Chapter 1
Zadriel
Death curled its fist around Zadriel’s chest, pain splintering through his ribs. He gasped, hissing a breath through clenched teeth as he slammed his hand against his heart with such force the slap echoed through the dense cluster of trees sheltering him.
Stumbling in the snow, he nearly doubled over—it was as if he were being torn apart by the hands of fate, their fingers clawing through his ribcage in search of Cillian’s thread.
The tether drew taut, tensing around his innards.
It clung to him. A desperate enchantment bound in blood and joined to Zadriel’s soul. Then, all at once, it ripped free.
The air wrenched from his lungs, and he knew...
Zadriel exhaled with his brother one final time.
A pained moan bubbled on his tongue as he sank to his knees, his pack slipping from his shoulder and tumbling open on the ground, while frigid cold enveloped him.
Sweat slicked his skin until he shivered, clinging to his fur-lined cloak.
Zadriel sobbed until he choked, blood flooding his throat and dripping from his nostrils.
Spatters of red splashing on the ivory earth like drops of gory rain.
Cillian was dead.
It was an effort to breathe, each raspy inhale filling his lungs with the crisp, earthy scent of the woods. Evergreens shifted. Their branches creaking as they bent to brush his shoulders. Rough needles dragging over his black hood, pulling the soft material back until winter kissed his ears.
It wasn’t a comfort—Zadriel’s heart squeezed, the ache thrumming in his veins surging higher.
Dear Mother.
Holy Gods.
What was he to do now?
... What happened to his brother?
When the pain eased, fading along with Cillian’s soul, the feeble threads of Zadriel’s hope bled out with it.
Gritting his teeth, he blinked away his tears and slid a shaking hand over his face. Crimson stained his fingers, illuminated by the soft light of the moon. He stared down at it, dread curling in his belly as he considered what came next. Who he needed to return to.
A prickle skittered up his arms, singeing his scars like embers pressed into raw flesh. He’d bleed for this. Pay for Cillian like he’d paid for too many things over the years. His innocence never mattered. Brennan would get his pound of flesh, even if he had to carve it from Zadriel’s bones.
Something gleamed in the snow, flecks of gold catching his starlit black eyes.
He reached for it, fingers grazing over the dried petals of a gilded daisy, strewn on the ground with the rest of his belongings.
As he stared, a sad smile tugged on his handsome face.
It was a relic from his childhood. The one piece of home he had left.
For a moment, Zadriel was at peace, back in the meadow staring up at the brilliant aura of the Mother Tree.
When he closed his eyes, he could almost see it.
Golden leaves fluttering in a gentle breeze as Her branches reached for the heavens.
Dancing among the wind was his mother’s song, a quiet melody curling through the Forest...
Until it was consumed by screams.
That squeezing feeling in his chest returned. Zadriel’s jaw tensed, fingers clenching as he remembered every choking breath, black smoke glinting with embers of burning sap seeping into his throat.
Whatever came next, he deserved it.
He’d ruined himself and damned his people. For nothing.
No. For her. Cillian gave it all to her.
And now, with Cillian dead, she was as trapped as Zadriel.
Bowing his heavy head, he plucked at one of the flower’s petals, grimacing at the delicate, broken thing.
Despite what had happened, part of him longed for everything the bond promised.
His feelings hardly mattered—the one kindness Zadriel could offer Mora was to stay far away. If Brennan found her...
He shuddered at the thought.
It was fitting. A cruel twist of destiny, though he believed the Fates had never been fond of him—they likely reveled in weaving this path. He’d come so close to his mate, only to lose her to another. So close to returning home, his freedom slain along with what family he had left.
No matter what happens, I’ll see you again.
Zadriel loosed a breath, the branches resting on his shoulders too heavy as he thought of Cillian’s final goodbye. Shrugging away the trees’ touch, he gathered his things and shoved them back into his bag.
There was a hollowness where Cillian’s tether had once been, echoes of near-maddening agony vibrating with Zadriel’s pulse like an off-key melody, making his heart clench.
Within that pain was an ember, flaring brighter with each shallow inhale. In the midst of Zadriel’s grief, he felt it. A life calling out to him. Pulling on the remaining threads of Brennan’s curse.
It wasn’t the first time those little fingers plucked the enchantment’s strings.
Now, however, they beckoned so fiercely Zadriel couldn’t help but follow the pull.
His feet moved ahead without thought, pine trees straining to reach him as he pulled away.
Frost and bits of ice shook free from their branches, peppering Zadriel’s shoulders, but he didn’t stop.
There was no sense in looking back. Numbness shrouded his weary soul, apathy pulling him into its steely arms as he crushed the golden daisy beneath his boot.
Adjusting his hood, he made for Castle Berwick. Cillian was gone. Zadriel owed it to him to collect his son and return him to Eden.