Page 7 of All Hallows Fate

As if it was contagious, Hugh ripped the dagger out of Cruelty and drove it back in, then again, plunging into her stomach, her side, her chest, under her ribs. Until blood pooled on the white square beneath us, until Cruelty writhed and sobbed. Too weakened by Cat’s venom to truly fight.

“What’s the matter, Cruelty?” I asked, letting some of my own malice free. “I thought you wanted to die.”

“Not like this,” she blubbered. “Not like this.”

A veritable ocean of death magic crashed from me into her, slamming into her chest, a harpoon that buried itself in her heart and dragged her down. She thrashed her head from side to side, babbling pleas, and I only wished my wife was alive to witness this. I wished there was a god of sacrifice, so I might throw this corpse at her feet in return for Cat, whole and alive once more.

I floated back, landing hard on my feet, impact juddering up my legs, making my knees buckle. I would have hit the floor if a familiar arm hadn’t snaked around my waist, solid and reassuring and never faltering.

“She’s not coming back,” Death rasped.

I watched Hugh follow Cruelty to the ground, watched him stab her over and over and over, until no life remained, and croaked, “I know.”

6

Cat

“This is bullshit!” I blurted, discomfort crawling over my shoulders and up my neck, tightening my skin over my bones. “I won’t do it.”

“Cat,” Ender sighed. Not in exasperation this time, instead in something like fondness. “You have to. You have to repair the domain. Nevermind that you belong there.”

“With people I don’t know?” I demanded, shrill and panic-sharp. “No, I’m fine. I’ll just stay here.”

Because if I left, Ender said I’d forget him. I’d retain everything he’d taught me, but forget where I’d learned it, forget who helped me navigate this awful path from death to death god. There was no doubt now what I was. I lost count of how many days passed here, how many lessons. How many failures, struggles, and successes. I would still be curled on the floor where I was reborn if it weren’t for Ender.

“You know them,” Ender said in a soft, patient voice that made me want to punch his shoulder. “You just have to remember them. Give me that paper,” he huffed, thrusting his hand out.

With a sigh, I handed it over, and then read the addendum he added at the bottom. Trust your bonds.

“What bonds?” I complained, surly and afraid. I didn’t want to go somewhere new, alone. This was all I knew—Exile and fog and Ender.

“I met them too, you know,” he said wryly, watching me scowl at the thinner veil of fog that would lead me to the domain of Death. “All your bonded ones. Your husbands, I believe you call them.”

“I’m married?”

“In all the ways that count. Although, I don’t think you have a ring, so when you meet them again, make sure you get a shiny diamond out of it.”

I shook my head. Now I was the one who was exasperated while he joked, our roles reversed. “I really have husbands?”

“Plenty of them,” he agreed.

I couldn’t help the curiosity. “What are they like?”

Ender pointed at the sheer veil. “Go find out.”

“But I’ll forget you.”

He shrugged. “I’ll live. Everyone else who’s been through has forgotten me. But Death might remember the last time he was here.”

“I’ll remember,” I insisted. “I swear it.”

His smile was indulgent. And sad. So unfairly sad. It gnawed at me like an ache, the injustice of him being imprisoned here for centuries, all because he fell in love and unsettled the balance instead of repairing it. Who decided that? Who had the right?

“Right, time to leave,” he insisted, giving me a light shove towards the veil.

I resisted. “But what if the fog attacks again? What if it carries you under?”

“I’ll be fine. Don’t make me push you into the domain.”