“Go back to her,” Phaedrus prodded gently. “Don’t let her sit there, alone and abandoned.”
Nodding, I turned and walked away. Pausing, I glanced over my shoulder. “Thank you.”
“Think nothing of it.” Phaedrus turned back to the channel.
Ducking through the cramped alley, I returned to our hideout—an abandoned house of old, cracked stone hidden in a back road. Pushing through the creaky door, I glanced around the foyer.
Percy sat alone at the table, lute in his lap. A small lantern burned beside him, illuminating the journal he wrote in. Lifting his quill, he met my eye. “There you are. Going to bed?”
“Checking on Aethra,” I said.
“She’s in the stable.”
“What?” I stepped back. “She shouldn’t—”
“Well, no one’s here to stop her.” Percy shrugged. “Well,Iwas here, but I didn’t. She just wanted to see her horse.”
Sighing, I walked back outside and followed the street to the small stable pens, equally as old and eroded as the houses. The single gate was unlocked, and I pushed it open.
Athena had the stables all to herself. The mare lay on a pile of hay in the corner, watching me with intelligent brown eyes. Aethra was curled up against her side, head nestled on Athena’s neck.
Her eyes flew open when the stable door creaked behind me. Sitting up, Aethra paled when she looked at me.
I couldn’t have found the strength to speak had a knife been pressed to my throat. Stumbling forward, I fell to my knees and wrapped my arms around her, trying to hold her as tightly as possible without disturbing her wounds.
Sniffing, Aethra melted against my chest. A wracking sob burst from her throat, and an outpouring of tears followed. Her back shook beneath my hands.
Worse echoed in my head.It isn’t fair.
This isn’t fair.
Nothing is.
Swallowing hard, I reached for the light that had guided me thus far: The spark of hope amidst the darkness.
Staring at the wall, I tried to imagine a world without the Empty.
Flowering fields would stretch for miles, undisturbed. Settlements could sprawl across the world, and roads could travel to every corner. Looming fear would no longer hang above us; the abyss would no longer seek our lives.
It should’ve been a beautiful dream, but behind the welcoming picture hid a haunting nightmare.
Aethra wouldn’t be there.
35
Seth
Ididn’t know why I started walking, or where I was headed. Shadows moved in the distance—monsters lurking near the edges of the Empty.
Maybe I’d be lucky, and one would descend upon me to silence the searing pain in my heart.
My anger toward Aethra had faded the moment I’d departed the city. She was right—I would have stopped her. El would have stopped her. Even Seraphim would have made her hold back.
Only Percy understood what she wanted . . . because he was every bit as stubborn as she was.
Ma’at city was far behind me, and only darkness loomed ahead. I raised my head from the sand beneath my feet, noticing something white that pierced the shadows. A woman in a white gown, standing atop a nearby hill.
Mother.
