Chapter Thirty-Two #2
“You already do, Yeri. You will need my assistance to ensure Rowhan returns to the pure stone after you’re done with him.
” His gaze moved to Calroy. “Only a god can handle the energy Rowhan will produce when he fights his capture. Calroy must always hold the stone, to keep a tight leash on him. If he refuses to cooperate, threaten to put him back.”
Calroy’s mouth curved. Not the smirk I knew from Theron. Something far more dangerous.
Ranis looked at the glowing stone in his palm, then at Calroy, and held it out without a word. Calroy took it and gave his to Ranis.
The moment Calroy’s fingers closed around the stone, it blazed, brighter than it had in Ranis’s palm, the gold deepening to almost white, heat radiating off it in waves.
“Now,” Palto said.
Calroy crouched at the pool’s edge and lowered his hand, the stone touching the surface without releasing it. The water caught the light, gold threading down through the depths like lightning finding its path, wrapping around the sleeping forms below.
Rowhan’s body jolted.
His fingers spread. His back arched, hair fanning out around him, bubbles streaming upward in a rush. Then his eyes opened, pale and wide, adjusting to a new realm.
The water churned.
Energy cracked through the pool like a struck bell, rippling outward, and I felt it even standing back—a pressure in my chest, ancient and enormous, the power from a god wakening.
The air shifted like the moment before the storm when earth holds its breath.
The water around the pool’s edge darkened then settled. Even the waterfall stilled.
Calroy stood, stone in his fist, eyes locked on the figure rising through the water. When Rowhan broke the surface and landed a few feet from us, nothing about him was wet. Not his tunic, not his hair, not his dark skin. As if the water had simply released him without leaving a trace.
He had a kind face. Medium height, lean, dark hair falling past his jaw, the kind of face you’d pass on a road and forget by the next village. Except for his eyes. Amber, almost gold, the color of sunlight. Those you wouldn’t forget.
That was the most unsettling thing about him. Not what I’d expected from someone who had handed the queen the means to destroy us.
Rowhan’s gaze moved around the space—to Minha, Ranis, me, Calroy, and Palto’s liquid form. Taking in each face without recognition, he then looked up to the rocky ceiling, the waterfall threading down the far wall, the soft gold light catching the mist. Then down to the pool he’d just risen from.
Something crossed his face. “Where—” His voice came out rough. He cleared his throat. “How long have I been here?”
“Long enough,” Calroy said. “And whether you stay or go back depends on what you say next.”
Rowhan’s gaze dropped to Calroy’s fist. He recognized what was inside the stone. His jaw tightened.
“You hold my soul,” he said, his tone neutral.
“I do.” Calroy’s jaw worked. “And I’ll pull it back without a second thought if you give me reason to.”
The waterfall filled the silence. Then Rowhan dipped his chin.
His voice was regretful. “I have had a very long time to think about what I had done.” His gaze moved to me. Then back to Calroy. “I will not ask your forgiveness. I don’t deserve it. But I am asking for the chance to make it right.”
“Then you answer to me.” Calroy pocketed the stone. “Every move. Every decision. You do nothing without my word. Are we clear?”
“Clear.” Rowhan glanced back at the pool, at the four remaining forms still sleeping beneath the surface, then to Palto hovering. “In the pool we have had a long time to speak among ourselves. To sit with what we chose. Are you bringing the others back?”
“Just Palto,” Calroy said.
Rowhan nodded once, accepting it without protest. “Very well.” Something hardened in his expression. Resolution perhaps. “We can bring down the Seelie queen together. I know her weakness. I have my own vendetta against her.”
“Don’t we all.” Minha crossed her arms, standing beside me.
“Explain her weakness,” Calroy said.
“The onyx in her castle wall works in her favor.” Rowhan’s gaze moved between us.
“It was built from earth stone—my element. Her power and the onyx are the same frequency. It feeds her rather than draining her.” His jaw tightened.
“I helped her design it when she promised it was for our benefit. Before I understood what she truly was.”
“We’ve already established she’s untouchable in her castle,” I said.
“Yes. But outside those walls,” he looked at me, recognition dawning in his eyes, “the earth god’s power inside her has nothing to anchor it. No fortified stone. No onyx to feed it.” He paused. “She weakens. And it will be enough.”
“Enough for what?” Ranis asked.
“Enough for water to destabilize her.” His eyes settled on mine. “Earth and water are opposites. The sea goddess’s power is the only element that can unmake what lives inside her. If Yeri gets her power back and faces the queen on open ground near the sea—”
“Absolutely not.” Calroy stepped in front of me, shoulders squared, every line of him taut. “How do you know she’s Yeri? How do you know anything about her power?”
“I told him.” Palto’s form drifted closer to Rowhan. “I had to. We needed to know our full strength and our weaknesses going in.”
“You’re giving me every reason not to bring you back.” Calroy’s voice dropped to quieter than a growl.
“I understand your anger.” Palto held his ground. “But we have all had years to sit with our regrets. Rowhan included. Either you trust us and we move forward together. Or we stand here and waste time the queen is already using against you.”
“Give me one reason,” I said. “One reason you didn’t just watch us stumble through this blind.”
Palto’s light dimmed. “I carved the illustration in Mount Kael. So when the Seelie queen sent you there, you would find it. I also had someone plant a rumor about the pure stone in the queen’s ear.”
My breath caught. “That was you?”
Calroy arched an eyebrow. “What carving?”
“I’ll explain later.” Anger and gratitude tangled together, and I didn’t know which one was winning.
I thought of the two figures reaching for each other, forever falling short, the ache that carving had left in me before I understood why.
Calroy’s jaw worked.
I put a hand on his arm. “Calroy.”
He exhaled slowly, then stepped aside.
“One wrong move,” he said to Rowhan, then to Palto, “Either of you.”
Neither answered. They didn’t need to.
“Enough of pleasantries,” Ranis chuckled nervously. “Do you hear The Priestess urgent voice for us to come back?”
“I do.” Minha’s eyes rounded.
“I don’t.” Theron furrowed his brow.
“I don’t either.” I looked at Palto for guidance.
“Perhaps you two don’t because you are gods now and not the mortal beings as you entered as.”
“Something must be wrong.” Ranis squinted to listen to what The Priestess was saying to his mind. “I’m getting cut off. And energy here must be blocking us.”
“How do we get back?” Minha asked, frantic edged in her voice.
“The same way you came,” Palto said. “Holding hands and the stones, but no need to lie down.”
“Wait.” Calroy glanced between Minha and me. “Who has Palto’s stone?”
“I do.” I held it out toward Palto. “You’ve been making it hum every time I touch it. You’ve been trying to reach me.”
Palto’s form flickered. “Since the moment you took it from the cavern, I felt you carrying me. I was afraid you would put me down.”
“It hummed for me too,” Calroy said. “I thought it was recognizing Yeri’s energy.”
“It recognized divine energy,” Palto said. “Whatever stone you held, Calroy, it belonged to that god. They felt you carrying them. The dead are always aware of who holds their soul. Even in sleep.”
“If I may interrupt?” Ranis stepped between them, glancing upward as though he could feel something pressing down from above. “The Priestess is urging us back again.”
“Then let’s not waste time.” Calroy looked at each of us. “Revive Palto and let’s get out of here.”
I glanced around one last time. The waterfall, the bone-white trees beyond this cavern, the gate, the fog that had swallowed me whole. This land of the dead had changed me. I’d come here as Star. I was leaving as a goddess with my memory back.
Whatever came next, at least I knew what I was fighting for. And who I was fighting beside.
Gods help us if Calroy and I had made a mistake in trusting Rowhan and Palto.