Chapter 4 #2
But Phonos wasn’t willing to back down. “Eighteen thousand crystals! The Keres Spire stands firm in our claim to this bride.”
My chest burned. I’d bet everything I owned, but it had been pointless. Or was it?
Callista hadn’t acknowledged Phonos and Loxias throughout the entire bidding war. Through every escalating offer and display of wealth, her gaze remained fixed on mine.
“Twenty thousand crystals!” Loxias bellowed, and his deep voice made the torches flare brighter. “Callista of Agrion belongs to the Moirae, and no one else.”
Even Phonos hesitated at that astronomical number. Twenty thousand crystals could purchase armies, reshape kingdoms. Buy slices of immortality itself from the most powerful entities in existence.
“Any higher bids?” Phix asked, surveying the crowd with keen, but amused eyes.
Silence stretched over the agora. I stood frozen, lost in the crowd, everything I owned already spent. Worthless against the greater wealth and influence of my own littermate.
“Then let the bride choose from our most generous suitors.” Phix gestured toward the highest bidders. “Orthrus Loxias, Weaveguard for our much Revered Moirae, with twenty thousand crystals, Phonos of the Keres Spire with eighteen thousand. Come forth for her consideration.”
Loxias descended the steps with measured grace. His eyes were heavy with inscrutable knowledge, and he was everything I could never hope to be.
Phonos glided down gracefully, his wings spread toward Callista in offering. The perfect predator wrapped in beauty that could fool anyone who hadn’t seen him kill.
Callista examined them both with careful attention. Then she shifted toward my section of the amphitheater, her gaze finding mine across the distance. “What about him? The harvester who bid eight thousand crystals.”
Every monster in the crowd shifted to follow her gaze. Why would she want to see one of the lowest bidders when an Orthrus and a Keres had thrown fortunes at her feet?
“Bride, our traditions dictate you choose from the highest bidders only.” Phix angled toward Loxias and Phonos, her tail twitching in agitation. “Those who can provide the greatest security and status.”
Callista lifted her chin and squared her shoulders, defiance written in every fiber of her being. “Then make an exception.”
The agora erupted into confused murmurs, but no one dared challenge her directly. She was the death-touched bride, and her choice trumped their personal opinions.
“Interesting.”
The sole word echoed through the agora, soft, yet deafening at the same time.
I blinked, and there she was. Lachesis, the Measurer.
She was as ancient as Lake Acheron itself, but her stern, ageless beauty spits in the face of simple concepts like time.
Her measuring rod, alongside Clotho’s spindle and Atropos’s scissors, decided the fate of everyone in Asphodelia.
She was one of our Revered Moirae, and to see her here both awed me and filled me with dread.
The murmurs died as everyone in the amphitheater dropped to one knee. I wanted nothing more than to keep looking at Callista, but even I couldn’t ignore the Moirae’s power.
As I knelt, Lachesis approached Callista, her robes swishing without noise. “You chose Hellhound Theron over your superior suitors, Phonos and Loxias. Tell me, bride of Agrion, what do you see in our harvester?”
Even challenged by Lachesis herself, Callista didn’t back down. Her voice was trembling, but she stood her ground. Her courage took my breath away.
“I see someone who risked everything he personally owned,” she answered. “I see sacrifice and commitment. Doesn’t that mean more than any amount of coin in the world? Isn’t his dedication worth far more than a treasury?”
Shocked murmurs rippled through the crowd. She’d just faced Lachesis and stood her ground. This went beyond being simply death-touched. Only those truly worthy of Thanatos’s grace could do such a thing.
A smile played at the corners of Lachesis’s mouth. “Then let the threads be measured accordingly, child.” She twisted her wrist and her rod appeared in her hand. “Hellhound Theron, approach the stage,” she ordered, pointing at me. “Your work for Asphodelia has earned you the bride’s attention.”
The idea that I still had a chance was almost too much to fathom. Aion practically had to pull me upright and snap me out of my shock. “Go, Theron. Go.”
Never had I been more thankful for my friend’s partial immunity to the Moirae. Still dazed, I moved through the stunned crowd. Monsters parted before me, creating a path toward the stage.
Lachesis watched Callista with indulgent eyes, no doubt already knowing what was going to happen. My beautiful mate didn’t disappoint. She barely glanced at Loxias and Phonos before stepping toward me. “I choose him.”
Phonos released a sound that, if louder, would have been a death screech. He clenched his fists, his talons digging into his flesh and drawing blood. As for Loxias… If he was surprised, he didn’t show it. He knew better.
Callista reached for my hand and entwined our fingers. “It is for him that I traded my memory. Not anyone else. It was always going to be him.”
Her touch sent fire through my veins, and the soul bond recognition flared between us like lightning. She was mine. Not because I’d bought her at the market, but because she’d chosen to be.
Lachesis said nothing, but she nodded in approval. The simple gesture sent ripples of power through the agora, and Phix finally recovered from her trance. “The choice is made!” she cried out. “Let the claiming ceremony commence!”
The crowd began to cheer, but I caught Phonos’s furious glare and Loxias’s fathomless stare. They wouldn’t accept this defeat easily or gracefully.
It didn’t matter. They’d already lost. Callista had chosen me, and nothing they could say or do would change that.