Unable to move, I shifted my attention. Watching, the king slid from his throne to his knees, bowing to the woman standing before him. With his gaze downcast, he kissed the ground, Malrik wasting no time removing my dagger from his flesh to do the same.
“Goddess Sorva.” Head pressed to the dais, the king remained motionless, every action clipped to perfection as if he were…afraid. “To what do we owe the pleasure of a visit from a powerful god such as yourself?”
Her forked tongue jutted out between her onyx lips, lapping across them with irrefutable hunger. “Oh, the lovely obedient King Marellan. It is always a blessing to surprise you with visitation, for you never disappoint with your cowering devotion to us.”
“O-Of course, our Beloved Other.”
Other?
As in The Others? The gods and goddesses many stopped worshipping? The ones who damned those once higher who’d loved humanity more than their own essence?
Purring, she turned, her glowing ember gaze burrowing into my soul. “You would be correct, you gorgeous, radiant beam of light.” After answering my internalized curiosity, she dipped her head to the side. Stepping toward me, her taloned fingers danced across my waistline before traveling up my abdomen and toward my chest. “Though you are unfamiliar, the scent of corruption that wafts from you is intoxicating, and you’re more than pleasing to the eye. Tell me, which of the Damned were you born from?”
“I wasn’t?—”
Before I could utter a reply that felt too natural, Malrik interrupted. “With all due respect, Sorva, we were in the middle of discussing rather pertinent things.”
“Something more important than the very gods you kneel before?” A sinister snicker tumbled from her as her gaze lifted, irises beaming with a far more vibrant hue. “I do not believe there is anything more valuable than the allegiance the Others offer you and this kingdom. Though if you disagree, I am more than pleased to inform my four counterparts otherwise.”
“No,” the king blurted, shaking his head near-desperately. “I-I mean, what Malrik is referencing is of importance. We were discussing Caspian Vayne.”
She froze where she stood; her sharpened canines making an appearance as her lips curled into a sneer. “What of my little pet?”
There was something in her demeanor, in the very way she shifted at the suggestion of the man I would have once sacrificed myself for, that made my heart sink. It wasn’t only her ties to godhood that earned the building sense of dread, but also the fixation she seemed to harbor for him—the same obsession King Marelan had indulged in since before I could remember.
And that fucking nickname? What the hell does she want with him?
“What would one not desire withCaspian Vayne?” she whispered, her serpentine tongue flicking against my jaw before traveling down my neck. “I mean, isn’t he the man you wish dead for all he’s put you through? Isn’t that why you are here, Alastair Seridean?”
The pitch of her queries was entrancing, mind-numbing in a way that no drug or alcohol could surpass. Each syllable contained a poison that subdued me even further, flooding my senses to the point that I’d forgotten the concern I’d felt seconds prior. It wrapped around me, snuffing out my sanity until I became transfixed on her articulation and the manner in which she spoke, a manner that seemed to reignite my darkest desire.
Caspian’s death.
My reply tumbled from my lips as her hands continued their exploration, running up my stomach and chest before one curled around my shoulder, the other stopping just below my throat. She leaned forward, her icy essence brushing my back as her rosy scent enveloped me further, pulling me beneath the waves of her natural tendency to subdue.
It was a feeling Iknew, a feeling I’d experienced numerous times and somehow couldn’t seem to remember, no matter how much I tried.
“What if I told you,” she mewled, kissing the shell of my ear as she kept her voice soft enough that only I could hear, “that Caspian’s blood is just as valuable as Ellira’s Eyes? That he is bound with ties just as similar?”
“T-That’s impossible.”
“Oh, but is it that unlikely?” Her sharpened nails danced over my collarbones, nicking my skin. “Why else do you believe the king and his lapdog are so adamant about keeping him leashed to the throne while hunting for Ellira’s Eyes? Did you ever stop to consider that, perhaps, Caspian Vayne has secured one of the Eyes and infused it with the very essence of his soul?”
Impossible.
Impossible.
Impossible.
“Oh, darling, it is not.” Retreating, she stepped from behind me, her fiery gaze settling on mine as she brought her finger to her tongue. “Caspian’s veins contain one of the Eyes, andwe, the gods and goddesses, who you humans have devoted your lives to,needhim alongside the missing ruby. The Damned wish to infiltrate things, but I hold control over Captain Vayne. Even when they try to wrap their tendrils around him, that control remains pertinent.” Lapping up my life force, her mouth curled, building into a malicious grin. “And your prior connection to him, your deep-seated loathing,Alastair Seridean, may be the very key we need to find him.”
“What are you saying?” I practically whispered, my body rendered helpless beneath her presence.
“What I am saying is that you, by the decree of celestial bodies, have been elected to hunt down Caspian and either,” lifting a finger, she glanced at it and then back to me, “kill him yourself and strip him free of his life force, which you will return to me.” Gesturing toward her hand, another digit lifted. “Or, you bring him here, and we will take care of it while granting you the capabilities of godhood.”
“And if I decline?”
“Oh,love,” she laughed, shaking her head. “This isn’t a matter that you get to decline; it is an order. So you’ll either obey and survive, or refuse and watch as we strip you of everything you’ve ever loved and your own autonomy until you crave a death we will never grant you.”
