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“You were his avatar?”

“As you were Hers, yes. Though I am certain She asked for your consent before She took you. She has very strong feelings about choice.” His voice kept changing, from Serak to Edan, like a reed flute playing two notes at once.

“Yes,” I said hesitantly. “She does. It’s one of the reasons I serve Her. She takes care of Her children.”

Edan’s harsh laughter had ash puffing around my face, and I had to close my eyes again. “Apologies, priest. It’s only that you are here because of Her. This is care?”

“No, I am here because of me. I chose to sacrifice myself for her.”

“For your goddess?” he spat.

“No. For my mistress, the woman I’ve followed across the world. I broke my vows to the Goddess for her. She’s my purpose. She’s my everything.”

“Your obsession?” Serak’s voice now.

“That as well. I love her more than I fear death. More than I fear dishonor. I could burn in my Goddess’s hells for eternity with gladness, knowing I’d saved Rada. Knowing she was safe. I would do anything. Suffer anything.”

“You have already proven that,” he mused. He brought another chunk of fruit to my lips, though it was Edan’s voice, Edan feeding me as he questioned me. “Tell me about her, priest. I’ve seen her through my own avatar’s eyes. But he knew her before she grew into… what she is now.”

“Why do you want to know about her?” I demanded. Edan was evil. Anything I told him would be used for some dark purpose.

“Because we are trapped here together,” he said after a long moment. “Your moon goddess has trapped you in this bubble, made of her power mixed with stone.”

I remembered the bubble of golden light around me. She’d protected me from the collapse, but perhaps too well, if Edan couldn’t dig me out.

“And I have caged myself in this body, with Serak.” I waited, unsure what he meant. After a long moment, he spoke again, and he sounded lost. “I thought I’d seen his memories. I thought I could use them to claim her. To make a perfect vessel and leave this island prison. But… I didn’t know. I didn’t know how it would feel.” His breathing quickened, and Serak spoke next.

“Edan didn’t understand what would happen when he bonded our souls together, in the way that his brother bonded with the Emperor of Emperors. That he would not only share my mind and body, but also my heart. He never knew love. He wants to understand it. Tell him, Alexios. Tell him why we love her more than life.” There was pleading in his tone, almost desperation. I didn’t know Serak, but I knew the emotion that filled each word he spoke.

He loved Rada deeply. And if he could work on Edan from within, then perhaps the vow I’d made to my Goddess could be fulfilled.

Seven mates to mirror the Goddess’s own, to begin a new age for all those of Her line. Rada needed to accept him, if she was to survive. She needed to claim Edan.

The days bled into each other. Days, or weeks, I had no idea. Time stretched and slowed. Every so often, Serak would leave and come back with water and fruit to feed me. He managed to widen the small hole in the coffin after the third feeding and helped clean me up. Moving me to one side, he created a small burst of fire to clear away the refuse that had begun to foul the air.

He did it all carefully, like he didn’t want to hurt me, though I wouldn’t have felt it if he did. My neck was still broken. Speaking and eating were all I could do. And praying, of course, though the Goddess felt very far away from this dark place.

“Did you ever kiss her?” Edan asked, pressing a chunk of coconut to my lips. “Serak kissed her. He dreams about it all the time.” He made a disgusted sound.

I suppressed a laugh. “Her first kiss. I had to hear about that more than once, when she was drunk, or recovering from poisoning herself.”

“So? Did you?”

“No,” I muttered. “I kissed her hair. I kissed her hand. I never… I was a priest. I took vows.”

“And kept them more faithfully than my priest,” he grumbled. “Not once, in all those years? While she took mates, human and seal mates both? And allowed my brother to…” The cavern shook slightly. “She was not yours. She didn’t choose you as hers alone, in the way you say you would choose her. How can this be love?”

I did laugh. “I will admit to jealousy when she went into a bedroom with Kellin, and he gave her pleasure night after night, back in Starlak. When she claimed Lachlan and marked him, I wanted that mark. When she claimed Goran, the Warlord. But I knew what she was before I met her. The Goddess created her to be the center of her constellation. All her mates are there to hold her up, to protect and comfort and journey with her.”

I hesitated. “Her heart is why we love her and choose her, even though it means sharing her life. Her mission, to protect the vulnerable, to travel the world and slip through the shadows to find the ones who’ve been waiting for someone to save them. It’s one I admire. One her mates are glad to share with her, and each other.”

“Sharing. It is weakness.” The cavern rumbled again, hot air searing my cheek on that side. “I cannot understand my brother’s willingness to allow others to touch what he has claimed. To share his chosen female and even his power with a mortal creature like the kraken.”

Edan withdrew, or at least I assumed he did when the bright red glow receded. Serak sighed. “Sorry, Alexios.” Something cool pressed on that cheek for a moment.

“Edan is mad.”

“Yes, but also… gods don’t think like we do. He sees himself as superior.” He snorted. “He thought Skadi did, too. It shocked him more than anything else to discover his brother had lowered himself.”