstone was garnet. A deep, nearly brown-red, like blood just beginning to dry. Passion’s was a ruby, a deep crimson, like blood that had just been spilt. To the untrained eye, the colours were too close to distinguish. If they were not meant to kill each other, then their bond was one ruled by Passion.

“I…forget it.” He scowled, turning away.

“Forget it?! Forget it?! Why the fuck would you tell me that? Why wouldn’t you just keep your thrice-damned mouth shut?!” Goddess, she wanted to rage properly instead of being paralysed and weak. It was too much to bear sitting still. She should be screaming at him, pummelling him with fists and blade, tossing him around like a ragdoll with her magic.

He rounded on her then, his face barely a handspan from hers.

“Because maybe I hoped there might be one person in my whole fucking life who knew who and what I am and didn’t want to use me or kill me! You of all people should be able to understand that much!”

He held her gaze, anger bleeding into hopeless sorrow.

She understood it all too well. As close as she was to her family, duty always came first. A disposable princess, she’d been her mother’s pawn, or her eldest sister’s, ferreting out disloyal courtiers, her rebellious nature and unserious mask used to lure in the unwary. Every noble house wanted to befriend her or behead her, be betrothed to her or mire her in scandal—not because she was Phaedra, but because she was a princess. Phaedra had her one true person in all the world—Aurora. She didn’t need him, even if she understood that loneliness. It only made her hate him all the more. How dare he make himself pitiable—make his sorrow hurt her heart? Why did that monster’s sorrow affect her at all? Was this some trick of his foul magic? Some ugly twist in the thread that bound them? Could she trust her feelings at all, now that she knew her fate? She’d hated him from the moment she’d seen him. He’d come into her life to steal the best part of it away. Now he refused to take care of the person she treasured the most.

“If you want me to be anything but your enemy, then swear you’ll save Aurora. Swear you’ll choose her life over mine.”

“I can’t—”

“You will. Because if she dies and I survive? There’s no power in Trisia that’ll save you from me.”

“Then you’ll make your own promises. To me.”

“Name it.”

“If we survive, you swear to keep my secrets.”

Phaedra all but growled. Damn him. How was she supposed to get rid of him all by herself? He’d held back before in his tent. He could have easily killed her had he used his wild magic. And he was the avatar, a goddess’ wrath waiting for any who spilled his blood. She pursed her lips. Phaedra supposed risking one person with divine eyes running around unchecked was worth Aurora’s life.

“You have my word.”

“And—”

“And? You want more?”

Greedy bootlicker.

“And in the meantime, you’ll swear to explore this bond with me. Non-violently.”

She curled her lip.

“You want to hold hands and make eyes at each other? Are you so desperate for a woman that you’ll take your potential nemesis to bed?”

“I want to know if this pit of snakes inside my heart that seethes whenever I look at you can be tamed. I want to know if there’s any hope for me, or people like me, to live freely in Trisia, if the imperial family is in any way redeemable. And the more I know about how it works, the more likely I am to be able to alter Aurora’s fate.”

Damn it. She had to think of Aurora. Her friend had one of these ugly bonds tying her to the greatest monster to ever live. Aurora would’ve put up with Silvanus’ demands in a heartbeat. Phaedra could do no less.

“You think if I trip over my good sense and fall on your cock, that will undo millennia of hostility?” she goaded him.

“It would be a start. And you could do worse.”

Oh, she very much doubted that. A monster for a lover? The bar was low indeed if he thought there were a great many men who couldn’t clear that. She wanted to call him every kind of fool. How could a grown man be so na?ve? But he was a determined fool, his gaze unwavering. She refused to be the first to flinch.

“So be it.”

The polite clearing of a throat made them both flinch. Someone had snuck up on them.

“I hesitate to interrupt a lovers quarrel, but is that you, Silvanus?”