Even in Death (The Fragile Divine #2)

Prologue

PROLOGUE

THIRTEENTH YEAR

FINNIAN

“I will make it better.”

Finnian’s fingers shook against the damp feathers of the bird. His feet moved faster through the muddy terrain of the jungle.

“I will fix it.”

With his boyden’s corpse pressed against his chest, he scanned from tree to tree on the hunt for the lanky papaya that almost reached his waist in height.

Above him, the moonlight pierced through the sea-sky, lapping gently. The light graced him with the view of a baby tree yards ahead.

He was close.

The soles of his feet squished into the sodden soil. His legs trembled as he ran. Alke’s body had chilled in his arms. He needed to hurry.

A glint of the water hole came into view, its still surface reflecting like marble. Kapok branches tented over it. Finnian’s heart pounded painfully against his chest as he fell to his knees at its bank. Ground cover scraped his skin through the material of his trousers.

He winced, lowering his companion into the starlit water.

Naia, his older sister, had stumbled upon the water hole before his birth, ages ago. She had been bringing him to it since he was old enough to walk. It’d taken him no time at all to sense the magical properties within.

The first time he entered the metallic pool, his skin hummed like currents of lightning trapped beneath tissue and blood. It flooded life into his chest—a magical reservoir.

The silver water washed over Alke, staining his blue feathers and Finnian’s hands.

With bated breath, he waited a few moments, arms shaking.

Alke’s lifeless head bobbed along in the ripples.

Finnian slammed his eyes shut, pushing the tears to drip down the bridge of his nose. A sob swelled in his throat, but he swallowed it down.

Alke’s final moment was pinned at the forefront of his thoughts: majestic and lively, perched atop Mira’s arm, his gaze fixed down on Finnian.

After thirteen years of failed punishments, his mother had finally discovered a way to wear him down. He did not miss the cruel curve to her lips as she murdered his beloved companion.

What fate awaited Naia and Father?

Naia had fought back on his behalf. Finnian could hardly believe it when she’d slung Mira across the great hall. Or when the buttress roots smashed through the crystal floor and slammed Mira into the vaulted ceiling—those commanded by Father. Dignified and peaceful, he had gallantly intervened and defended them.

Worry knotted in Finnian’s stomach. He had a feeling that Father had held back all these years for a reason.

Silently pleading, Finnian opened his eyes.

Alke remained motionless in his grasp, the feathers of his wings saturated.

Refusal burned in Finnian’s muscles, his nostrils flaring and his body tensing.

“I will make it better,” he declared. “I will bring you back.”

With a breath, he centered his attention on the pool of magic churning in his core, savoring the tidal rush in his veins.

While balancing Alke’s waterlogged body in one hand, he used the other to reach into the pocket of his trousers and retrieve the chrysocolla pendant he’d snatched from Naia’s neck as they’d run out of the great hall.

Their mother’s precious pendant. The item that started this whole mess.

Finnian clenched the jewel in his fist. His horrendous siblings had deceived him by stealing Mira’s necklace and then convincing him to give it to their eldest sister as a birthday present. He had not known the necklace was their mother’s, a family heirloom.

Finnian would never make the mistake of trusting the triplets ever again. Because of them—because of Mira—Alke was gone.

Dead.

Finnian stared down at the vessel that once held the bird’s soul, sparring with how to make sense of it.

Memories played behind his eyes—the company of Alke on his shoulder, flying over his head as they journeyed outside the palace grounds, squawking loudly to assure Finnian of his presence, breaking pieces of licorice to share with the bird. These things would no longer exist. Never again .

Finnian would remain and Alke would join the afterlife, because that was what it meant to be a god. Forever outside the realm of death.

Finnian refused to allow those closest to him to slip through the cracks into its Land. Death would not exist in his world.

Finnian’s curled fingers stretched open, and he stared down at the pendant. Its omniscient power radiated up his wrist, burning a heatwave in his blood.

He focused on siphoning the energy from its properties. It pricked up his arm and around his nape as the magic flowed down into the hand cradling Alke.

“I will bring you back.”