Chapter 22
Von
“A re you sure this is the only way?” Soren whined as all eleven of us—Folkoln, Ryker, Harper, Lyra, Soren, Kaleb, Fallon, the Three Spinners, and I—approached the giant.
She was lying on her stomach, her head propped on her hands, her huge feet swinging back and forth, a massive fucking smile on her face.
“It’s the best we got, fingerless,” Folkoln stated from behind him, his hands in his pockets. He looked at ease, while Soren—as well as some of the others—looked like they might shit themselves. I wouldn’t be surprised if Soren already had.
The giant licked her lips as she purred with delight, “What. A. Feast.”
“I’m out,” Soren squeaked, and he turned back around.
Folkoln crossed his arms over his chest as he peered down at Soren, blocking him from going back. He raised one brow, and that was all the convincing Soren needed to continue walking forward with us.
“Who’s first?” the giant asked as we fell into somewhat of a side-by-side line.
“Wait,” Ezra said as she walked in front of us.
She dipped her arthritic fingers into her bulging pockets and pulled out one small glass vial, half the size of my pinky.
She raised it up for us to see. Inside it?
A bubbling blue liquid. “Before you go, you must drink this. It will give you consciousness once you reach the other side and will remove the veil from your eyes.”
“Are you sure this will work?” Ryker asked suspiciously, one eyebrow shooting upwards.
Ezra’s curved shoulders performed a half-hearted shrug. “Not entirely.”
Kaleb groaned.
“Reassuring, as always,” Harper sighed, her hand reaching up to rub her temples, trying to ease the headache of Ezra.
“Have some faith, dear child,” Ezra implored. “Catch.” She tossed the vial in Harper’s direction. It flew a bit short, so Harper leapt forward, her long arm reaching out to catch it before it smashed on the ground. She cradled the vial in her hands as both she and Lyra looked at it.
“It will work,” the Goddess of Destiny said, moving to Ezra’s side.
Her gray-blue eyes, born from storm clouds and sea, swept over us all.
Beyond those eyes, a powerful immortal lurked beneath, but externally, she looked nothing of the sort.
Her shoulders were curved, her torso wilting like a dying flower.
Her tunic was moth-eaten, her skirt a mosaic of mismatched patches.
The hem dragged behind her as if it had been stepped on and torn.
And then there was her face, weathered and hard, like leather left to cure in the sun.
Folkoln asked, “Did you see something?”
“I did,” the Goddess of Fate answered as she stepped to Ezra’s other side.
Although the three sisters bore a great deal of resemblance to one another, Destiny and Fate could pass as identical twins.
If Fate didn’t stain her gray hair with streaks of red and purple, it would be hard to tell the two apart.
“The night before last, a vision came to me. Nine souls drifting among tumultuous waters under time-forged icicles.” She reached above her head, looking up. “Icicles that glow like brilliant, twinkling stars. There, written in the sky, a message—six find their feet, two need time, one is broken.”
“But there are eight of us going,” Fallon said, her arms crossed over her chest, her hip cocked to the side.
“Not for long,” Destiny countered with a grin, her eyes shifting behind us.
I turned to look over my shoulder. A muscle ticked in my jaw when I saw who was walking toward us—
“Saphira,” I growled underneath my breath as my vision darkened, rage simmering in my bloodless veins.
There was a brief time in my long, long life where I’d tried to repair our sibling relationship, but the moment I learned Saphira had plotted to end my mate, that she was the one who’d given that fucking disgrace of a king the Crown of Thorns, any wish to fix the damage that she had done ended immediately.
And then when I found out she’d forced Sage into making an impossible deal—trading the Blade of Moram for our child’s feathers—I knew right then and there that I would end her miserable life.
My hand flew to my side as I summoned my sword from my umbra—Death Weaver.
Folkoln stepped in front of me, his hand pressing against my chest. “Von, wait.”
“I suggest you remove your fucking hand from me before I cut it off,” I warned, my tone menacing.
Every set of eyes were stuck on us. The ground groaned, trembling beneath my feet as the giant moved into a sitting position.
Slowly, Folkoln retracted his hand. “Just hear what she has to say.”
Realization punched into my gut. “You talked to her. You told her what we were doing today, didn’t you?” I’d be a damned liar if I didn’t admit I felt a sliver of betrayal.
