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* * *
The two months scraped by. When the day finally arrived, my desperation drove me to leave my guards at the castle so that I could be alone with Bellicent. And when she walked into the cave, glowing like the light of the moon, I told her guards to return to the castle too. I had the power of the sun running through my veins. My protection was all she needed to stay safe.
It was the worst mistake of my life.
We spent a blissful night wrapped in each other’s arms. And even though she was used to the cold, I built a fire to keep her warm. We dozed off after hours of passionate bliss.
I fell asleep to her soft snores and awoke to the terror of her screams.
A bandit stood over us, a knife glinting in his hand. He brought it down upon her body, and her blood sprayed in the air. Horror choked me, and for a moment, I could do nothing but stare. My mind did not work. My body could not move. It was as if the world had gone mute, sounds and smells stripped away. All that existed was her blood.
The bandit took one look at me, flicked his eyes at my horns, and then grabbed our packs. He sprinted out of the cave before my mind understood what had happened.
Heart frozen, I stared down at Bellicent’s slack form. She stared up at me, her eyes unseeing. I pressed my fingers to her neck, desperate to feel her heartbeat, but I already knew. Blood was everywhere. It coated her skin. My hands were covered in it, and specks clung to my face and eyelids.
Grief consumed me. In a single moment, the world had taken my soul in its brutal fist and crushed me into nothing. The most precious person who’d ever existed was gone. Gone because of me. Because of my selfishness and stupidity.
I’d done this to her. If only I hadn’t insisted we meet. If only I hadn’t sent away the guards. If only I hadn’t frozen when she’d needed me most…
I roared and pounded my fists against the stone ground until my bones cracked and my throat went raw.
* * *
Icarried her body deep into the caves before returning to the castle, drenched in blood. My guards were the first to see me. They sneaked me inside to a hot bath where I sponged any evidence of her off my skin. Her guards soon came to my quarters and demanded to know where their queen had gone.
I told them she’d headed back to Dubnos without them. The lie came easily, even though the words sounded hollow in my ears. I couldn’t tell them the truth. Kalen Denare was fiercely dedicated to his mother. She’d told me this herself. If he knew I was responsible for her death, it could start a war.
So, the guards left, and the flame of my heart sputtered out.
Until I remembered the words of my father, and my father before him. My heritage. My most important responsibility. It had been handed down to me over the years, from king to king, from queen to queen. Keep it safe. Keep it locked up tight. Never let a single soul find out that Albyria was home to the essence—thedarkpower—of half a god.
I found myself standing before the vault hidden deep beneath the halls of my castle. Dust swirled around me, the looming door thrice as tall as me. It had been years since anyone had stepped foot in this place. I’d only come here once when I’d been a boy.
“Never open this vault,” my father had told me. “Half of the God of Death’s power lives here, trapped inside an onyx gemstone necklace. If she ever escapes, she’ll return to her body, and then to this world. She’ll bring the other gods back with her. You can never let that happen. Do you understand me, Oberon?”
“Sorry, Father,” I whispered now as I turned the handle and tugged open the vault. A deep mist swirled toward me as the wood groaned against my effort. And when the dust settled, a small glittering necklace perched atop a pedestal in the center of the vault.
I walked over to it. Instantly, I felt the intensity of its power thundering toward me.
“Oberon,” a woman’s voice said. A soft, kind voice that was unlike anything I’d expected. “The ruler of the Kingdom of Light. Why have you come to me?”
“You are the essence of the God of Death,” I said around the lump in my throat. “But my father said only half of you is in here, the half that gives life.”
“I see. Someone close to you has died. I wondered how long it would take for one of you to come to me.”
“So, it’s true. You can give life.”
“It’s all I can give,” she said, almost sounding bitter. “That’s why they split me in half. That, among other reasons. They believed I might be useful in this form.”
I took a step closer to the pedestal. “If someone were to use you, what would happen? Would it release you?”
“Unfortunately not.”
“You would stay inside that stone?”
“Unless you destroy this onyx stone, I cannot escape. And yes, I can bring someone to life for you, but there will be…requirements.”
Unease thundered through me. “What kind of requirements?”
