Chapter 52

52

LECTURE NOTES FROM ANIMAL HUSBANDRY:

Rodents, reptiles, and amphibians require specific diets and housing structures. Rodents will eat something similar to bird feed, while reptiles and amphibians prefer insects and small rodents or mammals. Their housing requires frequent tending to; no creature wants to sleep in their own filth.

A fter she’d been escorted through the gates of the Central Divinity, Hades was led to the stables, while she trailed the Supremes on foot.

Guards eyed her warily.

There would be revolts, that was expected. When, she didn’t know. How often, she couldn’t think about that.

She was brought to the Supreme’s private dining room, rather than being chased from it. Seated at the table set for three, beneath a chandelier of enchanted candles, they established the rules of the New Regime .

The term demon had been stripped, for starters, and any citizen of Andera that unjustly took the life of another, would relinquish their own life. The army would welcome all four types of magic, working together, and enrollment would not be mandatory.

Importantly to her, the Supremes would no longer be barred to the capital, and the checkpoint between territories was no longer required.

The last topic they discussed was the Troika—which would be dissolved. It was agreed to replace them with a few members of each bloodline, selected at random for each trial.

Regardless of positive progress and dire change, she felt sick without Soren.

By the time she was leaving, Noam and Rhetter had arrived at the gates with a basket of eggs in tow. They’d found the cave she described, collected hundreds of Echidna’s eggs, and were depositing them to healers from Wilcrest to Gravenport.

A mixture of a common neutralizing serum with the serpent-specific yolk would yield the antivenom everyone needed, according to Jussal.

Ignoring the horror and confusion on their faces, all she could mutter was a simple, “Thank you,” to them, before mounting Hades and taking off.

Thessa cracked the door of the carriage open. It was still parked in their temporary encampment, just south of Gravenport.

A quick survey of Soren’s scales told her his burns were healing well. She knew he felt better, it’s why they’d contained him—alone—for the past two nights and three days .

“Soren … you won’t let the healers help you anymore, you won’t eat these rabbits, and you won’t drink. You’ll die in there. Do you understand that?”

Ducking beneath his coils, he hissed.

He’d done this for her—shifted into a beast. It was the only thing capable of distracting her enough at that moment.

Somehow, he’d known she held the power of the Blood Sacrifice. He’d figured it out and saved her by sacrificing himself instead. Maybe it was all the blood spewing from her face, but he’d believed in her magic, in her, more fiercely than she ever had.

It wasn’t right to give up on him, so she hadn’t. She’d camped outside the carriage both nights, ignoring Leora’s requests to sleep in her tent. Ares and Hades wouldn’t leave the carriage either. The three of them refused to leave their friend—her lover, her everything . Thessa couldn’t picture a world without Soren, and just the idea of it made her stomach knot.

“Damn you Soren, shift.” She sighed, opening the door a little more. “At least eat.”

He ignored her.

Infuriated, Thessa squeezed inside.

Soren launched, his snout halting an inch from her face. Zipping in a breath, she remained still as his red, bifurcated tongue flicked her neck, jiggling the necklace she always wore.

“Can you smell that?”

His tongue flicked her necklace again.

He must. “It’s me. It’s me.” Moving her fingers frantically, she opened the pendant.

His black eyes blinked, as if in recognition.

She began begging, “You have to shift. Please. Do it for me.”

Soren retreated, curling up beneath the bench .

“Eat. Drink. Anything.” She tossed the dead hare closer to him.

He nudged it away.

Please.

The other end was silent. She wasn’t sure why he couldn’t hear her anymore. But it felt like he was choosing not to.

Unsure how to start persuading a serpent to change their mind, Thessa sat across from him and sighed. “I’m sorry about Echidna. I can’t begin to understand the connection you two had. I know this has something to do with it, but she wouldn’t want this. She lived longer than any serpent was ever meant to. She wanted you to live, as you were meant to. I know she helped you remember last time, but maybe it can be me this time.”

You remember me, don’t you?

Nothing.

Her heart wrenched inside her chest, but she spoke through the pain. “You are not the beast you were made to be.”

You never were.

The serpent tucked himself in tighter, as if ignoring her.

