“You tell me,” she scoffs. “You are Death. What killed him, Dark One?” Venomous words fall from her too-sweet lips.
“This realm is not capable of sustaining a god and you can feel it. Even the air is harder to breathe here. Gaius separated himself from the sustaining lifeforce of the god realm until it killed him.”
The truth. It’s raw and ugly, but I feel compelled to give it to her and not the lie the God King is perpetuating throughout the pantheon. He wants every deity to reside in his realm where he has the utmost control over them—and nothing is more dangerous than the idea that they might be able to exist elsewhere, or worse, exist without him.
My hold on her drops as the light in her eyes dims. “Nobus saysmy father had no worshippers, but when I look around his pyre, all I see are devoted followers. Even if they didn’t know who he truly was.”
“On that, we agree.”
We stand side-by-side, silently observing the mortals paying their respects to the one they call Gavin. My eyes may be on them, but all of my other senses are tuned to her. Just like they always are when the Goddess of Light is near—regardless of how I feel about it.
This realm’s single sun inches closer toward the horizon, yet no other deity appears. Not the gods who claimed to be Gaius’ friends nor the children he sired.
My hands itch to touch her again, a strange sensation stirring in my chest. I long to comfort the goddess who swallows down the sorrow that leaks from her every pore, but instead, I ball my hands into fists and keep them restrained in the pockets of my onyx trousers.
When the sun finally completes its downward trajectory, the Goddess of Light clears her throat, hurt etched deeply into the lines of her face. “Well, I guess my sisters fell for the lie. I don’t know much about funerals, but I know the gifts of Flame and Song would have been welcome additions.”
“None of my powers would be of any service to you or I would offer them.” I don’t know why I say it or why the thought of easing her hurt embedded itself into my demented mind in the first place. Perhaps it’s the way she insists on keeping my long forgotten name alive despite my protest. A rare benevolence for the unexplainable comfort it affords me.
“Not now,” she states flatly. “Though time would have greatly helped before he died.”
“I am not my father. I cannot grant anyone more time nor can I take it away. A few paused moments would not have extended his life by any significant measure. I may be the Reaper of Souls,but I am merely a collector. I do not decide when their time is up.”
Selene sighs, her entire body relaxing from her tense posture. “I know. Taura told me it would happen like this; I just didn’t want to believe her.”
“You shouldn’t put your faith in that seer,” I rebuke.
“She is not a seer, she is the Goddess of Truth. Her power is just as strong as ours.”
“Not as strong as mine,” I correct, my voice even-keeled despite the agitation rising in my blood. “You can hide from the truth, but you cannot hide from death.”
“That is where you are wrong, Drayven. The truth catches up to everyone eventually. No one can outrun it, even you. Fate will be all of our undoing. Embracing it is the only way we get to actually live.”
Selene offers me a final, sad smile. The crowd parts for her without command as she takes her place at the foot of the funeral pyre. Every head bows in solemn reverence for the man they loved.
She takes a torch from an outstretched hand, resorting to man-made fire instead of the magic she had hoped her sister would provide. Words sung in unison begin to rise alongside the flames, an offering from these mortals to the god they didn’t know they worshipped.
I linger in the shadows as what remains of Gaius the Green burns. The now-mortal body is engulfed fully as the last light of day vanishes below the horizon. They will stay until nothing but ash remains.Shewill stay.
I admire her humanity, though I do not long for it. Grief is perhaps the cruelest of emotions, and I am grateful that I am incapable of feeling it. To miss someone, to cry for someone, to wait for someone—they are each their own sentence and I am thankful to never be burdened with their pain.
But there is something that burdens me—something that I can’t quite name or put my finger on.
Perhaps it’s disdain for how Gaius shirked his duty in order to live amongst the mortals who clearly loved him.
Maybe that’s why I didn’t send one of my Reapers to collect his soul. Maybe that’s why I personally arrived days ago when he first passed. Maybe that’s why I attended his funeral, and why I stayed by her side all afternoon.
Yes, I like that lie much better than the truth.
CHAPTER 2
DEATH
One year later
The realm of the gods hasn’t changed at all in the last century. The same creatures still fly its skies, the same plants still bloom under its sweltering suns, and the same self-absorbed prick still sits on its throne.
A dull, aching sensation pulls at me as I make my way toward the God King’s palace. It’s been so long, yet the rough-stitched wound that formed the last time I stepped foot in this realm reeks of festering flesh. I scoff at the absurdity of the comparison. I do not possess a heart, so it’s impossible that the nuisance of an organ might rot out from under me.
