He hisses, “Maybe they will, and maybe they won’t, but you will fight if you want to live because you’re going to become Nyxthos’s champion. And you will have magic flowing in your veins by then.”
My hands go to my daggers, not bothering to try to break his grip. I already know I’m not strong enough to stop him from choking me to death. As my fingers wrap around the hilts ofmy daggers, the stone behind me flows around my arms and legs, trapping my biceps and thighs in place.
I know I could use my Mark of Chains to escape it. I could break free, but he’d replace them with shadows or bone to keep me in place. Just as I refused to use the Mark of the Lantern to free myself from the shadows, I keep my secrets now.
His eyes never leave mine, and they burn with anger as he squeezes tight enough that I can’t breathe. Then it softens, and I think he’s going to release me. Instead, he presses his crimson lips to mine, and everything changes.
The Prince of Bones has used his powers of seduction on me nearly every time I’ve spoken with him since that night in his tower, and I’ve managed to pull away each time. This time is different. I know he’s using them on me, but I don’t want to pull away. I don’t want this kiss to ever end.
I wonder if I would survive it.
My worldview changes. I orbit this man, this terrible creature. I remember everything my father has told me about him. I know his savagery, but I want him to use that savagery on me. I crave it. The world could burn around me, and I’d burn along with it just to linger in his embrace for another moment.
His nails scrape against my neck, and I wish he’d dig them into my skin. I don’t want to survive this kiss because then I’d have to live in a world where I wasn’t touching him.
The Prince of Bones is not a man, not even a Godforged. He is a god, and I would pray at his altar for the rest of my life if only for one more moment to feel his lips on mine.
Then the cold begins. It starts in my throat where his fingers hold me tight and travels down to my chest. My heartbeat slows, and I know exactly what’s happening. I’m dying. It’s not the first time I’ve felt this. The Mark of the Phoenix can only be attained when you have faced your own mortality.
I don’t pull away. I don’t run from the kiss that’s slowly killing me. Everyone dies, so why wouldn’t I want to die in perfect bliss?
As the world goes dark, I see him pull away. All I want is to beg him to come back, to finish what he started.
His lips curl up, and his nails brush against my cheek one last time before I fade into the darkness and wonder if I’ll ever wake up again. Part of me hopes I don’t.
Interlude 5
SaeliraandKaelithwalkedthrough the mists of the Realm of the Lost. Four years ago, the young prince had been born. The Goddess of Destiny, in her gossamer dress and veil, looked like a child beside The God of Lost Things. He wore blue velvet robes and was barefoot on the dark soil. Like an old man and his granddaughter, they walked quietly through the silent forest.
The world was not at peace, and though they were gods, they knew the future was far more uncertain than they’d expected when they were woken from their long sleep.
Gods rarely fear anything, but they, more than any others, had the foresight to know the paths before them were wrought in strife and anguish, even for the gods.
“The prince will not be enough to save this world, to save us,” Kaelith said in a soft voice. “Even now, at four years old, his soul is broken. Our youngest sister’s touch breaks all things, even her future champion.”
The mist curled around them as their feet padded softly down a road that led both nowhere and everywhere at once. The Realm of the Lost was unique in that it was both a part of Nyth and outside it, lying alongside it rather than separate from it.
“It is as you say. Her touch, at the moment she claimed him, changed his soul. He has the strength to protect us all, but I do not believe he will be whole enough. When she takes him fully, I don’t know what will become of him. He will not break as others believe, but he will…weaken.”
The chime of a silver bell sounded in the distance from one of the young prince’s birthright gifts he had forgotten. Forgotten by the one who should be its bearer, a mirror image had appeared in Kaelith’s realm.
“There are no others to take his place, and he must be trained. He cannot be coddled as his parents do now, but what other options are there?”
The old man stopped, his blue eyes glowing with power as he looked down a path that he’d never considered. “What if we didn’t depend solely on the prince? What if there was another to help him, to be the strength of heart to his strength of arms?”
Saelira paused for a moment, her gray eyes glowing just as brightly. “I cannot put this in his path. I do not wield the powerto make the correct choice or to connect the strands in a way that will be productive.”
Kaelith bowed his head for a moment. “I may be able to. Every soul is lost when it swims the Endless Sea. But by the Pact, I cannot influence the world of Nyth as I would normally.”
“Then do not influence Nyth. Influence that which has not yet come to Nyth. Change the soul before it has found the body.”
Kaelith nodded slowly. “This I can do. But the soul will need the right conditions to be raised in. The path must be laid thoughtfully, and this I cannot do alone.”
The sigh that came from Saelira was like the wind, soft and soothing. “The young ones are not part of the Pact. Together, the three of us will lay the child’s path. The others have forgotten the purpose of all of this, but the young ones have not. Find the soul, and we will prepare Nyth for it. Do it soon. We do not have long.”
Chapter 21
“Tell me of the little mouse you’ve been playing with.”
