A part of me didn’t want to taint this moment with anything remotely involving another person. But maybe if we’d spoken about this sooner, I wouldn’t have lost her in the first place. Or at least, not like that.
Regardless, I owed her my honesty. “What happened with Callista… I thought she was my mate. It’s true. But she was only ever meant to lead me to you.”
She didn’t seem surprised by my confession. “She did. With the asphodels. But in my fear, I forgot that. I thought I was just a replacement.”
The mere idea made everything inside me freeze. “Daphne, no. If anything… If anything, it was the opposite.”
It wasn’t a pleasant thought to have, but it was the truth, regardless. Daphne took it in stride. “I realize that now,” she said, her voice gaining strength. “When I was in the lake, I heard you. I felt your grief. I understand. And I won’t ever doubt it again.”
In the lake. She’d been in the lake. I thought about the strangeness of my body healing over and over, even when I’d tried to destroy it. I thought about how infuriatingly familiar and comforting it had felt. The whole time, it had been Daphne. The whole time, my mate had been with me.
I was such a fool.
For the first time since she’d disappeared in my arms, I felt like I could breathe. I brushed my lips over hers in a ghost of a kiss, a vow against the shadows of our shared past.
“I understand, too,” I murmured. “This is forever.”
That was when I felt it. A deep, rhythmic thrumming against my own chest. It was the echo of my own power, tamed and transformed into a life-giving pulse. The sound of my screech had become the rhythm of her life.
A sense of profound, terrifying awe washed over me. She was a miracle forged in the heart of a tragedy. I gently took her hand, turning it over in mine. “What… what is it like? For you?”
She looked down at our joined hands, flexing her fingers with wonder. “It’s… different.” She slid off the table, her bare feet landing on the cold stone of the workshop floor. “My gift isn’t there anymore, but somehow, I can see everything more clearly.”
Her lips twisted in a small, breathtaking smile. “I won’t lie and tell you I’m not afraid anymore. But… I’m free. We both are.”
Free. It was an intoxicating thought, and almost too good to be true. After everything that had happened, I knew better than to test my luck, to actually see if this blessing held or not.
But Daphne looked at my wings, then past me, toward the high ceiling of the workshop. “I have a new chance at life now. So let’s start anew. Show me your city, Phonos, the way a Keres would.”
13
Children of the Acheron
Daphne & Phonos
It was strange to be alive.
When I’d followed Phonos’s call, I’d expected my new form to hurt more, to feel uncomfortable. In a way, it did. But mostly, what struck me was the simple reality of how much we took for granted as humans.
We spent our lives fearing death, but our truest, deepest enemies were always our own fears.
“Show me your city, Phonos,” I told my mate, “the way a Keres would.” And I meant it.
Phonos gaped at me and hesitated. Keres weren’t immune to fear, especially not after such a loss. “Are you sure?”
I took a breath, and with it came a quiet, solid certainty. “I want to know our home,” I said, and the truth of it settled in my chest. “The way I should have, from the very beginning.”
Deep down, I’d always realized I didn’t belong here. Perhaps my instinctive rejection of flight had been about that, too. But now, I needed to see this through to the end. I needed to be brave, like the lake had told me to.
Phonos took my hand and led me out of the inner chamber, back onto the private dock. The mist of the Acheron swirled around our feet. He pulled me flush against the solid warmth of his chest.
“Then hold on,” he murmured against my ear.
A single, powerful downstroke of his wings lifted us from the stone, and the world fell away. My stomach lurched. My hands flew to his shoulders, my entire body bracing for the familiar, agonizing hook of the threads.
But there was nothing.
No hook. No pull. Only the smooth beat of his wings and the rush of cool air against my face.
