A weighted sigh wound from me. I’d been expecting this question.
“The Library of Souls is the closest thing to eternal paradise that a mortal soul can get. Though many more meet peace if they request to be simply… put to rest. Like dust blowing away on the wind.”
Her face paled, the grim reality beginning to sink in.
Mortal souls always came to me, blathering about heaven. Claiming they were sent to the wrong place. Little did many of them know, I was their only chance at salvation, their only chance at peace. And I could just as easily send them down to my brothers for an eternity of agony.
That was the duty of the King of Limbo.
“So the god that dictates good people’s eternal paradise is the Lord of Bones?” she said after several moments of stewing in the information I gave her. “That’s awful. That’s cruel.”
Her words struck a soft spot and I resisted the urge to flinch.
I tried my best. Lately my best had fallen woefully short of even my brother’s expectations. Which was the biggest slap in the face of all.
But after Catherine’s final suicide, I couldn’t bring myself to create world’s of eternal happiness for other people. So I stopped Judgement almost all together. I plucked the occasional soul from the queue—usually someone who had obviously been a piece of shit in their waking life—and sent them to the lower layers just to satisfy my brothers.
The rest sat rotting in my realm, waiting for their final Judgement day.
Maybe part of the reason I was dragging my feet was because I hated the thought of sending most souls to my brothers. If I could, I’d give every half-decent soul their own book within my library.
“The Library of Souls is eternal paradise. Or as close as anyone can get to it, anyway.”
To my surprise, the ghost of a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “It figures heaven is a library.”
I gaped at her, her words catching me by surprise. Then, I was smiling. She really was perfect.
“I can take you there. The Lord of Bones doesn’t go in there very often these days. We could have the place to ourselves. We can get Holga to distract Cecil…”
My words died off at the tears welling in her eyes.
“You’re crying. Why?”
She sat up, pulling her knees to her chest. “Belial. I’m leaving. This is my last night in the castle.”
An invisible fist squeezed my heart. I wanted to correct her, but I bit my tongue. She’d find out soon enough how wrong she was.
“Fine. I can at least show you the soul in this book.”
Her gaze dropped to the yellowed pages as I opened it. “Do they know they’re dead? Do they know they are stuffed into a book, living on a shelf forever?”
“No. They simply go through the happiest moments of their life for all eternity, on repeat. It’s their own personal paradise.”
“Isn’t it kind of sad though? That they exist only within the pages of a book?”
I found myself smiling again, a melancholy smile that I almost wished she could see. “I don’t think it’s such an awful thing to exist in only a book, Rayven.”
She shifted next to me, scooting closer. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Anything, pet.”
And I meant it. She could ask me anything in this moment and I would answer, without all the lies and the illusions and the trickery.
“What will happen if I become the Queen of Limbo? Will I die of old age and be shoved into one of these books? If he gets tired of me will he…” Her throat strained against her collar with a swallow. “Will he send me down to the lower levels when he gets tired of me, and pass me off to one of his brothers?”
It took everything in me not to shift right then and there and throw her down into my bed and show her just how much I meant it when I said she was mine. Only mine. So she could see just how far I’d go to ensure that. That I would never do anything so heinous as to throw her to my brothers.
As if she wasn’t the most important treasure I had.
