Is this what it’s like for Ryc?
If so, I don’t know how he does it.
Sitting upon the basin of the marble fountain in the center courtyard as I stare at the Moon Temple, I soak up the last of the afternoon sun.
Ishouldbe at my sparring lesson with Cyran and Eve.
Instead, I waste time here.
I’ve no interest in learning how tofightfrom a mortal.
What I’ve learned through the centuries has been enough to ensure my survival. There’s nothing more I need. Besides, I’d make for a poor student right now. Lilith’s plea sits heavy in my head and dark on my heart. I’ve becometoofeeling a creature.
And it’s all this realm’s fault.
That’s partly a lie.
I’ve always been a feeling creature. It’s been the source of more pain than it was worth in the hells. I was forced to narrow my world to Ylara and Vaelyn to survive. Here… my world has grown broad. Here, I have twice as many creatures to care about.
Lilith happens to be one of them.
As damned as her involvement with Fenryn may be.
The sharp cry of a bird sounds from the trees in the nearby distance. It goes unanswered, adding to the eerie, looming presence of the temple despite the broad daylight.
Left abandoned and unguarded, the temple is no longer the stunning vista it had once been. Not since the night of the eclipse.Too many windows now feature new hardware—boards. They cover the once beautiful stained glass windows. It’s an effort to keep any errant creatures, four-legged or otherwise, out.
They certainly keep me out.
I haven’t gone inside since the night I returned.
And truth be told, even if the windows weren’t boarded and the doors chained shut, I wouldn’t venture inside. I already know the kind of death and destruction demons leave behind.
There’s nothing left for me within those walls.
Nothing other than memories of people who no longer stand on this side of the veil.
None of Celesta’s devotees survived the eclipse.
They didn’t deserve that.
No, that’s a full lie.
Artemise and Opal did. As did everyone else who was like them. The only thing Artemise ever did right was dismiss Eve from service in the days leading to the eclipse. Otherwise Eve would have been in that sanctum too. I would have lost her.
No.
Death can never have Eve.
Death already has a significant part of her. I can’t allow anything more.
Despite the lack of marker—no body, no blood, no stone broken, no memorial placed—I know exactly where Cora died. Staring at it, my jaw tightens as does the cold grip around my heart.
She didn’t deserve death.
She’s the first mortal I’ve evertrulybelieved to be given an unjust death.
One of the first things I did upon my return was scour this place. And I found it. The damned black ribbon. Found it in a small patch of flowers near the edge of the courtyard. Tattered and frayed, it clung to the petals of a pristine white tulip.
