Chapter 50
It was the last of his strength. Kasik fell to the ground next to Nina, his tayta’s achilla wrapped in a fist. He watched
through sideways eyes and a fog of near death as Nina slowly rose, her eyes alight with the fire of a thousand suns. Her hair
had come free from its pins and plaits and it billowed on a phantom breeze.
She was a vengeful god. Retribution and rage.
Kasik shivered with cold and fear. No more than an arm’s length away, Atik sat on his knees, his arms spread wide and his
mouth open in a silent scream. The tendons in his neck protruded grotesquely, the blood close enough to the skin that he looked
like he might burst. Blood leaked from his eyes and ears and mouth, and Kasik knew that there would be nothing left of his
tayta very soon.
Time seemed to slow. He turned to Nina so that her face would be the last thing he saw. A measure of comfort in the cold.
But she was unrecognizable. She towered over them both, a god among mere mortals, and she bared her teeth in a nightmarish
grin.