I kicked the body behind me, shoving it with my heel, but didn’t break eye contact.
“A single drop ofimportantblood, anyway. See, Prince, you were born in Hell. You don’t share memories of The Fall, of the Watchers, of our brothers who once knew what it was like to be on the winning team. You’ve served your kingdom, you’ve loved your people, and I’m sure you will try your hardest.”
He stretched his sausage fingers toward me as if to pat my head. I scowled, swerving out of the space before he could touch me.
“Your father kept you from the real enemy for as long as he could. Either that, or you weren’t important enough to register on our hit list before now. Hell’s Fraudulent King probably knew what it would do to you when you realized: you’re outmatched. There’s no triumph for you. Not when you go toe to toe with Heaven.”
He punctuated the point with a final bolt through the cage that separated us.
His cronies walked up to the edge of the dome but remained on the safe side.
BW’s forced smirk was more annoying than if he had been truly amused. “Finally, you’re grown enough to play with the big boys.”
Satisfied with their taunting last words, it seemed our interaction had come to an end.
Tits turned to leave with BW close on his heel.
Lucky loitered just long enough to say, “You didn’t want her to be in the prophecy either, right? This is her best-case scenario. If you love her, maybe you’ll let yourself see that.”
A high-pitched whistle bounced off the clay walls. Tits barked his command as they departed.
“Hey! You coming or what?”
Lucky meant to convey something with the weight of his last look, but I couldn’t fathom that there was anything he could say or do that would make this situation better or worse.
She was alive.
She was safe.
And for as long as her family worshipped our nemesis and prayed over their home, she’d be close enough for me to touch, while being a lifetime away.
I experienced a new kind of loss as I watched the three men disappear.
I settled onto the clay shards and stared up at the window, hoping for a glimpse at who she was in this life, a sense for her smile, her health, if she was happy. I sat for a day and a night, but she did not come to the window.
What if this was it? What if, in this cycle, her faith carried her to an afterlife in Heaven? What if our story was over before I’d gotten the chance to say goodbye?
The clear sky was pink with morning light. The angels did not return, nor had I moved, threatening the boundary they’d set.
I detached from the hope I’d felt in Hell’s stadium, surrounded by almighty beings willing to press their oaths into our treaties.
My heart hollowed, its beats echoing in a tinny, absent way as I stared.
I could rally the pantheons.
I could make history with unforetold treaties.
I could be one half of a legend that belonged to the two of us alone.
I could get the support of my kingdom, of the gods, of the world.
And it still might not be enough.
Chapter Seventeen
450 ADE
Idrowned in an ocean of tedious exhaustion.
