“And then what?” Leander asked, putting out a hand to stop Bex, who was already readying her sword to take off the Crown Prince’s head. “You’re still being the good son, Alexander, but Father doesn’t value goodness. The moment he gets what he wants, he’ll toss you aside just like he did the rest of us. I know you understand that, brother, so why are you still helping him?”
“Because he’s the only way any of us get free,” Alexander replied with resigned acceptance. “You’re too young to know this, Leander, but while I am Gilgamesh’s oldest living son, I am far from his first. I was born only two thousand years ago. Over those twenty centuries, I’ve seen more of my brothers die than I can count, mostly because of her.”
He nodded at Bex, who winced despite her best efforts.
“I’ve seen so much death,” the Crown Prince continued. “I’vecausedso much death. So much suffering and destruction and loss, and for what? To keep a bunch of stubborn gods in their graves.”
Alexander shook his head with a sigh and sank lower in his golden chair. “I’m tired,” he said. “Tired of war, tired of bickering warlocks and vain, scheming princes. I’ve wanted to enter the Sleep for ages now, but after so many years, I was the only one capable of running Father’s empire. If I quit, all the balance and order I’d spent my entire life constructing would fall apart. I couldn’t stand the thought of returning to chaos, so I stayed and worked. I hated every single second, but I did it all perfectly. That’s why Gilgamesh trusts me most of all his sons. I’m the only one who understands the world of peace and order he’s trying to create for all of us.”
“If you’re so important to Father’s vision, why didn’t he take you with him?” Leander asked, crossing his arms over his chest. “Why are you sitting alone in this empty room, waiting for the likes of us?”
“That was mychoice,” Alexander replied with a sad chuckle. “For the record, Father did invite me to join him. I was the one who refused. The new world King Gilgamesh is making will be splendid, I’m sure, but as I already told you, I’m tired. I’ve done my duty. I worked for two thousand years to help Father achieve his great dream, and now I intend to rest. When the current world ends, I’ll end with it, and so will all of you.” He smiled. “It is theEpic of Gilgamesh, after all. Minor characters like us don’t belong in the final stanzas of his victory.”
“Don’t lump us in with you,” Bex growled, raising her sword again. “You’re free to die all you want, but we’re not the Eternal King’s lapdogs, and we’renotgiving up just because Gilgamesh says it’s over.”
“That we are not,” Leander agreed, taking Bex by surprise when he stepped into a battle stance beside her. “Unlike you with your one blind eye, we can see this for the farce it is, and without your sword, you can’t stop us.”
It might have been Bex’s imagination, but Alexander looked disappointed.
“I knew you wouldn’t see reason,” he said bitterly, rising from the throne at last. “For such a clever man, you never could make the right decision, Leander. That’s why I brought this.”
He clapped his armored hands together, and a figure stepped out from behind the towering throne. The golden room was so glittery that it was hard to make her out at first, but Bex already knew it was a princess. There was no one else whose carved feet made that musical clacking sound when they walked, but it wasn’t until Leander went stone-still beside her that Bex finally realizedwhichprincess she was looking at.
Like all of Gilgamesh’s dolls, she was incredibly beautiful with a willowy body and long, straight hair that cascaded over her shoulders like a waterfall, but her face was the saddest thing Bex had ever seen.
“Leander?” she whispered, her carved hand trembling where it clutched a square of blue silk around her narrow shoulders. “My love, my prince, is that really you?”
Leander stared back at her like he’d seen a ghost. “Mara,” he choked at last, stumbling forward. “But it can’t be. How is this—”
“I had her reconstructed,” Alexander explained, placing his hand on the princess’s shaking shoulder. “She’s your Mara again.”
“But… you said she’d already been wiped,” Leander insisted. “You told me she was gone!”
The Crown Prince shook his head with atut. “You should know by now that Gilgamesh never actually throws anything away. We kept all her old memories just in case we needed them. It was a tactical precaution, though in the end, I’m afraid my reasons for bringing her back were entirely sentimental.”
Leander looked confused, and Alexander sighed again.
“I told you,” he said irritably, “I’m tired of my brothers dying, so after Father ordered the destruction of the Hells with you still in it, I had her wipe reversed. I wanted somebody else who remembered you, somebody I could mourn with. I figured there’d be no one better for that than the Princess of Sorrow, but what started out as a tragedy might have just turned into a happy ending.”
He extended his arm, pushing the princess forward with the hand that was still clamped around her shoulder.
“Here,” he said, looking Leander dead in his mirrored eyes. “She’s yours. Your princess, just like before. Father’s even agreed to let the two of you assist him while he finishes his work.You can finally be together with your beloved in a place with no war or gods just like you’ve always dreamed, and all you have to do to is bring me the heads of the Coward Queen and Prince Adrian.”
Bex went perfectly still. Everyone on her side of the room did as all eyes turned toward Leander. The Prince of Sorrow was staring at his princess like she was everything he’d ever wanted, but just as Bex was getting ready to put her sword between him and Adrian, Leander said, “No.”
Alexander’s confident face went blank in shock. “What?”
“No,” Leander repeated, gripping the golden floor with his bare, dirty feet. “You’ve told me so many times that I could earn Mara’s freedom if I just did this or killed that, but you never once kept that promise.”
“Because you were never successful,” Alexander snapped.
“That shouldn’t have mattered!” Leander roared. “You’ve always claimed I’m your favorite brother, but you hold my beloved to my throat like a knife every time Father snaps his fingers. You go on and on about how the gods mistreated humanity, but you’ve helped Gilgamesh treat us even worse, and I’msickof it! You think you’re the only one who’s tired of this nonsense? I’ve been exhausted for four hundred years! Mara was the only bright spot in my entire miserable existence, but I’m not so stupid that I’m going to betray the allies whohavebeen honorable toward me and turn myself into a dog for Gilgameshagainin the hope of a happy ending that’s been forever promised andnever come true!”
“Don’t do this, Leander,” the Crown Prince warned, gripping Mara’s shoulder. “I’ve offered you a great gift. Don’t throw it away like a fool.”
“You’re the one being a fool,” Leander snarled. “You know better than anyone that Father’s not the glorious king he pretends to be, and yet you let him do whatever he wants! Yousay it’s because it keeps back the gods, but I know the real reason. You’re a coward! You say you’re tired of seeing your brothers die, but who was it who stood by and let Father send them to their deaths? Who drags us to him so that we can be punished? No wonder you’re so tired. You’ve been complicit in everything Gilgamesh has done! Now you want me to join you in licking the boots that kick us, but I will not.”
He pulled himself straighter. “I refuse to be anything less than the noble prince my beautiful princess deserves.Sheis my paradise, so I don’t need Gilgamesh’s condescending invitation. With her by my side, I already have everything I could ever want. I know she feels the same, so come, Mara!” He threw out his hand. “Run to me!”
