Chapter 6
Chapter
Six
Ana,
I assume you knew, but there’s no time to demand explanations. She’s remembering, and I fear she won’t go unnoticed for much longer. If you or your brother have any information about what’s happening beyond the border, I beg you to find a way to pass it to me. Burn this letter after you’ve read it.
—Vane
Hours later, Varax landed in a field surrounding a small lake.
Night had fallen, and Nya was shivering violently, had been for some time now.
She hadn’t thought to change into something warmer before fleeing and was now regretting it, even if she’d had no idea where to find more well-suited clothing for flying.
Besides, if she’d looked, someone might have stopped her.
Her vision blurred as she slid off Varax’s back, landing in a heap.
She pushed up to her hands and knees, the dirt rough against her skin.
The air smelled sweeter here, free of the heavy scent of smoke and sulfur that permeated the Gods’ Aisle.
She curled around herself in the tall, swaying grass, feeling her consciousness begin to slip away.
Someone is coming. Varax was rustling her wings. He will help you. I must go.
Nya half-heartedly reached for the dragon as she took off, a wave of panic overcoming her. Varax wouldn’t leave her if she was truly in danger, but…
Footsteps crunched in the grass nearby, and Nya stiffened when a smooth, masculine voice mused, “Why am I not surprised a Vemon dragon managed to seek you out too?”
She tried to open her eyes as he knelt next to her. A familiar chill crawled up her spine; a beckoning whisper laced with the promise of an endless fall into the void. It was a feeling she often felt around her mother—and within herself.
He came into focus for a moment, and as she saw the moon-pale skin, dark hair, and ether-laced black eyes, she whispered, “Thanatos.”
His smile was hard to read. “Hello, granddaughter. I’m glad I found you. They were hours away from ripping apart the entirety of the realm to find you, and that would have created quite the mess.”
“Wha—”
Her vision tilted.
Thanatos was no longer a man, but a creature of night and lightless stars she could not see but feel in the echo of her own soul…
In a flash, he returned. Cold fingers skirted just above her collarbone, and he frowned. Just before she faded completely, she heard him mutter, “Fucking Fates.”
When she came to, Nya was wrapped in several blankets, a large fire roaring in the nearby hearth. She blinked a few times, trying to orient herself but not recognizing the room.
The decor was simple, mostly consisting of a few ornate mirrors on the walls and two woven rugs covering the dark hardwood floor.
Thick curtains were pulled over the only window in the room, and she was lying on one of two large couches that took up most of the space.
It appeared to be some sort of sitting room.
She swallowed, her throat dry, and pushed herself into a sitting position.
Her limbs were sore from riding two days in a row.
The hum of low voices filtered into the room from the hallway; she wrapped one of the blankets around herself and crept towards the door, her feet faltering when she heard her mother’s voice.
“—not going back. He doesn’t own her just because he married her.”
Someone cleared their throat. “Not technically, but it appears the situation is more complicated.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
Nya’s lips trembled. That was her father. They had both come for her, all the way to this place they feared and hated.
“Yes, what do you mean?” That voice, a woman’s voice, Nya did not recognize.
“I mean…” He—Thanatos, she realized—sighed heavily. “It appears Kronos’ son is much smarter than his father ever was. He did his research. He’s aware of the ancient traditions, Nya.”
Nya. Another of Nyx’s name.
The goddess who she was named for, who had created this world with her twin brother, Sol, born alone in darkness before he had lit it up.
After hearing and wondering about the principals her whole life, it felt odd to hear two of them speaking just beyond the door.
They were her mother’s true parents, after all.
“Do you mean…?” Nyx trailed off quietly.
“Yes.”
“Would either of you like to explain what you are talking about?” her mother asked sharply.
“Marriage would not usually hold much sway when it comes to leverage in a situation such as this. You were correct when you said he doesn’t have ownership over her because of it—we weren’t that archaic, even in the early days.
” Thanatos cleared his throat. “At least… Well, we learned our lesson. But there was a tradition, mostly used amongst demi-gods, that fell out of fashion rather quickly. Even Kronos didn’t think of it when he tried to force you into marriage, Sora.
He never had any interest in remembering our histories, especially if they involved anyone he thought beneath him. ”
Thanatos paused, and her father snarled, “Out with it.”
