Vane’s breath caught at the sight of the waning moon slicing directly in half by a curved Misean war sword. Not Nyx’s mark, buther’s.
“Together?” she said softly, touching his face with one hand and pulling a dagger from her belt with the other.
Kronos rose to his full height, blasting apart the shadow she tried to cage in him without a thought as he roared, “You aremine.”
Vane met her eyes as he grabbed the bloody dagger Kronos had shoved in his chest. “You are my beginning and my end, my love. You know I will follow you into whatever oblivion brings.”
Kronos lunged as she kissed him, whispering against his lips, “Oblivion can wait. I’ll find your soul when we wake again.”
Thessilnn. Heles. Kill him.
Vane’s eyes widened at the realization as the two largest Vemon dragons to ever exist crashed into the throne room. Anabeth’s dagger, thrown from atop Thessa’s back, caughtKronos in the shoulder before he could reach Soren and Vane. He staggered back, buying them just enough time to whisper goodbye.
“I love you,” she whispered, kissing Vane hard while thrusting her dagger into his hand.
He angled it at her chest, the cold tip pressing against her sternum. “Always. My heart is yours to take, as is my soul.”
Thessa reared back her head, flames gathering in her throat.We will wait.
We will hold on to your souls with honor,Heles agreed with a roar.
Soren took the dagger covered in Vane’s blood and pressed it to his chest. “I am not afraid.”
Their lips met at the moment each blade pierced skin and bone. She gasped but kept her eyes open wide, looking into Vane’s steady gaze as the dagger tore through her heart. As the light began to leave his eyes and Death’s arms welcomed her home once more, her mark appeared on Vane’s forehead.
“Sora,” he gasped one final time before his breath shuddered and held.
Death enveloped her as dragonfire surrounded them.
Kronos screamed as he died.
But Sora only smiled.
32 Years After the Reemergence of Magic
Cion Livii wasa woman of the sword. She had been since she was four years old and Sir Gellings had placed a wooden replica in her hands. But in the face of magic, the blade was much less useful. It had made navigating such a world rather difficult, ruling it even harder. But with a demi-god at her side and a magic-wielder for a younger sister, she had managed rather well. After all, she had peacefully brought a bloody war longer than her lifetime to an end and been crowned queen of the realm’s largest kingdom, all at the green age of twenty-two. It had all made her a rather calm person. If she could handle a war and the return of the gods, with all the chaos they brought, she could handle most anything.
But today, as Valhamnor circled over a thick forest at the northern end of Mise, she found herself wondering if this was one task she might not be able to conquer.
Two Vemon dragons had been spotted nearby three days ago. When Ana read the scroll, she had turned pale as a sheet and begged Cion not to make her go. She insisted it was Cion alone. Ana dealt with the nightmares of the past by moving forward and never looking back. She had never returned to Arcadia againonce magic returned, had only ever spoken of that day in the former god king’s palace once.
Warm air whipped Cion’s braids around as she scanned the horizon and then the tree line. Perhaps the sightings had been a mistake. After all, the war-torn villages in this part of Mise had been abandoned decades ago. Ana wasn’t the only one who ran from ghosts.
But just as she thought it, a pale flash in the trees caught her attention.
Valhamnor?
Her dragon dropped altitude slowly, still circling as he replied.There is someone nearby.
Dragons?
He neared a clearing a few hundred feet away from the flash.You should investigate, princess.
He had never called her queen, insisting she was still the young girl she had been when they had met that day at the Choosing Ceremony. She pretended it didn’t bother her, but she had always known dragons were the wiser race.
His landing was quiet, and she slipped from his back with the ease and stealth of a practiced warrior in their prime, despite her aging mortal body.“Wait here for me.”
Each step through the trees was a battle, perhaps one of the hardest she had ever fought.
