Without answering, Phaedrus jogged after Ainwir. Taking a deep breath, I chased after him.
I didn’t feel foolish for pursuing my ghosts this time—Phaedrus was more than capable of protecting me.
We’d hardly left the walls behind when a deep mist fell over us, blanketing the dunes and obscuring the nearby river. Phaedruscontinued on, unabated, leaving me no choice but to quicken my pace lest I lose him.
As quickly as it had arrived, the mist abruptly waned. I bumped into Phaedrus’ back as I emerged from the fog. “I don’t like this,” I said. “I think we should—”
My mind blanked. Ainwir stood in front of us, hands folded on the hilt of his dagger. His deep brown eyes landed on me.Lookedat me. My heart melted, and I stumbled forward, reaching for him.
As my fingers brushed his cloak, the illusion shattered. Ainwir’s perfect form dissolved into a fountain of blood vaguely shaped like a person. I stumbled back in horror as the man who’d looked so much like my mentor burst apart in a shower of crimson rain.
“Strange, isn’t it?” A powerful voice boomed from the mist. “The ghosts that haunt this land between life and death.”
I hadn’t noticed the fog hanging behind Ainwir—until now. Haimyx stepped from its shroud, scarlet eyes landing on me. Countless tattoos riddled his chest, and more hid behind the black mantle hanging from his shoulders.
Stepping back, I nearly lost my balance. Haimyx reached me with a single pace, grabbing my neck.
“You . . .” I gasped. “You created those ghosts?”
“Some,” he said. “This one? Yes.” He looked up, an arrogant smirk on his lips. “Mortals from your realm always fail to grasp true godhood. Have you not felt it? The magic that pulses beneath this land?”
I had. When I first stepped on Duath Nun’s soil, I’d felt something, though I’d not understood at the time.
Haimyx tilted my head. “I underestimated you. My apologies.”
He wasn’t talking to me. Not wanting to believe the truth, I looked to Phaedrus, but what I saw there only confirmed my fears.
“I’m a good actor,” Phaedrus said. “Though it took longer than I expected.”
Pain raked through my heart—enough to break me from my frozen horror. Jerking backward, I yanked my sword free from its scabbard and drove it through Haimyx’s gut.
Blood poured from the wound, and my hands shook on the hilt. Haimyx peered down at me, humor in his red eyes. Taking myhand in his, he ripped the blade from his flesh and knelt to meet my eye.
“There is nothing in this world or the next,” he breathed, “that can kill the god of life and death.”
The skin on his abdomen knit back together, and the wound sealed itself shut.
All this time, I assumed he was another arrogant bastard. Another noble playing at divinity.
I was wrong. Haimyx was the real thing.
Agod.
The fog shrouding the dunes behind Haimyx dissolved into droplets of blood that stained the sands scarlet. Another chthonic spell.
An army stood behind him. Legions upon legions of men in ebony armor gathered behind their king, prepared for battle.
“She’s a stubborn one.” Haimyx raised his voice. “See to it she doesn’t hurt herself any further.”
Phaedrus grabbed me and pressed a vial of foul-smelling liquid to my mouth. Wine laced with narcotics—the same he’d drugged me with at his manor.
“Give up, Aethra,” he said. “You’ve lost.”
No. This was all a bad dream. It had to be. Phaedrus had earned our trust. We’d struggled and struggled for weeks and finally won. How could it end like this?
“Poor girl,” Phaedrus said. “You’ve finally learned what I did so long ago,” he whispered in my ear. “It’s pointless. All of it. Look at all we accomplished—and look how little it mattered, in the end. You dared to hope, and now you’re left withnothingbut the taste of ash.”
I went limp in his grip. Pulling my lips apart, he forced the wine down my throat.
