Chapter 26
Time felt odd, slogging along too fast, and at the same time, moving oddly slow. The world was hazy, and he only caught pieces of it.
Bloody hands, small, braiding back silver hair.
Blue eyes ringed with exhaustion.
“I thought he would be awake by now.”
He tried to claw his way up through the heavy water he was floating in. Her voice was a tether, but he couldn’t quite break the surface. Heles lingered with him, the dragon’s presence a small comfort.
One-hundred and five years ago, Heles and Thessilnn’s eggs had been given to Sora.
A betrothal gift—two female Vemon dragons from the same azure mother.
When they had hatched dark and light in front of him, Sora, and Anabeth, Ana had declared it an omen.
Something was on the horizon, a force both full of light and matched with a powerful darkness.
At the time, he remembered brushing the words off, but now, Ana’s words floated with him in the strange stasis where he slept.
Soren held the power to end this. He knew that, and as Sora, she had known she could prevent it. Kronos was a mad king who had only ever wanted one thing.
Absolute control.
He didn’t care about her, nor did he think he owned her. He simply wanted to use her as Johannas had used him. When Nyx refused to be his consort, signing away a daughter she did not yet have, his rage had been tucked away.
But Sora was more than Nyx. If anything, she was more her father.
Kronos held the embers of the world, chosen by Sol after the world had been born.
But with Sora, he had the flip of the coin: not just the life and light Sol had gifted him with, but the darkness of Sol’s twin and the destruction of Thanatos all in one soul. One weapon.
Kronos could not be killed, not without the backing of other powerful gods. Even then, it was a mere chance. Though, as Nyx had learned, his crazed nature could be sated.
But Soren was no weapon. She was powerful and wild, but she was also kind-hearted. Kronos would break her in order to use her.
Just like Vane himself had been broken.
Used.
Beaten.
Orders were orders, and he was bound to Johannas’ mortal line by Kronos’ eternal curse. Perhaps it would be better to let go, to let himself sink into the still waters around him. Maybe then, she could finally be free.
“Vane.”
The water shimmered.
“Damn it.” Hands shook his face somewhere far above him. “You can’t lie to me and then just go and die.”
He was selfish. He reached for her.
Silver shimmered in her blue eyes, just above the surface. He fought against the current that tried to sweep him back to the depths. Tears fell down her cheeks, imbued with ether and sparkling like liquid moonlight in the dull sun.
He gasped as he broke free.