“My sisters will never be happy in the background serving mortal men.”
“They don’t need to be happy, they need to survive,” she says flatly. “Look around you. Do you see luxury here?”
There is no life fit for a goddess, even a fallen one, anywherebut the palaces and manors of this realm’s rulers. Patriarchy reigns supreme here and women are only worth what their bodies can provide. Marriage to these men ensures a life for my sisters twofold—a lifestyle more akin to what they’re accustomed to, free from the perils of poverty, and an opportunity to fulfill a misheard prophecy.
You cannot put a price on hope, even if it’s a farce.
“Where will I go?” I ask.
The princeling doesn’t need me anymore. In fact, he needs none of us. The further removed from the pantheon and the influence of the gods, the better his chances of growing into a ruler worth following. Taura gave the human woman everything she’ll need once his powers manifest—whenever and however that happens in this cursed realm.
Taura squeezes my shoulder. “It’s not the Under Realm, but the Emerald Region might give you a sliver of comfort.”
Emerald. The color of his eyes. The color of his daughter’s eyes.
“You need to hurry, Light. Your lie won’t hold up if you wait much longer.”
Taura is the only other god in this realm who knows the truth. If I have any hope of passing this child off as a demigod—the child of a mortal man—I need to marry now.
Mikais cannot know the babe is the Princess of the Under Realm, just as he cannot know that the boy with gray eyes is the Prince of the Gods.
One day, when they’re ready and destiny can wait no longer, they will find each other. The realms and mortals who raised them will never be able to suppress the cunning and ruthlessness passed down from the kings who sired them.
Mikais is just as cutthroat, but if he stands in the way of their fate, I have no doubt he’ll fall.
Will I be around to see it? Do I even want to be alive that long?
I twist the silver ring on my thumb, the symbol of our lovegrowing heavier by the minute. My heart aches at the idea of spending what remains of my life at the side of anyone other than Drayven.
“Go,” Taura urges as she slips a piece of parchment in my hands. “Go to the Eastern Sea. You’ll find Arcasia in the waters and a young governor in a cottage. You need them both.”
I nod in appreciation as the Goddess of Truth turns and disappears down the dark alleyway. The parchment feels heavy in my hands, and I know without reading who the missive is from.
My fingers tremble as they slip below the black wax seal, the embossed moth sigil of the Dark God fluttering to the cobblestones below.
Live, my light. Whatever you must do is already forgiven.
Tears fill my eyes, a single drop spreading across the letter as it falls to the parchment.
I am a goddess, but I am so much more.
This is the true measure of a woman—the ability to carry on, to swallow down her pride and discomfort and do what must be done. I don’t even know the life that grows inside me, but I know I will do anything to keep her safe.
The god blades in my pocket grow heavy with promise. I could use them, these impossibly sharp blades. I could ignore Taura’s words and take my fate into my own hands. I could slaughter every human in this realm one by one until I force the Reaper of Souls himself to appear and collect them—if only to see his face again, even for a fleeting second.
But that doesn’t help our daughter.
I read the words again slowly, savoring every syllable, before carefully folding Drayven’s letter and slipping it into the bodice ofmy dress against my heart. Where he will always remain until we can be together again.
The sound of laughter drifts from the open window as the princeling—Callan—chases his new brother playfully. I slip one of the daggers from my pocket. Black fabric covers the alloy blade and the protection runes etched into it. I make eye contact with the human woman and nod as I place the weapon of destiny on the dark wood seal.
He will need this more than I will.
With a resigned sigh, I turn and head for the Emerald Region of Corinth and the future that awaits us both there.
CHAPTER 17
DEATH
