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Breathless,I rush through endless rows of the garden, plucking Isle-fruit and starry flowers as I go. Raising the blooms to my lips, I sip their seductive, honeyed nectar. By some miracle, the black death rose still nestles in my hair. Picking another fruit, which glows luminous as silver pools, I bite into it, sampling the flesh and juice which tastes like moonlight on warm water. Every fruit is intoxicating and unique.
My pulse quickens with the memory of Ary’s voice. Why I shouldn’t stop.
I’ll give you a head start, little wonder. But I will chase you. Would you like to know what will happen when I catch you?
When his shadows loom closer, I flush and swallow a squeak. Abandoning the fruit, I trample it under my bare feet and rush forward again, careless of where I’m going. Ultimately, he will catch me. This is his domain, and I am merely a willing trespasser...for one night.
So, when I round the next garden corner, which clears to a great tree of corpus roses, thousands of crimson blooms resplendent and shining as a sunset, I can’t help but pause to gush, to fawn. In the burst of a moment, his hands descend to my hips and tug me back.
“Caught you,” he whispers in my ear, and I close my eyes and breathe his midnight spice and gray death.
“How did you?”
“It’s true, I cannot grow,” Ary purrs in my ear and nuzzles the side of my neck, thrilling my blood to pulse quicker. “But I canimagine. Once you set foot in my realm, approached my throne, and came to collect, those fantasies came true from your spirit.”
I smirk and bite my lower lip, turning to eye him. “Imagine! The God of Death is a dreamer.”
Ary lowers his brows, gaze smoldering as he leans in to confess, “And you are my greatest dream, little wonder. The fulfillment of a vow to shatter stars so you may dance within their dust.”
“And a poet,” I add with a grin as he takes my hand and guides me to the tree.
Vines sprout from my bare feet to tease his shades as much as we have teased each other through this bewildering chase. But when the God of Death pauses, turns his whole body to mine, and closes the distance between us, I understand the teasing is at an end. I shiver when he deadpans, my lower lip trembling as he bathes my golden figure in his towering dark shadow. Underneath the corpus tree with my naked feet atop a curtain of petals shining like rubies, Aryahn Kryach lowers his head to kiss me for the first time.
“Wait...”
At my whisper, he hovers but a breath from my lips. I’m so tempted to simply tilt my chin to seal everything. His shades tread on my figure, curling icy wisps across my cheeks.
“Second thoughts so soon, little wonder?” Ary inquires, lifting a brow with a simper, but I pick up on his clenched jaw, teeth gritting in impatience.
I touch my palm to his chest, squeezing my eyes to defy the heated starlight oil enamoring my skin and warming my center. “Before anything else, I need to know: why did you help Morrygna?”
“I stood by when the lower gods ravished her, branded her with infinity fire.” He swallows hard and lowers his head. “Call it a debt, restitution, or opportunity. Regardless, through centuries, I’d never taken the opportunity to repay her. Untilyou, little wonder.”
I smile, but my smile fades when I can’t help but question, “Why? Why me? After centuries of brides?”
“Centuries far too late.”
Reading the hidden meaning, the way his shoulders lower in remorse because it should never have taken him this long, I lick my lips and point out, “You sent Finleigh and the bride souls. You are willing to release them all. But the wedding morning, what you did to me...”
Ary clenches his fists, growing an abundance of shadows around him. His veins throb through his dark skin, and I understand he’s battling a growl when he responds, “I was indeed the monster Allysteir spoke of, the reaper of all fear, and the nightmare you came to defy. Just as I was the monster who stood by and agreed to the games of the lower gods, to the Curse. I reaped thousands of bride souls. Some faded to the oubliette e’re forgotten.” His voice darkens as he gazes to the left, shades shrouding his eyes with deeper remorse.
“But whenyouvolunteered as bride tribute, when you accepted my mark and sought me beyondhismask, I believed, for the first time, someone could choosemeover him. Over all the Corpse Kings past. But that morning...” he pauses to brush a chilled hand across my cheek. Raw emotion wells up inside my throat, and I choke and close my eyes, remembering. I lean into his hand as he continues, “My pride was my downfall. When you gave me access but taunted me, I resented your strength, how a human could challenge the God of Death. Other than Finleigh, you were the first bride to never fear me. But she resented me. You played with me. I believed I could break you. And you?”
“Did not break.” I shake my head and open my eyes with a smile.
“Nor did you break with Allysteir. Hatred, anger, and most importantly...passion. Such passion led to your growth. All night long, I watched you grow, knowing you would never again seek me as you once did.”
“But you changed!” I protest, the heat rising as I welcome my vision blurring from tears.
Ary shakes his head with a soft smile and weaves his hand into my hair. “No, Death does not change. But...it can grow. Consider yourself inspirationandmotivation.”
My breath catches. “Motivation for what?”
He deadpans, smile transforming into a grin. “Motivation to kneel on the border of the Aether and plead an audience with the Highest God and Goddess who created us all from its womb. To learn how a human could possess such strength and life and growth. Only to learn, you are not so human after all.”
I part my lips, a breath of awe escaping. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
He plucks the rose from my hair and taps my nose. “I cannot disobey the laws of the Highest Ones, my Isla. They have plans for you. And it did not include me revealing the identity of your divine soul.”
