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“That’s the thing about my Goddess,” I replied, though the tearing pains in my core had begun again. “She’s got a real thing about consent. You never asked for mine. You’ll never get it.”

His face moved, his jaw wrenching from one side to the next like there was an invisible fight going on just behind his skin. His eyes flared bright, then dulled a handful of times, the light flickering… then stabilizing.

Golden fires shone cruelly on me. I wrapped a sheet around me, wishing I had armor. Weapons. Anything.

“I will gain your consent one way or another. You will give me a claiming mark like you did the others. You will accept me, and allow me to plant my seed in you.” His hand clamped around my wrist and dragged me toward the tunnel. He picked me up in his arms and a shimmer of red-gold appeared around me before he touched the tube’s edge. It expanded, melting into a far larger tunnel, and he carried me through it, sealing it up behind us to keep us in the bubble.

It was a good thing. As I’d suspected, we weren’t next to the Alldyns Vug. We were inside it, on the very center of the maw.

There was nothing but lava all around us, a bubbling lake of fire. The bubble that he’d set around us was all that kept me from being burned instantly.

I held onto him tighter, fear racing through me, replacing the pain. Serak stretched his neck higher and two enormous wings made of fire extended to the edges of the narrow, rimmed space. He crouched and sprang upward, still holding me, carrying me through the liquid rock until we emerged to the caldera. There, he set me down on the edge and spread his wings wider.

His noseless Alpha guards, tears streaming from their reddened eyes as they tried to look at him, formed a half circle. There were at least a few dozen, all on their feet.

But one of them was on his knees, bleeding from his scalp, his dark hair braided like a Starlakian warrior.

Tally.

ALEXIOS

Istood at the end of the half circle of priests, the robe I’d taken from one I’d killed on my way across the island obscuring my face. I wasn’t certain it would hide my true identity from Edan, though. I would find out soon enough.

The head priest Zahn drove the boy they’d taken to his knees as Edan rose from the bottom of the maw, enormous wings of fire stirring up sparks and dust all around us. I squinted into the brightness before I bowed my head like the rest.

He wore a gray priest’s robe with a dagger I knew well in his rope belt, carrying my mistress. I forced myself not to react at her state. She was naked except for a sheet, and her limbs hung loosely at her sides. Her skin was red, though it didn’t seem to be burned. Flushed with her heat cycle, maybe.

She didn’t move. She could already be dead. Except the Goddess was watching. I could feel Her behind my eyes even now. The words She’d spoken the night before echoed in my mind. If I assure you that none of these children will perish tonight, will you once again be my priest?

I knew without a doubt that Goran and the others would have rescued the children by now. But that had been last night.

In exchange for my loyalty as Her priest, the Goddess had only promised to keep the children safe for that one night.

My heart sank. I’d vowed myself to Her, to do anything for Her again. But there was still one more child left to rescue.

The priests who’d raised me had made sure I knew that the Goddess was powerful and good, but that Her ways were not our own. I’d been taught never to question Her, or I’d face my certain downfall.

Then I’d met my downfall. She’d done nothing but question.

The last words She’d spoken to me spun in my mind. You are mine, priest. Listen and obey. Her command was sharp-edged, a knife flaying my soul as I hesitated.

Edan landed on the edge of the maw, still gripping Rada. “Who is this, Zahn? What have you brought me?” he asked calmly in a deep, double-timbred voice. Not Serak, then. Or not only him. My heart ached for Rada and for the man she’d fallen for when they were young.

The priest fell to his knees, then his face. “A sacrifice to the maw, my lord.”

“One?” His eyes blazed as he took in the single boy. “Where are the children? The Omegas?”

“They… They fled, my lord. There was an army there.”

An army? I knew better than to react. Edan’s voice grew harsher. “And my army? Where are they now?”

The priest was too terrified to speak.

Edan sighed heavily, but pressed a kiss to the top of Rada’s head. “Look at what you’ve done, my bride. So many dead, and all because you will not consent to be mine. Well, I might as well start with a clean slate. I’ve done it before.” He nodded at the guards on the other end of the line. “Take him and feed him to the maw, along with Zahn.”

The guards snapped into action, hauling Zahn toward the edge of the large lava pit, with Tally only a few paces behind. The head priest screeched, his Pictish becoming harder to understand by the second. “My lord! I’ve done everything you asked, I’ve served you faithfully for all these years, I have⁠—”

Edan snapped his fingers, and the guards tossed the man into the molten, glowing rock. His shouts turned to screams, and a waft of charred meat and hair drifted through the cavern.