“Why would you come back here?” His voice broke over the words. “Did he offer you power or was it just for him?”
My hand was against my heart instantly, like it would capture all the pieces as it shattered right out of my chest. “How…how could you think that?” My fingers clenched into the material of my shirt, trying to hold my voice steady. “I came back for my mother who I thought was long dead, and—” I swallowed hard. “I came back foryou.”
“I let you go,” he whispered.
“Well, he didn’t.” My words edged out through clenched teeth. “He was up there with me. Everywhere I went and everything I did, he was there haunting me.”
“So now you’re afraid of shadows?” His words cut into my skin.
“He was solid!” I yelled in defense. “There was nothing shadowy about him.”
He hesitated for a moment and stared at me. “That’s impossible.”
“And it wasn’t just him. There seemed to be a lot of freaking dead people up there with me.”
“That doesn’t make sense, Raine.”
“What difference does it make? I’m here. Your father gave me no choice. It was your soul and my mother’s for my loyalty,” I snapped. “What would you have done?”
His eyes closed, and he stood as still as a statue for a long moment. Above us, the room continued to lighten, and voices began to echo from every dark corner.
“Tell me, Mathias,” my voice choked on a sob. “What would you have done? Would you have forgotten me? Forgotten a mother you never got to know?” I sniffled, trying to hold my tears at bay. “I did the only thing I thought was right. It was the only thing that felt right.”
The only things that moved were his lips. They flattened into a sharp straight line and curled down at the ends.
“Look at me!” I screamed, stepping forward. “What would you have done?”
His eyes slowly opened, his expression heavy with dread. “He’s going to kill you very slowly, Raine, and I’m going to have to watch every moment of your death and hold the memory of it for eternity.”
Jesus, what the hell kind of warning was that? I needed him to see reason. It didn’t have to be that way.“You don’t have to. We can…we can do something. Help me destroy him.”
His brow lifted. “If you think you could destroy a god, you’re no more than a fool,” he said.
“I’m not a fool, I just need your help, your power.”
“I have no power here!” he shouted. “I am a prisoner here more than you are. You chose to come back. I died, Raine.I died, cursed. This stagnant horrible death is my forever.It’s not supposed to be yours!”
“Fine,” I bit at my words. “It’s fine if you won’t fight for me,” I whispered. “I will.”
He was in front of me instantly, looming over me, his cold, gloved hands at my throat. “I made my own oath to him, so I could keep you safe.Upside where you belong.” Anger rolled off him in waves of artic air.
“Wait, what? I don’t understand. He gave me no choice in coming back, he—”
“Wins.” His eyes darted back and forth between mine. “Make no mistake, Raine, heisa god here and he will show you no mercy. He’ll show no mercy to either of us.”
“No. No, I don’t believe you. Don’t say that.”
“Raine,” he sighed, chilling me to the bone. “You’re going to regret coming back here and you’ll turn into a monster just like me.”
“No. I will not regret doing this. I won’t.”
“Do you know what I regret? That we never got to fall in love.” Then he took a step back, closer to the dark corner of the room. “You were my only light in this darkness. Knowing you were safe and far away from here.” He backed away another step, mist and ash swirling past. “Being lost like this is a fate far worse than death. A fate for you I never wanted.” The shadows engulfed him instantly, until he was nothing but curling fog and soft gray dust that melted into the air.
I lunged after him, only to find nothing but stone and earth and wall. My hands lay flat against the smooth surface of the rocks, their frigid temperatures biting at my skin. “Mathias, please,” I whispered.
But once again, I was alone.
Then the pounding on my door began.
