Chapter Twenty-Seven #2
To reveal who he truly wished to serve.
Mal.
Persephone watched him closely as Kage continued, his voice steady despite the weight of what he was offering.
‘You do not need the child,’ he said. ‘I will bring your daughter back. You may wage war with Mal to your heart’s content, but the child is to remain untouched.’
Persephone’s glare sharpened. ‘And your sister has agreed to this?’
‘My sister knows nothing of it,’ Kage replied without flinching. ‘I come on my own terms.’
A low, delighted laugh spilt from Persephone’s lips. ‘How fascinating.’ She leaned back, her smile blooming into something dark and indulgent. ‘Very well. Return my daughter to me, and I swear I will not harm the child.’
Kage inclined his head. ‘I will do so after the babe is born. Not before. I have no desire to give you room to break your word.’
Persephone’s smile widened by the heartbeat, sharp as broken glass. ‘Of course you wouldn’t, Kage Blackburn.’
‘Until then.’ He turned on his heel and left the throne room without a backward glance. He ignored the footsteps that followed him, the echo of power and suspicion trailing close behind, but once he crossed beyond the castle gates, a firm grip seized his arm.
Thanatos leaned in, his voice low and furious. ‘What are you plotting? Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?’
Kage only smiled.
And then he vanished, leaving behind nothing but silence, unease, and the faint sense that the balance of the realms had just begun to tilt.
…
Night had fully claimed the sky when Kage was finally released back into the mortal world.
The pull of Bryn tugged at him, urgent and aching, but the curse guided him elsewhere first. He did not understand the mechanics of it, only that his body knew where it was required, surrendering to the dark instinct that carried him across realms.
He emerged upon a stretch of black sand, the sea before him restless and bruised with stormlight. Wyverns wheeled overhead, their silhouettes cutting across the clouds, until he found his sister standing at the shoreline, motionless, her attention fixed on the churning water.
Kage went to her and stood at her side, the wind tugging at them both.
‘Is it done?’ Mal asked quietly, her hand settling over her stomach.
‘It is.’
She smiled then, a sharp and satisfied smile, and Kage felt something weary twist in his chest.
‘She truly believed you?’ she asked.
‘We could actually do it,’ he said before she could speak again. ‘I could go to Hell and return Makaria to Persephone. Your child would be safe from her.’
‘No.’ Mal did not look at him, her eyes still on the sea. ‘Do you truly think I trust her to keep her word?’ She exhaled, unimpressed. ‘And besides, I need Allegra. Makaria stays where she is.’
‘You don’t need Allegra to teach you magic,’ Kage said carefully. ‘You have the God-Killer.’
‘Perhaps.’ Mal shrugged, utterly unbothered. ‘But I need someone with Vera. In case something happens to her. In case she is dragged back to Hell.’
Kage sighed, the sound lost to the wind. ‘I don’t like this plan. Trying to outplay Persephone is dangerous.’
Mal snorted softly, dismissive.
Kage glanced back towards the keep rising in the distance. ‘You should at least tell Ash.’
‘No.’
‘Then tell Thanatos.’
At that, Mal finally turned, her expression tightening with clear impatience, as though even his name was an inconvenience she had no desire to entertain.
‘Then at least tell them about that thing.’
Kage caught the way Mal stiffened, the sharp intake of breath she failed to hide. Her eyes widened, darting instinctively over her shoulder before returning to him, unease appearing across her face.
‘You can see it?’
Kage nodded once.
Mal exhaled slowly, the sound heavy with exhaustion.
‘When I became the God-Killer, I heard a voice inside my head. Thanatos warned me that my mind would rot with time, that power like this always corrupts.’ Her fingers curled at her side.
‘I don’t know how or why, but part of it tore itself free from me.
It gave itself a form. A will.’ She glanced back again, as if expecting it to be standing even closer.
‘It won’t take long before it rejoins me.
Keeping Ash close helps. He anchors me. But if he leaves…
’ Her jaw tightened. ‘I’m holding on until my daughter is born. ’
‘And then what?’ Kage asked quietly.
Mal turned away without answering, already striding back towards the keep. ‘Mother is upstairs,’ she called over her shoulder. ‘You should go and see her.’
