She gives me a look that’s suddenly so bleak, it cuts into my heart. “I want you to end your father’s reign so that my son can come home.” Her voice becomes a snarl. “I want you to do what even the assassins haven’t been able to do: tear at the rotten soul of that ecosystem until it’s clean again.”
My chest squeezes. But of course, I should have guessed that her wishes would align with mine.
Even so, I’m cautious. “In your version of a clean ecosystem, what happens to dark creatures?”
“Balance,” she says. “Darkness is needed. Just as light is needed. The Nostra Empire used to respect this, but your father has been tipping the scales in the wrong direction for the last two decades, influencing other dark creatures to make choices they would not otherwise have made. He must be stopped.”
She takes a shaky breath. “Come with me. I will take you to Jormungandr now.”
That’s James’s true name. Jormungandr, the World Serpent.
She turns toward the far corner of the cabin and sweeps past it, pausing only to check that I’m following her.
I consider what she said as I follow her around the side of the cabin, processing the heart of her message.
Dark creatures need balance.
We need our darkness. But we also need the light.
I follow Rebella through another layer of trees before we exit into a wide clearing.
A bench is located on the far side, but otherwise, the clearing is empty.
A moment after we step into the clearing, James appears abruptly between the trees, taking quick strides toward us. I eye the air around him, taking note of the glimmer in the air when he appears.
He hurries straight toward me. But it’s clear he’s speaking to Rebella when he says, “Good. You didn’t kill her.”
Rebella gives him a smile as she saunters up to him, draws him to a stop, and plants a kiss on his lips. “I tried. But she’s as resourceful as you said she is.”
James returns Rebella’s embrace, his arm remaining around her as he returns his attention to me.
I’m surprised—but also not surprised—to see the affection between them. The fact that a fury like Rebella could love this old god, who must have accumulated layer upon layer of blood on his hands, is stunning to me.
At the same time, I knew Elijah came from somewhere.
I’m also a little uncertain of the changes in James’s appearance.
He’s a tall, lean man with dark-brown hair that falls across his brown eyes. His previously short and neatly sculpted beard is longer and scruffier, and the scar that runs down the left side of his forehead and cheekbone seems more pronounced.
The last time I saw James, he was dressed in a tailored suit. Now, he’s in jeans and a flannel shirt that looks as roughed-up as his beard. The only really consistent aspect of his appearanceis the katana sword resting in a scabbard at his back, its braided handle visible over his right shoulder.
I eye him warily, thrown by the drastic change in his appearance and conscious of the weapon at his back.
Not that he needs it.
He wears living snakes across his torso that masquerade as tattoos and come to life when he needs them. They can immobilize their prey with a single injection of poison.
Come to think of it, it makes him a little like Rebella in that aspect.
He greets me formally. “Veda Nostra, Daughter of the Nostra Empire. Welcome.”
Well, it certainly beatsDaughter of Assholes, the title I adopted when I was on Ryuji’s island.
Given how formally he greeted me, I return his salutation in kind. “Jormungandr. Old god.” I arch an eyebrow at his beard. “Looking your age.”
Without responding to my verbal jab, he gestures to the bench. “I’m sure you’ve come for information. I’m happy to give it. But I’m also certain that being out here in the open is as bad for your health as it is for mine. If you will sit, Rebella will guard our location, and I will answer your questions as promptly as possible. Then we can both disappear again.”
I’m not entirely sure where he intends to disappearto. Or where he might have come from just now. I guess I assumed he would be hiding out in the cabin, but instead, he’s gesturing me toward a bench in an open space that feels unnecessarily open and exposed.
