Page 79 of Sun Warrior

“But—but when may your Attendants return? They are already asking what has happened. What shall I tell them?” Lily said.

“You tell them the God is speaking with our Champion. If they are not satisfied by that answer, they may question the Godandour Champion when they are allowed to return to the Temple. I pity the man or woman of the People who thinks he or she may question a God.”

“Of course, Mistress,” Lily said.

“When it is time, Dead Eye and I will call the Attendants to us here, the God’s balcony. Until then, wait in the courtyard. Tend the firepots. Smoke the meat. Be about the tasks your Champion commanded. I am counting on you to keep the People calm, Lily.”

“I won’t disappoint you, Mistress!”

Dove reached out with a blood-smeared hand and Lily grasped it. “Thank you, Lily. Your loyalty at this difficult time means more to me than I can say.”

When the girl was gone, Dove resituated herself so that Dead Eye’s head rested on her lap. She lifted him, struggling with his weight, so that she could hold him in her arms as she drizzled the warm, fragrant broth down his throat. He swallowed convulsively over and over, and Dove lost track of how long she sat there, holding her lover and coaxing him to drink. All the while she spoke to him as if he could hear her—as if he would awaken any moment and take her into his arms, laughing at her fear and reminding her he was mighty as a stag, that it would take more than a wounded arm and a fall to kill him.

The rising sun warmed Dove’s skin, and she tilted her eyeless face up, saying, “Beloved, the sun is high and warm. You must wake now. The Others will be limping about, trying to recover from the fire. You mustbe there, beloved. You promised me a place in the clouds by your side, and I hold you to that promise.”

She felt the change in his body immediately. He drew a deep breath, expanding his mighty chest.

“Beloved?” Her hands fluttered to his face, feeling his eyelids blinking open. “Beloved! You awaken!”

He didn’t speak. Instead, he sat up, disentangling himself from her arms. She could tell he was looking at her—feel his gaze on her. She smiled tremulously and stretched a hand to him. “My Champion, are you well?”

“Dove. It is pleasing to see you.”

It happened in an instant. The moment he spoke her name Dove knew the man sitting before her was no longer Dead Eye—no longer her Champion and her lover. To anyone who hadn’t spent a lifetime listening as closely as she had to people’s voices, the change would have been difficult, if not impossible, to detect. But Dove was not like other people. She knew things eyes could not see, so she understood—beyond any doubt—that whatever had happened that night had irrevocably changed her lover.

She felt as if her heart would implode. Dove wanted to scream her despair and loss to the sky, but for all the years of her short life she had been surviving and the habit to protect herself—to live—was strong, stronger even than her broken heart.

Dove forced her lips to smile. “My Champion! I knew you would return!” She leaned forward, opening her arms to accept him. She didn’t need eyes to feel his hesitation, though she remained there, arms wide, smiling as if nothing had changed between them.

He did finally take her into his arms, pressing her body to his. “I had forgotten the softness of a living woman’s skin. It is pleasing.”

“Beloved? I—I don’t understand your words.” She remained malleable in his arms, surrendering to his increasingly rough caresses. “We have joined many times. Why does this seem new to you? Have—have you somehow been reborn?”

A shudder went through his body then, and when he spoke next sherecognized his voice as his own again and his touch became gentle and familiar.

“Precious one! Do not worry—do not despair. A miracle happened last night, and that miracle will change our world forever!”

“Beloved!” Dove clung to him, flooded with relief. “You have truly come back to me! I was so frightened. It seemed as if you were gone, though your body remained.”

Dead Eye’s skin quivered and he cupped her face between his hands. When he spoke, his voice was filled with power and lust—and was utterlynother beloved’s voice.

“Little Dove, it was your Dead Eye’s determination that finally awakened me, but you will soon realize that much has changed with your lover.”

“Forgive me. I do not understand.”

“Oh, I believe you do.” She could hear the smile in His voice, though it lacked humor. His words were filled with arrogance and something else, something dark and dangerous. “My Consort and I have long been content to sleep. For eons we have rested, watching the world turn, change, destroy itself, and rebuild again and again. We were content, allowing our dreams to walk the earth in the guise of old age, disease, and tragedy—as well as a flourishing forest, crops ripening, and winter changing to spring. But my sleep has come to an end. Through disease and desire, blood sacrifice and faith, you and your Dead Eye have awakened me, and now he and I are joined for eternity—just as you and my Consort shall very soon be joined.”

Dove couldn’t help that her body began to tremble. “Who—who are you?”

“Don’t you recognize me? You have been claiming to be my Oracle for years.”

“The Reaper God?” Dove whispered. “You live?”

His laughter had fear skittering down her spine. “I have always lived! I was simply sleeping, waiting for the awakening. Though I do not like this Reaper name the People have given me. I prefer the name I have had since the beginnings of the world.”

“Wh-what name is that?” she said through numb lips.

“Death. But you, my lovely little bird, may call me Lord.”