Nya bit her lip, the wild urge to laugh suddenly overcoming her. There were two principals in the other room. Night and Death were mere feet away, and her kind, grumpy father had just demanded an explanation from them, no reverence or fear to be found in his voice.
It took her a moment to remember all the reasons why he might not be on the best terms with Nyx and Thanatos, mainly the one that involved them selling her mother to a marriage with Kronos.
“There was a mark on her throat,” Thanatos said, and Nya’s heart nearly stopped. “It was newly healed, probably by him, given that few gods have that ability to project healing to others. But…it will never truly go away, nor will the pull that comes with it.”
“Fucking Fates,” Nyx said, softly enough that Nya barely heard it.
“That is exactly what I said,” Thanatos agreed.
Then, before either of her parents could interject again, he explained, “In the early days of this world, a handful of idiot demi-gods had the bright idea to introduce blood bonding into betrothal ceremonies. When done correctly, it makes it very difficult to be far from one’s partner for long—bordering on painful.
It’s like opening a window in your soul and letting a small part of someone else in.
Effectively, the two souls are forever tied by an unbreakable thread. ”
“And if either were to die?” her mother asked, and Nya’s stomach dipped at the horror in her voice.
“You know how our souls are,” Thanatos said quietly. “Few have the power to destroy them completely. But if someone did manage to do such a thing…the other would be ripped irreparably. Anabás Caegal.”
Nya took a step back into the sitting room, her hand at her throat, feeling the erratic flutter of her own pulse beneath her skin.
“You saw Ana there, didn’t you?”
Nya jolted, whirling to find a woman perched on the edge of a chair in a shadowed corner of the room. Had she been there the entire time?
The woman smiled, though it did not quite reach her eyes, then stood.
She was much taller than Nya, though that wasn’t a difficult feat to achieve.
Silky dark hair fell nearly all the way down her back, and her hooded eyes were a striking shade of jade-green laced with silver.
She smoothed delicate hands over the front of her azure dress, waiting.
Nya’s lips parted, realizing there was an odd, restless feeling in the air. It made her think there was something on the tip of her tongue, similar to what she had felt during the ceremony, when Anabeth had revealed herself. Anabeth, who was a daughter of—
“Juno,” Nya whispered, warily eyeing the Goddess of Fate standing before her. “Why didn’t you say anything when I woke?”
Juno raised a dark brow. “If you had seen me, I presume you would have gone to the hall immediately, and I figured you might want to hear the truth on your own before you saw them.”
“And what truth is that?” she dared, already knowing the answer. Not just because of what she had overheard, but because the truth of it was undeniable in the pull now thrumming in her blood.
Go back. Go back. Go back, it urged.
As if Varax hadn’t tied them closely enough. Now, fighting the gravity she had already been pushing against for years felt like a nearly impossible feat.
“You and Morgen are tied by the very threads of Fate,” Juno said, her gaze unflinching. “But what Nyx, Thanatos, and your parents do not understand is that this has been true for a long time. He only made it more obvious to everyone else when he sealed the betrothal with your blood.”
“I didn’t drink his blood, though.”
Silver glinted in Juno’s eyes. “No. You did not. A purposeful self-protection measure on his end, I believe.”
“I’m going to assume this ‘bond’ is supposed to work both ways, but it won’t now.”
“Mhm,” Juno hummed, wearing the same knowing expression her daughter had. Nya did not like it. “It will be a useless block for him, though. I imagine he’s already realized that.”
“What do you—”
“She’s awake?”
Nya whirled at the sound of her mother’s voice, her breath catching in her throat as she saw both her parents in the open doorway.
She had not seen them since she had left for D’anna a year ago to apprentice at the temple.
Naturally, they looked exactly the same—her mother a near-copy of her, except with wide, icy-blue eyes instead of hooded brown ones, and her father still ridiculously tall.
His dark facial hair was a bit more grown out than he usually wore it, and both of them had smudges of purple under their eyes, as if they hadn’t been sleeping.
She stared at them, twisting her hands and trying to hold back tears of shame, unsure of what to say. Eventually, she hung her head and choked out, “I’m so sorry.”
Seconds later, it was like being hit with a battering ram as both crowded her, familiar waves of magic wrapping around her as they held her close.