Chapter 21

H is dark brown hair now gleamed with streaks of golden blonde. His eyes, once a warm, compassionate chestnut, now glowed a cold, piercing amber. The only feature I recognized were his lips, the lips that had whispered such sweetness. The lips that had comforted me time and time again.

On the left side of his face, black ink wrapped around his high, angular cheekbone, the mark of a battled warrior. He was glorious, with deadly beauty. Every inch of him oozed predatory prowess. A fitted black leather breastplate replaced the fur-lined cloak, highlighting every curve of his muscle.

"I trusted you." My voice was low, barely a whisper, as this betrayal shattered me into a thousand pieces. He spoke, but Tethys raised her hand to his lips, cutting off the words before they rolled from his tongue.

"Elpis, darling, I think it's time I take my leave. The filth in this godsforsaken house is making me sick." The goddess plucked a piece of lint from her flowing gossamer gown. "Aryx, take care of this for me, will you?"

He nodded silently as his mother, smiling with a deep satisfaction, exited the chamber. The vines loosened their grip around me and snaked back into the floor, leaving broken tile and shredded carpet in their absence.

Without hesitation, I threw myself at the man I once trusted, fully intending to slaughter him where he stood. He grasped my clenched fists and held them at my sides, staring with those piercing, deadly eyes. Tears dripped from my chin as the heartbreak flowed freely from my ducts. With shallow breaths, I tried shaking free, but he overpowered me with the strength of his grip.

"Listen to me," he whispered.

I kicked at his legs, hoping to steal his balance and bring him to the floor.

"Listen to me!" he whispered again, wrapping an arm around my waist.

I slammed my head into his shoulder and bit into the sensitive flesh of his neck. Scowling, he dropped his hold for only a split second. It was just enough time for me to rip the dagger sheathed at his side from its holster and press it against his throat.

"You betrayed me." I pushed the blade further into his skin, drawing a slow drip of blood.

"Please, just listen." His voice was hoarse, with cold iron pressed at his throat. "Let me explain."

"You don't deserve my ear," I hissed, the tip of my blade now pointed at his carotid artery. The muscle in his jaw clenched as he swallowed.

"Elpis, please. Keep the knife at my neck, kill me if you want, but just listen first."

"You have five seconds to say what you want, then I slit your throat."

"I had no choice. She has my father. She threatened to kill him if I didn't follow her orders. You have to understand that. I'd do anything, even something as despicable as this." His eyes glittered frantically, begging me to understand.

My instincts told me this was just another manipulation, but my heart told me to believe him. There was a flash of familiarity across his eyes, and a sliver of the Rune I had grown to care for surfaced. Maybe it was a mistake, but I lowered the dagger, leaving a droplet of blood rolling down his long neck. His demeanor relaxed slightly. Rubbing his neck, the wound stitched itself together, leaving only a bead of blood trailing down towards his collarbone.

"You have a choice now. Either I kill you where you stand, or you let us go." I took a step back. The hilt of my weapon still burned the inside of my palm.

Arcturas stirred in the corner, her snout wrinkling in pain as she came to.

"She'll just keep searching for you. She'll send more arachnae like the ones in the woods. There's another part of the prophecy. You don't just bring war to the realms. You also bring her demise. She won't let you live. No matter where you hide or how much you fight, she'll find you and she'll kill you."

"So you knew what that inscription written in the archives was? This so-called prophecy about darkness's Heir and the light of truth? That's about me? How do I know you aren't lying through your teeth? Clearly, it comes so naturally to you." I sat in front of Arcturas, stroking her pelt as she whined softly.

"Yes, like my mother said. Polaris knew her heir would be the harbinger of destruction. That's why she distanced herself from not only you, but also all of Ursae. The other gods still hold council with their mortal leaders. Polaris doesn't. Didn't you ever find that strange? Listen, I know you won't trust me ever again. I'm sorry I had to trick you, but I didn't have any other choice. You'd never agree to come here, to help me free my father." He knelt beside me, eyeing the blade in my hand. "Help me kill her. We take her out together and prevent the war she plans to wage against the mortals."

"I don't want any part of this. Please, just let us go," I said, cradling Arcturas's head in my lap.

"Elpis, please. You're the daughter of Polaris. She's the most powerful goddess of the realms. I can't do this without you. I need to save my father." He reached his hand toward mine.

Before his skin could make contact, my dagger was raised and back at his throat.

"Touch me and you die," I threatened through clenched teeth.

Arcturas, lifting her head weakly, snarled at Aryx as he backed away slightly.

"Fine. Slit my throat now and spend the rest of your life hiding from my mother. Or help me kill her and live freely. I promise you'll get the freedom you deserve when it's all over. Besides, how will you find peace in a continent at war?" His voice was frigid, entirely unrecognizable. He sucked in a breath and leaned against his heels. "Isn't that ultimately what you want? Your freedom? A quiet life? It's your choice."

It was true. All I'd ever wanted was to choose my fate. I stared at the beautiful half-god who now sat on his knees. I wondered if he'd kneeled before anyone else like this. The impending war he spoke of frightened me. It was true. My immortal bloodline explained the power that'd surfaced in me, but I didn't want to believe I was a harbinger of destruction.

Visions of a scorched, polluted battlefield, then the piles and piles of northern city folk flashed before my eyes. The nightmares, the shadows, the ancient inscription. It was all connected, leading me on an inescapable journey here. To this moment. This choice.

"I didn't ask for any of this. I can't help you." I looked at Arcturas and stroked her snout. She looked so fragile with the slow rise and fall of her ribs.

