50. Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Forty-Nine
Archer
When it was my turn to step into the mist, I had to mentally repeat to myself that my friends had returned unharmed.
Cliff had looked shocked but safe. Owen had been as immovable as always.
Lily had seemed wistful, but she’d maintained the air of hopefulness she always clung to.
Isoria had looked…uncertain, but when she’d met my gaze, she’d offered me a wobbly smile.
Her emotions had churned with fear and pain, but also hope and relief, reassuring me that she’d gotten an answer to save her people.
Now I needed to break the bond that I’d once resented and now clung to, my tether to Isoria grounding me through Mortius’ curse. And, along with breaking my bond, I’d demand answers. Vithenna had already held that bait before me, all but declaring she knew information regarding the revenant army.
At first, there was nothing but churning mist and a soft, whispering wind surrounding me. It was an odd echo of Mortius’ shadows, like the light to his darkness. My heartbeat tracked the moments as they edged toward a minute. Two.
Was the goddess taunting me? Had she changed her mind?
Gritting my teeth in frustration, I got on my knees, finding the mist soft but solid. It didn’t feel like earth beneath me, but something more cushiony, as if the mist itself had substance.
If Vithenna wanted me to beg for my kingdom, I would beg.
“Please,” I said, my tone low as I kept my eyes toward the swirling white ground. “I’ve come to break the blood bond the gods formed between Isoria Gildmere and me, and to request information about the revenant army threatening Emberglade.”
As suddenly as blinking, Vithenna was there.
Her eyes were that same shocking blue they’d been when she first appeared to me, her hair an array of colors.
She stalked close, her lips twisting in a smile that was anything but friendly.
“Why would you care about Emberglade and its citizens? You are not a true Emberglade by blood, but the son of the Emberglade line’s murderer.
Your father robbed the land of the royal family the gods chose to rule it.
That is why the land does not recognize you, why you do not wield special royal powers like the ones who came before. ”
I swallowed thickly at the reminders, like heavy blows against the gate of my heart.
I was constantly aware of my failure to tap into the land’s magic, that power that was supposed to run through the royal bloodline and be as innate as the magic I’d been born with.
But the land didn’t recognize me—and probably never would—for actions that occurred before I ever walked this earth and yet now defined me.
“I was raised as the crown prince,” I said.
“I am not my father or his choices and actions. I’ve lived my entire life in Rainsong among Emberglade’s people, learning to rule, learning to care.
How could I not, when I’ve spent my life among them, serving them? ”
Vithenna narrowed her eyes, but I couldn’t tell if it was because she was studying me more closely, like she was seeing me for the first time, or if it was because she didn’t believe me.
“Even if you are sincere, it does not undo the crimes of your father, his loyalists, or the phoenixes who have wrought so much death. That’s why I revoked my magic from the phoenixes and let them suffer. ”
My shock was followed swiftly by rage. Isoria and her loved ones were being punished for the violent actions of a few?
“The revenant army you came to ask about is also my judgment on your land, false prince.” As my fury increased to the point I thought maybe my blood was boiling, turning my vision red, I dared to lift my chin and defiantly meet her gaze.
“Perhaps I should have left you to tear one another apart. But my revenant army is meant to purge your land, a chance to start over with new royalty chosen by a deity and new citizens to accept their rule.”
I couldn’t breathe. Black spots danced across my sight, obscuring everything.
The world was closing in on me. I’d come here hoping for answers and help from the goddess of life, only to find that she was our necromancer, the one blaspheming death and trapping souls in their own bodies rather than allowing them the rest that the afterlife offered.
“You? You’re raising the dead, giving them magic? Controlling them so they form an army and cooperate together?”
“Me.” Vithenna didn’t quite smile, but she wore the look of a proud parent.
My stomach roiled. “You’re the goddess of life. How?”
“Well, I’m giving them a sort of second life—”
“How could you?” I demanded. “How could you create such abominations to kill and destroy? Not all in Emberglade are committing atrocities, and the ones who suffer most are far from my father’s deadly decrees and sometimes not part of the phoenix hunts. The revenants are murdering the innocent.”
Despite my anger, I forced myself to pause. She wants me to beg. With a deep breath, I pushed through the building heat and injected calm and humility into my tone. “Please consider mercy. Spare my people. Don’t let the innocent hurt alongside the guilty.”
But Vithenna shook her head. “More than your father are guilty of bloodshed. Phoenix shifters turned to darkness too, burning and killing, and so many of the Emberglade citizens have joined in on the hunts or sided with the phoenixes. Or they’ve permitted King Wystan to continue his bloody reign by not resisting.
This is why I chose to purge your land. New fae will come to claim the vacant kingdom and Emberglade could start anew. ”
I made myself breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth steadily before my rage made me do something rash.
This goddess was the architect of my people’s agony, and she was trying to justify it as if it were a good thing.
As if the unnatural army she’d resurrected, using the dead’s bodies as her puppets, was an instrument for wiping out evil.