Kage nodded, though he did not move. He stayed where he was, watching as his sister disappeared up the winding path, swallowed by stone and shadow.
And he watched it.
The thing that followed her.
It wore Mal’s face, every familiar line twisted just enough to feel wrong. Its eyes gleamed with something ancient and predatory, and its smile—gods, that smile—was sharp enough to make even the demons of Hell recoil.
Kage stood frozen, dread curling deep in his chest, as the creature slipped after his sister and vanished into the keep.
Slowly, Kage made his way up the same winding path and into the small keep perched on the cliffs above the beach.
The place lay drowned in darkness. No candles burnt, no lanterns glowed.
Silence wrapped around him like a shroud the moment he crossed the threshold, thick and suffocating.
He wondered where Mal had gone, where Ash might be.
The air felt wrong, heavy with a presence that was not his own.
For the first time, Kage sensed that he was not the ghost haunting these halls; something else was.
He climbed to the second floor and stopped before the door he knew belonged to his mother.
How he knew, he was unsure. It seemed that being cursed did far more than protect him from rulers.
It gave shape and form to his instincts, shadow tendrils that pulled at him like strings on a marionette.
His hand hovered over the handle, hesitation tightening his chest. Was it wise to see her like this? Was it cruel?
The door creaked open.
Queen Senka had withered beneath the weight of her grief.
She sat facing the sea, eyes closed, lips moving in a soft stream of broken, incoherent murmurs.
Kage crossed the room and took the empty chair beside her, the one Mal must have occupied so often.
He longed to take his mother’s hands, to ground himself in her warmth, yet fear held him back. She would notice how cold he was.
‘Is it really you?’ Queen Senka whispered as her black eyes fluttered open.
The moment she saw him, her face crumpled. Tears spilt freely as she reached for him, clutching his hands and pulling him closer, closer still. ‘Kage… is it really you?’
He nodded, unable to speak. The grief surged too violently, filling his throat until words became impossible. If he spoke now, he would shatter. He would never stop, never stop sobbing for his mother, for all the time they had lost.
He had missed her more than he could ever say.
And now… now it was far too late.
‘Your hands,’ she said, her gaze dropping to where she held him. ‘They’re so cold.’
Kage nodded, swallowing the grief clawing at his throat.
‘Your ring,’ she added softly. ‘Where is your ring?’
With my body, he thought, but the truth lodged itself too deep to ever be spoken. Even cursed as he was, gifted a body to walk the mortal world by night, his ring had remained behind, bound to the corpse he no longer owned.
Before he could fashion a lie, his mother turned her face back towards the sea, as if the question had already lost its meaning.
‘I’ve missed you,’ Kage whispered, tightening his grip at last, no longer fearing the chill of his skin nor what it betrayed.
His eyes drifted to the plate of food by her chair, untouched.
She looked smaller somehow, frailer, as though grief had been feeding on her in place of meals. ‘Mother… you must eat.’
She did not seem to hear him. Her lips moved again in their soft, broken cadence. ‘We ought to sleep now, Kage.’
‘Why?’ he asked quietly.
‘Because then we can see Haven.’
His body went rigid. ‘Mother… Haven is dead.’
‘Not when I sleep,’ she replied, patting his hands with a tenderness that cut deeper than any blade. ‘She visits me, Kage.’ Her gaze lifted suddenly. ‘Your eyes.’
‘What of them, mother?’
‘They are the same as Haven’s.’
‘Of course they are,’ he said gently. ‘We are wyverians. We all share the same eyes.’
Queen Senka shook her head. ‘No, Kage. That’s not what I mean.’
‘Then what do you mean?’
She turned to him then, and the madness was gone. In its place sat a terrible, lucid sorrow.
‘They are the eyes of the dead.’ Her face crumpled as she began to weep. ‘My boy… they took you too.’
Panic tore through him. Kage staggered back, his breath catching as fear flooded his veins. How did she know? Had she always known? Could she see him for what he was?
Her sobs grew louder, breaking apart what little strength he had left. He rose abruptly, retreating from her, terrified that his presence had only deepened her suffering.
‘Your ring…’ she continued to murmur, the words chasing him even as he fled.
Kage ran from the room, from the keep, from the sound of her voice and vanished into the night, the echo of her grief following him long after he was gone.