Page 69 of Once Written in Gilded Blood

“Kalel, it didn’t work. I…I don’t know what else to do,” I cry, tears slipping down my cheeks as my husband wraps an arm around my center and carries me, running as fast as he can to get us through the carnage and away from the center of the battle.

King Achill chases us on horseback. “Kalel, you traitorous thing. You will die with your precious demigod wife!” The king’s voice rings through the valley.

Anger shakes me down to my core. I stop and turn swiftly, holding out my hand and praying to Apollo for another one of his arrows. A gilded arrow spun from golden silk appears in my hand, the power of it stronger than ten suns.

I see the look in King Achill’s eyes as I thrust the arrow toward him. A flicker of fear and knowing one’s end is near smooths over his expression before acceptance.

The arrow strikes him straight in the forehead, knocking him clean off his horse.

The moment is surreal, and for a second, I think we’ve done it; the fighting will stop. That everyone will see that their kings are dead and that their fighting is senseless. But that’s not what happens—the thunder continues to roar, and the swords continue to clash and strike one another.

Kalel grabs my arm and looks at me. “Alira, we’ve tried everything. They will not stop. All we can do now is retreat. We can still live a life together, you and I.”

Tears brim from my eyes. “We can’t do that.”

He gives me a desperate look filled with grief and anger. “And why not? Haven’t we given them every raw part of us? Haven’t we dirtied our hands more than we’ve ever asked for?”

I cover my ears, overwhelmed with the sounds of death and lightning around me, the scent of burning flesh stinging my nose.

My heart is racing faster than it ever has before.

And then I hear a voice, smooth and calm as a windless night.

Venus.

“Only written in gilded blood can it be undone.”

Chills move up my neck, and I can feel every hair on my neck stand.

I look at Kalel. His eyes are begging me to run away with him. To leave the warring kingdoms to their own ruination.

I let my attention shift to the scar on his cheek, where he was wounded deeply the night he died, and Pluto listened to my prayer. Once upon a demon’s heart, it was done. I thought it was me who changed his fate. He was supposed to die that night; Venus said it herself. He wasn’t supposed to live. But it wasn’t me. It was the first thread in an unwoven path. His surviving the night because of my wish was the first stitch in a new fate.

Only written in gilded blood can it be undone…the last stitch.

An ache splits through my chest. That can’t be what she means…but the dagger, the same one she must have used to rewrite the fate she wished changed for me. Is that why she sent it with me?

Kalel cups my face with both of his hands, peering down at me with misery brewing in his golden eyes. “Are you okay? Alira.” He jostles my head until my eyes focus on him.

“I know what I have to do,” I whisper.

It’s so loud that I know he doesn’t hear me past the bloodcurdling screams and clanking. My eyes shift to the demon kingdom, the veil down and how deprived of nutrients their land is. How vulnerable they are to the gods who want them gone.

Minerva gave me the power that was used to make the veil, didn’t she?

I stare down at my hand, power from all the demigods before me dancing on my fingertips.

I have to end the stitch and make this place whole once more.

Kalel tries to pull me away from the battle around us, but I stand firmly. He gives me a quizzical look and then notices that I’m grabbing the dagger.

“What are you doing?” he shouts as I slice my palm and let my gilded blood drip.

“I’m sorry, my love. Please forgive me one day.”

Kalel clamps his hand over my lips before I can say more, his eyes burning with emotion. “Whatever it is you’re about to do, little godling…please let us do it together. I will not exist in a world in which you are not a part of.”

Tears fill my eyes because, truthfully, I’m not sure what will become of me.