Hurry. The human king will see you if you don’t move quickly.
Tears filled my eyes, though I didn’t know why. I clutched the gemstones to my chest, and I ran.
One
Tessa
PRESENT DAY
Andromeda shoved the bloodied human to his knees. “Kill him.”
I stood motionless, gazing into the cruel face of my captor, the God of Death. She had not left me alone for long after she’d dragged me from Kalen’s side. I’d paced in my cell of a room for an hour—two, at most—with its luxurious carpets, smooth silk sheets, and bedside chains.
And then she’d come for me, wearing a gown made from red paper silk. She wore a brass bustier around the chest and waist, and the gown’s long sleeves were embroidered with golden creatures that resembled shadowfiends.
The human who bowed before me had long, mangy brown hair caked in dirt and blood. A stained tunic hung from his gaunt frame. It might have been brown or white at some point, but it was impossible to tell now. Quite the contrast to Andromeda’s pristine clothes. My stomach roiled, but not from his stench or the sweat dripping down his cheek. Andromeda’s words echoed in my ears like a death knell.
“Do it yourself.” I stepped back and lifted my chin in defiance.
She smiled. Even though we stood in a cavernous Great Hall, empty save for the three of us, the walls closed in tight. Her presence seemed to expand with every moment that passed, making the room smaller and smaller, like Oberon had once seemed to do. But after seeing the gods, I realized just how small he’d always been.
Andromeda would have crushed him beneath her pointy boot if he’d still been alive.
The room itself had once been a hall for merriment and official courtly business, based on the emerald tapestries that lined the stone walls and the oak tables shoved into the far corner. A rich, golden carpet softened the floor beneath us, though the human’s blood soaked through the threads. Andromeda did not seem to notice or care. It wasn’t her hall or her carpet. Why should stains matter?
“No, I will not do it myself,” she said. “You will.”
“You cannot make me.”
“You have a gift, and youwilluse it.”
“A gift?” I fought the urge to laugh and instead kept my expression as cool as steel. Andromeda had broken me down, but after I’d sobbed and screamed and cursed the skies that first hour I’d been in captivity, I’d vowed to myself—and to Kalen, wherever he was now—not to let my emotions control me. If I was going to beat the gods, I would have to keep myself from falling apart again.
“My power is far greater than anything you could imagine,” she said. “So yes, it most certainly is a gift.”
“I don’t need to imagine. I’ve used your power, and I know exactly what it can do.”
She narrowed her deep black eyes. “And yet, you hold yourself back from it. I can sense your hesitation, my daughter.”
I flinched, despite myself. “My mother’s name was Ula Baran. And she—”
“Ah yes, Ula Baran,” the God of Death cut in, her top lip curling back. “The woman with so much hate in her heart that she forsook her own daughters and left them in the arms of her greatest enemy, the Mist King.”
I looked away.
“Is that not how the story goes?” she asked. “My spies tell me she fled into the mist, leaving you and your sister with the fae king she’d always hated with every fiber of her being. She thought escaping would be her salvation. Instead, it was her doom.”
“Do not talk about my mother,” I said, my voice cracking.
I understood what Andromeda was doing. She was trying to get into my head and manipulate me into doing whatever she asked. What better way to break me down than by reminding me of the pain that drenched my past like the blood on this carpet? She would know I still grieved for my mother, that I still felt betrayed by her actions. But Andromeda was not human. She didn’t know what forgiveness was.
The God of Death could not understand love.
After a moment passed, I met her gaze and said, “No matter what you say to me, I will not kill this man for you.”
The human sagged forward, pressing his forehead against the stained carpet.
“I see.” Andromeda’s boots scuffed the carpet as she came closer. “You believe this is a request and not a command. But I’m afraid, dear daughter, that you have no choice in the matter. Kill the man, or I will send my brother to cast a plague on Dubnos. I was going to leave the shadow fae to their own devices, but if you force my hand…”
