I narrowed my eyes. “Do not threaten my sister.”
“Do not threaten me and mine,” she countered.
I looked at the others. They stood resolutely beside her. She kept calling them her brethren, and yet they had little in common. “You speak of them as if they’re your siblings, but they look nothing like you. How are you related?”
A slow smile spread across her face. “You ask to learn the secrets of the universe even as you seek to destroy it.”
“You’re the secret of the universe?” Nellie asked. She sounded as confused as I felt.
“No, little pet. Wearethe universe. We are the powers that bring life where there was none. We are the wind through the trees, the hope for better days, and the rage that burns in all men’s hearts. We are everything you feel and hear and see around you. And my brethren and I are related the only way we can be. Dirt and grass exist in tandem, yes? Storms give rain, watering crops to provide abundance. Abundance leads to war over territories. After war comes peace. Threading through it all are the two forces you mortals can never escape. Life and death. Death and life. The end of everything, and the beginning.”
That was more information than I thought we’d get. And it was a lot to process. But I couldn’t focus on that right now. I was only doing this to stall for time while our beasts drew nearer.
“Second question. You said you purposely let me have the Mortal Blade, so I would be tempted to use the gemstones. Did you intend for me to kill Callisto with it?” I asked.
Orion scoffed. “As I told you before, you didn’tkillher.”
“That wasn’t the question I asked.”
Andromeda pursed her lips as if she didn’t want to answer the question, which was all the confirmation I needed. Me killing Callisto hadn’t been part of their plan. A rush of satisfaction went through me.
“I didn’t think you would stab her, no,” Andromeda finally said. “We put the power of storms into your hands. I thought you would use that instead of the blade.”
As if to punctuate her thoughts, a breeze rolled in from behind us. Her gaze dropped to where my hand curled around the Mortal Blade. I brushed my thumb across the gemstone, stroking it to life. Overhead, thunder cracked the skies. A rich, intoxicating power buzzed against my skin and crackled through the rest of my body. There was a darkness in it, a pulse that felt as familiar as my own two hands. But beneath the surface of that darkness, there was the beating pulse of a storm. The wind and rain called to me, urging me to unleash the powerful, thunderous intensity of it onto the world. I ground my teeth to hold it down.
“Clever,” she said, smiling. “I’m pleased to see you’re finally willing to use the storms, though I must say it took you far longer than I expected. At least you can finally feel it now, can’t you? The power of it? The great darkness you cannot resist? How great you could truly be if you only drew upon the full strength of it. Show this world what you could do to it. Bring it to its knees.”
My thumb stilled. “I will never be what you want me to be, Andromeda.”
“You already are.” Her smiled widened as she took a step toward me, her cloak rippling behind her from the gusts I’d conjured from the jewel. “There is a darkness inside of you, Tessa Baran. There always has been. You can tell yourself you’re better than Oberon, than Bellicent, than any other fae or human who has touched our power. But you have always struggled with it. It has always controlled you.”
I flipped the dagger in my hand, then pointed it at her chest, though she was still several meters away from me. “Oberon was weak and in pain, and you took advantage of his suffering. Bellicent wasdead. And what’s more, they weren’t me. You think I’m weak. I am not. You think I will bend to your pressure. I will not. I have had your hatred and your rage inside me all my life, and I have not succumbed to it. You will not strip me of my humanity, no matter what you do to me.You cannot break me.”
Andromeda’s smile never dimmed. “You speak so highly of yourself, but you’ve already shown weakness against my influence on your mind, your heart, your soul. All this rage you carry with you—my rage—has controlled you far more than you’re willing to admit. You recklessly attacked Oberon in his own hall. You stabbed the Mist King when you thought you might love him. And now you’ve fled the safety of your army and your lover to make some kind of point. You could have fought bravely against us, and yet you have not. You want to believe you’re better than Oberon, but you’re just as weak. It’s the humanity in you. None of you can help yourselves, not even the fae.”
My heart thundered against my ribs. Her words scratched the scars around my heart. I’d fought hard to forgive myself for the things I’d done, but the reminders rubbed those scars raw. I had done all those things. I had felt the darkness, then. And I’d given into it.
But I was no longer that girl, and I would not let Andromeda’s words unravel the woman I’d fought so hard to become.
“Your derision for humanity will be your undoing. We’re stronger than you think we are, and you cannot destroy us.” I took another step closer. My dagger was only a few inches away from her chest now. “I will never join you. This ismyworld. And if you refuse to leave it, we’ll trap you for eternity in your fucking gemstones.”
A strange urge came across me. I pursed my lips and let out a low, mournful whistle. It was a song my mother had sung to me when I was young. The wind snatched the sound from my lips and scattered it across the ruined fields. Andromeda and the other gods stared at me as if entranced. I knew the words as surely as I knew my own heartbeat, though it had been years since I’d last heard them.
The darkness cries for the light
And comes undone beneath the sky
An old wind blows
With ancient woes
But light will never die
“How do you know that song?” Andromeda asked when I fell silent.
But before I could answer, Nellie whispered, “Now!”
The beasts sprang to life from behind us and charged.
