Midway down an aisle lined in leather-bound tomes, I stop.The golden edges of her aura seep between the books that separate us.
“Goddess.”
“What are you doing here?” Her voice is flat and powerful. No hint of hatred or the misery that plagues me.
“I am here to see you.”
“You’re here toseeme? Three months and that’s the best you could come up with?” Her sharp words sting like the first slice of a blade across flesh.
I reach out and remove the book that separates us, instantly meeting her gaze. It’s strong and fierce, but the hint of silver in the corner of her eye gives her away.
“I have made many mistakes, Selene. And I am here to…” My voice nearly breaks as the single drop pools on her bottom lashes. “To make a pathetic fucking attempt at saving you.”
“I do not need you to save me, Drayven. I showed you what I am capable of. I am the Goddess of Light and the Queen of the Under Realm. Or does that not mean anything?”
The goddess walks out of view. I chase after her like a dog, removing book after book until we’re eye-to-eye again.
“Selene, wait. You must understand.”
“What? What must I understand? I gave you all of me, my power, my blood, my heart…and I thought you were doing the same. But when push came to shove, you lied.”
“I didn’t lie. It’s…it’s…” I stammer over my words, searching and failing to find anything that would make a difference in this moment other than the truth. “There are things I cannot tell you.”
Selene scoffs. “How convenient.”
“Selene, listen to me!” My temper slips, the floor around us rumbling slightly before I regain control. “The magic that binds me to the Under Realm has…” I painfully push through the heaviness that weighs down my tongue. “…conditions.”
I know she needs more—that single word isn’t enough toconvince her of my honesty, isn’t enough to tell her how much sending her away maimed me. Gathering the full might of my power, I attempt to force my way through the rules that bind me.
“I ccccan’t…for every dddday…” The harder I push, the tighter the magic wraps around my tongue and crushes me in its grasp. “You would…ddddie…” My mouth moves silently as searing pain rips through my body. My muscles fray and threaten to split from my bones as the words fill my mouth like ash.
“I want…you.” I finally rasp out the only truth I am capable of and collapse to my knees. Sweat slicks my white hair to my brow. I claw at my clothes, ripping open the buttons of my shirt in a futile attempt to gouge out the pain in my chest.
“All I want is you. Keeping this from you…is not a choice, my light. It is a curse.”
Footfalls sound on the marble floor and I am certain that she’s leaving my pathetic ass to rot in a heap before the toes of golden slippers step into view.
I don’t lift my head to look at her, refusing to let her see the shame and weakness evident on my face. I take the dagger from my jacket pocket, offering it to her by the ivory handle, the alloy blade still safely wrapped in its obsidian makeshift sheath.
“For you. To rid yourself of any god you choose…including me.”
The blade won’t truly end my life, but it will kill me all the same. It will send me back to the Under Realm immediately—and something tells me that it would hold me there for longer than any incarceration to date. Perhaps it would be long enough for the rebellion to run its course and for Selene to live out the fate that Taura saw for her. Perhaps it would be long enough for her to forget me entirely.
Selene takes the blade from my outstretched hand and squats before me. The fabric of her flowing silk gown pools around her like a golden pond. The fingers of her free hand trail through myhair—a soft, reassuring graze, the way one might console a dying animal before you end its suffering.
“Is this what you were doing all those months?” she asks. “Looking for this?”
“Yes.”
Silence stretches between us but I don’t tear my eyes from the floor.
“You sent me away because the magic forced you to,” she finally says.
It’s not a question, but a statement of fact. I don’t know if I can form the words to acknowledge her. Summoning the last vestiges of strength in my body, I nod. A foreign wetness coats my cheek—something I haven’t felt in over a century.
Selene adjusts her grip on the handle of the god blade. The black fabric falls away, the magical alloy glimmering in her golden glow. She leans closer and lifts my chin with the tip of the blade.
“Are you asking me to kill you, Dark One?”
