“You know what that means?”
“The Shadow Gods are mine as they were also supposed to be.”
He chuckles. “So humble, old ruler. Might want to check the attitude in case you end up stabbed in the face as well.”
“You saw it too.” It’s not a question. I might’ve known he was lurking. Along with others. We were all thrust out of the hole at the same time, scattered while Aethel tried to drag this world under her thrall. Too bad for her, slayers don’t fall for that trick.
“Like a star imploding. The silence is… refreshing.” He rolls his shoulders, a gesture of a man shrugging off a heavy coat worn for too long. “She smells of it. Victory and righteous fury. It’s a heady combination.”
I don’t reply, my gaze fixed on the spot where the slayer is patrolling at the edge of the graveyard. Her scent lingers in the air—ozone, blood, and sheer, stubborn will.
“So, what’s the plan, God of Shadows?” Voren asks, his tone mockingly formal. “Gather your newly freed legions? Find a throne to brood on?”
“The plan,” I say, my voice low, “is her.”
Voren follows my gaze. “The mortal toy that broke the queen? An interesting choice of pastime.”
“She is not a toy,” I say, sharply, a feeling of possession dropping over me for the slayer, despite her calling to kill my kind. “She is a key. One that just unlocked a cage we’ve been in for far too long.” I let the shadows gather at my feet, the darkness eager to obey.
“Thought it was the crazy dude who broke the veil,” Voren says, with narrowed eyes.
“I’m talking about Aethel, you fucking idiot,” I growl, resisting the urge to roll my eyes at him. Pretty face, but not too sharp.
“Oh, okay. A metaphor. I get it.”
My shoulders slump of their own accord. Looks like I’m as stuck with him here as I was there.
“She wasn’t surprised. She was expecting it. So how? How did she manage to coerce that human into releasing her when she couldn’t reach this world?”
“Good question,” Voren agrees.
I fucking know.My gaze drifts back to where the slayer disappeared, the path she took now just another swathe of darkness. “Our prison was not stone and magic, Voren. It was a cage of perception. Aethel managed to bend the will of a mortal even across the veil.”
“Whispering to madmen.”
“His mind, for all its differences, somehow connected to her frequency,” I counter, turning my gaze to him. The pale blue of his eyes seems to catch the faint starlight. “She found a mind fractured enough to slip through the cracks. Do you know what that means?”
Voren stares at me. I can see his mind ticking over, but he hasn’t got the faintest idea what I’m talking about.
“It means,” I say before he can embarrass himself, “that mortals and gods could always communicate once the veil slammed shut, locking Aethel, lockingus, away. It was merely finding the right broken mind.”
“So what did she promise him?”
I shrug. “Probably the usual. It doesn’t really matter now. He is gone. She is gone and we…” I smile savagely, “…we are free.”
Voren grins, a flash ofwhite teeth in the gloom. “Free. I’d almost forgotten what the word meant.” He breathes in deeply again. “I can hear them. The lost ones. So many souls wandering this place, their stories cut short. It’s a feast.” A shiver of power, cold and silent, undulates in the air. The God of Wraiths, enjoying his new hunting ground.
“Enjoy your meal,” I say, my attention already drifting back to the slayer. She’ll be home soon. “I have other appetites.”
“Fixated on the little killer?” Voren asks, his gaze finding mine in the dark. “She’s just a mortal, Dreven. A powerful one, I’ll grant you, but her kind are like mayflies. Here and gone.”
“This one is different,” I state, the truth settling deep in my bones. “She killed the unkillable. Her blood sang a song of creation and destruction. It closed a divine gateway. She is more than a mayfly.”
He considers this, tilting his head. “So you’ll what? Collect her? Keep her as a pet?”
The shadows around me deepen. “I will understand her. And you will not call her a pet again.”
Voren raises his hands in mock surrender, that arrogant smirk never leaving his face. “Touchy about his new pet. Fine. Your profoundly significant mayfly?—”
