She placed it against her lips.
Was it thatshewasn’t ready for motherhood, or was it the world that wasn’t prepared? The warring landscape was no place to raise a babe, but yet those little eyes returned time and time again.
She lowered the bottle.
Therewaslove in this world full of hatred, if she knew where to look. This pregnancy wasn’t yet a babe. It was still simply light growing and changing inside her body, but her boy pulled her from darkness time and time again.
How could she leave him in the aether, never to take physical form? Never to grow and carry on the legacy she and his father could build? She was certain she wanted a life, a family, with Araes, but every path toward that future was just beyond an impenetrable impasse.
She raised the draught again, letting its sweet scent bristle her nose.
Keep fighting, Mama.
Maybe those words, spoken so many months ago, weren’t for her. Maybe they were forhim. For the life she’d give to her son. For the world she’d sculpt and change for him. Every logical piece of her mind screamed at her to drain that bottle. Drink every last drop and let this moment in time fade into dust.
But there was something else. A quiet voice among the many. One that welcomed this new chapter. This new life. It was ancient and older than all the rest. The whisper begged her to put the draught away. Dump it down the drain. Fight for a life created out of love. Sobs Tethys tried so hard to suppress fell from her lips, escaping into the midnight air.
She couldn’t do it. As much as she willed her throat to open and her hand to pour the draught into her mouth, she couldn’t.
Tethys imagined the thousands of women facing thesame decision. The heartbreaking truth in a world ruled by men. The guilt. The pain. The feelings of being selfish whilst fighting for lost dreams or lives they deserved.
There was incredible strength in making either choice. And now, she’d have to find that power within herself. Was she strong enough?
She wasn’t sure, but she’d fight like hell to find out.
Without giving herself the opportunity to change her mind, Tethys threw the draught at the wall. Glass met gold-plated stone and shattered instantly, its liquid scattering in droplets across the floorboards.
She would keep fighting, keepbattling, and never stop.
† † †
“Polaris agreed,” Altair said, piercing a grape with his fork. The summer god joined Tethys and Araes for breakfast the following morning. “It came as quite the shock to learn that our sister was aware of your ongoings. Not only aware, in fact, butsupportiveof this disastrous plan.”
“Where is she, then?” Tethys asked, wrapping her linen shawl tighter over her shoulders.
Araes watched the two immortals throw sour glances like daggers at one another from across the massive oval dining table.
He hadn’t found even a few minutes of sleep once they’d returned from the docks. Every time he willed his eyes shut, only the sounds of Tethys’s hushed sobs haunted his thoughts. He was no stranger to the wraith-like memories coming to life with the setting sun, but seeing her so broken, so fractured, terrified him unlike all the rest. He felt powerless against the enemy she faced. Defenseless amidst its attack. All he could do while she donned her armor and wielded her blade was hold her. Offer her the warmth of an ally. It felt like enough. And yet, something he couldn’t quite pinpoint lingered, sending reminders ofjust how helpless he was.
“She has things to tie up in Ursae. She’ll be here as soon as she can,” Altair replied coldly. His eyes reflected the early morning sun beaming in from the row of windows opposite the table.
“As soon as she can? You cannot be serious. Time is already dwindling, and now Polaris decides to keep us waiting?” It wasn’t anger, Araes realized, that curled Tethys’s fingers into fists. It was fear.
“Easy, sister, we’re lucky she intends on leaving Ursae at all. The attacks from the far north have increased rapidly, and with the northern reinforcements already stationed in Venia, she can’t risk leaving her people unprotected.” Altair’s voice, like the calm breeze filtering in from the southern seaside, simmered the fire now blazing across the table.
“There will be no one to protect if we don’t reinforce the gate. Are you both thick? Why am I the only one in our family that truly sees just how dire this situation is?” Tethys rose from her seat and paced to the windows.
Even beneath the sheer force of her rage, her golden curls were luminous in the sunlight, highlighting each wild tendril falling down her back. Araes shifted in his seat, his untouched breakfast plate growing cold before him.
“I do understand, sister, but just as your loyalty is with Venia, hers lies with the Ursaeans. Until her wards are strong enough to shield the north from the flatland creatures or the war in Venia is won, she cannot leave her people defenseless,” Altair said, joining her at the window. Araes watched the immortal siblings share unspoken words. Altair scanned Tethys’s face with impenetrable composure—his cooled control meeting a fiery inferno.
“I—We don’t have time, Altair,” Tethys hissed. Her correction, although subtle, didn’t go unnoticed. Araes rose from his seat and traversed the battlefield to stand by herside.
“What do you meanyoudon’t have time?” he asked, tucking a curl behind Tethys’s ear. Altair wasn’t blind to the love between them, but the gesture was a risk. Araes knew Tethys was reeling, slipping into the flames of rage she tried so hard to control.
“I-I misspoke. Get Polaris here sooner, Altair. Or transmit us both and I’ll talk to her myself,” she demanded, leaning into Araes’s affection.
“You will not command me, sister.” Altair’s power, like the fiercest of gales, sent tremors through the palace, shaking even its foundation. “I have opened my home, turned a blind eye to your transgressions, and offered you my support.”
