The air leaves my lungs. “Me?”
Kosac’s robes billow in a windless gust. Overhead, a harpy cries. I don’t need to look into the sky to know they are circling, waiting to peck at the scraps their master leaves them.
Kosac gets straight to the point. “Your soul for hers.”
“My soul?” My back collides with the railing. The biting iron digs into my spine.
Kosac looms closer, the darkness beneath his hood seeming to deepen. “That’s the price—an afterlife with me.”
My soul? The magnitude rattles my brain. One day, I’ll find myself in this realm, destined to enter this river because I will never be deemed worthy of this Death God. I refuse to give him the satisfaction of ruling over me for eternity.
“Why is this the price?” I ask.
“A soul for a soul. Do this, and I will release her. She’ll join your father and brother in Heaven. Isn’t that what you want?”
My shoulders strengthen with renewed strength. It will be a terrible afterlife, spending eternity in this half-light, but if that means Aradia will find the peace she deserves…
It’ll be years before I need to worry about it. Years to figure out how to undo what I’m about to do.
“I’ll do it,” I breathe.
Kosac extends his hand. “Shake on it.”
I grasp his hand in mine and a surge of heat shoots through my palm. I scream. It’s like I’m being cut in half. Split down the middle by one of the Dullahan’s swords—white-hot agony burns through every nerve, every cell.
When Kosac finally lets me go, I drop to my knees on the cracked pavement. My stomach convulses violently, and I vomit, my entire body shaking from the force of it.
“What did you do to me?” Saliva drips from my cracked lips.
“I’ve splintered your soul from your body. Congratulations, Leigh. You are now mine.”
I jerk away from him. Cold realization kicks me hard in the teeth. He said myafterlife. I thought he meant my soul would return to him after I died. Of course, if he’s just taken my soul, maybe I’m dead now.
“I’ve been planning this for so long, you see, but I never thought it would actually work.” Kosac crouches before me. His bones creak like the snap of dry twigs. “You are as selfless as I was led to believe,” he says, an evil smile in his voice, “and now, I own you.”
“Why me?” I ask as tears slide down my cheeks.
“It’s nothing personal, but you were always a means to an end. You see, Leigh, a millennium ago, the gods—the ones you revere—imprisoned me in this agony, while they lounge in the heavens in eternal bliss. But four years ago, fate shifted. Your magic emerged; you were a Lunar Witch with ties to the dead, just like me. When you seized the throne, my plan fell into place. You were always destined for greatness. The gods chose you to bring peace to the world of the living. You are their savior.”
A cold wave rushes through me, making my teeth chatter.
“You make me sound like some kind of prophet,” I manage to say.
“Without you, the world of the living will descend into chaos and endless suffering. You”—he shifts closer—“are my revenge.By capturing you, I’ve destroyed their hopes for peace on your planet. You fell into my trap just as I hoped you would.” He sneers. “I opened the gate the night you tried to contact the gods and sent my Dullahan after a child with your brother’s name to bring you here. It worked perfectly. When your little lover came after you, I worried you might not be willing to bargain with me for Aradia’s sake, but I underestimated your need to protect the people you love. When you sent him away, it almost made me shed a tear. And now, you have given me your soul.”
My stomach turns again. Oh gods, Kosac has been planning this for years. He was cursed to rule this realm for eternity, and to get revenge on the gods who did it, he’s cursed me as well. I knew there was something off about Kosac; I just thought I was one step ahead of him. I played into his skeletal hands by sending Wilder away. “You hurt an innocent boy just to reach me?”
“The child was never harmed or even here. He was never my target, only you.”
“You tricked me,” I whisper.
Kosac rises to his full height. “And when the gods learn what I’ve done, they’ll rage.”
“You’re terrible.”
“Enough.” His voice hits like a blow, silencing me. “Ghosts cannot address me without my consent. You may have been a queen before, but now you are my subject.”
He snaps his skeletal fingers, as sharp as the crack of a whip. Metal materializes around my throat, heavy against my skin. An invisible leash stretches out to Kosac’s hand. He gives it a savage tug, and I lurch forward.
