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Spitting out the piece of flesh, I taunt Mordere as he backs away from me, the cherries in his eyes fading, “What’s wrong, Mordere? Angel bitch got your tongue?” I lurch, almost vomiting, but I spew his blood from my mouth, grimacing at his taste.
Mordere shakes his head in disbelief, but I know he’s about to walk out of here. Either it will take an hour for his tongue to repair itself, or he will go to a healer. Still cupping his inflamed tongue half, Mordere points one finger at me and promises through the bond,I’ll see you in Court, Elysia. Then, in my bed, he swears.
As soon as he’s gone, I don’t waste any time. I take those stairs two at a time, three at a time, until I batter my body against the wall near the wardrobe. All my hopes are in vain. There’s no portal! Utterly hopeless!
I sink against the Infinity Wardrobe and curl against it, already sensing my defeat, the new blood oath torturing my veins like cannon fire. And I weep, I weep, I weep because there are maybe just a few precious minutes left. My gut clenches. My chest caves in. Is what doesn’t kill me truly what will make me stronger? Not this. Not this time.
Elysia…
I almost scream when Thanatos’ voice hearkens to me. Not from the wall but from the wardrobe! Hope soars within me, and my heart leaps into my throat. Oh, Saints, Neo! He did it! He fucking did it!
Without another second to waste, I practically dive into that Infinity Wardrobe and use my Halo to rip a tooth, anangeltooth, right from my mouth, digging it deep into my roots to grant him the flesh. My Halo heals it instantly, so the pain is but a tiny burst of pain. Ready to raise my hand, Thanatos dissuades me,I already have your blood and tear, my love.
I cry more because he hasn’t used them yet. He was waiting for me, waiting for my consent.
“Hurry, Thanatos, please!” I lean over and sob, but all it takes is a moment before his frost, that prickle of frost soothes my spine. A skin and flesh snap of a shiver…just like in the Soul Plane. Except this time, it’s realer. Holy shit, it’sreal!
“Elysia.”
Oh, Saints! He says my name, trulyspeaksit from his lips, from his own lips devoid of the Spirit Plane veil. Thanatos helps me to my feet, fingertips caressing my cheeks with frost kisses. There isn’t enough time for me to take him all in, to gush at his deathly beauty and the dark, shriveled roses blooming all over his robes in the deepest irony.
All I can do is cry out, “Give me your solemn blood oath now, Natos! If you can protect me from the Father, please, protect me from Mordere.”
No hesitation. He obeys my very command, slashes his palm, and unites our blood. His eyes are golden seas, deep and glistening and filled with that same love I’ve memorized for all these weeks.
“Please, Natos, I know how the laws of the blood oath work…” I stir my blood into his and urge him, “What do you want from me in return?”
Thanatos smiles. Not cunning. Not wicked or dangerous as Neo’s first smile to me. In Thanatos’ eyes are nothing but celestial gold. Tempting and predictive, Thanatos lowers his brow to mine and whispers the fragrance of crystalline roses across my face, whispers his desire. Oh, Saints! His desire, his wish is a sweet relief of a promise. Praying the sun has not yet made its final ascent, I scream, “Yes, Thanatos, yes! But please…please for the love of the Goddess, answer me one question!”
“Does it really matter, Elysia? You won’t remember with the rising sun.”
“It matters to menow! I have to know, Thanatos. Please just tell me the truth. You know what I’m going to ask. What you said in the Soul Plane about my ripping you and Neo in two. InTWO, Natos!”
Thanatos coaxes my chin up to his, rubbing his lips across mine in a pledge of a kiss before he whispers the answer in my ear. Undone by the revelation I’ve now confirmed, the suspicion I’ve carried all these months about their origin, their identity, I crash to my knees. Undone by the secret I’d suspected, the secret hiding in plain sight before me the whole time. The same secret Neo hadn’t denied, and Natos has just confirmed.
Moments pass within my deep gusts of air.
Why am I in the Infinity Wardrobe? When I flick my head up, I gaze around at the empty wardrobe and double over from the pain in my heart. From the pain in my blood that feels like projectiles shooting under my flesh.
So much is missing!
All I have is the prophecy like a Goddess’ warning in my too-fragile heart, the understanding of a Triumvirate sealed into my mind, even if I’m missing months’ worth of memories. My palm aches. Multiple lines gored in my flesh, hinting of multiple blood oaths transcribed like firebrands into my veins. For the love of the foremothers! I can’t remember what the blood oaths described. But the deep sense of what I must do haunts me because…I cannot run. I can’t run from anything.
You cannot run from Death,echoes the mysterious voice in my head, a voice I have never heard before and one that prompts an automatic shiver. As if ice tantalizes me with its curling presence along my spine, a flawless crystalline ascent. And yet…no pain rockets the back of my neck. No Noralice prayers hover behind my mouth or in my mind. Can it be that I do not fear Death itself?
All I remember is Destruction. As I change into the finest Court gown the Infinity Wardrobe offers, ensuring there are plenteous layers because I know I will need them, I remember our wedding night. I remember Neo’s pupils, so black and dilated as if they became the sky at twilight surrounded by a thin ring of crystallized silver. Like stars. I remember our compromise when he wove that strand of hair housing the ring around my neck.
I clutch the silver now. So aware of that missing bride mark. No horned crown, but for some reason, I cannot remove this silver ring. Everything in my being screams at me when I try to take it off, chanting ten thousand Goddess warnings. I willnevertake off this ring.
I remember branding his flesh. I remember going off script and proclaiming my Ezer Kenegdo. I remember he did not stop me. I remember smiling when his lips kissed my brow. I danced with him, shared cake, and he took me to his suite—so lovely, dark, and deep. He’d freed my curls of their pins and kissed the back of my head. And then…Saints, preserve me! He caught me after my shock wave, but he couldn’t have broken the blood oath, could he? And what about the missing months?
There can be only one explanation. Only one explanation for a new prophecy. I failed. And the Prince of Destruction destroyed my mind—or parts of it. And the marks wrought into my flesh, the road map of truth and honor, he took them, he feasted upon me, upon that road map. He claimed my truth and honor, my history, my past. He destroyed something so deep in the process. He took from my blood and destroyed part of my heart in the process.
Iweep, Iweep, Iweepbecause he stole Noralice! And judging by how sore my sex is, he stole something else…oh, Goddess, if it’s the last thing I do, Neoptolemus willpayfor this.
But first, I have a party to get to.
Chapter34
