Page 56 of Once Written in Gilded Blood

I bite my cheek to keep the tears from returning to my eyes.

“She may not be as angry anymore, but she thinks I’m a monster. And perhaps I have been one. I don’t think she will ever love me the same again.”

My mom only holds my hand reassuringly as she guides me to the door. “I think you would be surprised at what love can do. You may even discover that it isn’t meant to stay the same, only grow. Now go.”

She urges me out the door. I stand at the doorway, memorizing her for as long as I can. “We will meet again,” I say with a hopeful smile.

She nods, waving at me with a warm grin, the way she always used to before I left to go on my missions. It’s so similar that it almost feels like a dream, a memory.

But she’s right. I have to find Alira.

Chapter 21

Alira

I only walk maybe twenty feet away from the village, but when I turn around, everything is gone. A mist thicker than a cloud has swept in, and I have no idea where I am. Panic sinks into my chest, making it hard to breathe. The tips of my fingers start to numb.

What the hell is happening? My pulse races.

My steps are hesitant, and the visibility is low. It only takes a handful of them before I’m staring up at a foreboding crystal cave. It’s not bright here, like it was in the village. The mist makes the cave look glum, and the crystals don’t shine as they should.

It seems foolish to go inside, but the mist feels like a worse option. I mean, this is Mortem, after all. I can only assume that we have nothing to fear down here. We are dead, or in between. I was led here for a reason, and the village didn’t just disappear. I wonder if there is someone inside I’m meant to speak with.

Cold air sweeps out around my ankles as I get farther in. Dripping sounds echo through the cave, bouncing off the walls as if there’s nothing else in here to absorb it. I move forward with caution, but it seems that there’s nothing in here to be afraid of; the cave just seems to go on and on until I reach an old wooden door that seems to be the end of the tunnel. I carefully open it and peek inside.

At the center of the room is a giant cauldron bubbling with a dark liquid that seems to absorb light. The black flames beneath it flicker with an otherworldly glow, casting eerie shadows across the cave.

Chills move up my arms, and I feel them before I see them. The Fates.

They are chilling beings to look upon. They resemble humans, but their skin is much grayer, and they hide things about themselves. One covers its mouth, the other its eyes, and the last its ears.

How my mother ever faced them, I will never know.

“Alira, daughter of Venus. It has been too long, and yet hardly any time has passed.” They speak all at once as if they are of one mind.

I stand firmly, knowing that they will not harm me, but they still make me uncomfortable.

“Why did you give my mother what she wanted all those years ago? Why did you change my path?” I hate how pitiful I sound, but I genuinely want to know. It doesn’t seem like they’re willing to change fate so easily. Which begs the question: What did it cost her?

They walk around the cauldron in unison, grabbing a ladle and stirring it. “I’m not surprised that you are afraid of us. Most people are, but not Venus. We helped her because the goddess of love wanted nothing except your safety and your happiness. Tell me, godling, have you had happiness in your short life?”

I stare at them, wanting to say no, but I pause and think about it more. I have had a better life than many. There are so many others who have suffered so much worse than I have, and I think back to all the times that I did laugh in my kingdom with the knights I grew up with and my friend Korin. The years I spent training as a knight and the bonds I made with my comrades. The things I got to experience, even when I left my kingdom too. The realization that demons are not so different from us and have kindness and customs that I’ve never known. They live in ways that I wish all of Faultore could see for their beauty.

“Yes,” I say with a reminiscent smile, pulling at my lips.

They regard me quietly. “Then why have you ended up here?”

I narrow my eyes at them. They know very well why. They’ve likely been watching me for a very long time, knowing the meaning of each step I took.

“Shouldn’t you be the ones telling me? How do we get out of here? How do we stop the war?” I say more sternly. I’d rather just get to the point. I know better than to expect straight answers from the Fates; they seem to prefer their tricks and riddles.

“This war has been in the making since the demigods and demons were created. The fighting will continue until a sacrifice made purely out of love has been offered.”

“A sacrifice out of love? But what do you mean? In what way?”

They look at me for a moment, studying the desperation in my eyes, then glance down at the cauldron. The black liquid pops, and a few drops spill onto the cave floor. “You will know when the time comes.”

How will I know? Do they mean as in sacrificing myself? Or Kalel? It feels as if a sword has pierced my heart again.