Chapter 67

We stood hand in hand, staring down at the burned edges of the ground where his father had turned to ash. There was no fiery moment of passion between us, no celebration of victory. Only the daunting insecurity of what our future would look like now that Orin had become Death.

"I don't blame him," he said, "even if he was demented. If he loved her or thought he loved her half as much as I love you, I can't. I would have hunted you to the end of the universe. I would search the worlds for you. And I would have burned it all down until you stood before me."

"The difference is, this is real, and I will never run."

He chuckled. The first hint of healing I could have hoped for. "But you did run."

I leaned against him, yawning. "In my defense, you stabbed me."

"True," he said, tugging me away. "How's your back?"

"Healed, I think. Using that much power, though… I'll probably need to sleep for a week."

He squeezed my hand gently as we walked back toward the castle. "You can have your week, Nightmare. We have an eternity now."

But then I thought of Paesha. Of her vow to return to Quill, and I wondered if she still wanted that, and if she did, how she was going to say goodbye to Ezra, and how we'd find a way back. My heart ached for her. For the dancer that mourned on the rooftop.

The look of relief on both of their moonlit faces as we made it back to the castle might've been welcoming, had there not been a crowd of souls standing behind them, all eyes locked on Orin and me, each one eager for answers and comfort. One moment, I was staring at Paesha and Ezra, the next, they were swallowed by the crowd that rushed for us.

Before we were crushed by people eager to have my promise to them fulfilled, Orin pulled me flush to his side and enveloped us in shadows that were fully his now. We appeared in the same bedroom as before, though the candles had long since melted onto the floor, nothing more than piles of wax.

"Someday, we will explore this castle together, but for now, rest."

"They won't wait and they shouldn't have to," I warned, stifling another yawn as the exhaustion from magic threatened to end me. "And do we know the ramifications of holding Death's court, your court, I guess, with no one here?"

He held the sides of my face tenderly, closing his dark eyes as another rush of shadows swirled around us both. They sent a wave of heat over my skin as his lips brushed mine. "We have forever, Deyanira. There's no rush."

With the retreat of his power, I'd been fully cleaned, the tattered dress replaced with loose pants and an oversized shirt that smelled an awful lot like him.

"I've been in this court for exactly a day longer than you have. I know almost nothing. Sleep, my love. We can figure it out tomorrow. I'll go talk to them."

"And Ezra and Paesha. And Hollis. And oh, his wife…"

My eyelids grew heavy as he led me to the bed.

"I will find them."

The bed dipped,and Orin wrapped his arm around me sometime hours and hours later. I could have stayed there for a long time, but with each passing moment, even in sleep, I could see their faces. A fraction of the crowd that'd haunted my dreams for so long had done so again, their heavy voices begging me to set them free from the prison I'd damned them to.

And so, I woke, not to sunlight pouring in, but to the steady, silvery moonlight brushing against Orin's sharp jaw, the pout of his lips, and the rise and fall of his chest. He survived. And he was mine, and that was enough to soothe my tender soul.

"This is eternity," he whispered, the heavy notes of sleep rattling his words. "We could just stay in this bed forever."

"Only if we bar the doors and don't mind a riot."

He groaned, wiping a heavy hand down his face. "I'm just a cellist. A performer. I'm not meant to rule a realm or punish people. I can feel the darkness, though. It's like a weight. A burden, but not."

"A duty?"

He nodded, staring into the shadows of the room.

I brushed the dark strands of his hair from his eyes and kissed him. "I am with you, even in the darkness."

"Are you with me in annoyance, too? Because we're about to be interrupted by Ezra."

"The shadows tell you that?"

"Apparently."

Three solid knocks sounded on the door.

"Go away," he roared, pulling me on top of him.

"The next time we climb into this bed, I'll do unspeakable things to you, Husband. But for now, we have to get up."

"Unspeakable?" He lifted a brow. "What could my wife possibly find so scandalous she wouldn't speak it aloud?"

"Hmm. That's a good point. Likely nothing. But maybe I'll ask around for some pointers."

"If you start with Paesha, I'm moving out."

Two more knocks.

"I don't think you can move out of your own castle, Orin."

A shadow passed over his face. "Maybe we'll build a new home and leave this one behind."

I wiggled, pressing up against him until he groaned, grabbing my hips to hold me there.

"You're giving mixed signals. You touch my cock with any part of your body and no one's leaving this bed for at least an hour."

I thrust my hips forward. "Like this?"

"Seriously, Orin. I can hear you talking."

