‘I want to stay with you,’ she whispered against his shoulder.
‘I know,’ he breathed, his voice warm against her hair.
‘I’m tired of us always being apart.’
Ash smiled. A rare, quiet smile that carried both sorrow and devotion, one that made her heart clench painfully. ‘Even when we are far, we are still t-together, Mal. You and I. In this l-life and the next.’
Mal reached for him, her lips brushing his in a kiss soft and trembling, hesitant until Ash’s arms tightened around her, pulling her into him as if she were the only anchor he had left. His tongue swept into her mouth, stealing her breath, scattering her thoughts like autumn leaves in a storm. His lips on hers burnt with a desperate tenderness, a moment she wanted to drown in and never surface from.
When he pulled away, the absence felt suffocating, an ache deep and hollow. Mal forced her hands to still at her sides, because if she touched him again, she would never let go. She needed to do what he had told her, for their sake, for the day they might finally carve out a sliver of peace together.
Golden eyes met purple, and the world blurred into nothing. For the briefest moment, Mal imagined another life, one untouched by curses, gods, or grim destinies. A quiet worldwhere a wild-hearted wyverian girl had simply met a drakonian boy, and his silence wrapped around her like a soft blanket at night, keeping her safe. A world where her untamed fire gave light to his shadows, and his calm steadied her storms.
A tear slid down her cheek as she looked at her husband, uncertain when next their paths would cross, or what horrors might await them before they did.
‘We were never the heroes of this tale, Mal,’ Ash said, sorrow etching deep lines into his face. ‘We were always the vi-villains.’
Mal closed her eyes and surrendered to the pull of the Underworld, the earth opening beneath her feet, swallowing her whole into the waiting arms of the dead.
They say a God-Killer cannot be forged by knowledge, nor shaped by study or steel. No ancient spell, no sacred rite, no whispered incantation can birth one. There is but one crucible strong enough to create such a being.
Grief.
Raw, unrelenting, soul-shattering grief. The kind that hollows you out and leaves only fire in its wake.
Tabitha Wysteria
Mal barely spared a glance for the dead who bowed in reverence as she passed, her steps echoing softly through the shadowed depths of the Underworld. Her focus was fixed on the Forest of Silent Cries, its spectral branches whispering mournful secrets only the dead could hear. There, standing rigid amongst the silence was Thanatos, his obsidian eyes glimmering with something she had rarely seen in him.
Worry.
The moment his gaze met hers, his face hardened, as though bracing for a storm.
Mal slowed, uncertainty catching in her chest.
‘Melinoe…’
Her name, spoken so softly, sounded wrong coming from hislips. ‘What is it?’ she asked, unnerved by the rare cracks in his composure.
‘I…’
The single syllable faltered, leaving only the emptiness of hesitation between them. Fear traced cold fingers down her spine. Thanatos, at a loss for words? The notion felt unnatural, dangerous.
‘Spit it out,’ she demanded, sharper than she intended.
His jaw tightened, but he said nothing. Instead, he stepped aside, revealing a figure standing behind him.
At first, Mal’s mind refused to understand what her eyes beheld. Then recognition struck like lightning, slender frame, familiar pallor, and eyes dark enough to haunt dreams.
‘Kage?’ Her voice broke as she moved closer, disbelief and hope warring within her. ‘What are you doing here? How did you… how did you get here?’
He stood as he always had, tall and refined, sorrow etched in every line of his pale face. The memory of his voice, soft and rich with the weight of stories both real and imagined, swelled painfully within her.
Her hand shot out, gripping his arm, needing to feel his solidity, to prove he was no phantom. Yet deep down, she knew what it meant for her brother to stand here, of all places, in the realm of the dead.
‘He’s dead, Melinoe,’ Thanatos said quietly behind her.
Kage’s eyes narrowed, brimming with irritation at the declaration, but Mal…
