Perhaps it was true.A war that started between gods could only be ended by gods.
“Ione, we…” Lina trembled.Or maybe it was Sowelan, wasps droning within a hive.“We should go after them.”
Ione’s face slackened with horror.“No.No – of course we shouldn’t.”She braced her hands on either side of Lina’s face and narrowed her eyes, searching for Sowelan within Lina’s.“Sowelan,” she began sternly, “is tricking you.He wants us to bring Him to Menon.And then what?”
Her response was instant.“Two gods should meet – ”
“One of you will die, Lina!Die!”
“ – without interference.”
“Don’t listen to Him,” Ione demanded, holding her gaze, forcing Lina to stare right back.“Don’t give in.”
You run and you hide and you tremble in fear.
You relinquish control to those who would tether you.
Lina jerked out of Ione’s grasp.“You said we shouldn’t run from this.”
“Yes!”Ione shouted.“From the entirely separate issue of Saros!”
Lina stood, cursing when Ione caught her arm and dragged her back down, both of them tumbling into the bed.“I followed you back into the altarhouse, to Castor.”Lina rolled on top of her and pinned her wrists down.“I followed you up this mountain, into a shrine full of people who would happily kill me.”
Ione struggled, chest heaving.Ice flurried around her clenched fists, but with just a look from Lina, it melted.“I just got you back,” Ione gritted out.“I can’t lose you again.”
“I am not a prize.I am not a doll to be locked away while my people – your people,ourpeople – are about to go and destroy each other.”Lina bore down on her, tears straining her voice.“You told me we couldn’t run, but you were only talking aboutyourbattles,yourproblems,yourgrudges.”She pressed her harder into the bed.“What about me?What aboutthis?How can I keep hiding from death when I might have the power to stop it?”
“Kai is dangerous,” Ione hissed through her teeth.“And so are you, even if neither of you mean to be.”
“Do you think I want anything to happen to Kai?Toanyof us?”
“I know you don’t!”Ione writhed beneath her, but Lina held fast, kept her still.“That is why,” she cried, “even if it takes the rest of my life, I will keep you two away from each other.”She arched her back, weakening.“I – I will keep youalive.”
“For millennia, sun and moon have chased one another across the sky,” Lina said, and although it was her voice, or close enough to it, Ione went limp.Stared up at her through wide, petrified eyes.“This bond stretches deeper than your oceans, brighter and more infinite than the stars.I am life and valour and truth, and She is death and secrets and all that which hides in the dark, and if we are to meet then no mortal may stop it.”
Lina lowered.Pressed her lips against Ione’s forehead.“Sleep, if that is what you want.”
Ione shook her head, tears welling, streaming down her cheeks.“Lina,” she begged, “Fight Him.”
“Sleep,” Lina commanded, a prayer, a spell.The warmth of summer blanketed them, the air perfumed by sunlight, bright citrus, a fresh green world.
Ione breathed it in, the scent of safety, of a golden afternoon.Little by little she relaxed, her fists opening, her eyelids fluttering shut.
“Sleep, knowing that you are safe,” Lina murmured, kissing her one last time.“Sleep, knowing that you are so very loved.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Ione
Ione stormed through the halls of Caelos, fury piercing through the gut-wrenching terror.
A light ward.Sowelan.Although it was Lina’s voice He used, the spark in her eyes, the heat, was undoubtedly Him.She shivered, grateful beyond measure that Lina’s affection for her kept her alive: it would have been much faster, a flick of the wrist, for Sowelan just to immolate her and disappear.
If Lina had that much power over Sowelan, then Ione could still reach her.
In the wake of this afternoon’s news, the shrine was eerily silent, benches and tables empty, market stalls unattended, common rooms deserted.Her eyes flitted to a window as she passed, trying to gauge the time from the dingy light.She’d passed at least an hour in a dead sleep.The bed was ice cold when she awoke, confused and frightened, the duvet folded over her and tucked beneath her shoulders.
A door creaked open, perhaps out of curiosity at the echoing of her boots against the tiled floor.Just as quickly, it snapped back shut.Everyone else, it seemed, had had the same idea she did: hide away, wait for this to pass, leave their fates to the gods.To Kai.