“But I am not without mercy,” Vithenna added. “I see you prioritize Emberglade’s welfare, so I’ll make you an offer. The key to ending the revenant army is in your prophecy—in a way. I don’t need you to eradicate all phoenixes, only one. Isoria.”
What? Vithenna was toying with me, surely. Was she mad? Perhaps using her power as a goddess had addled her mind. How could she speak of wanting to purge Emberglade because of the bloodshed so many had committed and then tell me the way to end it was by…committing more bloodshed?
Was this really all an elaborate game to her?
Did she want me to entertain her?
Was the goddess simply…bored?
“But first, the blood bond that Solea forced Maris to create.” Vithenna’s mouth twisted in distaste.
“It’s lucky for you that only Maris could forge the bond and not one of us gods now that we’ve ascended from earth, as one god cannot undo what another god has created.
And shattering the bond doesn’t require taking on a mortal form—merely being here with you, where my strength is greatest. But I’m not going to do this favor without a price, young prince. ”
I frowned, still trying to keep up with her revelations, her insanity. “What price must I pay?
“Memories. I’ll take some memories from you. Nothing crucial regarding how to rule Emberglade or the army—just some moments in your life.”
Unease rippled through me. “You won’t tell me which though, will you?”
Vithenna merely smiled in answer.
I sighed. If I didn’t agree to the bargain, the blood bond would remain and I’d have to stay close to Isoria.
I wouldn’t be able to return to my responsibilities as prince and trying to save Emberglade while also sending her back to Everhaven and safety.
And that’s what I had to do. This bond had to end in order to protect her, to free her.
“Very well.”
Vithenna snapped her fingers.
Just like that, something cracked open in my chest. The bond that had been so unwelcome, so burdensome, all this time, now left a void that, with its abrupt departure, made me reel.
I clutched at my chest, as if I could stave off the flood of pain.
Dizziness whirled through me, making me teeter on my knees, and I stifled a groan.
“The effects of breaking the bond will wear off shortly,” the goddess said carelessly.
“Now that you and Isoria are no longer bonded, I will more fully explain my mercy regarding the revenants. I’ll stop raising the dead and put an end to controlling my current revenants, allowing their souls to move on to the afterlife, if you fulfill your fate.
” Her eyes bored into mine. “For you and Isoria Gildmere are fated enemies, prophesied years ago to destroy one another. It was foretold that either she would ruin the royal line or you would exterminate the phoenix shifters from Emberglade. Now is your chance to act, free of your bond. If one of you slays the other, I’ll stop the revenant army’s march.
I’ll spare the miserable lives of the people you fight for. ” She smirked. “The choice is yours.”
Though the weakness from the sudden severance of the bond had lessened, the horror of her proclamation sent a new wave of dizziness through me.
It’s all for her entertainment—sick, twisted, wrong.
“Can you give us another way to break the curse, a more peaceful, life-giving option?”
Vithenna rolled her eyes. “Don’t question me, child. That is my only offer.” She held out her hand to me. “And I will take my payment for breaking your bond now.”
I hesitated only a moment before reaching out and taking her hand. Almost as soon as I’d grasped it, she removed her hand from mine. “It’s over?” I asked.
She nodded, her smile almost gentle.
I sifted through my memories, trying to determine if I could tell what was missing, if I’d lost something integral.
Memories of the revenant army remained clear and sharp, along with Vithenna’s offer for how to stop it and save Emberglade.
I could remember being thrown in the dungeons and coming here to break my blood bond with Isoria, which Vithenna had already severed.
“My army marches on Rainsong as we speak,” Vithenna announced without preamble.
“The barrier Maris constructed cannot withstand my power. I broke it when I broke your bond. This way, you understand the importance of what you must do to stop the revenants. Either you accept my final offer, or I finish razing Emberglade to the ground.”
My head whirled with the news, still trying to process everything else that had happened, trying to discover what Vithenna had taken from me. “They’re marching on the capital now?”
“If you hurry, you’ll have time to bypass the army and prepare a final stand.” With a parting smile, Vithenna walked away, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
I staggered to my feet, walking through the mist until, abruptly, it melted away and revealed the large temple sanctuary I’d been in before.
I stood beneath Vithenna’s tree, staring at the boughs stretching toward the sky.
The revenants are marching on an unprotected capital.
The barrier is gone. Vithenna is punishing us… unless…
My gaze darted across the room to where Cliff, Owen, and Lily stood clustered around Isoria.
Every moment I’d shared with her while we’d been forced together by the blood bond was hazy and unclear, like the bond—and maybe some phoenix manipulation too—had clouded my judgment.
Had I started to mistake our connection for feelings?
Had I started to delude myself into imagining a future with her wouldn’t be torture?
I had a strange sense that maybe I had, that when Father had ordered me here, I’d been eager to break the bond to protect Isoria.
Pure loathing consumed me, chased by utter disgust in my past self, falsely lovestruck as he had been. This fire demon had made a fool of me long enough.