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Thanatos captures the sides of my face, thumbing away my tears. “If he uses the Necromancer to bring me back, Elysia, and not the Everblood, notyou, I will lose everything. I will lose my heart. I will return to who I was. I will become nothing other than Death! Please…my love.”
Triggered by him laying claim to that word, I thread my brows low and start to rise from the bed. “You supercilious ass!”
“Elysia—”
“You pretentious bastard!” I shove him back, my Halo sparking till all my skin flickers with flames. “This has been your plan all along! All a deception, thelonggame to get everything from me! You knew about the Scourge. You knewallthis time. And you know what happens if I don’t defeat this Scourge. I won’t fulfill my quest. I won’t claim the next Grail piece. I won’t be the Everblood anymore. I won’t defeat the Father!”
“I am Death, Elysia! I can protect you from him, my love!” Thanatos objects and moves toward me, but I unleash a wave of fire to fling him back and pin him to the bed.
Coughing, I plant one solid knee on his chest and snarl, “You claimed their souls, you deceived me, youtemptedme! And now, you’ll use it all—just so you can come back and claim me for your own. You don’t care if the world suffers under his hell. Just as long as you get your revenge on Neo and keep me all to yourself.” I bite down on his lower lip, hard, and hiss against him, reveling in the dilation of his pupils when I grow my angel teeth. “Listen,Thanatos…you may love me, but you love yourself more. And I refuse to be your salvation. Do you hear me, Death? You getnothing!” I let go, burning my eyes against his.
“I’ll get your soul.”
Gripping my waist, he rolls me over until he hovers on top of me, his dark Reaper all-encompassing like a predictive shadow.
“No!” I scream and deny, hurling his words back at him. “You said you can’t hold my soul.”
Wrenching my hands up and mounting me, leaning in, Thanatos touches his brow to mine and purrs in a low growl, “No, but Father will. You are dying, Elysia. Fromhiscurse. Your love is not strong enough. You’ve failed his Triumvirate oath. Once his Scourge desecrates your soul with his hellfire, he will claim your soul unless…”
“Unless what?” I cry, I cough, I sob, I moan.
“If you will not give me your tooth, your flesh, your tear, your blood, then vow to me your soul. Once you do, I may bite you and kill the Scourge. I will take you toElysium. You will try to run from me, but you can’t run from Death. I will protect you from Limbo, from the Soul Eater, from ten thousand demons in hell if I must. I will doom my soul in the process, but just as long as I get to look upon yours, even if I can never feel you—” he touches my heart, his lower hand rubbing the slope of my breast, “—I will pay that price.”
It is so tempting to give him my soul right now. To trade it all away. Even now, I long for this Scourge to be released from my soul. I long for Elysium! Countless pictures like snapshots of a promise abound in my head at the thought of Thanatos’ utopian sanctum. And isn’t that why I am called Elysia? So I may walk the realms of the dead? I understand what I could become. I will forsake the Halo and my heavenly calling and become the Ice Princess of Elysium.
And Thanatos would protect me, would give me a throne, and my soul could skate with his for an eternity. No more suffering, no more bleeding, no more growing, and I may sleep with Death behind me and him kissing his frost down the pathway of my trauma every night.
Is this why I am called Elysia? Is this the moment for which I’ve been created? So I may walk the realms of the dead?
And then, I remember the Goddess’ words like the ringing of a cathedral bell, no ten thousand cathedral bells chanting in my soul, chanting deep into my heart:From this moment on, you will have a Scourge of a curse upon your heart but not upon your soul.
Not. My. Soul.
I willneverlose my value.
Remembering what the Goddess stated about the price, I find the strength to open my mouth to bare my angel teeth, to bite down on Thanatos’ wrist, drawing blood and forcing him to release me. So I may challenge him with the strength of my spirit, of my soul. Releasing myself of his robe, I shine my light. I force him to his knees so he must shield himself from the heavenly beams. “If there is a price to pay, Thanatos, it will bemyultimate sacrifice. Not yours! I accepted this darkness. I accepted this Scourge. I accepted the Triumvirate.” Unleashed, that life force, that vitality deep in my heart: an orb of acceptance radiates from my chest—radiant and resplendent and melting all of Thanatos’ frost as he cowers before me. “Whatever else I am, I am still the Halo-bearer, the Everblood, and I will carry healing to all who are afflicted by the Scourge. If I must perish for that, then I will perish!”
Trembling, Thanatos dares to lift his head to me, tears in his eyes to plead one last, desperate time, “Elysia!”
“Noralice!” I scream.
My essence rockets back through the fabric of reality, turning upside down and uniting with my physical form, clothed in the same Court gown, to return to that scenic overlook. First, I crash to my knees and cough up a pool of blood. Next, Quillion picks me up and leads me into the coach, where I command one word, “Border.”
Chapter28
All along, Thanatos was right all along!
“How long do I have, Quill?” I ask the bishop after he’s isolated my blood sample following my latest coughing fit.
“Elysia, I—” he trails off, hangs his head, so I know the results aren’t good.
“Just spit it out. You know me better by now.” I cough again and pick off bits of ash from my gown but rip one of the fondant layers so I may use it as a handkerchief.
“Princess, somehow, you’ve received a far more lethal dose. You may have till the blood moon sets.”
Less than a day since it’s already late morning. I tilt my head onto Quillion’s shoulder and cough into my ruffle handkerchief, bloodying it. The bishop sighs, offers me his right from his embroidered waistcoat, then pats the back of my hand.
“Fitting,” I tease him, squeezing his arm as I coil mine around it. “When I met you, you were covered in blood. Now, it’s my turn.”
