“Sometimes, if Kronos hit him hard enough, he would cry for his mother.” Sol snorted softly. “It always seemed so ironic when Morgen wanted her, some useless mortal woman who would have killed him the second she had the chance if she was alive to do it.”
Rage overcame her in a wave so potent, it burned her throat. It was only with the cold of the rising fire was that she realized her mistake in letting Sol goad her. Perhaps he had intendedBella to torture her to the point that the void would emerge but had realized all he had to do was talk about hurting Morgen.
She tried to stop it.
Her hands clawed at the darkness closing around her.
It whispered her name, promising an end to pain, to loneliness, to responsibility and burden…
She tried to stop.
But all she had the strength to do in the end was reach for the pathway one last time.
I’m sorry.
The darkness was drowning her, stealing the air from her lungs and icing her heart until it was nothing but a dead weight in her chest. Soon, it would take her mind, and then Sol would carry out whatever he had planned. She was probably going to die today, Morgen with her.
Nya, stay with me!
A tear tracked down her cheek. She couldn’t breathe. Nytfire blazed in her hands, and a suppressed scream built in her throat.I wish we had more time, but this is how it was always going to be.
NYA—
The chains around her wrists shattered.
A distant roar cut through the mountains, and the void smiled, laughing softly as it looked at Light. “You were always too arrogant for your own good.”
The god’s eyes were wide with delicious fear. “The world would not exist if not for me. I would just call that truth.”
“You still think that?” The void cocked its head to the side. “No, no, no… It was there when your sister awoke. You just couldn’t see it.”
The cavern plunged into darkness.
Chapter 25
Morgen
The dragon, Varax, finally spoke to me. I could sense it, when she opened the pathway between us, but as soon as I began to tell her of the coming danger, she told me she has heard the same warnings from her kind for many years. She chose them anyway. I left her after that, wondering if her choice was made out of love or foolishness. Perhaps they are one in the same.
—Ana, Priestess to the Usurper King, Arcadia
The light was unnaturally low,even for the Gods’ Aisle. Varax landed with a deafening thud atop the ashy floor of the valley, shaking her head in aggravation. Morgen knew she could feel the unnatural tether on the other end of the bond just as well as he could. He reached for Nya again, only to be met with the same suffocating press on his lungs, like he was drowning in ice.
Don’t, Varax warned when he pushed.
He pulled back, coughing as he opened his eyes. When he pressed his hand to his lips, it came back coated in crimson.
Nyx, Thanatos, Juno, Sora, Vane, and Carus all waited below. Heles, Thessilnn, and Veeron were perched on a nearby cliff, huffing and restlessly slapping their tails against the rocks.Vulcan was still circling above with his dragon. Carus had gone earlier to warn their forces to lay low for now. None of them had protested, despite their absence over the last several days. They were used to obeying orders. He just hoped Sol would be too occupied to target them.
Nya,Morgen tried again, his heart beating frantically. The agonizing pain he’d felt earlier had subsided when he portaled into the mountains, but the relief had been short-lived.
“I’m sorry,”she had said, like it was already over, like it was another way to say goodbye. He would not accept it.
He wiped the blood from his hand against his pants and dismounted, choking down the iron tang when his chest spasmed again.
Sora rushed towards him, Vane close behind her. “Anything?” she urged, her blue eyes huge and pulsing with silver.
He coughed wetly, and Carus looked at him sharply. Morgen ignored him.
