“Hekate, she is taunting you. Ignore it.” My muscles flex as I hold on to her tighter, her grunting and fighting against me. I lean in, whispering only to her, “We came here for Mera. Let’s focus on that. After we know she’s safe, if you want Nyx dead, I will happily kill her myself.”
She relaxes against me, tilting her head back and meeting my gaze. “That is not Nyx, Kairos. It is not her,” she breathes, slumping back against my chest as if all hope or life has been drained away. “I am not who you think I am, either.”
All I can do is stare back at her and say nothing, because what the hell am I supposed to say to that? She’s seeing what she wants to. Hearing only the words she chooses to. But I’ve never seen or felt her this way. She’s not making sense or even thinking clearly, from what it seems. What the hell does she mean she isn’t who I think she is? Maybe there was something off about that water she drank earlier. Her energy shines brighter than anyone else’s now that she has shown us the queen she is, but as I look at her now, it’s barely palpable at all. The bright glimmer of her soul is just a faint whisper of what it was before, and gods does it kill me to see her so dim and hopeless.
I help steady her and wrap an arm around her waist to keep her upright. “It’s okay, Hekate. Everything will be alright. Fate is on our side, remember?” I smile down at her, and though she doesn’t return it with one of her own, she nods once, pushing her shoulders back and holding her head up high.
That’s good enough for now. Ignoring Nyx, I let my eyes drift across the realm, the hairs on the back of my neck and my arms standing on end. The celestial light in my soul rages with the desire to destroy everything that exists here, but it also curls away as if searching for safety from the ancient, foreign evil that exists here that it’s never felt before. This kind of darkness, the kind that has corrupted her soul, it’s not the same as the darkness her or Mera were born with in their blood. This kind should be extinguished from our world. Nyx clears her throat and drops her hands to her sides, and my attention immediately snaps back to her.
“King Erebus, I thought you might never arrive. We have all been impatiently waiting for you. I nearly died of boredom with these two.” Her words are flat as she clasps her hands behind her back, pacing before the throne platform, snarling, winged demons flanking her sides.
There’s a fucking king of the Underworld? Why the hell am I just finding this out now? I search the darkness for any sign of Mera, but I don’t see her. The black flame torches around the stone pillars and the shadows that seem to be getting thicker by the second are all I can see. Then the shadows change, they take shape and form and another set of curved horns and leathery wings like the demons come into view. My celestial dagger thrums at my thigh and I carefully slip it out of my holster, the light flashing to life in my hand and allowing us to see what exactly is hidden in the darkness. We both freeze, Hekate clenching my forearm tightly and me keeping my dagger raised as Mera takes slow steps toward us.
“The river did not lie. It’s him,” Hekate whispers, slowly beginning to back away. “Kairos, there’s something you need to know. Many things.” She grips my forearm and drags me backward.
I try to pull away from her, but she doesn’t let me, shock and horror slamming into me as Ere’s face comes into view. “What the fuck is he?” I breathe, leaning into Hekate so no one else will hear.
“He looks so much like Nyx.” She shakes her head, her grip on my arm tightening. “It cannot be true.”
Hand in hand, the love of my life and Ere, who I’m almost certain is another demon or whatever the hell Nyx is, step up to the queen and my body trembles as rage and pain and confusion threaten to take over. He played the part of the innocent mortal so well, but to what end? What the hell does he want with her? He’s smirking as he holds Meras hand as if she belongs to him, and her…her bright blue eyes dim as she notices me here, her features shifting to a sadness that shatters my heart and has it crumbling to nothing. She wasn’t expecting me to be here. She didn’t think I would come for her. And godsdamnit, that hurts.
“Let my fated mate go, demon. Get your fucking hands off of her.” Lightning prickles under my skin, then takes life around my hands, wrapping up my forearms, my power and I coming to an understanding that we have no choice but to fight. “I knew my hatred for you ran deeper than just despising you for loving the one I’m fated to be with.” I step forward, gripping my dagger tighter as Hekate tries and fails to pull me back, hissing as the bursts of electricity running rampant across my skin shock her. “How did you hide what you are so well? How could a celestial and the queen of witches both be so blind to the truth? It’s impossible, unless…” I point my dagger at his heart, waiting for the moment Mera steps away so I can jab it straight through the thick muscle and watch him turn to ash. “Nora… I need you to let go of his hand and come to me.” I reach for her with my free hand, forcing my eyes to remain calm and unbothered as I swallow back the fear suddenly clawing its way into my blood stream.
“Go on, Kairos. Finish your thought. It’s impossible unless what?” He smiles, his glowing gold eyes swirling as they peer into mine.
Those eyes make me feel like clawing my own out just to avoid him staring into mine ever again. They make me feel nothing. Like my heart doesn’t exist and my soul isn’t real and the only thing that exists is him. I shiver and look away. Dark gods haven’t existed in our world for centuries as far as any of us knew, and yet, I’m almost certain from the power radiating around him that it’s exactly what he is. And seeing how easily Hekate hid who she was from me and everyone else, Ere pretending to be an innocent, naïve mortal could likely be done easily if he is one of the forgotten gods.
But why drag Mera into this? What the hell does he want with her? Maybe I’m wrong. Gods, I hope I’m wrong.
Are you starting to realize coming here was a mistake? This will not end the way you wanted it to.
