“They did. All white. Minimalist lines. Sharp corners but perfectly round forms for the tall towers,” he said, then walked over to a villa ahead on the right side of the alley leading toward the city center. “And look here. Three steps in front of each house. Everything is slightly elevated,” Tristan added. There was certainly a pattern, an adherence to certain architectural and functional norms. Tristan continued, “My guess is the river would overflow sometimes, enough to flood the houses. So they built this final version of the city about five feet above.”
There was a story already weaving in my husband’s head. I loved that about him. He found meaning in everything, even where I’d never bothered to look before. It had come with the territory of being a living creature, and I looked forward to experiencing that for myself—the awareness of having limited time in this world.
As much as I enjoyed Tristan’s anthropological observations, however, there was something else I needed his advice about. He had yet to steer me wrong, and I’d become accustomed to relying on his counsel for major decisions. I followed him as he moved closer to the villa, then sat on the bottom step, looking up at him. “Death will expect me to reach out soon,” I said. “If I tell her we’re on Biriane, she might pull the plug on this operation.”
“You think? She did let you go ahead with the other two,” he replied, joining me on the step.
In front of us, the alley stretched from left to right with almost identical houses, each with a five-foot foundation and tall, rectangular windows with black iron frames. Square planters lined the street, but the dirt was sterile. Trees and greenery had grown in them once. Now there was nothing, only a white dust that had settled over everything. It made me feel a little sad. I was the very concept of everlasting life, yet I sat here surrounded by death.
“Maybe she considered her soul fae secret to be more of a misdemeanor,” I said. “She didn’t want to talk about it. Just told me to get on with it, specifying that we’d discuss everything later.”
Tristan sighed. “And she didn’t remember Thezin, so getting to the bottom of that mystery was important to her too.”
“Yes. But this… this is an atrocious lie. She said I was her first. She treated me as such, but she lied. Not just to me, but to everyone else, including my brothers and sisters. Imagine what the Soul Crusher will say when he hears about this. Or the Time Master, who still worships Death and adores her more than anything. It will break them, Tristan. She won’t want us to go ahead with this.”
“What will happen, then, if she pulls the plug on our mission here? You’ll be ordered to come back and renounce your dream of having a family, I guess… but what about Anunit?”
“Death will probably have one of my siblings finish the race. Or maybe she’ll come here herself if I refuse to back down. Either way, none of the scenarios that begin with me telling Death about the World Crusher and Biriane will end well,” I said.
He thought about it for a moment, but his response didn’t come as a shock. I was already thinking it. “Then lie to her,” he said. “You can make yourself unseen to her. She won’t be able to track you.”
“If I lie, we can get to the bottom of this completely undisturbed.”
“Anunit must be stopped, too,” Tristan added. “She’s got too much power for my comfort.”
“I agree,” I replied. “To be honest, I’ve made my peace with the possibility that I might not see this dream of having a child come true, when all this is done.”
Tristan frowned, eyeing me closely. “It’s literally half of the reason we’ve come to this forsaken place.”
“It is, but let us consider something. Do you think Death would have locked away the World Crusher without good reason?” I asked. “I wouldn’t release her if it meant wreaking havoc into the universe. It’s where Death and I come apart. I would never do anything that would hurt the living, or my siblings for that matter. Anunit’s deal means I can get a body and have a child, have a family with you. Who am I hurting with that?”
“No one.”
“But if I let the World Crusher go… and she does something unforgivable, where does that leave me? My aching desires are not worth such horrible things,” I decided, despite the pain that throbbed in my chest upon reaching this decision. “No. We will learn the truth about the World Crusher, Tristan, but we can’t complete the third trial if it endangers others.”
He smiled a little sadly, and I knew we were on the same page, knew I’d made the right choice by bonding my soul to his. Not a day went by that I wasn’t blissfully aware of this marvelous truth. I had found love in the strangest of places, in the most difficult of circumstances. His light had brought me back to the surface. I refused to do anything that might endanger him or our relationship. This third trial was one such thing, even if Tristan didn’t say it himself.
“And once we have the truth and the three days have passed, we’ll capture Anunit and bring her back to Death,” I added. I had scanned the area prior to this statement to be sure the Reaper had really left us and wasn’t listening in.
“What if the World Crusher is harmless? The name is worrisome, but—”
“The Soul Crusher’s name is enough reason to put him away forever. Yet he roams freely, twisted as he