She couldn’t take this any longer. Thessa opened the door and murmured, “Come back to me,” before slipping out.

Jussal was standing there beside Sila, his shoulders were tense. Several healers waited too, desperate to tend to him.

“Well?” Jussal asked.

She shook her head, holding the door shut. “He knows it’s me … I think. But it doesn’t change anything.”

“But the last time he ate.” Jussal scratched his head. “It wasn’t like this.”

Her voice wavered. “I think we have to let him go.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. ”

Thessa opened the carriage door with trembling hands. “We have to.”

Without hesitation, the serpent poked his head out and flicked his tongue. Like a mouse freed of its trap, Soren slithered out and into the woods, never looking back.

Jussal held up his hands, stopping Emiel and the healers from chasing after him. “She’s right.”

Thessa stood there, unwilling to look away from the scaled figure blurring into the distance.

The next morning Thessa ate a few sour berries before packing her things. She never had much of anything, and now, she had even less.

“Are you ready?” Leora asked. A majority of their camp had left the day or two after battle, while the rest trickled out last night.

“I suppose. Thanks for waiting with me.” Thessa had stayed one more night, just in case Soren would return.

Leora, Emiel, and Wayland had stayed too, helping pack up and burning what remained of camp.

“Of course. They’re done harnessing the horses, we can go … if you’re sure.” Leora held out her hand, the hand she’d always offered Thessa. Whether it was on her back, her shoulder, or drifting between them, without ever needing anything in return, Leora’s hand was always there.

Thessa took it and stood. It was time to let him go. “I’m ready.”

Hades and Ares led their carriage back to Wilcrest.

Emiel and Leora shared one bench, while Thessa squished herself beside a hoard of tent materials.

The barren path had been a persistent reminder of who she’d shared it with, time and time again. Soren was gone because of her. She’d never let herself heal from this wound—it was pain she deserved to feel.

Somewhere between Mabelton and Wilcrest, a small plume of smoke filtered through the trees.

“My father’s group probably stopped to eat, is anyone hungry?” Emiel asked. “The berry selection in Gravenport was horrendous.”

Thessa agreed. “The horses should rest anyway.”

Emiel knocked on the front paneled wall and shouted, “Wayland, pull off.”

When the door popped open, Thessa was relieved for fresh air. The thought of Soren being alone in a carriage for three days made her heart sag a little more.

After crossing over the tall grass that flanked their journey south, the four made their way into the woods.

When scarlet uniforms flashed in the distance, she knew they’d not stumbled into a friendly campsite.

Ducking behind a row of dense trees, Thessa counted eight Elemental soldiers. Their uniforms were torn, and their faces were etched with anger—and grime.

“Hades,” Emiel whispered, peering through the leaves.

Leora’s mouth was fixed in that “O” shape.

Wayland mumbled, “Let’s get out of here.”

Emiel eyed him. “That doesn’t smell like food.”

“No,” Thessa said. It smelled … familiar. She couldn’t see much. There were too many bushes and fallen trees blocking her view.

A voice snuck up from behind her. “Shh. If I can hear you, they’re bound to hear you.”

“Quinnley,” Leora gasped.

Quinnley pressed a finger to her lips. “Shh.”

“Why are you here? What’s going on over there?” Thessa questioned quietly.

“They crossed into my campsite late last night.” Quinnley used her thumb to gesture over to the upturned tree trunk and small cavern within. “It goes beyond what you see, which is why they haven’t found me. That poor thing they have with them. I have to help it. I’ve been preparing a sleeping agent. Burning it will keep them asleep. I just have to figure out how to?—"

Thessa interrupted, “Quinnley. Do you understand there’s been a war?”

“Oh my, well, that explains why they look so disheveled. But it definitely doesn’t explain why they trapped an unusually large serpent. I’ve never seen one so big, or this far from the sea.”

Thessa swallowed.

“Spies.” Wayland mumbled.

Thessa shot him a knowing look. “I let him go, so they could track him. I did this.”

He said nothing.

“The sleeping agent is almost ready,” Quinnley pressed.

Thessa said, “I have a better idea. Everyone, stay back,” before storming through the trees.