“I know why you made me,” I said; my voice rebounded eerily through the hall that thickened with judgment. “It wasn’t just to lead mankind and set an example for them. That’s what you chose to appoint four High Celestials for, long before I came into creation.”
I swallowed because my throat kept drying out.
“I was an experiment, wasn’t I? A show for you to watch and discover what being mortal meant. If it could be worth giving up godhood for. You tested me time and time again, hoping I would prove that being a god is above being mortal. That I would want to come back to the stars rather than suffer on land below as part of mankind. Yet despite every trial… I proved you wrong.”
It had been turning over in my mind. Why the gods were being careful.
“You want to stay,” I said. “As gods you sit above us, untouched by time, by pain, by death… but what is eternity without ever being touched by love? Without feeling a moment as precious when time is endless? You don’t hate mortals… you envy them. You envy me.”
The final part of my theory pricked my skin. I scanned the cold, haunted hall as though Dusk or Dawn could lunge for me any moment.
“The vessels you chose can’t sustain you much longer; they were always a temporary solution, and your time is running out. But I’m a fragment of eachof you. Created, not born. A vessel strong enough to contain a god. You haven’t come to end me, you’ve come to take my place… and only one of you can.”
That’s why they weren’t working together. Why they had to bide their time and coax a High Celestial onto their side to drive the key blade through me.
Dusk had Notus, and Dawn…
My heart skipped and I ran from the temple. Now, knowing their objective, I feared more for Zephyr and his children. I’d thought Dawn wouldn’t care about Zephyr; she and Dusk still had Notus to wield the key since they couldn’t. But the gods were against each other in this race… and Dawn needed Zephyr.
I flew fast and desperately, needing to see Zephyr and his children were still safe.
Landing, I burst through the threshold of Nadir’s home without a knock.
The scene I faced slammed my steps into a wall of dread.
The calmness contrasted with the company. Everyone was still here. Zephyr sat at the dining table with Raider opposite him. Nadir was in the small kitchen, chopping vegetables, a jarring activity considering the tension that tightened my skin. Because at the head of the table stood Dawn… holding a blade to Antila’s neck.
“We’ve been waiting for you,” Dawn said kindly. As though Astraea were merely late to dinner.
Antila’s eyes were wide and her body trembled stiffly under the knife resting across her skin.
“Let her go,” I said carefully, as though any one of my words could trigger the swipe of the blade.
“Give Zephyr your key,” Dawn instructed.
Her calmness was chilling. She knew she had me.
Unstrapping the key from my hip, I set the baton it had been condensed to onto the table in front of Zephyr. His face was firmly set and unreadable. He didn’t look at me as he picked it up.
“There, now let Antila go,” I warned.
Dawn brushed a tender hand down the young celestial’s blond hair, making her whimper. I gritted my teeth, but then Dawn obliged, and Antila rushed for me the moment the blade lifted, crashing into my side with a tight embrace.
“How did you find them?” I asked.
“I told her,” Nadir chimed in, tossing a piece of cucumber into their mouth.
Rage boiled in me. Had their help always been a deception? To what end? I caught the glimmer of the dark iridescent blade they used… it was familiar…
“You supplied Auster with the material that greatly harms fae,” I accused.
Nadir held up his blade, admiring it. “I have an interest in the dark properties of magick, you could say. This particular material has many names; it isnot grown on these lands. I was able to recreate its effects from the odd shard I traded from a merchant years ago. Yes, I may have told Auster Nova about it when he came to me.”
“Why?” I seethed, but through my anger I was hurt over the betrayal because I’d come to consider Nadir a good friend and ally.
“The reason that corrupts most, I suppose. Money and power.”
It didn’t make sense, but I had a bigger threat to deal with right now.
