EPILOGUE
SYLERIS
Four hundred yearshad passed since the last time I’d stepped foot in the Immortal Circle.
It bore an improbable similarity to the temples the humans had constructed at each of the Seven Gates. Instead of altars, there were thrones.
Vanity was always attributed to the Dark God. All the vices were. But I had not whispered to the humans about the hall of the gods so that temples could be built in my honor. One of the others had.
Xyta, probably. They’d always enjoyed watching humans die. A necessary sacrifice to build the temples, the deity would say. Ramkael was supposed to rein in his sibling. That had been part of the bargain when the curse was cast. But he’d been too occupied with Pava. The doomed lovers.
I’d never understood before.
“You took your time, Syleris. The last gate fell an hour ago,” Zeph said. Half observation, half accusation.
My expression showed no reaction. No detail in my eyes or my body to give away how it felt to hear my name again after all of these centuries. Hearing it from Koryn and Garrick was different. Private. Ours alone.
I’d needed every minute of that hour. Despite this hubris, none of us here were omniscient. They did not know how I’d spent those precious minutes, and they never would.
I took my obsidian throne, an exact replica of the one I’d sat in the first time I laid eyes on Koryn.
I crossed my foot over my knee. Unhurried. Late, but unbothered. “Apologies. There was a mess at the Unknown Gate.”
Ramkael stared at his bride, seated opposite him. Close enough to see, but not to touch. Pava returned his look of longing. None of the others reacted. They did not know what he had done. Perhaps he was an ally. Or he had his own plans for Velora. I certainly did.
Xyta was already making battle plans. “The Winter Tithe has just passed. The fae will?—”
“The fae are fickle allies. Besides, they will not forgive us for making scapegoats of them with the curse,” Zeph argued back.
Because the real reason that the Seven Gates existed was to force the dragons away. They could not remain on a continent without life. With them gone, we reigned supreme.
“No,” I said.
Seraxa leaned forward on her throne of ice, always patient and merciful. “What alternative do you propose?”
I examined my fingernails. “None. I will not fight in your war.”
Xyta and Zeph both shot to their feet. Edravos, the God of Justice, was silent, but his eyes were wide.
“We are strongest together,” Zeph insisted. “It will take all of us to send the dragons back across the water. The curse only held them back. They have been waiting and watching. How else could they have returned so quickly?”
They knew the Seven Gates would fall eventually. The talismans would have protected the fae and the witches. But theywould have left the humans exposed. I hoped that one day Koryn would forgive me for the deception. I knew I had to put the pieces into place. I had not realized that I would love her… and I had never expected her halfling prince.
“I should have been clear. I will not fight for you.”
Now Seraxa was on her feet as well. “You are bound?—”
I steepled my fingers together and leaned back, using them to cushion the back of my head against the obsidian throne.
“Not anymore,” I said simply.Not to you.“I completed my duty. I gave no aid to the supplicants in the Gates. You all have made sure of that.”
It had nearly broken my bonds with Koryn and Garrick to hold back the information that could have aided them. They should have repudiated me a thousand times over. But when I’d appeared in the melee after the Unknown Gate, they’d stepped into my arms. I’d never imagined a gift so precious.
“You would break the Covenants of Velora? The very covenants which have protected this continent?” Xyta stormed forward, but Ramkael was on his feet, shoving his twin back. As if the petty deity had any chance against me.
“The Covenants of Velora have already been broken.” I leaned forward, surrendering any pretense of ease or disaffection. “They did not protect this land. They killed it. We may be gods. But the races of Velora deserve to exist simply because they already do. They do not have to earn the right through petty offerings and oaths and gates.”
Pava spoke, her voice smooth and beautiful, like her. “You speak of your human.”
