Faceless corpses rest at my feet but their souls will not find peace, for Death is dead. My tears flow from my eyes and wash away the bodies until it is only me on the black beaches of Archech. They are coming for me. I know they are. The Inati will not stop until their master is avenged, but they do not know that I am already dead. This place...the place where my love has come to die is not where I will draw my last breath.
I straighten, holding a hand over my clenching stomach until the nausea subsides. The next vision comes without warning. There’s no pain this time, just a glimpse into the past.
“Here, Goddess,” a voice speaks quietly.
Hands stretch toward me with a sliver of rare Usulyni stone. She is loyal to me. I accept the sliver and wade into the glistening waters of the ethereal pool of our ancestors. The pool first came to be when the Mother of All was heartbroken and cried tears of pure magic. It is with these waters that I shall forge the blade.
I use the sliver to slice open my hand. Blood spreads from my body, mixing with the magic in the pool as lilies rain down upon me like a blessing from the heavens. There is pain. So much pain bleeds from my wound. It’s hot like fire, turning the sliver of Usulyni stone into molten metal. Black spots swarm my vision and I am lost to the darkness.
I come to on a bed of jasmine with the blade in which I call Redemption in my hand.
Redemption.
Lux must have thought she was saving Drogaem from the madness that tainted his reign. I look back at Willem and Kane. Now I don’t know who to trust. Right when I think the answers are within my grasp, something happens to throw me ten paces back.
Chapter 18
Kane
This darkness is not mine. It’s suffocating, closing in around me like a living entity. I can’t see through my own eyes. Briar’s voice is not but a warped sound that causes my ears to hurt. I am the tomb. I am in the place where my shadows are born, a corner of my mind where I am held captive by more than just the nightmares of my own creation. I am him...we...we are…
No, not we.
I think of Briar. I think of her smile and the way she looks at me as though she could find it in her heart to love me. I think of her scent and the way she tastes when I claim her mouth in a brutal kiss that tears open my soul and leaves it vulnerable for her to use as she pleases. There is nothing I would not do for her. I know that now.
I know the way she arches beneath me as I attempt to unite us in a way that would make the other gods envious. My little bride does not hide from my darkness no matter how afraid she might be. No. My Briar will stand tall in the face of my shadows and find comfort in their embrace. She shivers at my touch but does not recoil from the chilling caress of my hands.
Briar aches for me. She cares for me with every inch of her being and does not pass judgement unless it is earned. Her soul is pure light, for I have seen it chase away the darkness. She is exquisite. I hold on to her. I yearn for her. I….we…
No. No. That’s not right. Briar is mine. She is mine alone.
But I am not alone. Not now. Perhaps not ever. Here in my mind there is something watching me. My hands lift, but touch nothing. I can’t move closer to the nothingness here. It moves on its own. Nothing makes sense. Only Briar.
“Pathetic.”
That voice. It is mine, but not. It’s his voice, but not. Our voice, a disjoined sound of deep rumbles and breathless words. He is the darkness that is here with me. The one who came before the throne was ever mine to claim.
“I expected more of a fight from the one who plays pretend. How did it feel trying to live up to my immaculate image, Kane? I think I’ll rather like playing pretend as you.”
I say nothing. He is not real.
Cruel laughter rings in my head. “Oh, I’m real. I’m far more real than any monster that haunts these thoughts of yours. Such a broken, flawed creature you are…”
My silence angers him. It angers Death, not the title, but the force behind it. The true wearer of the crown. A manifestation of myself appears, but the smile is not quite right.
“Perhaps you’ll feel like talking when I get my hands on that sweet bride-”
“No!” I push back against the shadows that force me into this corner, but it is useless. I am not what Death holds hostage, it is my mind. “I’ll break free of this hold, Drogaem. And when I do, there will be nothing to stop me from sending you back to the abyss.”
The him that is me walks toward the corner where I am held against my will. He runs a finger along my jaw and clucks his tongue. “Your insolence will earn you no favors from me, Kane. Continue to show defiance and those around you will suffer.”
I clench my look away from the eyes of my enemy...from my own eyes that Drogaem hides behind. “I won’t bow to you…”
“Then I will kill everyone. I will kill your mother. I will kill your brother, Willem, Lilith, and everyone else you care about. And then I’ll kill Briar. Slowly. I will make you watch as she dies thinking it was you that killed her.”
“Don’t touch her!”
“And after her soul is within my grasp, I
