Chapter 15 Yue #2
My blood runs cold. My skin is suddenly feverish. A direct question requires a direct answer. I need to tell the truth. Of course I want to stay with them, but…
The Court of Temptation.
I look back at the man. Sonam. He watches with bloodshot eyes as he struggles against his bindings. This whole affair has been a test, some magical spell twisting my reality and making a mockery of my sisters’ memories.
Unforgivable.
“No,” I reply, ignoring the way my voice falters. My sisters’ expressions fall, a mix of betrayal and sorrow. “This isn’t real.”
“It could be,” Qin says. “We can make it real.”
“I’m sorry, but… you’re all gone.”
Something shifts between us. The tension in the air so heavy that it’s suffocating.
“And whose fault is that?” Jiayi hisses, her demeanor changing before my very eyes.
“If only you’d done what you were told,” Su growls. “If only you’d done what the Maskmaker wanted, we would still be alive!”
I shrink back, guilt weighing heavily on my shoulders. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. I just—I couldn’t harm the boy.”
My sisters circle me, flashing their fangs and tensing their shoulders as they prepare to pounce.
They snarl and scream at me all at once, any semblance of sisterly affection melting away to reveal what they truly are.
Monsters. Sonam used the term so often when referring to me, but I can understand now.
It horrifies me to see them this way, their faces warped in disgust and anger. How dare the star god use them against me. How dare he take what precious little I already had left of them and poison it.
“I’ve given you my answer,” I say, loud and clear. “You’ve failed to tempt me.”
My eldest sister, Qin, steps forward from the pack. She doesn’t look at me, but the captain. “Are you sure, Yue? This is your only chance.”
I remain perfectly still, waiting for any sign of movement. “As I said, I won’t be tempted.”
Where Sooah, Wen, and Sonam’s illusions filtered away, the ghosts of my sisters don’t leave in nearly as peaceful a manner. I watch, wide-eyed and slack-jawed as their thick fur catches flame.
The heat is so intense that it dries my eyes and burns the air in my lungs.
I scream until my throat is raw and shredded.
My sisters melt away to nothing more than bone and then dust while our surroundings trickle away like rain, returning me once more to the extravagant garden courtyard of the Jade Palace.
There was never any jungle. None of this was real.
Even the illusion of Captain Sonam fades away into nothing.
I can feel my pulse in the tips of my fingers, in my throat, my teeth.
My legs are seconds from giving out. Sonam, Wen, and Sooah stand a few feet away, watching with expressions I can’t hope to decipher.
Shame and embarrassment heat my cheeks. They must have witnessed that whole sordid affair, as I did with their trials.
With a shallow, shaking exhale, I pull on my mask, hating how naked I feel without it.
Exposed. I wish they’d stop bloody staring.
“Most entertaining!”
The voice of the star god reaches my ears. I look up to find him casually striding down the pathway, the winding vines and cutting leaves unfurling themselves to give him space. He claps his hands together with an amused laugh, clearly pleased with the grand finale of this wicked show.
“It’s been at least a while since anyone’s passed my test,” he says, “but all four of you! I am most impressed.”
“Spare me your speech,” Sonam snaps. “We’ve conquered your trial. Now let us pass.”
With an almost dismissive sigh, the star god waves his hand.
The earth rumbles beneath our feet as the courtyard walls slide apart, revealing the next ring of small pavilions and gardens within the Jade Palace like the circles within the bark of a tree.
A small temple lies ahead. A lone stone lantern sits before the arrival steps, though its light is no match for the constant green glow of the main building at its core.
“A pity,” the star god says. “You would have made lovely additions to my garden. When you see my brother in the Court of Wrath, do give him my love.”
I grind my teeth so hard that my molars squeak.
My hands won’t stop shaking. I can’t seem to scream no matter how hard I try to find my voice.
To witness my sisters die a second time…
I’m used to being treated cruelly, but this is too much.
Rage boils within my blood, threatening to consume me.
God or no, he can’t get away with this. I refuse to let anyone dishonor my sisters the way he’s done.
I pounce, attacking with my bare fists, kicking and screaming and scratching with all my might. With the star god pinned beneath me, I pull at his hair and claw at his face. I want to hurt him the way he’s hurt me.
“You bastard!”
Sonam grabs my shoulder. I nearly bite his arm off, surprised at the contact. He holds me with a stern look, pulling me onto my feet.
“Don’t. There are consequences for killing a god.”
“Curse the consequences!” I shriek. “He killed my sisters!”
“They weren’t real, Fox.” There’s something close to pity in his tone. I hate it. I hate him. “You said it yourself, they’re not real. Don’t let him deceive you.”
I force myself to breathe. Damn his calm head and cold logic. What am I supposed to do with all this anger? If I don’t lash out, it may well destroy me. How dare Sonam look me in the eye and tell me to let things be?
I shove the captain away, utterly disgusted. “Don’t touch me, human. Don’t you ever fucking touch me!”
The star god rises with a chuckle, wiping a hand over his face. Seeing him now, I haven’t left a mark on him. He’s as radiant as he was before, not a cut on his cheeks or a wrinkle to sully his robes. The power of divinity flows through him with such force that it rendered my efforts wasted.
“You’re full of surprises, little fox,” the star god taunts. “Would you like to try again?”
To my surprise, it’s Sooah who steps in between myself and the god, her imposing size casting a shadow over me.
Her shoulders tremble ever so slightly, the hard edge to her expression ringing loud and clear—warning not to do anything foolish.
She doesn’t strike me as irritated or upset, merely uneasy.
Her brow is covered in a light sheen of sweat.
Sooah seems eager to move on from this place, eager to leave her memories behind.
It’s no small comfort to know I’m not the only one reeling from this horrid experience.
If this is what we faced in the first Court of Hell, I shudder to think what awaits us.
I clench my fists. My nails dig into my palms hard enough to break skin, streaks of black dripping over my fingers.
Taking a deep breath, I turn on my heels and trudge on, attempting to rid my mind of the faces of my sisters.
Their ghosts are seared into my mind, haunting me even as we leave the first Court of Hell behind us.