Kai’s head lifted.
“Wait.”
Ione’s heart rattled as Lina stepped down into the grass and drew her own amplifying ward, a warm, smouldering circle burning around the both of them.She held her head high as she stood at Lina’s right side, an exemplary heliade except for their linked hands.
“Two – ” Lina cleared her throat, her fear palpable.“Two gods are – are together on the mortal plane for the first time.”Her shoulders shrunk, doubtless feeling the weight of thousands of eyes on her; she was grappling for the right words, the best ones.“This shouldn’t be settled by – by men.This should be settled by us.”
One pair of eyes weighed heavier than the rest.Kai’s breaths were coming out in shallow rasps, his hands clenching and unclenching.Ione felt the same battle in Lina, too, the tensing of her muscles beneath her skin, the dance of her pulse in her fingers.
“We will let the two gods meet,” Lina finished, her voice steady.“Their outcome will be the right one.”
Kai was shaking his head.
Saros saw it, too.He chortled.“Agreed, Kai.It was a lovely speech, dear, but I just don’t see why I should entertain it.”He turned.“Kai – ”
Kai shook his head harder.“Please,” he said, his voice breaking.
“Kill her.”
A bitter wind blew.Kai raised one arm, reared back.He wasn’t.Surely he –
Light flashed.Ione saw him move.Saw something hurtle towards them.She heard a little gasp, Lina, too stunned to block it.
Ione threw her weight into her.A spear of ice as thick as her arm bolted like lightning, inches from her face – and plunging cleanly through Lina’s chest.
Someone shrieked.Ione, her throat tearing as she fell with her, held her face, screamed her name.Movement in her periphery, Mikau, rolling Lina onto her back; Cynthia, wrapping her arms around Ione; Kai, in the distance, falling to his knees.She heard him crying, begging her to forgive him.
The spear shattered, ice crystals glittering.The reek of blood choked them, the deep red of it staining Lina’s yellow dress, the grass, their hands.Mikau knelt over Lina and summoned a bubble of water, pressed it over her wound.Their muscles tightened and they bared their teeth, concentrating, concentrating.
The successor is dead!, someone cried from Rigel’s army.They fell back, scrambling for safety, disregarding Rigel’s commands that they stay, attack, give their lives as Lina had.
As Lina had.
Why hadn’t Sowelan stopped it?Was this what He had intended – to free Himself from His mortal shell, humanity be damned?
“Heal her,” Ione commanded, staggering to her feet.
“Ione, I – ” A small, guilty noise.“I’m trying.”
“Do it.”She whirled, in time to see Kai’s mother draw an ice blade.
With horrifying coolness, Saros melted her blade and backhanded her, sending her stumbling back.“Restrain her,” he barked at Nalu.
A scuffle, Nalu, wrestling his mother away from Saros, his words low, a warning; Malia, kicking, damning Saros, damning Nalu, damning them all.
Kai was still on his knees, his face buried in his hands, River’s arms around him.Saros clicked his tongue.“Stand up,” he shouted.“Quit your crying.”
Mechanically he obeyed, shoving River away.River understood, then, and drew his sword, sprinting towards Saros.
“You too, River?”Saros said, amused.To Kai, “Protect me.”
A compact ward wove itself around him.A bloodcurdling buzzing reverberated when River’s sword made contact, snapping the fine blade in half.
“Not one of you appreciates hard work.Deciphering the mess Llyr called a journal to study the ins and outs of gods and wards was no small task.”Saros heaved a great suffering sigh.“Well, then!”he said, brightening as he addressed Rigel’s dwindling forces.“We’ll finish it here, will we, son?”
Kai stirred.He was trying to talk.“Kill me,” he said, and again, louder, desperate.“Someone has to kill me.”
Saros’s voice lowered to an ominous timbre, a death knell.“Flood the earth.Let only our devoted few in Caelos survive.”
