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Skadi handed it to me, and I set it to the smooth stone. For an hour, maybe more, I used small chipping motions to cut, and gold sparks flew with each attempt. An unpleasant stench filled the air, along with a cloud of putrid smoke, but eventually, a few small shards of stone came loose.

My arms were aching. Sweat rolled down my face and into my eyes. My throat tightened as I kept trying and failing to free him.

I couldn’t stop, though. I needed to get Lex out of there, before he ran out of air. I would not stop until he was free.

“Beloved,” Lusca whispered. “Put down the dagger.”

“No.” I didn’t look at him. Instead, I used the anger his words generated and cut deeper. Larger flecks went flying. “It’s working.”

“Rada,” Skadi hissed, grabbing my hand and holding the dagger still. “Stop. Look.”

There were large chips all along the blade’s edge, and my hands were bleeding and not healing. The cuts had been made with the shards that had peeled away from my dagger. “Why isn’t it working? This blade can cut anything.”

“Your Goddess is a stubborn one,” Skadi murmured, laying a hand on my back. I could feel his energy, but it wasn’t the cold, refreshing wave from before. I looked around and realized that while I’d been working, the moon had risen. It hung over me, like a single unblinking eye, watching.

But my mates were not watching. They’d fallen, all but Serak and Skadi. Their chests moved in the moonlight, but their faces were pale and still. My ice god’s breathing was uneven.

When I lifted the dagger to try one more time to save Lex, it fell from my trembling fingers. I heaved a breath. “Skadi? What’s happening?”

Edan answered. “They have given everything for you. To save your friend. Your lover. You.” He sat beside me and stared at the fallen dagger like he’d never seen it before. “My brother is draining every drop of his power to keep you breathing. Your kraken moves your blood in your veins. If you keep on, they will die in whatever way gods—or I suppose they are now demi-gods?—can. What would you do to save these mates you’ve collected?”

“Anything,” I snarled.

“What would you give? For them, for my brother?” There was a sly note mingled with the curiosity in his tone.

My voice didn’t tremble as I spoke the truth. “Everything.”

He stared at me for a long moment, the sparks in his pupils growing brighter as he considered my answer. “You inspire great sacrifices, Omega. Do you also make them?”

RADA

Edan’s question shimmered alongside the moonlight.

Moonlight. I lifted my eyes to the moon that was balanced midway across the cloudless sky. It was still and distant, like the Goddess.

Did I make sacrifices? I had, but none of those mattered now. I knew what the Goddess wanted.

“Help me,” I prayed aloud. “Please help me save Lex, my friend. My love. Your priest. Please, Goddess. I’m sorry I pushed You away. I’ll do whatever You want. I’ll remake Your lines. I’ll have… I’ll stop my missions and my work and have children. I’ll do anything, give anything, if You’ll save him.”

Edan made a considering sound.

The Goddess said nothing. No power moved in the sky, no golden glow around Lex’s coffin, or my fallen mates.

Edan finally spoke. “I was called cruel and evil by the world. But I believe your goddess is more cruel. I was lost to the lust for power; I never pretended to be good or kind. Yet your moon girl asks the same from you that I would, and you see her as benevolent. I do not understand.”

“She gave me a choice,” I told him.

“Serak has shown me. Ten years of waiting. Of running from your fate. She merely gave you a longer sentence in your prison.” He sighed, his features changing, like he was having a conversation with someone silently. Serak, I assumed. “I give you a choice as well,” he finally said, holding out a hand. It took all my power to reach for it. “You can heal yourself if you claim Serak, and me.” He went quiet, his slitted eyes boring into mine. There were still sparks in those pupils, flickers of madness. “Become my mate, and all your mates will live. I will give you enough power to do this.”

I looked at his hand. It was Serak’s hand, too. I didn’t trust Edan as far as I could throw the volcano we were sitting on. But Serak… He’d sacrificed himself for me; he’d worked his whole life to free Omegas from Edan. “Let me talk to Serak. Just Serak. Not you.”

“Frustrating Omega. You are a perfect match for my brother.” Edan sighed and dropped his chin. When he lifted his face again, the pupils were round, and the irises the dark blue that I’d dreamed about my whole life.

“Rada, what do you need?”

“Is he telling the truth? Can he save my mates?” My voice cracked on the last word.

Serak tightened his lips for a moment before speaking. “He can. He’s confused, but not about that. He doesn’t understand why we’re all so willing to give our lives for you.”