I stifled a laugh as he buried his face in a pillow and moaned.

"Welcome to godlyhood."

He sat up, tossing me to the side in a playful way. "You don't get to make up words just to tease me."

"Oh, I'm about ninety-eight percent sure that's the single perk of being someone's bonded spouse."

He gripped the edges of the pillow beside him as Ezra pounded on the door again. With a playful glint in his eye, he tried to swing it at me, but I was faster and ripped it from his hands, hauling it back to smash it right into his face. "Better luck next time, Fluffy Bottom."

"World's greatest wife," he said, rubbing his cheek.

I hauled myself out of the bed. "I'm kind of pissed we spent so much time fighting with knives when we could have been fighting with pillows."

He laughed. "No, you're not."

"No," I agreed with a smirk. "Not even a little bit."

"We still need to work on that nickname, though. Pretty sure you can't just walk around calling Death Fluffy Bottom."

"Pretty sure I can."

"Are there workers?"Paesha asked as all four of us sat together in a long, narrow dining hall with nothing more than a table and no less than forty chairs on each side.

Ezra lifted a tray, the rising steam making my stomach groan in response. "No. The castle caters to gluttony. Before, if you were in Death's favor," he flourished a hand, "you just asked, and it would appear."

"And if you weren't?" Orin kept his eyes locked on the shadows pooling along the floor.

"There are many, many rooms here curated for all kinds of nightmares. I'm sure you'll be fine, Faber, but ladies, don't wander."

Paesha rubbed her hands together, whispering, "Please be sausage, please be sausage." When she lifted the tray to find fresh greens, she slumped into her seat. "No fair."

"Ooo. Looks like you're not in Orin's favor, P. Better work on that."

Ezra leaned over to growl in her ear until a blush colored her cheeks.

I lifted the silver tray closest to me, devouring the bright fruit with my eyes before sliding my fork into the fattest strawberry. "You can have my sausage later, too, Paesha."

Orin's genuine smile didn't cover his surprise. "You could hear him?"

I snorted. "No. But it doesn't take a genius to see the innuendo there. Keep up, Husband."

Ezra laughed. His whole giant body shook, and the deep sound echoed around the hollow room so beautifully that I froze, staring at him with my eyes wide.

"What?" he asked, shoveling in a mouthful of eggs.

"I had no idea you could laugh. You seem so…" I turned to Paesha, cocking a brow. "What's the word I'm looking for?"

"Dangerous."

"No. That's not it." I scrunched my nose before snapping. "Oh. Dickish."

"We're in the business of making up words this morning," Orin said, stealing something off Ezra's plate and popping it into his mouth. "She's got a real talent for it."

"Wait." I held up a finger to stop Ezra as he leaned to whisper in Paesha's ear again. "You can have three of these yellow things, Huntress, if you can guess what he's about to say."

Her mouth twisted into a grin as she stared at her lover, deepening her voice to try to mimic his. "I've got a real talent for something else."

I snorted, almost choking on the berry as Ezra disagreed. "Those yellow things are called pineapple, and actually, Maiden, I was going to say, Can you please pass the salt?"

Orin clapped him on the back. "I love you, brother, but you're a fucking terrible liar."

Ezra wiggled his eyebrows at Paesha. "Well, I am very talented."

"True," she said, tapping her finger on his nose. "And predictable."

The light humor we'd all desperately needed was stolen from the room in a flash. The towering oak doors at the end of the hall sounded like they were being shredded to pieces. We leapt from our seats in unison, and Orin didn't hesitate to call forth his formidable shadows. The center of the doors bowed again, following another slash.

"What the fuck?" my husband whispered, whipping his hands to blow the doors open.

Two giant beasts poked their heads in, filling the door frame. The hellhounds.

"Who could have sent them?" Ezra growled, shoving Paesha behind him.

"Relax." Orin moved his chair, sitting back down. "Apparently, they answer to me now."

"Oh, yay! We get puppies."

My loving husband pinned me with a glare. "And apparently, we've named them Ruffles and… Fluffy?"

"Come on in, boys!" I shouted before flashing a smile at him. "To be fair, your friend over there named Fluffy."

"True," Paesha agreed. "I think it fits."

The massive hounds pawed their way into the dining hall. The closer they got, the higher we had to crane our necks to see their glowing ruby eyes. Though my heart still skipped a beat, and I had to force a steady breath, I rose and pointed to the floor as if talking to Boo. "Sit."

They obeyed immediately, giant pink tongues rolling out of their mouths as I launched a pancake at each of them.