“I did,” Folkoln said, owning up to it. His voice switched to our private channel.
And you can hate my rotten guts for it. But here’s the thing, when this fucking bitch— his eyes flicked up to the giant before they shifted back to me— killed Aryx, the Saphira we knew died too.
I know Saphira has done brutal things to you, and I’m not condoning her actions—I never fucking would, brother—but this could be her chance to find Aryx again.
If she does, she might become the sister we once knew, before this world broke her. ”
I looked over his shoulder, watching as Saphira walked toward us, her cloak swaying behind her. For a moment, I could almost see the little girl who would ask me to go out and gaze up at the stars with her.
I turned my head to the side, looking down at my sword. I had a decision to make.
When Saphira got closer, Folkoln stepped to the side.
We stood face to face. I searched her emerald eyes. In them, I found nothing but . . . desperation.
“Please.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.
“I know that I have done unspeakable things to you and Sage, and you have every reason to hate me for it, but if there is a chance that Aryx is alive, please, please , let me have it.” She got down on her knees.
In her hands, a chest materialized, one I recognized immediately.
She laid the box at my feet. “Freely, I give you your child’s feathers back. ”
And then, the proudest goddess I had ever known bowed and pressed her head to the ground.
I stood there, silent, conflicting emotions warring within me.
I didn’t trust Saphira—her past actions were too loud to ignore, and when I thought of what her intentions might have been for my child’s feathers, ice crept along my skin.
However, as I watched my sister grovel before me, something she had never done before, I realized something—she would do anything to be reunited with her mate, just as I would Sage.
Fallon strode closer to us, and she said with a shrug, “Fate said nine.”
Indeed, she had.
“Oh, for Creator’s sake, this is taking too long,” the giant sighed as she reached over and plucked Soren by the scruff of his tunic. He kicked and screamed as she tilted her head back, placing him above her parted lips.
“Wait!” Ezra yelled. “He hasn’t drunk the—” Her words fell short as the giant dropped Soren into her monstrous, cave-like mouth. Ezra sighed. “Never mind.”
True to her word, the giant didn’t chew.
I could see Soren pass through her esophagus, like a snake swallowing a mouse.
We all winced.
“Hmm-hmm,” she chuckled gleefully. Clearly pleased with herself. She licked her fingers and smacked her lips, then looked at us. “Who’s next?”
I turned to face Ezra. “How many vials do you have?”
Milky-white orbs stared blankly as she replied, “Eight. I was unaware of my sister’s vision.”
My shadows swept around my sword, dissolving it. “Well, since Soren won’t be needing his anymore.” I held out my hand. “Give me two of them.”
Without question, she collected two from her pocket and placed them in my hand.
My shadows swept around the chest of feathers, concealing them in their vast storage as I crouched and dangled a vial in front of Saphira’s face. “I’m going to give you this, but so help me, Saphira, if you make me regret it, I’ll destroy you once and for all. Understood?”
“Yes.” She nodded swiftly, gratitude lighting her misty eyes.
I dropped the vial into her hands before I rose to my full height. I looked at Destiny, then Fate. “And you two will keep up your end of the deal, yes?”
“We will,” Fate answered. She waved her hand, and two spinning wheels appeared. Nine spools landed beside them, neatly stacked. I spotted my own. “Although, we cannot promise it will work. We have never weaved past the Three Realms before.”
Once we got to the Mother Realm, we would be in bad shape due to the giant’s poisonous stomach.
Fate and Destiny would snip that part from our spools and weave another truth—that the damage had never been done, reverting our bodies and our souls back to normal.
The irony was not lost on me that when I had taken my dead mate to them, begging for this very thing to be done for her, they had been unable to, all because of Aurelius’s fucking heart.
It had been the conduit that gave her life here, but ultimately, it was not hers, and the damage done by the Blade of Moram was irreversible.
Tearing the cork from the vial with my teeth, I spat it to the side. I raised the glass to my mouth and shot the burning, salty liquid back before I tossed it over my shoulder. The small glass shattered when it struck the ground. With a grin, I said to Ezra, “For good luck.”
Then, I walked toward the giant.
I had a feeling this was going to hurt like a son of a bitch.