She beckoned the tiny sphere closer. It floated to her, flying soundlessly through the white until it reached her hand. She took the delicate world between her fingers and tilted it so Eli could see the black stone of the bedrock and the glittering red vein of magma that ran through it. Eli’s breath caught as he recognized it, and Benehime’s smile widened.
You were so sorry to lose him, she said. And I hate to see you unhappy, so I brought Karon back and gave him a place of honor. Now do see how much you mean to me, darling? He’s not even a star, but I will share my paradise with him gladly if it makes you smile.
She kissed Eli again. See how much I love you, darling? Now—she released the paradise and reached down to seize Eli’s hands—come with me. Leave this dirty, thankless world, and come away to paradise.
Eli looked up, searching Benehime’s eyes for some hint that this was a test, that she was joking, but he found only sincerity and love. She was serious about going through with this, serious about taking him into that tiny sphere and leaving the rest of the world to rot. Eli’s eyes flicked to the green fields and blue waters, to the peaceful golden shore and the velvet forest, to Karon.
His chest contracted. The lava spirit looked so happy flowing below the ground again, living as fitted his nature. Could he be happy, too? Eli frowned, trying to imagine an eternity of walking beneath those trees, nothing to steal, no one to talk to except Benehime and her fawning stars for the rest of time.
Bile rose in his throat, and Eli jerked back, putting as much space between himself and the Shepherdess’s hands as possible.
“No,” he said.
Benehime cocked her head at him. No? she repeated, as though she didn’t know what the word meant.
“No,” Eli said again. “Thanks for the offer, but I’d rather rot here.”
Benehime began to tremble. Her shoulders shook, her hair rolled in waves like a storm-tossed sea. The only thing that stayed still were her eyes. They remained locked on Eli’s, the white irises widening as the love that had shone in them seconds before burned away to pure, violent fury.
Why? The word roared out of her as she surged to her feet, taking Eli with her. She shook him then, grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him until his neck was snapping. I’ve given you everything you’ve ever wanted! she shrieked. I gave you my love, my attention and adoration! Now I give you paradise, and you throw it back in my face!
Her fingers dug into him like knives as the shaking stopped, and Eli gritted his teeth against the pain, desperate not to cry out as she dangled him like a hooked fish before her. Benehime’s face was terrible in its rage, and when she spoke again, her voice was cold enough to burn.
Why? The word trembled. Why am I never enough? There’s someone else, isn’t there? Is it the Spiritualist girl or the demonseed? Or maybe your swordsman? She jerked him close, and this time Eli did cry out. Blood ran down his arms from where Benehime held him, the red painfully bright against the white perfection of her world. Tell me!
Eli raised his head, biting his teeth against the pain as he grinned in her face. “If you want me to list everyone I’d rather spend time with over you, we’re going to be here awhile.”
Why? she whispered again. You love me.
“I did,” Eli said. “A long time ago, when I was too young and stupid to understand what I didn’t want to know. But I wised up. I’ve seen what you really are, Benehime, and what you are is cruel. You’re a cruel, selfish, violent, spoiled brat, and I will never, ever love you again.”
Benehime hissed and dropped him. He hit the white ground hard, and the impact left him gasping. He tried to roll over, but Benehime’s white foot landed on his chest, stopping him. She crawled over him, forming a cage with her body as her face hovered just above his. For a long moment, she just stared at him, and then, without warning, she leaned down and kissed him hard enough to bruise.
You will have no other but me, she said when she finally raised her head. I will kill anyone else who dares to touch you. You are mine. Mine forever.
“I’m mine,” Eli hissed in her face. “My life is my own and no one else’s. But you were right about one thing.”
Benehime eyed him suspiciously. And what is that?
“There is someone else,” Eli said. “Josef, Nico, Karon, old man Monpress, Slorn, even Miranda and Banage. The list goes on and on, and the truth is I’d rather stay and die with any of them than live in paradise forever with you.”
As his voice faded, the air grew very cold. He could feel Benehime’s rage pressing down on him like a physical thing, and the small, realistic part of Eli’s mind whispered that this was probably it. He’d pushed her too far, and now she was going to kill him. But even as the truth dawned on him, Eli was surprised to find he didn’t care. After all that had happened, he’d rather die here than suck up to Benehime ever again.
But the Shepherdess made no move to attack. Instead, she rolled off him, her long white hair sliding after her. When she was on her feet, she glared down with a look of hatred so intense it took Eli’s breath away. And then, without another word, she turned her back on him.
Get out of my sight.
Eli was about to point out that she was the one keeping him here, but before he could open his mouth, the ground beneath him vanished. He plunged down in free fall. Benehime’s white form shrank above him, quickly fading into the white. Even so, her final words were as loud as though she were standing right beside him.
Never come back.
With that, the white world exploded into blue sky. Biting cold wind slammed into Eli’s body, buffeting him from side to side as he plummeted through the air. He began windmilling his arms on instinct, trying to get his head up. It did no good. He fell like a stone, going faster and faster as the wind ripped past.
Just when Eli was sure he was going to be falling forever, cold white exploded all around him. For a terrifying second, he thought he was back in Benehime’s world, but then the white stuff fell on his face, burying him in wet, cold dark. Snow. He’d landed in a snowdrift.
As the snow finally stopped his fall, all Eli felt was relief. He lay still in the freezing dark, so happy to be alive it hurt. No, he was actually hurting, and not from joy. His back ached from the impact, and the weight of the snow above him was crushing his chest. He was buried alive.
At that thought, his body exploded into action. He thrust his feet down and began to swing his arms around, batting madly at the snow. At the same time, he flung open his spirit. That hurt more than anything else. Opening his spirit now was like trying to use torn muscle, but Eli gritted his teeth and kept at it, running a plea through the snow, begging it to move.
For a long time, the snow didn’t even seem to hear him. And then, slowly, it started shuffling. The tiny movements became larger ones as the bank woke up. Eli increased his pleading, and the snow obliged, rolling out of the way to form a tunnel up.
Eli burst out of the snowbank and rolled onto his back, gasping and shivering. He wasn’t sure how long he lay like that, sucking in air and reveling in the pure joy of being alive, but eventually the world began to assert itself again. The first thing he noticed was how dark it was. He stared up at the sky, wondering how long he’d been gone for it to be so late. But the longer Eli looked, the more he began to suspect that it wasn’t actually night at all. The night sky didn’t roil and move like the one above his head. He frowned, squinting up at the blackness just as a wild fork of lightning flashed, lighting the sky up from the inside.
Eli caught his breath, and then he was scrambling to his feet, cursing himself for an idiot for not recognizing it earlier. There was only one force of nature that brought clouds like that, and it didn’t take a genius to guess what the Lord of Storms might be doing up here. He floundered in the loose snow, looking for traction. The moment he found it, Eli opened his spirit as far as he could before the pain stopped him.
Sure enough, he felt the Heart of War blazing like a beacon to the west. Eli turned his feet toward it and started running, holding the Heart’s position in his mind. He didn’t know what he would do when he got there, but whatever it was, Eli hoped against hope that it wouldn’t be too late.
Josef gripped the Heart in his hands, blinking against the sweat that poured into his eyes despite the cold. Behind him, Nico was slumped motionless against the cliff, and ahead of him, standing on the flat ledge like he owned it, was the Lord of Storms.
The tall man looked completely unruffled. No sweat stained his brow, and his breaths, if a storm needed to breathe at all, were so calm Josef couldn’t see them. The Lord of Storms held his sword high before him, his arm