"Oh, for god"s sake," Orin groaned, rubbing his hands through his hair. "We have the universe's biggest puppies."

I scowled. "They can hear you."

Paesha giggled as Orin changed the pitch of his voice to mock celebration, pretending to clap. "We have the universe's biggest puppies."

"Attaboy." I grinned, tossing another couple of pancakes.

Eventually, Paesha sat back in her seat, shoving the plate away. "This was nice. Family breakfast. I still wish Hollis had come."

Orin rose from his chair, waving a hand to clear the dishes.

"That's handy," I said, before turning to the Huntress. "Do we know if he's seen Dahlia yet?"

"Most of the former harbingers stay together. Not that anyone here has been incredibly friendly, but the more friends you make, the more targets around you, and since that group is single-handedly responsible for the majority of the court's deaths, they keep to themselves."

"They're not, though," I argued. "They couldn't help the role they were born into."

Ezra's eyes flashed around the table for backup, but no one spoke. He didn't know about the madness. Just as Paesha and Orin had to learn, so would he.

"I didn't kill you because I chose it. I did it because I physically had to, or I would have been forced to kill a slew of other people while trying to fight it. There wasn't a choice there. Not for me, and not for them either. But I'm still sorry."

He lowered his chin, the depth of his voice all-consuming and serious. "I don't need your apology. You've given it once, and that's enough. But you do have to try to understand the minds of the people here, or you'll never be able to rule them."

"We won't be ruling anyone," Orin said with complete finality. "Every person who wishes to leave can and will. From what I've gathered, I can't do anything about the Lake of Lost Souls, but everyone else can be freed. They can reincarnate, should they choose to, and go back to live another life cycle."

"Even the Whispers?" Paesha breathed.

"Even the Whispers," he answered.

And so we began. With no clocks and no true sense of time, no passing sunlight, nor shift in moon, the day grew long. The discomfort of the castle's sordid memories loomed over everyone, so we agreed to work in the yard just outside. With the help of Fluffy and Ruffles, and the shadows most still feared, Orin and Ezra kept the crowd in line, while Paesha ushered soul after tortured soul to meet with me. One by one, we released them into the ether, setting them on whatever course was necessary for reincarnation.

Even the harbingers had come, including Icharius. They'd kept their heads down and their place in the shifting line, and though I tried to concentrate on each soul that came, I couldn't help but watch as they moved closer and closer.

Hours into the job, the people began to look at me in awe, jaws slacked and eyes wide as I wished them peace and sliced a little more away from my power. Until I was drained and sagging and every bone in my body weighed a hundred pounds. But still, the harbingers crept forward. I wanted to get to them so badly. I pushed myself beyond limits I knew possible. Until they came, shifting in and taking my hands with greater anticipation than most of the others. Because this was not an escape from Death's realm for them. It was an escape from reality. From the memories that haunted them, just as they'd haunted me, and they had all seen so much more bloodshed. They hadn't had a kernel of light in them, keeping the madness at bay.

But they were free now, each one of them fading to embers on a soft breeze as they were released back into the ether.

I pushed myself until I couldn't feel my fingers and every muscle ached, until the back of my eyelids felt like they'd been dragged across a thousand sandy beaches. Until Orin stepped in, pulling me away when I could no longer stand. And each day was a repeated cycle of this one. With hints from Paesha that we needed to find a doorway back, there was pressure to complete this process, even if she hadn't meant for there to be. She wasn't eager to leave Ezra, and I knew it, but still, she worried about Quill every day, even walking through each potential threat Drexel might've left for her. For her peace of mind, we'd worked together to convince her that Drexel had only said what he'd said to bother her, but none of us could truly know that, and each day she grew more and more wary.

The eager crowd dwindled until we were left with only the Whispering Grove and about three hundred souls who'd chosen to stay and rest in Orin's promised peace rather than return to the unknown of Requiem's future.

I hadn't seen Hollis since Death's demise. I'd watched for him among the faces, of course, and Paesha had gone to check on him and make sure he was still with us, but he hadn't come. Hadn't been able to tear himself away from the happiness he'd found with the spirit of his young wife.

So, when we approached the very edge of the Whispering Grove to find him standing there, staring at a pocket watch with the soft blue light of the trees casting his perfect silhouette our way, we stopped. All of us, hand in hand, staring at the kind old man who would likely leave us all on this day. We drank in the moment, the absolute gift it was to be able to look upon him one final time.

"I'm not ready," Paesha whispered.

I squeezed her hand, swallowing the lump in my throat. "No. But he is."