I should have known. This was her plan all along. It was, wasn’t it? She pushed me away, she nearly broke me completely, just to come back here and give Nyx exactly what she wanted. Nora, even without her memories, is more like Mera than she knows. Mera tried to give herself up a million times, she argued that it’d be better for everyone if she did, but we wouldn’t allow it. We wanted to fight with her. And now she’s alone. Because I let her go. Because I was careless and foolish and so blinded by her anger and confusion that I couldn’t stand to be near her and deal with the pain of it all. This is my godsdamn fault. All of it.
I’m certain how I feel now must be how the demons feel when I jam my daggers into their brains, my temples throb and ache and my vision blurs from the torture of knowing I could have prevented this. I stare down at Mio’s lifeless body, relieved as his chest rises and falls because at least I know one of them is okay. I kneel beside him, white light sparking to life as I place my palms against his chest, sending my power surging through his body to heal him.
I don’t have time to be pissed or angry even if I wanted to be. I just need to find out what the hell happened and how the hell we ended up here.
“Have you heard from her yet?” I ask Hekate, my voice laced with obvious desperation.
“She hasn’t responded to my texts. I’ll try calling.” Her phone lights up and she puts it to her ear, her blue eyes glowing with fear as she paces the alley.
Fuck. I’m scared, too. Not many things send terror lashing at my mind, devouring any hope or promise of safety there, but right now fear is all that’s left.
“Kairos? What happened?” Mio groans and gets to his feet, rubbing at his temples. “Nora. Fuck. Where is she!?” His head jerks left and then right before his wide eyes meet mine. “Ro, I-I’m so sorry.” He paces back and forth, running his hands through his hair and staring at the ground, his energy chaotic and enraged as it whirls around him.
“Did you see which direction they took her?” I spit, placing my hands on his shoulders to bring him to a standstill, then stealing his swords and daggers before strapping them to myself.
I felt it all. Her pain. Her sadness. And then the numbness she let herself fall into as she gave up hope. I didn’t have time to grab my weapons; I had enough time to end training with my soldiers and portal here with only the celestial dagger I held in my palm.
Thanks to Mio, I now have two swords in the sheaths on my back, daggers strapped to both thighs, and knives tucked into each of my boots. I have a feeling I might need them all tonight.
“She told them she wouldn’t fight. Said they could have her if they let me go,” he breathes, his head falling back and his eyes firmly planted on the realms above. “It’s all my fault.”
Of course she did. I suspected it already, felt it was true deep in my bones, but I had no idea she’d be willing to throw her life away in an attempt to keep us all safe. This could end so much worse than she probably imagined.
“It’s not your fault, Mio. It’s mine,” I growl through clenched teeth, the anger at myself outweighing the rage I feel toward him. “It was me who let this happen. I should have been here.”
“Don’t worry, Kairos. We’ll get her back.” Hekate’s warm, gentle glittering blue fingertips pressed to my shoulder send calming energy my way, but it’s useless.
The shattering heartbreak alongside the void of all-consuming emptiness now that Nora is gone are not things magic could ever possibly heal.
“I can’t feel her at all, Hekate. It’s as if she has disappeared completely.” I close my eyes, focusing again on connecting to her energy or her soul or fucking anything at all, but there’s nothing to cling onto, nothing to grasp and pull me toward her the way I’m used to.
My bleeding, mangled heart, the one that has always beat for only her won’t heal if something bad has happened to her. Though a part of me knows the truth. She’s not here on the Earth Realm any longer. I would feel her. I would feel something. She’s down with Nyx in The Underworld. It’s the only thing that makes sense.
I shake Hekate’s hand off my shoulder, disconnected and gazing blankly at the ground, not wanting her comfort or positivity or her bullshit lies of getting Nora back anywhere near me. The fresh, crumbling cracks in the pavement draw my attention, and then I’m running, chasing the demon tracks I was too distracted before to see, the scattered pieces of cement a possible trail leading right to Nora.
How can I live or breathe or fight another day without her? I can’t. I’d allow Nyx to slaughter me herself just to end what would be an irrevocable, never-ending life of misery.
The stench of stale evil smacks me in the face as I stall at the edge of the dock, my boots mere inches from the faded, wooden planks, hesitating as if walking across those planks will plummet me into an ocean of endless suffering. Hekate places glowing blue shields around us without even moving as together we take slow, cautious steps forward. Mio and I are made to sense and track evil, but Hekate senses it here, too. She takes my hand in hers and squeezes it tight, pulling me to a stop.
“Kairos, wait.” Gripping my forearm with her other hand, she looks at me, her eyes lacking their normal radiant glow and her energy dull and lifeless, a thing I’ve never felt around her before.
“What do you sense, Hekate?” I whisper, knowing the truth already but not allowing myself to admit it.
We’re too late. I sense her absence the way one might sense charged electricity in the air searching for a target to strike, in a way that feels detrimental and permanent. Hekate says nothing. She simply shakes her head and faces forward, Mio’s gaze once again shifting up to our realm, refusing to look my way. We continue across the dock until we’re standing at the edge, staring out at the waves and the never-ending darkness. The silvery moonlight glinting across the water isn’t enough to chase away that darkness; not the kind that has seeped into our hearts. The putrid scent of evil lingers, but even that isn’t strong enough to overpower the scent of fresh blood. Nora’s blood. It’s unmistakable. Mio and Hekate’s eyes are pinned to the boards near my feet, and that’s when I notice the black scorch marks from venom, even the wood blistered and raw from the burn of it, and the crimson stains splattered all around us.
Crouching, I drag my fingertips across the blood stains, breathing her in deep within my lungs, letting the truth of what has happened because of me not being here to protect her burn me alive. This is why I no longer feel her soul connected to mine. She’s not here. She’s not alive. Nyx took her from me.
“Kairos, this is not permanent. She’s going to ascend. She’ll be a celestial when she wakes up, and we’ll go to The Underworld. We’ll get her back.” Hekate wipes her tear-streaked cheeks, crossing her arms over her chest. “This will not go unpunished.”
“I’ll go wherever you need me to. I’ll kill the queen myself if you order me to.” Mio kneels in front of me, his head bowed slightly.
As if I’m a king or a fucking savior or someone who deserves even a modicum of respect.
My hand trembles as I raise it, my fingers twitching as I open a portal to the Realm of Darkness. “Go home, Mio. Inform Queen Gaia of what has happened. She’ll want to know.” My voice is detached and deadly calm, the sound far away as if I’m not even here, but I need him to tell the others.
“I can stay, Ro. I want to help make this right. Please let me.”
I shake my head, still focused only on the blood stains of the one I failed so terribly.
