I make a show of drawing my magic back towards me. Shadows crack in the air like whips as they return to their wielder, a demonic smile painting my lips.
“Take me, Dark God!”
“Kill us, please!”
“DEATH!”
They scream for me as I slowly step backwards. Their pleas coat my tastebuds, my tongue salivating with their delicious distress. I want to stay, to consume it all as Nobus drags their bodies from his realm. To indulge, to savor every morsel until there is nothing left of them.
Darkness rises within me as their cries grow louder. I halt my exit, daring to sip from their emotions for a moment longer.
The hair on the back of my neck prickles as lightning flashes across the night sky. The tell-tale sign of approaching death pulls me from my feast.
The decision has been made and the goddess that awaits me on the beach now doesn’t have long left on this plane of existence.
Arcasia stands in the surf, the water washing over her bare feet. The prince, strapped to her back, peers over her shoulder. From their black hair to their gray eyes, they are a mirror of each other. Two souls fated to change the future of the gods.
The child babbles something incoherent, but his mother doesn’t comfort him.
“I always knew I would hand my son over to the Dark God of Death,” Arcasia says. “I just never imagined it would be willingly.”
“If it brings you any comfort, I won’t be keeping him.” I step out of the shadows and into the fading light of the two moons. “You, however, are a different story.”
“So he’s decided then? My husband will kill me now?”
A single dip of my head is the only response I offer her. Arcasia’s fate is sealed. The goddess that stands before me now will never again walk the shores of this realm or hold her child in her arms after tonight.
“Offer me a bargain, Dark God.”
Arcasia boldly steps toward me. She is frantic, yes, but there is no fear on her scent, nothing that I can drink in to temporarily satisfy the unfillable void within me.
“Who are you to demand such a thing from Death? What could you possibly offer me?” I scoff as the bands of my dark magic swirl around her in warning. Sunrise approaches, and with it, my last chance to see Selene.
“Give me the child.”
Arcasia unties the fabric that holds the princeling to her back, her tears coating his cheeks as she kisses him.
My magic wraps around the him and begins to carry the prince toward me. The Goddess of Protection reaches out, her finger tracing a serpentine path on his small chest.
“Alak ayo nora,” she whispers in the old language. Sparkling cerulean power envelopes him at her words, a final gift from his mother.
“I know she is yours,” the goddess says in a whispered breath as the child floats to my side.
“What did you say?” I demand, anger building in my veins at the implication of her words.
If she dares to threaten me, dares to try to blackmail me…whatever end Nobus has planned for her will pale in comparison to what I will do to her.
“The baby. Calaedon’s fated.” The goddess drops to her knees in the water, her storm cloud eyes locking onto mine. “I can still protect her. Offer me a bargain, Death.”
“I cannot save you, Arcasia. I am not your judge nor am I your executioner. Beg your husband for your life.”
“A favor,” she calls out. “No conditions.”
The shadows that swirl around my feet pause at her offer. It’s true I cannot save her, but I am intrigued enough to hear her out. Her desperation may yet offer something Selene can use to save the children.
“In exchange for what?”
“My beast form,” she starts. “Keep my beast form alive and I will grant you any favor. No questions, no conditions. Anything you want, it’s yours.”
