Epilogue
Kai
He’d wanted glory.His name to be remembered for generations.A unifier, a leader, everything his father was and more.
In a way, he got exactly that.He only wished it hadn’t come with a disclaimer: Kai Mahina, victor of the last war – after nearly drowning billions of people.
The light outside shifted, a cloud passing overhead.Kai parted the curtains, let an arc of pale spring light splay across his worktable.Diaries bound in old, cracked leather; countless loose, disordered pages and scrolls littered with spidery handwriting he could scarcely make out.Even trying to pissed him off.
He massaged an incoming headache from his temples and gave his eyes a break.As Saros had planned, the tall lancet windows in his quarters in Caelos overlooked Lodestone.A picturesque view.He imagined Saros standing where he was now, staring out at the world he loathed, gleefully awaiting the day it would all be under water.
Now, Lodestone appeared as it always did, as though it wasn’t almost washed into the sea just six months prior.Even the blood staining the mountainside had been erased by the rainfall, although if Kai lingered too long at the window, he could still see it.Feel it, smeared across his hands, streaming hot down his neck.
The ward he’d woven around Saros’s quarters – his quarters, now – reverberated, making his spine tingle.But it was only River, one of very few allowed through without permission.
Kai smiled, his heart swelling, the blood on his hands forgotten.If briefly.“Joining me?I’m reading about…” He chose a piece of parchment at random and squinted at the faded writing.“Llyr waxing poetic about how beautiful Menon is.Ugh.Or – hold on, there was another one about how much Saros hated his father for not ‘using’ Menon right.”
“Pass.”River crossed over to him, one arm fitting itself automatically around Kai’s waist.“As much as I’d love to read about the inner-workings of my adoptive father – ”
“Itisvery Daddy Issues.”
“ – the councillors from Polaros have arrived.”He smiled wanly when Kai groaned.“I know.Your mum’s distracting them for now.All I caught was that you destroyed an entire coastline, and you are going to pay to restore it.”
Kai pinched the bridge of his nose, cursing.While he wanted nothing more than to focus on purging Menon from himself, reparations had to be made for the cities that had been damaged and the seaside towns that had been swept away.The resulting endless meetings with councillors and priests were Kai’s burden to shoulder.
Especially since Menon refused to help, which he complained about with vigour.It was important to have hobbies outside of work.
“Really,” Kai said flatly, half-dragging River to a dressing table to make sure he looked presentable.“Such wanton destruction doesn’t sound like something I would’ve done.”
River made a noncommittal noise and laughed when Kai swatted at him.
Kai held his own gaze in the mirror as he fixed his hair, already anticipating an afternoon of councilmen arguing over budgets.“That sounds like somethingfuckingMenondid.”
Menon uncoiled, feeling to him like an ancient bloodhound waking from a nap.He was aware of Her, still conscious, as his eyes flashed silver in the mirror.“I have done nothing wrong,” She said loftily, “and I have nothing to apologise for.”
“Neither have I!”Kai shot back, slamming his hands on the dresser and making the mirror rattle.He glimpsed River’s reflection, behind him, waiting patiently for his partner to stop shouting at gods.“River – ”
“I’m not involved.”
Menon took over again, stern, almost matronly.“Youare the one who drank that man’s blood every day for months without realising.Your perfect storm of arrogance and stupidity is what led you to being warded;youwill be the one to handle the fallout.”
“Oh, aye, because the Celestial Pearl can’t even bother Her hole to – ”
She cut him off.He hated that She could, although in fairness, were their roles reversed, Kai would’ve walked them into an active volcano if it meant freeing himself.“You are tedious,” She said.That had become a catchphrase.“Direct your complaints where they belong, and do not summon me otherwise.I despise lumbering around in your body.”
A wave of ice screeched through him, a parting gift, and She was gone.
Kai’s shoulders slumped.Even brief possessions, what he called guest appearances, took a toll on him.He was thankful they were few and far between: unless Sowelan was in the room with them, Menon did not enjoy life on the mortal plane.He likened Her to a gorilla shaking the bars of its cage, but She didn’t find that funny.
A cool hand laid across his brow, making Kai sigh, contented.Things weren’t all bad.Kai pressed his hand over River’s, pinning its comforting weight to his forehead.“Ineen made a much better Menon than me.Menon at least liked her.”
River smiled.“You aren’t as bad as you think.”
“I might believe you if Menon wasn’textremelyvocal about how She yearns to rend me limb from limb and slither away on my lifeblood.Those words, too.I’m still a little nervous when I shave.”He lowered River’s hand and kissed it, his eyes roving across the room to his worktable, his bookshelf, all brimming with Llyr’s and Saros’s writings.The only things left of the Archpriest in this shrine.
So much knowledge.Studies, experiments, treatises; Llyr’s experiences summoning Menon, Saros’s attempts to recreate it, to bottle it and make it his and his alone.Kai’s job, now, was to parse what was factual, serviceable, from what occasionally looked to be the ravings of two obsessive madmen.
“Soon,” he muttered, holding River’s hand against his cheek, “I’ll figure out how to get rid of Her.Sowelan, too.”He let his eyes fall closed.“I’ll free us all.”