"Elpis. Please. I need you," he said, crouching beside me.

"I needed you, Rune. You betrayed me." A tear escaped down my cheek and splattered on the crimson rug.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered.

"It's a bit too late for an apology. Now, let us go." I wiped the dampness from my eyes and pulled Arcturas into my chest, seeking her warmth.

"Elpis. I can't do that. I can't let you go."

"So, if I don't agree with your plan, you'll force me?" A fire lit up my chest as tingles ignited in my toes and rushed through my veins with voracious force.

"If I have to. I will." His eyes darkened. The amber turned a deep shade of ruby, like a powerful sunrise as it crossed over the horizon.

Tendrils of shadows licked at my fingertips, begging to be unleashed. "You can't force me to do anything."

"We'll see about that," he hissed.

I lunged for him. Throwing my shoulder into his abdomen, the breath rushed from my lungs, knocking me to the floor. In the split second he hit the carpet, I wrapped myself around his back, gripping my elbow to block his airway. Aryx coughed and sputtered, clawing at my death hold. As the tendrils of shadow curled tighter around his neck, I felt the muscles in his back flex beneath me.

Suddenly, he shifted his weight and jerked forward. My grip slipped and I flew through the air, landing on my spine with a crack. Aryx leapt for me. His hands tightened around my wrists. I was pinned. Kicking and flailing against his sheer weight, I screamed until my throat burned.

"Elpis. Stop. Please," Aryx pleaded.

"Get off me!" I cried, cracking my forehead into his. Blood dripped from the crown of my head as Aryx fell backward. He grunted, holding his head in his hands. I rose to my feet, grabbing my dagger from the floor. Pointing it at his heart, I spat the taste of iron from my mouth.

"Goodbye, Aryx," I hissed.

"Wait. Please," he pleaded. "Help me free my father."

His eyes faded into a faint glimmer of golden as I watched the man kneeling before me break apart.

"I need him. He's the only family I have left," he whispered.

The grip around my weapon softened as I knelt beside him. Prophecy aside, here was a man with nothing left in this world, utterly alone. Would I have done the same if it was Vikar's life at risk? What about Arcturas? Or Frya? I sighed and sat beside him. He looked at me with an expression I realized was all too familiar. It'd been staring back at me from within every mirror for the last five years. There had been a glimmer in Arcturas's eye when I found her as a pup. My brain told me to run from the chamber, leave the prophecy, Tethys, hell, the entire continent behind. But my heart? Like attracts like, and here we sat, nearly identical in our brokenness.

"If you betray me again, I won't hesitate next time." The strength of my voice was a surprise as I questioned my choice over and over in my mind.

"I promise you I'm not going to," he said, standing to his feet and offering me his hand. I pushed it away and stood on my own. The embers of torchlight in the gardens poured in across my face. Arcturas, regaining some strength, limped to my side, still wary of the man before us.

"So, what's the plan, then?" I said, picking a thorn fragment from my biceps. "We can't just waltz into the immortal realm."

"She's not going to the immortal realm. Over the last twenty years, she's manipulated the Elders into allying with her. She's turned their island into a fortress, surrounded by an army thousands strong. If we're going to even get close, we're going to need the other immortals' help. The minute we leave here, she'll know I turned on her and she'll use my father to bait me back. She's going to expect us. I think we start with Procyon. He's always been loyal to Polaris. If you take claim as her heir, he'll provide aid without question. Altair might need a little more convincing. After the Great War, he proclaimed neutrality for his realm. We'll have to make a pretty good argument, but with the heir of darkness and the son of spring together, it might just be enough to tip him over the edge."

"And what of the mortal leaders? They won't just sit idly by while we plot to slaughter their Elders."

"I think you'd be surprised. The mortals will follow their patrons- they always do."

I scratched Arcturas's head as the half-god paced the hall, his long, graceful strides capturing my full attention. His plan just might work. The journey through each realm would be long, and with arachnae on our trail, it might even be a death wish.

"What's stopping Tethys from executing your father the moment she discovers our plans?" I asked.

Aryx scuffed his leather boot against the carpet, disturbing a layer of dust into the air.

"That's simple. She still loves him." He chuckled coldly at the thought. "She didn't murder him the day she discovered his affair like it's told in the legend. At the last minute, she couldn't do it. I was only a boy when it happened, but I saw her struggle. She dropped the blade last minute."

"Maybe," I said, "but if her own son betrays her, you don't think that'd push her over that edge?"

"Like I said, she'll use him as a strategy to lure me back. My mother is quite skilled at using love to her advantage. She knows I'd do anything to free him." Aryx sighed and brushed his hand against a canvas portrait hanging on the wall next to me.

It was of a handsome, middle-aged man with the same amber eyes. He was holding the hand of a grinning toddler with slightly blurred features, as if the artist struggled to capture the child's likeness because he couldn't keep still.

"If I help you. Promise me that when this is all over, I'll never see you again. I've had enough treachery and deceit for a million lifetimes, and I don't need anymore. I want the life I deserve. And I want nothing to do with you." Aryx's back straightened, and although I couldn't see his face, I knew he grimaced against my words.

The sound of my voice pierced the air in the room until it faded away, leaving a heavy, impenetrable silence between us. Finally, he turned back to me, his eyes fierce and emotionless as they had been when he first entered the chamber.

"If that's what you wish, then I promise it."

"Good." I paused, swallowing the lump in my throat. "So, when do we go? "