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Will you ever show me?I wonder about that blessed realm, studying Thanatos, who refuses to pause from his duties.
Someday. I hear that knowing grin in his voice.
I almost tremble at the thrilling rush of that simple promise. If he’s modeled his Court off Elysium, then I can’t possibly conceive what it must look like. Maybe a paradise of crystal-falling raindrops. No, crystal mountains and hundreds of waterfalls of frost. Or—
Elysia…Thanatos admonishes me, and I shrug feebly with an undeniable smile. Due to our connection, if my imagination runs wild, it distracts him. No wonder he wanted me to stay in his Tower. Blushing, I mouth an apology.
Right, yes, please carry on,I urge, digging my nails into my arms to stay in the present as much as I can.
Thank you, my Ice Princess.
A gold flush spreads into my cheeks. I reach to pet Persefoni, who is curled around my legs, warming me through the frost gown. Not one crystal melts. Since the Soul Plane always transforms my clothes into whatever I desire, I know I will never want to wear anything but this gown upon my return.
Another low chuckle. I wish I could know his thoughts, his secrets as he knows mine.
After Court, I will grant you one, Elysia,Thanatos reveals, which causes my Halo to beam, radiating right through my soul skin and flesh. I consider Lux and her history with Neo, how I may conquer the new heart she’s given him, or how I may conquer this Scourge of Destruction and grant him a new one. Surely, Thanatos must know.
For now, I wait and watch.
Whole soul cargo trains line up for account settling, including the tiniest streak of a child. Thanatos settles thousands!
He commands all from funeral rights so some souls may sleep in his deep and dark Lake. He proffers soul marriages, listens to the requests of homeless souls, and records the Court O’ Death’s Lake gains and losses. The induction of soul pawns tasked with the register of Lake territories is another duty. And the distribution of armed forces—bounty hunters, fallen demonesses like Syn trying to earn redemption points. Thanatos even possesses rooks and bishops. Some are charged as gatekeepers for the boundaries between Elysium, the Chasm, the Court O’ Death, and Limbo. Others oversee his Tower and ensure no ghouls cross into the Soul Plane to invade his spirit home.
I gasp, almost lurching when Thanatos summons a cargo train of souls—all remind me of winter mist, of bitter blue as sickness…as Scourge. I touch the crystal sides of Thanatos’ throne, the low rumble in Persefoni’s belly reverberating into my soul form. Because she sensed me tensing.
Thanatos’ frost curls along my spine in a prickling petition…for me to join him. When I consent, he wraps a shade tether around my figure and draws me from his throne to join his side on the pedestal.
As soon as I arrive, he constructs a new pedestalhigherthan his. Raising my brows, I cast a sideways glance at him but find no mirth or merriment. Only a stoic mouth and his shade dark eyes direct me to the souls.
Holy foremothers!—
Any lightness shatters inside me. Lament and unrest stalk the plague-blue windows of their souls. Their deaths were a slow suffering—a torturous death of blood chilling and congealing. This is the Scourge. Their souls are homeless because their bodies have not been laid to rest. Still preserved in the snows beyond the Iron Walls like frost-encased tears.
Oh, Saints, they kneel before me! My thoughts return to Neo’s Soul Pool, to when I implanted the soul of the little girl back into her body, but that was only because Destruction can restore what he destroys. If the Scourge still ravages their corpses, I can only hope to heal one or two.
How would you transport their souls through the Soul Plane, I wonder, Elysia?Thanatos’ question reeks of a doubled intention.
I prey my eyes on his in a warning because I know what he’s hinting at. How he would have the power to cross the boundaries between worlds. How he could transport them to me for healing—if I only pay the price with my tooth, flesh, tear, and blood. I grit my teeth hard, remembering our past, our first meetings. No matter how seductive and alluring he is, no matter how he seems to have changed, I cannot trust the Prince of Death.
No, Thanatos. I owe you nothing.
He sighs but nods in surrender. I don’t bother to remind him how I bested him twice, from that long night of hundred-bites trauma to the time his Father brought me to him. Not to mention surviving all his mind games. Is all this just another long game for him? Tempt me with his Soul Lake, and I’ll give up my tooth, my tears, my flesh, my blood? Can I even grant them all to him through the Soul Plane? If my blood may transfer over…
Instead, I sweep my gaze across the expanse of indigo twinkles. Families who wished for a better life. Now, they have transformed into soul refugees. A few brave ones hover toward me, their eyes filled with child light. I smile as silver ripples play around their soul skins as if mimicking the Lake water where they reside. Meanwhile, my Halo, my heart longs to rush over them with the force of a healing tidal wave. But how…how can I help them?
What will happen to them?I wonder to Thanatos.
I may be able to hold them a little longer in my Lake.He gestures with a single crystalline touch to my spine.But eventually, their souls will escape to Limbo.His fingers drift to the side of my back while he gazes at me from the side. I lower my head, biting back raw emotion, swallow it down.Homeless ones cannot be bound here.They will seek Elysium, paradise, but they will wander.
His hand sinks beneath the fabric of the frost dress dangerously close to my breast. Why is he doing this? Tormenting me with the promise of what he could do if I restore him. At what cost? My heart? My soul? My bond with Neo?
After a moment, Thanatos eases his hand into the air next to my body, flexing his fingers.They will end up in Limbo.
Hold them as long as you can, Thanatos,I plead, already plotting how I may go to the Iron Walls myself and find that blood bishop scientist Neo spoke of. As soon as the sun rises, I will go to the Tenth Court border and learn more about this Scourge.
“First, you will sleep.” Thanatos gazes and closes the Court O’ Death so he may return me to the Tower. “Oh, it appears you’ve been found.”
He smiles and touches the edge of my cheek, directing me to the demonizes, who balances adeptly on the narrow pathway above the Lake of Souls. I shake my head with a giggle as Thanatos leads me back to the walkway, where Syn perches, wrinkling her nose. Fortunately, she nods to me before bowing to Thanatos.
