Chapter 38
MATTHIAS
I swear, Mercy, this is my last missive.
Tomorrow, it’s your duty to take Romero’s hand, become his queen.
For the final time, I offer you a choice.
If you truly believe your destiny is to stand at his side, then I’ll leave knowing you’re content.
But if, as I know, you still harbour a love for me as I love you, join me.
We’ll forge a future of our own. He’ll never find us.
I’ll protect you till my dying breath. Midnight, Mercy.
Meet me at midnight. Your ever-loving Gabe.
— BURNT FRAGMENT OF A LETTER DISCOVERED AMONGST THE JOURNALS OF QUEEN MERCY
I placed my hand on the arm of the trembling God. Muscles ticked in his jaw, nostrils flared as we stood on Drufaera’s black sands, staring across the sea to where the volcano named in his honour lay.
My captain stood by my side, arms crossed as he squinted towards the volcano.
‘Why’ – my heart stuttered at the break in his voice – ‘why is she taking Sorrow to Vyrus?’
It was a good question. Her invasion of the Shuteran continent began and ended with Asmar. She’d taken a silent path to Drufaera. No warriors slaughtering. No guards razing villages. It was as though Sorrow had been the treasure she’d sought all along.
And my breath hadn’t settled since she’d gone.
The God stilled, tilted his head in the direction of my friend.
He snorted. ‘It’s another reason I despise you all.
’ The God raked his fingers through his tangled hair.
He’d not held a bottle since we’d torn northwards in pursuit of the empress.
‘You slaughter each other, delude yourselves that the Gods bless you or curse you, go on with your lives in the misbelief I’ll leave you alone as long as you appease me with sacrifices. ’
The onyx sand beneath his boots crunched as he stepped forward. ‘You spend your pitiful existence fearing the Gods when your deadliest foes are yourselves.’
Asher’s brows narrowed. ‘But… you did send the meteor? You tried to destroy us?’
The God turned back, his dark hair whipping across his face, and shrugged. ‘We all make mistakes, Captain. It was a long time ago. Isn’t it time you moved on?’
I glanced over my shoulder at the forces who’d come with us. I couldn’t bear this burden alone. I returned my gaze to Vyrus.
My jaw clenched. The old saying racing through my head.
To own the heart is to possess the God. If he couldn’t, for whatever reason, defeat her, with the last fragment of his heart flickering within his chest, she’d own the whole thing.
I rubbed my aching temples. I should tell him. The God should know what he faced.
‘Sorrow… my mother gave her something. A ruby.’ I kept my eyes on the waves, ignoring the way his head whipped around, eyes boring into me. ‘She wasn’t sure what it was,’ I lied. ‘Wanted to be sure before she returned it to you.’
‘And where is this ruby now, little king?’
I heaved in a breath. ‘With Sorrow?’
The God went silent, but the sand around his feet began to swirl. I swallowed, imagining what we faced. Either Vyrus or the empress would be in control, and as she had more fragments than he did, would even Vyrus be enough to destroy her?
‘And if you get your heart back—’
‘When, little king, not if.’
‘When you get your heart back, when you’re at…’ I waved my hand in his direction. ‘Full power. What are your plans then?’
Embers sparked in his eyes, and I shivered. ‘You’ll just have to wait and see, little king. Wait and see.’
Asher and I exchanged a wide-eyed stare and I shrugged.
What else were we supposed to do? The empress hadn’t just taken everything I held dear.
She’d butchered my family, seized my soul, abducted my heart.
My instinct screamed at me to leap into the solitary rowboat bobbing against the rocky bay, storm the volcano and take back my wife, but my desire to spare others from burdens was a cut I had to staunch.
Instead, I’d gather all those who’d join me in our fight for our world’s very existence.
Alliance guards, troops from all six nations, united with the cunning of the Midnight Insurgence, the stealth of the hunters.
Evella’s healers stood towards the back, ready to assist those who would be harmed in what could very well be our final battle.
I snorted as I spotted the blond hair of Duke twatting Lommond, who’d even offered his support.
Some mortals and Anomalies had grabbed whatever weapons they could as we passed their villages, and my heart swelled at the might standing on a windswept obsidian beach, reaching back along the path.
My eyes met Raine’s, their rebels blending into the ebony sand as they stood behind their revered leader. They inclined their chin.
‘Your mother regretted the years she lost with you,’ they signed.
I closed my eyes against the still far too raw scar of Mother’s loss. ‘I thought I’d have years…’ I opened my eyes; a muscle twitched in their jaw. ‘I can’t imagine Asmar without her.’
They turned their face towards the grey waves rolling against the sand. The plumes of the volcano merging with the clouds.
‘Neither can I, Matthias.’ They blew out a breath, rolled their shoulders. ‘If, Evella bless us—’
‘Vyrus.’
