With a flick of her finger, Alora levitated him around and pulled him to her. He tensed, his golden eyes widening in surprise. She fished into his satchel and drew out the crimson spindle.
“A trickster who is a thief,” Alora mused.
His throat bobbed. “Forgive me. I have a habit of collecting powerful relics. And well, the Primordial blood of a true-born goddess …” His gold eyes gleamed. “Holdsinfinitepossibilities. As you can see, it allowed me to escape the curse’s veil.”
She glanced at the portal and her jaw clenched. He knew yet didn’t bother to share that vital piece of information when it could have spared hundreds from the war.
Shadows wrapped around his neck as she snatched Caelum’s face from his hands. The sight of it made her eyes well.
House Basile has always served Argyle… To the end.
A clever fae answer.
Caelum died fighting for his kingdom, and no one had known. He had no burial. No body for his tomb. No mourners to honor him.
The air crackled with the force of her sorry and rage. At her will, the last piece of her friend crumbled to dust.
“Tell me, Druid,” Alora said softly, eyes glowing white as she looking up at him. “Why shouldn’t I kill you for this?”
The shadows tightened and he winced, gasping for air.
Though she sensed a trace of his unease, the Druid’s expression remained calm, equal parts pity and mischief, as though he knew a secret she could not yet name.
“Because I can provide a clue in how to break the curse.”
Alora studied him closely, listening for lies.
“And how to reunite with the other half of your soul.”
Her magic released him and he dropped to his feet, rubbing his neck. The hope those words gave her made her heart painfully beat.
“Speak.”
The Druid straightened with a weak chuckle, backing away toward the portal. “Life has a way of sprouting where death leaves rot. And tears…” He smiled at her knowingly as he lowered to pluck a spider lily from the roots of the tree. “…tears can coax what even gods cannot.”
Before she could demand his meaning, the Druid winked and stepped through the Elder Tree light and was gone, the portal vanishing like smoke in the wind.
Then all fell still again.
As if he had never been there at all.
“Pay that schemer no heed,” a new voice said.
Alora frowned up at the trees. “The dead are not the only ones who wander today.”
Expelling a heavy sigh, she and turned to face Sunnëva.
“Should I be worried that he made off with a Blood Bloom?”
The Goddess of Death glittered like frost in the moonlight. Her blue eyes shifted, glancing at the oak tree thoughtfully. “He is a nuisance to be dealt with by another fate in another time.”
Alora sighed. “Why are you here?”
“If you have forgotten, I did say you would see me again.”
“Yes, when it came time to collect Rune’s soul,” Alora hissed, her eyes stinging. “But you were not there! There was nothingleft of him to take!” Her voice broke and everything she held back bubbled up her chest. “Why did he have to die?”
“I could tell you it was the cost to cleanse his soul. He had many sins to pay for, but Rune was always meant to die for the world. That was his purpose.”
