“Tell your gods they failed.” His voice shook. “That their creation favored corruption.”
So only he could hear, I whispered, “I’m the only God left.”
One strike with my blade, and his crown fell first. Then his head hit the stone with a wet, final crack.
My fingers trailed through the blood staining my dagger as his crown rolled to rest beside my feet.
CHAPTER SIXTY
Verena
ITHOUGHT ENDING HIM WOULD QUIET SOMETHING IN ME.
It didn’t.
Lightning split the sky behind me, stitching it in silver and thunder as I turned to where Ronan walked toward me, away from Isolde’s shattered form. But my stare stayed fixed on her as she lifted her head, oil-slick blood sliding down her cheek.
Her lips parted, and that whistle cut through, terror breaking loose from her shoulder, a streak of dark striking Ronan square in the back.
He jerked, a sound escaping him that I had never heard before, a sound that bent the world around it. The bond lit up as he arched, pain flooding unbearable through both of us.
The shock of it split through my spine, and I staggered under its weight as he fell to one knee, blade sliding from his fingers. Heat rose off his back in waves as the venom burrowed deep, right where his wings had met his flesh. The skin seared, blistered, then stilled. His body fought to mend itself, but where the wings had sat, where his power lived, the curse caught hold. And it burned, turning black at the edges, fading until nothing remained.
“Struck silent, are we?” Isolde’s voice coiled behind me. “Funny how easy killing becomes once the curse finishes hollowing you out.”
I turned, slow. Her hands rested behind her back, composed. My eyes darted toward Ronan, toward the wreck of him, and she saw it.
Her smirk deepened. “Don’t bother,” she said. “He’ll live. For now.” I barely made it two steps before her voice cut sharper. “Daughter—”
My head snapped up, to where Nezra, bloodied and trembling, was still trying to shield Elva with one arm while Ford reforged a weakening barrier around them.
A figure stepped forward from the doorway. Audra, smiling. Except her delight wasn’t aimed at Nezra, not at her long-lost love. But at Elva.
She moved with purpose, kneeling beside Nezra, murmuring something low into her ear before reaching for Elva’s body and collecting her in her arms. Nezra fought to keep her grip, despite the pale that had taken over her skin, despite the blood soaking her armor.
“No.” My palm flung open, my dagger racing to meet Audra’s neck—
Between one inhale and its shadow, Elva was gone. Torn from Nezra’s grasp and lost to the starless deep. The blade still sang through the air, and with the drop of my palm, it fell right at Nezra’s feet.
A false playfulness brightened through Isolde’s bared teeth, making my skin crawl. “Well,” she said. “We got what we came for.”
Violence bloomed where breath should’ve been and, in that moment, I threw everything I had left at her, light and flame and desperation. But the magic stuttered, then dimmed, guttering out before it even reached her. The well inside me had run dry.
And Isolde only laughed. “Have you noticed it yet, the crushing quiet growing between you and the ones you trusted most?” Her eyes glanced past me, toward the wreckage of everything I loved. “Ronan, Callum, your noble Luamisians.” She eased into my space, her shadow stretching between us. “They thought your death would seal her safety. That one’s blood could protect the other’s crown.” My lungs froze mid-breath. “You were forged for sacrifice,” she whispered, “not salvation.”
I screamed, flinging what power I had left, but she was already retreating, her form dissolving into her own smothering pitch. Just before she vanished completely, her voice intruded into my mind—Viper to Viper.
He still owes the oath.
My eyes caught on Ronan, still on his hands and knees, trying to rise. Blood ran down his back in streaks, pooling where his wings would have sat on the ground. A choked sound left his throat in strangled pain.
Her voice wove deeper, curling around my skull like a vice.It’s not void just because he loves you. That bond still binds him.A pause. Then, soft and cruel, she said,Eventually, he’ll have to kill you.Her grin leaked through my mind.Maybe he’ll do it while you’re still in his arms. Or maybe you’ll slit his throat first. Either way, one of you dies.
Ronan’s fingers dug into the realm, his jaw locked, muscles drawn taut with the effort. His wings, his birthright, were nothing but burned flesh and shattered bone.
But they’d taken her. My purpose.Elva.
The noise of battle dimmed to nothing as the truth began to unweave. My entire life had been built on a lie. And little by little I hadn’t realized what had begun leaking back, ever since Callum had broken our bond.
