As if reading his thoughts, the goddess of the moon said, “When the false god who calls himself Clover took all the power from the fountain in our godsworld, we were left without our godly might. Only a morsel of our divine power remains.”
Kai frowned. “Clover can’t have possibly made it to the godsworld yet. We werejustwith him, and he was only leaving the Wychwood.”
“The abyss is timeless,” said Farran. “It doesn’t work in the same linear way as it does out there.”
“For us,” added the goddess of the earth, “it’s been centuries since Clover showed up in the godsworld and all but forced us to hide down here.”
“Since Equilibris sent us down here to rot, you mean,” growled the god of the sun, flexing his impressive muscles as if aching for a fight.
The god of the air laid a placating hand on the sun god’s bicep. “You know the alternative would have been Clover finishing us off. At least here, we’re safe.”
“I grow tired ofsafe. We were not meant for such a tedious existence.” The sun god spat on the floor. “Especially when Equilibris remains free to roamhisrealm, while ours have been plundered by a thief.”
“The thief will pay.”
The goddess of the moon spoke the words low and cutting, like a blade arcing through water. It was a promise, and by the look in the other gods’ eyes, they all were in agreement.
They meant to kill Clover.
Kai didn’t miss the complicated emotions that crossed Farran’s face. He didn’t look shocked; probably knew, or at the very least suspected, that the gods would want revenge on the man who’d taken their power. But there was something in Farran’sexpression—bleak resignation, or maybe reluctance—that made Kai wonder how much space Thames’s old feelings took up inside him, despite everything Clover had done to him.
“Thought it was Equilibris you wanted to stop,” Kai said. “Isn’t he the one who’s threatening to reset the worlds?”
The goddess of the moon waved a nonchalant hand. “Nothing he hasn’t threatened before. Besides, he won’t need to resort to such measures if Clover is eliminated and our worlds are restored to their former glory.”
“But we can’t do that from the abyss,” said the god of the air, their eyes scintillating. “Which is why we’ve been seeking a way out, biding our time here until we could step into the worlds of the living. And here you are at last.”
Kai’s skin prickled unpleasantly at the way the gods looked at him and Luce. He tried to catch Luce’s eye to see if she felt the same. There was a crease between her brows as she seemed to consider what they’d been told.
“Why the worlds of the living?” she asked. “Clover would be in the godsworld. If you mean to stop him—”
“We cannot go back to the godsworld and risk Clover finishing us off,” the goddess of the moon said sharply.
“He is too powerful for us now,” explained the goddess of the earth, a sad smile tugging at her full lips. “But by setting foot in the realms we’ve created, we have a chance to shore up our power, gather our strength.”
“And force the thief to give us back what is ours,” the god of the sun gritted out, pounding a fist in his hand.
Luce looked entirely convinced. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to Kai—she’d do anything to save her daughter, and if it meant trusting these gods to stop Clover, so be it. But he couldn’t shake the nagging sense that they were pawns on a board, and the gods the game masters willing to win at all costs.
“How exactly do we get out of here?” Luce asked, full of hope. “Can we sail the ship back to the path of stars and make our way through one of the doors?”
The gods laughed like it was the funniest thing anyone had ever said. “If it were that easy,” the goddess of the earth said, “our emissary here would have carried us from the abyss a long time ago.”
Farran shifted uncomfortably at the title.Emissary.He met Luce’s questioning gaze and said, “The ship is bound to the abyss and the deepest depths of the sleepscape. It won’t go beyond where I rescued you from, and that was already pushing the boundaries. There’s no going back up to the path of stars.”
Luce’s face blanched. “But then, how do we leave?”
The goddess of the moon gave Farran a weighted look. “Did you deliver what we asked of you? To the boy?”
Farran nodded. “The ritual is in his hands.”
“And you think he’ll be able to decipher it?”
“I’ve known him to make sense of more complex rituals in the past. I have faith he can do so again.”
Farran’s eyes shifted to Kai as he spoke, as if he were nervous about his reaction.
“Then it shouldn’t be long now,” whispered the goddess of the moon, tipping her head up to the gnarled roots above them. The other gods did the same, their smiles expectant, hopeful,ravenous.
