Page 179 of Till Death

Ezra continued, “Absolutely not.”

I moved carefully to her side. “You can’t mean that, Paesha. It’s too dangerous.”

She spun with a glare. “Everyone dies, Maiden. Everyone. Not just dies; they cease to exist. You, me, Orin, Ezra, our family. The Syndicate, every soul across the realms if what he says is true. Tell me you wouldn’t make the same deal, pay whatever the cost to save them.”

She was right, of course.

Reverius’s form waved, and Paesha’s mismatched eyes glossed over until they glowed a golden hue.

“What the hell?” I waved my hand in front of Paesha’s face, but she didn’t move.

Ro stepped forward, her silk gown cascading along the decaying ground. “They’re having a private conversation.”

“No,” Ezra breathed. “Don’t let her agree to this, Goddess. Whatever the terms, let me go instead.”

An eerie, unearthly smile played across Ro’s lips as she shook her head. “That isn’t our choice to make.”

The Huntress gasped, stumbling back as the light faded from her eyes. She looked only at Ezra as she said, “I agree to your terms, Keeper.”

“What terms?” Orin demanded, surging forward to grab Paesha’s arms. “What did you do?”

But before he could get to her, before she could be stopped, she spun and took a single step backward, mouthed, “I’m sorry,” and crossed through the Aurelian Gate, fading away.

“Tell me the terms,” Ezra roared, fists at his side. “What the hell did she just do?”

But the Keeper didn’t answer. Instead, his ethereal form flashed, and he vanished. Ro swept a hand through the pooling shadows on the ground before nodding once and disappearing, just as her beloved god had.

We stood stricken, each breath a chore as we stared at Requiem through the gate, wondering what had just happened and what Paesha had agreed to. And then, from one breath to the next, Ezra was running, crying out for his beloved as he, too, aimed for the threshold of the Aurelian Gate.

Orin lurched forward to stop him, calling out his name, but Ezra didn’t fade away as Paesha had. He didn’t spiral into an abyss or turn to embers on contact. He transformed, glowing brighter and brighter as he grew. Until he stood in a halo of golden light, just like Reverius had. I stumbled backward, eyes wide and skin turning ice cold.

“I… I remember,” he said, studying his massive hands before lowering his chin to scowl. “I remember everything.”

And then he vanished.

My mouth dropped open, staring in silence at Orin as realization hit me. Ezra was not just any soul. He was a god.

Chapter 70

THREE MONTHS LATER

We’d heard nothing, nor seen anything through the gate of Paesha’s return home. Whatever the terms she’d agreed to, whatever path she’d chosen, Requiem had not fallen. I’d spent so much time worrying about her. Consumed with searching to see where she’d landed. Eventually, I had to walk away. I had to choose to trust her, just as she’d once demanded. But still, her mysterious deal held my curiosity.

“What do you think it was? The bargain she made?”

Orin slid a hand down my back before shoving me against the wall. “The same thing I thought it was yesterday and the day before that.”

I bit his lip before grabbing him by the collar and tugging him down the hall toward the dining room. “‘I have no idea’ is not a guess. Try harder and stop getting distracted. They’re waiting for us.”

He halted. “Did you decide to wear that dress, Nightmare?”

“Yes.”

“And did you think there would be any possible way I could keep my hands off you when you made that decision?”

I grinned. “I was undecided.”

“A bit of a hint, Nightmare. The second lace, in any color, touches this beautiful skin of yours, I’m going to grow envious and then plot for its immediate removal. But when it is black? There will be no planning. No masterminding. It’ll be on the floor within an hour.”