“All I wanted was a chance to ascend,” he defends. “Not ascension itself. I didn’t want to be handed anything, so I asked for a series of trials that could prove my worthiness. Sidarphion refused. That’s the moment I knew he was not worthy of his place in Cygnus’s pantheon, and he needed to be punished. By rejecting my blessing, he broke the rules, so I broke them, too.”
Her mouth goes dry. “How?How did you trap a god?”
“He did it to himself,” he snaps. “I didn’t create the trap. I didn’t curse the stars of Dracoemagyl.Hedid. All I did was bind him to the constellation, for I knew it was the only one he could not burn out. He had tied it to the MacLeods’ bloodline, and he could not undo it. He could not escape. Sidarphion fell victim to his own power and became a prisoner in a cage of his design. The stars fell out of balance, and I watched the nightmares drown him in sleep.” He smiles, then sighs while his stare drifts and his eyes turn glassy. “At the time, I did not have any intentions of killing him. But after many failed attempts at ascension, I realized I had no other choice. I simply had to wait for the right person to wake him.” He blinks, sharpening his gaze. When their eyes lock, he says, “I must thank you, Claudia, for turning your soul into the weapon for which I have waited an entire century.”
“No one has to die for this. You can let Sidarphion go. Unbind him from the stars. That’s all Lamour was going to do. Free him and we all survive.”
“What do you think he’ll do once he’s free? I will be his first target. It’s his death or mine.”
Claudia’s fists tighten around the metal bars. “If you don’t think you could defeat him, what makes you think you’re strong enough to take his place?”
His nostrils flare. “I already have defeated him, and you should be thankful. You want me as a god, for I will never let any harm befall Cassius. I will offer him divine protection. Sidarphion, though, will kill him the very second he gets the chance. If you truly love Cassius, you will do the only thing in your power to protect him: You will die, and you will take Sidarphion with you.”
“You’re lying to yourself. You’re not protecting anyone. You’re getting revenge on Sidarphion and you’re using Cassius’s curse as an excuse.”
“There is a great difference between poor excuses and righteous revenge. Cassius and I deserve godhood more than any of them, and if any gods attempt to keep us from our destiny, I will kill them.”
“If you do that, you’ll destroy the place you love the most.”
“You think I love Cygnus?” He scoffs. “I hate it. I want to reform it entirely, and if I can’t, I will turn it to ash and dust.”
“I won’t let you. You can’t poison my soul.”
Head tilted, he barks out a laugh. “I already did.”
She freezes. Cold grows over her body. She shakes her head as Triche nods.
“Yes, you’re dying right now. Can’t you feel it? Do you taste death freezing over your tongue? Do you feel your soul rotting away?”
Pressed to the wall, the sharp stones digging into her wounds, Claudia finally realizes what they are: constellations.
She reaches back, tracing the cuts on her spine. Crater, Virgo: To Make a Perfect Poison. Fear needles through her veins, burning at her fingertips.
No, not fear—death. Death is growing like a babe inside her, feeding off her life until it can rip through her body. How can she stop this? Is it already too late?
“Cassius will never forgive you. He loves me. He’d rather bear his curse than lose me.”
“Perhaps that would be true if you had not killed Lamour.”
“Youkilled Lamour,” she growls, holding back tears.
“That’s not what the rest of the school believes. You were my perfect cover. You will go down in history as the girl who began and ended her time at Cygnus in blood, and Cassius will be free to pursue godhood with no distraction. He will be just like me.”
“No.” Claudia leans against the wall. With painful force, she shreds the skin on her back against the stones, praying that the spell will stop if she tears it from her body. Every move is agony, but it’s all she can do.
“Fighting it will only make it worse. You can only prolong the pain. You cannot outlive it.”
Her chest heaves. A minute passes where they both stand perfectly still. There is no sound save for her laborious breathing and the soft crackle of the torch.
Triche gives her a sympathetic smile. “I am not a monster, Claudia. I am a god, and I am as benevolent as my circumstances allow. I do not want you to suffer in death, and you do not have to. You can simply let yourself drift, and it will all be over.”
Weakly, she steps away from the wall, leaving behind a silhouette of blood. She glances over her shoulder, and it looks as though her back has been flogged and beaten.
And the spell is still there. Glowing, burning, poisoning, killing.
“I don’t want to die,” she murmurs.
“You were going to die for your bargain anyway. I have made your death useful. This way, it’s coupled with vengeance. You will die, yes, but in doing so, you will slay Sidarphion. The liar. The nightmare. The devil who took a bite of your soul and made youinto a murderer. Don’t you want to bring him down at any cost? There is honor in that. You should be proud.”
