“It is why the High God isolates himself in Tavora, yes? To keep his divine power contained?”
Worst-case scenarios filled her mind: Ash’s small body, bruised and beaten, sold to heinous witches and bled dry as an ingredient for their potions; his limbs separated and offered as occult boons; the gods chaining him to the pits of Moros, leaving him to die slowly.
She sucked in a sharp breath, the motion tensing her shoulders. Even if conflict was inevitable, she’d promised Father to protect the child, and she refused to fail.
“You look stressed,” Soren said.
Her eyes danced around the ground beside her boots, her thoughts growing louder. “No shit.”
Soren grabbed her hand.
Marina’s breath hitched at the sudden touch. His skin was cold, like he’d dipped his fingers in snow.
He stared out at the city, the neon reflecting in his irises—translucent and blue, like perfect cuts of agate. “Tell me why I’mprotecting this child, and I will do everything in my power to help you.”
His loyalty eased some of the tension in her chest, and she let him hang on to her fingers. “You’ve already helped me enough.”
He scoffed. “If you’re referring to the time I helped you get back up on your feet after losing to the previous High God of Night, that hardly counts.”
That was one of her greatest embarrassments. Marina tortured the most talkative deities who were present just to keep the information from getting back to her mother, fearful Mira’s disappointment would’ve been too grave to bear.
Marina swallowed and gave Soren’s hand a small squeeze before pulling away. “Remain here,” she told him. “Keep doing your job. I will meet up with you again soon, and together we will investigate the Herald sightings.”
Soren raised an eyebrow at her, a slyness growing across what small piece of his expression she could see. “Is now not a good time?”
The Olethros were Acacius’s eyes and ears in the city. If she killed them, disguised or not, he would know that it was her. She would try one last thing before stepping out from her veil of cover.
Marina turned away from Soren, preparing to teleport. “Right now, I have a bit of business to take care of.”
Marina satat the vanity in her bathroom, assessing herself in the mirror.
A fresh sheen of glamor painted her lips and cheeks. She pushed the white strip of hair behind her ear and slipped on a pair of dangling ruby earrings. A pair that she’d bought in one of Isolde’s markets.
She traced her fingers down the golden chains around her neck, connected by a matching red jewel between her breasts. Beneath it, the gilded web decorated the skin of her diaphragm, meeting the end of her neckline right above her naval.
The set of jewelry was one of her favorites, but her most precious of all was a set gifted to her by Father. One of his few tangible generosities.
Her gaze jumped from the mirror to the organized rows of earrings hanging on the velvet jewelry holder. She ran her fingernail down the line, and they jingled like windchimes in a spring breeze.
The dainty, opulent stars glinted under the dimmed lights.
Strangely, stars were her favorite part about the night. An atom of light, proof that there was existence in the abyss.
Darkness never lasts, my darling magnolia.
Perhaps, to some degree, Father was right.
Marina lifted her chin, locking eyes with herself in the mirror. “I won’t fail.”
She needed to do more to keep Acacius from advancing his mayhem in the city, while still gathering more information about his intentions.
Marina’s heartbeat stuttered.
She could easily distract Acacius, but to get information from him, she would need for them to hold a conversation instead of fighting.
Marina inhaled deeply, knowing the moment her feet touched the ground in Tavora, he would sense her presence.
Anticipation buzzed in her system. She ignored the enticing jolt in her chest, choosing not to dwell on the anomalous feeling that the High God relentlessly evoked in her.