They chuckled as I signed the God’s interruption back to them. ‘Whoever decides to listen, gives us a chance, what do you want for Eusis? How can we make your mother proud of the world she’ll never see?’
I swallowed against the pain lodged in my throat. ‘She’d want a world where everyone is equal.’
They nodded. ‘A Eusis where no child goes hungry.’
It was my turn to nod, brushing the hair from my eyes as the low sun reflected off the sea. ‘Where no one suffers pain if they don’t possess enough coin.’
‘A world where each life is valued for the blessing, the wonder they are. Where no child is expendable,’ they signed.
‘A world of love…’
‘Peace…’
‘Equality,’ we signed together.
Raine held their hand out. I glanced at it. At the hand I’d considered belonged to the enemy. The hand that played a part in Father’s fall. And I grasped it. Grasped them as a promise reflected in their eyes. Then we crossed our arms as we looked out across the Whispering Sea.
Today we shaped a new world. Not me, not an alliance, but us. My mother, Gods how it burned to think of her, spent years uttering swords first and consequences later. I swore on the soul of Evella I’d not fail my Sorrow this time.
My heart swelled as we laid our hands in the centre. Palm covered hand one by one till the people of our world had a plan. We shook and I blew out a breath, a tentative smile on my lips as I brushed the hair from my face, facing the bruised sea.
Enfys shivered as she stood next to me. I wrapped my arm around her, placed a kiss onto her furrowed brow.
She turned to face me. ‘Promise we’ll save her?’ Tears burned behind my eyes at the thought of what that woman was doing to Sorrow. ‘I’ve only just got her back in my life, Matthias. I can’t lose her too.’
I failed to place a reassuring smile on my face as the wolf slipped beneath my fingers.
‘I know the feeling, En. But I swear, while there’s a single breath left in my body, I won’t falter.
We’ve all been denied too much and Sorrow deserves her peace.
She deserves us. So, yes, Enfys, I promise we’ll bring her back to you. To us.’
Sniffing, she nodded, her hand grasping the tree pendant. I was about to ask her about it when Raine grabbed my arm, spinning me around, their eyes wide.
‘Look,’ they signed, pointing out to sea.
I squinted in the direction of their finger, scouring the waves but seeing nothing but the swell of grey. I shook my head, glancing back at the rebel.
‘Vyrus,’ they spelled, and a stone slammed into my chest as I spotted the God stalking across the sea.
Enfys stilled. ‘Is he… walking? Walking across the water?’
I gripped my hair, cursing as the waves swallowed him. If he got to the volcano first? He was a god, a god fighting for us, but I still wasn’t certain about his motives. We could still unwittingly unleash the final days of Eusis if he clung to his nefarious dreams.
I cursed as every eye on the beach stared over the sea. His lack of patience could cost us everything.
‘He’s an Anomaly?’ Enfys asked, and I gripped her shoulders, turned Evella’s most devout student towards me.
‘No.’ Grumbles and shouts echoed across the beach as the God disappeared. ‘And I don’t want you to panic, but…’
I glanced at Raine as they signed random swear words.
‘He’s our secret weapon. A weapon about to give away our entire plan.’ The solitary boat bobbed against the waves and I knew what I needed to do.
Enfys gasped, her eyes wide. ‘A Deviant?’
‘No,’ I said, searching for Asher. ‘Vyrus.’
An odd smirk hooked up the corner of her mouth. She blinked. ‘Vyrus?’ A laugh burst out of her, so like Sorrow. ‘Don’t be silly—’
‘I’m not.’ I placed a final kiss to her head, watching the blood seep from her cheeks. ‘But it’s fine. He’s on our side.’
I think.
I spotted the black coils and grabbed my captain.
‘He’s going to give us away!’ he cried.
‘I know. Do you trust me?’
My dearest friend narrowed his eyes, crossed his arms.
‘Why?’
‘Because we need to stop him. I need to stop him.’
He groaned, his hands flying up. ‘Don’t you ever learn, my king? You can’t do this alone. You—’
‘I won’t be alone.’ The wolf growled next to me, his eyes set on the boat. ‘That damned God will only listen to one of us on this beach. And it isn’t me. But as Pablo isn’t able to control the oars, I have to get him there.’
Asher closed his dark eyes, and for a moment, I thought I’d waste precious seconds arguing, before the hint of a smile lit up his face and he nodded.
‘We’ll continue with the plan. I’ll represent Asmar and meet you there.’
I readied to race through the tide when Asher grabbed me and I flung my arms around his broad shoulders.
‘I trust you, my king, I do.’ Tears threatened to spill again at his words. ‘But by all the Gods, old and new, do not die on me. Skye will never forgive me and I’ve only kissed her once.’
We pulled apart, and I nodded, incapable of words. With the wolf at my heels, I shoved out the boat and leapt in, chasing down the most powerful God in existence before he reduced our world to rubble.