52. Chapter Fifty #4
A mother I never had.
Her beauty was incomparable to any goddess I’d ever seen. The conflicting emotions felt forced, like they weren’t my own.
I trembled, torn between terror and aching longing.
Eisarnach swept low, arms outstretched in offering. “As promised, my queen,” he purred, voice echoing against the stone. “The god you coveted. The forest’s wild son, collared and returned to your side once more. Consider my debt repaid in full.”
Her gaze lingered on Tairngire, fighting the shackle around his throat, dimmed. And her smile was a thing of ruin.
My rage was palpable. I tried to speak, but my voice caught in my throat. No words would come out. My vision was dotted with unshed tears, but I fought them with every breath.
I dragged myself across the stone, shuddering, every inch leaving a smear of blood in my wake. I had to get to him. Had to.
My vision tunneled, but still I reached out. Tairngire was on his hands and knees only paces away, the golden collar burning into his throat. Eisarnach’s wretched runes worked in betrayal against him.
And there the God of Chaos stood, humor etched all over his flawless face.
Yet, for the barest flicker, something softer stirred in his eyes. It was gone as quickly as it came, leaving only mockery behind.
I clawed forward. “Tairngire…”
You would waste your last breaths on him? A voice brushed my mind like silk, tender and cruel. On a god who never gave you truth? He gave you pleasure, yes. He told you what you longed to hear. But love? No. That was never for you.
My fingers clawed at the stone, too in shock to wonder about how I could hear the strange voice in my head.
But I somehow knew it was hers.
“You speak lies,” I rasped. “Eisarnach has shown me illusions before. Tricks. Shadows. You think me naive enough to fall for them again?” My voice cracked, but I forced steel into it. “I’m no fool.”
The beautiful queen’s lips curved, pitying. Oh, you poor mortal child. Still clinging to hope.
Tairngire choked, a raw, guttural sound, collar dragging the truth from him. His voice tore ragged from his throat, broken and bleeding. My lips parted—
And then he spoke a name that wasn't mine.
“Bleddyn…” the name gurgled from his lips, thick with anguish. His head lolled, eyes clouded with a grief that cut deeper than any blade, any falsehood. “I should have saved you…Gods, I tried. I would have brought you back. I’m so sorry Astór.”
The world tilted. I choked back a sob. That nickname—not mine. My treasure. The word he sweetly used on me just last night. Another betrayal.
The queen’s voice was laced with sorrow. Now you see. It was never about you. Never saving Fate. Never destiny. Only her.
She touched my cheek as I lay there rasping. Her hand was cool, tender as a mother’s as she finally spoke out loud. My pain eased with her touch.
“He clung to a ghost, child.”
Her eyes hardened, voice sharpening with venom.
“That flame-haired whore, the one he adored beyond reason.
Do you know what it was like to watch him lay kingdoms to ash for her?
To see him worship her smile, her touch, as if she were divine?
" She let out a rough scoff. "He burned the very roots of his forest when she was taken. And still, still, he whispered her name as though it might bring her back.”
Her smile turned brittle, still beautiful despite its cruelty.
“You think he fought beside you to save the realms? No. He fought because he could not let go of her. Gathering the stones would have brought him one step closer to bringing his precious wolf back into the loom. Every kiss he gave you was stolen. Every touch a shadow of what he once gave another first.”
Her nails traced lightly along my jaw, deceptively gentle, though her words cut deeper than any blade. “He is an attentive lover, yes. But that only makes betrayal taste sharper, does it not? Sweet until it rots.”
Her voice dripped with scorn. “I saw how he looked at her, as if she were worthy of eternity. He wanted to give her what the Fates gave you, the Soul bond. He was going to sacrifice you, Seer, to bring her back. Every word he spoke was to gain your trust, so that he could use you in a ritual that would end you. All for his flame-headed whore.”
She looked at Tairngire with disgust, such a strange look on such a perfect face. “And when I take him, it will not be theft. It will be for justice.”
Her hand lingered on my cheek a breath longer, then slipped away, leaving only the sting of her cruel words.
The pain crashed in the moment her touch left me.
My thigh burned where Caibre’s blade had cut, poison festering in my veins.
The bond still thrummed faintly between us, but cinched and weak, like a tether fraying to its last thread.
I clung to it, desperate, even as it bled away from me.
Even as the truth of all that was just said settled in.
Through the haze, I saw the forest god that I had only just begun to put my trust in.
Mist coiled up around his body, red and black, swallowing him whole.
His eyes met mine, wide and wild, then dimmed as the collar’s light smothered every last drop of divinity in him.
His lips moved, but no sound came, just that cursed name echoing in my skull.
The one that wasn’t mine.
Bleddyn.
The queen’s words cut deeper now, replaying, circling like vultures. Not you. Never you.
My heart clawed itself apart in my chest. I tried to drag myself closer to the god who played me, my fingers scraping stone, leaving smears of blood in my wake.
My body wouldn’t obey. My vision fractured, black spots swallowing the edges.
I thought of his hands, his mouth, the way his voice had once said my name like it mattered—it was all a lie.
Just a shadow he used to chase another ghost.
It was fitting, that in the end he was simply another divine being using me in a game to get what they wanted.
The mist dissipated, and the Forest God who betrayed me was gone with it.
A sob broke in my throat, but never left my lips. My body shook once, then stilled. Every sound was muffled but for the drum of my heartbeat...slowing...slowing…
The last thing I saw was the God of Chaos looming over me, an unreadable gleam in his gaze…
"A strange creature, indeed."
And then the darkness took me.