And then he cups my face and kisses my dry lips, and I feel my soul-fated’s magic burst through me as I arch upward, my body shuddering from the influx of so much power. My dauntless, ruthless deity. But he’s not done—that beautiful fool summons the rot toward him with his magic, meaning to take it into his own body.
I push upward and shove him away. My eyelids crack open as I stare woozily at the open, pulsing wound on my leg.
“We can’t let that loose, Starbright,” he whispers.
“Then kill it,” I say.
That midnight gaze darkens in a way that says he’s going to tell me something I’m not going to like. “It’s ancient and can’t be killed in that form. I need to take it from you, and you can bind me.”
“I’ve got this,” a voice says, and my gaze lands on my gorgeous gardener-prince. “I can do it.”
Clearly, I am in love with two beautiful fools who don’t value their own lives.
“No,” I say. If I’ve learned anything from fighting against dark forces the first time and the true purpose of the Starkeeper, it’s sacrifice. And for the people I love, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep them safe. “I’m more powerful than both of you. I should be the one to bind the remnant. My starlight will be its cage for eternity.”
“You’re damning yourself to eternal torment,” Darrius says. “It won’t go quietly.”
I reach a hand up to his chest, feeling his shadows envelop my fingers. “Neither will I. This is what I was born for, Dare. To safeguard the realms. Both of them.” Tears brim in my eyes. “Look after Raz, will you? And tell Indira we couldn’t have done it without either of them.” My gaze swings between my two beloveds, my heart rupturing. “Gods, how I wish we had more time.”
“Starling...”
I turn and let my palm cup Roshan’s jaw before threading my fingers through the silky dark curls that flop onto his brow. Maker above, he’s so handsome he takes my breath away. “He stole so much from us, Ro. I can’t risk losing you or Darrius. Tell Amma and my father I love them.”
Those brown eyes flash with a stubborn expression I recognize. “Tell them yourself.”
I’m not fast enough to stop Roshan from gripping my leg and absorbing the mass. His veins turn inky purple, and his eyes burn a deep violet, much worse than before, and for a moment, I’m frozen in terrified shock.
“Acharia, what have you done?” Darrius whispers.
He doesn’t answer... those unholy dark violet lines creeping outward into his umber skin as if they’d never left. But then his brown eyes glimmer with gilded flecks that grow brighter and brighter, and a soft golden light covers him, becoming more brilliant until he’s nearly ablaze. My simurgh kneels, and my lips part in awe, as if my magic unconsciously recognizes that it’s in the presence of something divine.
Time stops in the presence of all the gods... and the glow is blinding.
Celestial.
The glow explodes, and when the light clears, Roshan is standing there... unhurt and untouched, with no signs of the rot.
“What was that?” I whisper in wonder.
“Saru’s light,” he says. “Turns out nothing from the abyss can live in my body. Or so he says, anyway. Now that I’m immortal. Looks like my parents left me with a legacy of akasha after all.”
“Good to know,” Darrius says, clapping him on the shoulder, relief clear on his face.
I sigh and hide my grin. “Great. Two arrogant deities. How did a girl get so lucky?”
My joy is short-lived, however, when I hear a deafening screech and a gust of corrosive gas misses us by inches. We stumble out of the way, running for the cover of the trees. The azhi lands, its bulk shaking the ground as it towers over us. One of the heads nudges the dead Anahima and then gobbles her down.
Foul.
But my disgust aside, I remember too late that blood is power, especially death magic—and sure enough the lesions and wounds on its body all start to heal, and before my eyes, it gets even bigger.
We narrowly dodge a combined breath attack, watching as the remaining Aspacana hordes and the armies of the two kings gather at its back. They dodge a flick of its twin tails, weapons at the ready and waiting for our signal. The beast roars; it won’t be long before its ruined wing repairs and it will be able to fly again.
“We only have a small chance while it’s grounded,” my soul-fated says.
“What do we do?” I ask.
Darrius grips my hand. “We do this together.”