I snap my gaze back to him, eyes widening as he simply smiles innocently as if he wasn’t just in my fucking head. Looking to Mera, hand still outstretched and waiting for her to run into my arms, she doesn’t move. She stands there, eyebrows scrunching up and that same sadness that lingered in her eyes when she first saw me beginning to grow. Glancing down at my chest, her face lights up as she catches sight of her amulet, and pain tightens my chest and clenches in my stomach, wishing she would have looked even half as happy to see me.
“Kairos,” she breathes, a small smile forms on her lips, but concern flashes across her features as she looks at me. “I’m okay. Except for the fact that the two of you followed me here. I wanted to do this alone.” She’s still holding his fucking hand, eyes drifting back down to the amulet around my neck.
Her head whips to the side to focus on Nyx who now slowly prowls toward her. “You tried to ruin my life over and over. You haunted my thoughts and used my grief as fuel to feed the darkness I have within, hoping it would take over completely.” She steps toward her, Ere releasing her hand and letting her advance without him. “I should kill you right now. You deserve to die if it’s true what they say—that you’ve tormented me even in a past life.” Shaking her head and looking her up and down, she stops mere inches away from the queen.
Nyx laughs, the sound high-pitched and jarring, a powerful shrill of magic capable of making mortal ears bleed. “I did not torture or torment you for fun.” She smiles and the sharp points of her teeth glisten as the black flamed torches flicker and rise higher next to her. “I needed you to see that you belong here. That you always have.” She leans forward, her lips brushing against Mera’s ear as she whispers, “I will enjoy using you to destroy the realms, Hemera.”
Ere glances my way and smiles, and it’s the same damn casual, innocent smile that Mera probably believes is charming and kind, but that I know is sinister and full of secrets. I take a small step forward, trying to sense what kind of power he has within, but it’s like a glamour stronger than I’ve ever felt before exists around him and within his soul that blocks me from feeling anything at all. I force myself to stare into his eyes, to not let whatever darkness lurks there drag me into never-ending despair, but he only allows me a glimpse of what he’s capable of. Whatever power he wields is one reminiscent of an empty void where nothing exists.
“I belong to nothing and no one, Nyx. If you think I’m going to stand by and let you use my power to destroy the realms, then you’re crazier than I thought you were.” Huffing a laugh, Mera rakes her eyes over Nyx, shaking her head. “I won’t be used as a weapon for your vengeance. I’m sorry to disappoint you, but my power isn’t up for grabs. It’s not yours or anyone else’s…it is mine.” Her palms glow with a blue and purple light that’s so bright it’s hard to look at, her power igniting into little flames that flicker and sway as she raises them toward Nyx.
The queen takes a few steps back, terror and excitement dancing within those crimson eyes.
I forgot how beautiful her power is. Mera holds all the light in the world within her palms, and I don’t think she realizes how special that is. How special she is. Gods, she is the light of my life. My flame within the darkness.
The demons flanking Nyx growl and snarl, charging toward Mera, so I don’t hesitate. I charge back. I race toward her, daggers out and ready to slice their throats open and toss them into the pit, but Eres power reaches them before I get the chance. Dark shadows stretch out from behind his back, tendrils whispering through the air, sharp and viscous and hungry. That distinct scent of foreign darkness, the one that’s wrong and makes my light hide within corners of my soul that I can’t reach, is overpowering now. He spreads those leathery wings out wide and smiles as his shadows engulf the demons within his dark power. In seconds, those shadows rip the demons apart, sending black blood and small bits of demon chunks flying through the air. A scaly, monstrous head rolls toward my feet, and the shadows follow, still ripping and tearing it to shreds. I watch in unmasked shock and horror as it liquifies in front of me.
Hekate grips my arm, her normally delicate fingers digging into my flesh as she pulls me back and away from Mera. “Kairos, I-I think we should leave. Immediately.”
“I’m not leaving her,” I spit, glancing at her for only a second before finding Mera next to Ere again. “You know I can’t. I won’t.” Stepping away, I take in her trembling hands and her glowing eyes, her dome of blue light shielding us, unbreakable and unyielding as it hums to life. I’ve never seen her scared like this before, and after that little display with the shadows, I can’t lie and say I’m not scared, too. “What is it Hekate? Tell me.”
She swallows, glancing upward and then back at Mera whose flames still rage and crackle within her palms. “None of us are who you believed we were, Kairos. Not me. Not him. Not even you.” Her hands tremble as she reaches up and places them against my cheek. “The River showed me the truth. I am not just a queen, Kairos. I am a goddess. And the old gods have spoken. Ere was using his power to block out the truth that sits right above us, but just now, when he used his shadows and was too distracted to care, the gods who rest in the Elysian Fields spoke to me and urged me to look up, and I did.” Sadness fills her eyes, tears glistening in the corners. “Look up, Kairos. Mera’s fate is out of our hands.” Her eyes drift up my face as she tilts her head back, a tear sliding down her pale cheek.
I shouldn’t have fucking listened to her. I should have ignored her words. Glancing up at the sky stops my heart, because the divine light twinkling brighter than the stars back home mixed with the swirls of velvety darkness that resembles Eres power, is a clear fucking sign from the gods that I am fucked.
Is love a game to the gods, then? The gods who have abandoned us and choose now to show up and obliterate my entire life. Mera’s fate is literally written in the stars and she will not be leaving with me. The gods have chosen for her to stay in the Underworld. Without me.
