“You’re sure?” They couldn’t risk her seeing them.
“I managed to ride her coattails all the way here. Are you seriously questioning whether I can tell if she traveled?”
Topp started walking to the cottage, his heart suddenly thumping harder. He’d made a promise that night in the House, and in spite of his failures along the way, he intended to keep it now.Love or hate. He would do what he had to, to keep them both alive.
Leaving Kava had granted him something beautiful. Yes, Rollie drove him insane, and had almost gotten him killed multiple times, but the last few months had given him distance, perspective even. He wasn’t any less angry. He still barely controlled his temper and wanted to leave everything for thewoods. Unlike Elysia’s poignant speech at the safe house, he didn’t see a love or future for himself. But the fact that she had found that? It made him wonder if maybe, there was simply somethingbetterfor him than this. And to find whatever that was, he needed to keep his head and stop cutting through his relationships like they were deadweight. He glanced at Rollie beside him and resolved to build alliances rather than competition if they made it through this and the death god’s gambling game took off.Easier said than done.
Jogging ahead, he tried the front door only to find it locked. Frustration bit through him, but he directed it, gathering the wind like it was his to command. Grunting, he released the gale, forcing it at the front door. The metal hinges flew off and the weather-worn door shattered inward.
Steps behind him and huffing, Rollie finally reached the cottage porch. “Gods, you’re dramatic.”
“Worked, didn’t it?” Topp stepped over the debris, his ears alert for any sudden sounds, but there was nothing. Stalking through the cottage, he walked straight to the only closed door. His hand hesitated on the knob for only a second, and then the door was open, and his heart cracked.
Still in the all-black clothes she’d worn in the warehouse, Elysia was on the bed. Her skin rippled and shimmered unnaturally, and her eyes were no longer a sensual, liquid brown, but iridescent with light.
“Rollie,” he managed to choke, but Rollie was already shoving past him, checking her vitals with an efficiency that surprised him.
“We need to move her. Lucy, let’s go,” Rollie barked. Lucy broke into motion, grabbing Topp’s hand as she passed before slipping her other hand into Rollie’s.
They landed in a heap on a cold white dusty platform. Topp stood, scooping Elysia into his arms, not so much as glimpsing the extraordinary sights around them before walking inside the temple. Shifting Elysia’s weight, he took hold of a skeletal hand and pulled once, twice, thrice.
The clanging resounded, echoing throughout the eerie chamber, and he waited with Rollie and Lucy shivering behind him. Finally, the floor opened, and two women emerged in plain black robes.
Topp didn’t wait for the priestesses to greet him. “You need to tell your god that Isamaya Blatz is coming and not to take her deal.” He clutched Elysia tighter, pain leaking into his voice. “I promised she wouldn’t die—not because of me. You have to save her.”
Two women hoveredover Elysia’s supine form. They’d laid her out on a long stone table, and with her dark hair splayed out around her the scene looked far too much like a funeral rite. Skin shimmering and eyes iridescent, he knew she wasn’t dead, but it was still unsettling.
Fear and uncertainty sharpened into a much more comfortable foul temper. “Can’t you dosomething?”
They shouldn’t have come here, but he hadn’t known where else to go. It wasn’t like they could travel her to the death realm.
The woman with tight, twisting braids and sculpted muscles turned to him. “She cut through the tapestry of life?”
He didn’t care for her disturbed expression or questioning tone. Both were unnatural on her and told him well-enough how fucked they were.
“Yes, she wielded the scissors even though she’s not a god and ripped their magic.” Impatience rode his voice. He’d explained this ten times by now.
Nia, the woman’s name was Nia. She heaved an exhale and spoke to her partner. “Gather everyone. I can’t imagine what will come of destroying the tapestry of life, but it may mean that some of Aidan’s restrictions are gone. We will call on him.”
The shorter priestess, who had initially been chatty until he’d bit her head off, nodded and raceddown the hall.
“You’re going to call on him?” His skepticism was obvious, but it was Rollie who talked him down in his own irritating, but factual way.
“What else are they going to do? Between the scissors and fate magic, and whatever your godsdamn sister did this isn’t exactly a normal situation for a healer.” Rollie’s brow lines deepened as he stared at Elysia’s body. “I told her not to trust you fucking Crown squinches. Sister included.”
Topp glared at him. “We didn’t know that was going to happen.”
“Still blame you.”
Nia draped a thick blanket over Elysia. “Come. You can watch if you’d like, so long as you don’t interfere.”
Curiosity brightened Rollie’s eyes, and Topp swallowed what he’d been about to say. He really was trying to be less of an asshole—he knew the priestess was doing everything she could, but it wasn’t good enough. All he knew was that it would be his fault if she died. More than once, he’d almost changed his mind and warned her about Maya playing every angle she could, but Rollie had convinced him not to—he’d said that he was positive Elysia knew more than she was letting on. That whatever she was up to was delicate and she was too smart to be unaware of his sister’s obvious machinations.
So, he’d agreed, and now she was dying.
The woman had spent her entire life avoiding his father’s execution squad only to almost die twice now from his shitty choices and his sister’s grandeur plans for vengeance and control. He glanced up above them to the muffled sounds of feet stomping. Maybe he should just let his bloodline die out with him. His gaze flicked back to her. And maybe she should never come within five feet of a Blatz again.
Rollie paused in the archway. “Are you coming? I want to see this.”
