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“Elysia…” he cradles my face, treasures the sight of my eyes. The heart beating in his chest is so familiar. If I have ten thousand lifetimes, I will never forget that heart that times its beat toScheherazade. Only now…an undercurrent of notes lingers—another rhythm that echoes ofSwan Lake. I can’t help but smile.
“Thanatos…please send me back,” I plead with him.
“Please, my love. Don’t do this.” His eyes swarm with ten thousand haloes shattering and showering gold constellations. They are what I need to walk through the doors of that Court. My own pocket of starlight.
“I know—” I touch my hand to his chest, palming through his dark robe, “—you have his heart, Natos. I know youloveme.”
“You are not going to him, Elysia. You are not going to Neo. You are going to the hall of the Prince of Destruction in a land with no king. You are going before Neoptolemus as he sits in his hall before his subjects, before his resurrected wife, and before Father.”
“And I remembereverythingyou said to me.” I touch my fingers to his face, sliding around to the back of his neck to stroke that ruined skin, that brand, that hallmark of his trauma. I suppose I can credit myself with branding him just as I did Neo since he used my power. “I’m ready, Natos. You should know better than anyone…my light shines brightest in thedeepestof darkness!”
The truest glimmers of his eyes seek mine, seek the windows of my soul. The gold rings in my eyes climb his like an angel’s ladder. The gloriola of the saints. Not even ten billion chandeliers can compete. Blinded beneath those orbs, I strengthen myself to keep staring as if he’s transcribing a groom’s oath to me of belief, of faith the moment he proclaims, “Sweet Elysia…”
Thanatos trails his black ice along my spine up to kiss his sickle mark and whispers his oath, his prayer within our bond:
Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow —
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.
I bindthem around my heart and gird them around my neck as Thanatos sends me back to tempt Destruction. Only, he’s hastened me on my way! No longer standing on that scenic overlook, I catch my breath as I gaze at the lower Court doors. Grandiose and arched, formed of iron and silver blood and bones, and flanked by vampire knights.
Thanatos has faith in me. If he and Neo share a twin bond, I choose to believe the Prince of Destruction will, too.
This is why I have saved every last infinitesimal spark. So I may discharge my power against the knights. So I may approach those Court doors, already hearing the sounds of the Valentine’s festivities. The sounds of laughter, joy, and light while I am bringing darkness and suffering…and a desperate distress signal.
With my holy heritage engraved into that last fraction of my Halo that I sense is no larger than a crack, I feel the Goddess’ words harking to my blood as I throw the knights to the ground, chaining them there so I may boldly approach those doors:
You will be brought low. Your faith will be shaken.
Soaked to my skin, soaked to my very bones, I raise one trembling hand and channel the last of my power to push the Courtroom doors open wide.
They boom! They crash! They resound! They reverberate! Like thunder. Like drums. Like ten thousand war hammers!
Every last note of music stops.
Every last clinking of champagne flutes.
Every last sparkle of laughter.
Every last ripple of conversation.
