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Where was Earnest? Valor was Faith’s first bonded, the one she’d always blatantly favored, but Earnest was always more likely to side with the two of them than with Chance or Creed.
“You need to leave,” Creed said roughly, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Chance.
“I’m not leaving without mysons,” Aunt Faith hissed, looking slightly crazed. “I have losteverything—even Earnest foolishly walked away from me. My sons belong to me.”
Leon pressed his back against my leg, and I rested a hand on his shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze.No way, kiddo. They’re not taking you.
“That daughteryouwanted so badly cost me everything. My reputation, my community, my home, one of the bonded I actually cared about—”
Harbor sucked in a horrified breath next to me at her cruel words, and I was right there with him. How had Gaia—or whoever chose the soul bonds—gotten this group so wrong? I thought of my own parents, and while I’d always assumed they were the average level of agathos happy, on reflection there were some cracks in their relationship that they hadn’t been quite able to cover up.
Was it because they were incompatible? Or was it just the pressure of trying toseemperfectly compatible at all times? It wasn’t a way of life that allowed for natural and healthy disagreements between partners.
“The boys are safe and happy here,” Creed said firmly. Leon slipped his hand into my free one, holding on tight. “They are staying here. Whatyouhave lost is immaterial.”
“They aremysons.Iwill have them,” Faith hissed, as Valor took a menacing step forward. Not that he could do anything—agathos couldn’t physically attack each other. Or at least they hadn’t been able to before…
“Do you think we’d have taken them away from their mother if we weren’t sure they were better off without you? We’re only doing now what we should have done for Grace,” Chance clipped.
“On that, we can agree. You’d have saved me some headaches if the two of you had left earlier and taken that failure of a child with you. Leon and Tobin aremine.”
Leon clung to my hand so hard that my fingers were aching. “I don’t want to go. Mercy, I don’t want to leave here. Please don’t let her take us.”
“I won’t,” I promised, meaning it. In the unlikely event that Chance and Creed caved to Aunt Faith’s demands, she’d have to get through me first to get to the boys. Through most of the camp too, probably. Leon and Tobin deserved better than the lives Grace and I had lived, and I was going to make sure they got it.
“Harbor,” I murmured, glancing uneasily down at them. Maybe I was the responsible adult here after all. Harbor nodded once in understanding, and I squatted down, giving each of the boys a hug in turn. “Go inside, okay? This is some heavy grown-up stuff that you don’t need to hear. Just know that you’re not leaving, no matter what.”
Leon looked ready to argue but Tobin’s quiet sniffling tears had him nodding in agreement. He was a good big brother, who’d seen too much and taken on too much for an eight-year-old kid.
Harbor led them away as the voices on the other side of the fence grew louder. Creed had always been the mildest, and the fact that he was standing up for himself was only making Faith angrier.
“I will have them, and I will keep them. There are no more soul bonds; the boys will stay with meforever,” Faith hissed, the vehemence in her voice sending a shiver of fear down my spine. “I will find a community of agathos who understand what I have suffered, I will tellmy sonsevery day how blessed they are to be raised by the good andtrueagathos, and they will be grateful for me. I will tell them that you two stole them away from me like the traitorous thieves you are, that their famous sister abandoned them, and they will thank me for saving them from all of you. Not even death itself will stop me—”
The very air around us changed, shimmering somehow. The wind picked up, and Sterling scrambled off the watchtower seat, coming to peer through the gap in the fence beside me.
And then a man appeared.
I had no idea whohewas, but he was definitely not mortal. He had an air of power and authority to him that no mere mortal possessed. While he had the hair and beard of the traditional Greek gods, he was wearing a sparkling multicolored jumpsuit and seventies-style silver platform boots. It took my eyes a moment to adjust, trying to take in this brilliant, terrifying riot of color in front of me.
“What the…” Sterling whispered, trembling like a leaf.
“You rang?” the god drawled, adjusting the long, flared sleeves of his jumpsuit as though he was fiddling with some cufflinks.
Chance and Creed both dropped to one knee, bowing their heads in supplication, and Sterling and I followed suit from our hidden spot because that seemed like a good course of action. Whoever this guy was, I didnotwant to piss him off.
Fortunately, we could still see through the crack from down here.
“Death itself,” the god repeated as Faith continued to stare at him, dumbstruck. “Here I am. Thanatos, God of Death. No, no, don’t clap, it’s fine,” he sighed into the silence.
“Have you come to take me to the underworld?” Faith asked, voice trembling.
Thanatos snorted. “No. I can’t see what the Fates have in store for you, or how long your thread is, but I certainly hope you have plenty of time left here to suffer. Don’t worry—I’ll be putting in a good word with Hades to banish you straight to Tartarus. We can’t have the mother ofThe Prophêtisstrutting around the place, taking credit for her daughter’s success.”
I silently climbed back onto my feet, peering through the fence while Faith gaped like a fish at the God of Death. It was sort of… poetic. Satisfying. Something very un-agathos to be thinking, undoubtedly.
“Anyway, we have that little challenge of yours to address. You see, I take it rather personally when someone spouts “death itself can’t make me do this!” I know it’s something of a personality flaw, but I have averydemanding job, and we all have to get our kicks where we can. My kicks, so to speak, come in the form of divine karma.”
Wow, the God of Death was absolutely terrifying. Not in an ominous, blatantly intimidating kind of way like I expected. More in a slightly unstable, never-know-what-he’ll-do-next kind of way.
