Elysia's chest quivered with a silent laugh. A worrying, brilliant thug—just her type. It wasn’t her fault she’d been raised by a Reyez. Stretching her aching shoulders, she threw Maya an unimpressed glance. “You’re not the only one the fates tried to play—they offered me the crown and realm in return for Aidan’s life. The difference between you and me is that I was smart enough to know it was shit, so I destroyed their work and stole their magic.”
“Yes, fate-ripper, you will be known for what you have done, but you forget your mortality.”
“Well-aware actually,” Elysia drawled even as a terrible knowing deepened the ache in her bones.
Maya smiled like she knew she had her caught. “You wielded a weapon not made for mortal hands and drank the magic of ancients. You’re lucky I want answers from you, or you’d already be dead.”
“If that’s how I go out, then so be it. I played my part well.”
Maya stood to leave. “Tell me where the talisman is and I’ll return you, mind and body intact, to the mortal realm.”
Elysia scoffed. “Not even you’re good enough to make a promise like that.”
“Perhaps not, but I’m the best chance you’ve got.”
A broken laugh escaped her, her head cracking against the wall as she held Maya’s confident gaze. “Don’t you understand? The only thing I can do now to help the people I love is to refuse you, and how fuckingeasyit is to do. I’ll stay right here, and you’ll never find the talisman. Good luck taking over the Deathlands as a demigod. The restraints aregone.Aidan has his full power with or without me.”
Silent rage stormed across Maya’s face. “If you won’t make a deal, then we both knowhewill.”
The door slammed and Elysia stared unseeingly ahead. He wouldn’t, but still her stomach churned. He couldn’t—Grim would stop him. Their lives were tied, he couldn’t promise Maya his life without forfeiting hers, and for that relief calmed her heart even though her guilt was strong. She’d known there was a chance she’d die—that it would take Aidan with her, but Grim would have filled the gap. Destiny was open now, and as morbid and terrible as it was, she knew it was worth it.
Aidan didn’t even know where the talisman was, so what kindof deal could they possibly strike? She pulled the blankets around herself, certain of only one thing.
She needed to get back to her body, no matter the cost.
Chapter 45
Topp Blatz hatedhimself more than usual today. He should have been proud of himself. It wasn’t an easy feat to trick Elysia Parker, but he’d been counting on their tenuous past to kick up enough emotion that she missed the truth. Still, it stung she’d so easily believed him.
The venom and hurt in her voice had been real, reminding him of how deeply he had fucked up while they were together. The image of her face and ribs smashed, breath rattling as she damn near died at the House still haunted him. It was a miracle she’d tolerated his presence at all since then, but she’d done more than tolerate him. On some level, she’d forgiven him. That much had been clear when she showed up at the temple of Ration and Reason, destroyed and looking for a friend.
He’d blown that to smithereens now. She’d told them the plan was to retrieve the talisman location. Per the usual, she’d failed to mention a few key details like the part where she planned to use the fated scissors to tear up their tapestry. He’d only known about the scissors because Maya had warned him that Elysia might show up with them and that he shouldn’t touch them if she did. He’d ducked out for two reasons: Maya was going to double-cross her, and he wanted to be able to swoop in when she did.
Obviously, nothing had gone to plan.
Rollickus fidgeted next to him anxiously, trying to peer around Topp’s massive shoulders and failing.
“Stay back, will you?” Topp growled. He wasn’t in the mood. He needed Rollie for what was to come, and he liked to think Rollie benefitted from him, but once again he found the road to patricide to be a lonely, assfuck of a thing.
“Is she gone?” It was Lucy squeaking away now. The money he would pay to be able to travel himself, so he never had to watch her drool over Timmons again.
“No, she isn’t fucking gone. For the millionth time, I willtellyou when we can enter.”
Clothes soggy and boots filled with water, none of them were having a good time, but it was a waiting game now. The ramshackle cottage in Briar’s Cove of Lyden, the island kingdom near Kava, looked like it was one bad storm away from caving in, and he was tempted to help it along. Truth be told, the shit weather might have been partially his fault.
Wiping water off his brow, he glanced at Rollie. “You’re sure they’ll be able to help?”
Rollie yanked at his wet clothes, making a face. “Not at all. I’ve told you that, but what else are we going to do?”
Topp nodded, going back to his watch. There she was, the demigod, once dead, but now very much alive princess of Kava, holding his ex-girlfriend hostage. Gods, was he the only remotely sane person in his entire family? Aggravated, he pushed his questions away.
She’d seen the monster their father was becoming and tried to stop him only to end up murdered herself. And fuck, maybe Elysia’s pale-ass death god didn’t deserve to run the death realm, but from what Oren had told him… Aidan was the most responsible among them. Painfully aware of his duty and role. They all knew about his rough start and none of them blamed him. The other gods had received warning and consented to their godhood. Aidan and his friends had been murdered and reborn after sayingno.
Maya was straining a pot of tea now. He’d loved his sister. Mourned her every single day of her absence and relied on her memory to carry him through his worst days. But the woman humming and stirring sugar into a teacup wasn’t the same person he’d known.
She didn’t just want the death realm. She wanted to unleash the dead and force the fates to bend to her, weaving new stories that suited her aims. She had a prison full of creatures she could control and had no qualms about doing so. Their father wanted to kill magic and conquer kingdoms, but his sister wanted to bend the line between mortality and death. The vision she had painted him had chilled him to his core—she spoke of Aidan as rigid in his role, but Topp couldn’t think of anything more terrifying than the death realm spilling over into the mortal realm. Look what had happened to Kava from a simple deal gone wrong. Decay. Illness. Death. He had no interest in the laws of magic as it applied to the mortal physical plane, but it didn’t take a genius to understand it would not end well.
Ten minutes later a door slammed, and Lucy perked up. “She’s gone.”
