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It is love. It is not about gain. Not taking territory or owning power. It is giving up my own power for something new. Something terrifying and wonderful.

You sacrificed your power. To the kraken, and to her. You are weak. I could kill you now as I did our siblings. You would not be able to stop me.

I didn’t bother explaining. He saw me as weaker, but I had gained much in my mating. I felt the others around me—the seal men, the kraken, and the human Alpha. It changes everything, I repeated. I cannot explain it. I cannot even describe it. But I do not regret my choice. I would give more if she needed it.

I don’t understand, he said again. This warmth… I have no control over it, and I am the god of fire. I desire it.

You always did, I agreed softly. Gently, for me. This was what you searched for.

His mind swirled with dark and violent thoughts as I waited, but also with curiosity and a deep vein of regret. My servant loves her. He has sacrificed much for her. Yet he is locked out of her body, kept out by the cruel moon girl.

That is how she divines who is worthy of her daughters. Sacrifice.

Time pushed against us both like an inexorable tide, the pulse of Serak’s love filling our thoughts. Time was strong, but not stronger than love. Not stronger than the moon goddess’s love for her child.

She would never approve of me. There is no sacrifice I could offer to make that goddess accept me. His words were true, and I did not deny them. There is only one thing I can give to appease her.

I knew what he meant, but I also knew he would never consider it.

Amusement colored his next thought. You always did think you knew more than I did. Even about my own nature. My own future.

Shock coursed through me. I am… Brother. Are you suggesting what I think…?

No god could be killed, not entirely. But a god could choose to die.

When he spoke again, he wasn’t addressing me. This warmth, this love of my servant’s. It could power the world’s forge for eternity. Why have I never felt it? Why did I not see it before?

A peculiar grief surged in me. Edan had been broken since the beginning. Perhaps love could have healed him before, if he’d known it.

Love can heal? He heard my thought. It feels like a blade, though.

It can cut deeper than any knife. My heart ached with the proof of that. I loved my brother, even after all he had done. All he had ruined.

I’ve never healed before. Maybe it’s time I tried something new.

I held still as Edan expanded inside the body and mind of his servant. Held still as he began to dissolve himself, pour himself into the servant’s well, filling the soul with his own strength.

Serak began to shine from within as he accepted Edan’s sacrifice, and his power.

Goodbye, brother, I whispered as the final drops of fire fell on the beating heart that was now immortal.

Hello, brother, a new voice replied, filled with wonder and an odd sort of innocence.

A new god. The moon above gleamed in approval. Time began to pulse again. Our mate softened. Smiled.

Welcome to the world, Serak, god of fire, I whispered as I withdrew.

RADA

The universe stood still for one heartbeat. Then, in the next, it started again. I wasn’t sure what had happened, but something vital had changed.

“Steal my heart?” he murmured again, though for a moment I wasn’t sure it was him. His hair was shades of red, his body whole and unscarred. His eyes had also changed, though. Now they glowed with blue fire.

I swallowed. Not red fire. Not Edan. He’d never looked at me with love that shone from within. Was Edan truly asleep, though? I knew better than to underestimate him. Quickly, I reached for an answer from the only ones I would trust to know. I pushed at the minds of my strongest mates, and they woke to answer me.

Not only asleep. Gone, Lusca’s groggy voice shimmered in my mind, echoed by Skadi.

Gone, little spy. He gave his power to Serak.