My heart dropped.
“There are more threats to us than just fading ossiraen,” he went on. “Demigods kill each other too. The more of us there are, the fewer bargains there are left to claim. Especially if we share the same god. I will protect you, but I need?—”
A sudden pulse ripped through the forest, cutting him off. It was so strong I felt it in my bones. The ground vibrated beneath us.
Raithe cursed again and rose to his feet, placing himself between me and whatever was coming.
The ground trembled with each approaching step, and fear cut clean through me. I didn’t know who was coming, but something in me whispered it wouldn’t end well.
Raithe had sworn he’d protect me. And I clung to that.
I stared past him, eyes locked on the quivering earth. Each footfall of the demigod shook me more deeply, and the weight in the air thickened until it felt like it was pressing the breath out of my lungs.
I was on both knees now, vines and roots anchoring my lower half to the ground. My breath grew shallow. They slithered up my sides and curled around my arms. Only stopping when they reached my elbows, holding me in place. I was stuck. Pinned. Trapped.
Then, from the clearing, a silhouette emerged from the shadows. The presence it carried was ancient, so primordial that none of the ossiraen I’d felt in the Ossirith could compare. Even Raithe’s power felt small beside it.
The pressure only grew heavier as he approached, the roots around my wrists tightening with each of his steps.
When the demigod finally stepped into the light, I saw his face, and the first thing I felt was fear. He was tall, and his features were as sharp as they were severe. He looked immortal, but not with the youth Raithe and I shared. His face was flawless, untouched by time, yet he carried an age that felt as deeply rooted as the trees surrounding us.
He smiled when he saw us, but there was no kindness in it. Hedidn’t so much as glance at me kneeling, bound by roots. All of his attention was on Raithe.
I saw Raithe tense, his focus locking onto the demigod like a drawn blade.
“Hadeon,” Raithe said, voice flat, emotionless.
The demigod’s smile widened. “Hello, brother.”
47
Hadeon stepped closer,studying me like I was something to be examined, like my awareness, my godhood, didn’t matter. He moved like a scholar observing a specimen, not an immortal. Slowly, he began to circle us, eyes flicking between me and Raithe, quick and calculating.
Raithe didn’t move. His body stayed perfectly still, the only motion was in his eyes as they followed Hadeon’s every step.
Hadeon had copper hair, and the same golden eyes as Raithe. His skin was pale, unnaturally so, like porcelain. And that’s when something clicked. That feeling I couldn’t quite name before. Like something half-remembered, just out of reach. It was him. Hadeon was created of Vengeance too. His power came from the same source as Raithe’s.
The realization unsettled me more than I expected. I’d been so focused on Raithe, on myself, that I hadn’t really considered the other demigods. And this was Torhiel, after all. The land of the gods. Of course I would eventually run into another one.
At last, Hadeon spoke, but not to Raithe. To me.
“So, you’re the last surviving offspring of Wrath,” he commented, voice dark and resonant.
“Don’t touch her,” Raithe snarled.
Hadeon didn’t flinch. He didn’t even blink. He just kept circling us, unconcerned.
“Relax, Raithe. Neither you or the sole daughter of Wrath are in any danger,” the demigod said, almost soothingly. “You’re fortunate, I’ve already made a bargain, and for now, my Vengeance is bound elsewhere.”
He smiled, as if he were doing us a favor. “Still, when I felt your presence as I passed through, I couldn’t resist stopping by.”
“And you’ve done that. Now leave us,” Raithe said rigidly.
But Hadeon’s attention returned to me. “I wanted to see you for myself. The infamous demigoddess who defied Torhiel’s summons time and time again.” He sounded half-amused. “Now then, what is your name, halfling?”
“Don’t,” Raithe warned, and I was reminded of what my mother used to say. That names held power.
So I clamped my mouth shut and I kept my eyes down, refusing to answer.
