Page 152 of Death is My Ride or Die

“Once upon a time,” Ahrimad began with a dramatic turn toward his audience, “Malphas Cruscellio died on the battlefield with our father’s DNA in his mortal body. He would have been reborn into a demigod and come back to life once his corpse was buried. However, Phoebe, his young bride, didn’t know that. Neither did Malphas, who knew nothing of his biological father.

“Phoebe tried every spell she could find to bring Malphas back to life. She even merged his heart with a raven’s. Running out of time, she turned down a dark path. She went to the woods and prayed. Prayed to every god, prayed to anyone that would listen to her desperate, pathetic little sobs. Now, here’s the hilarious part.” Ahrimad held Malphas’s eyes for a prolonged moment. “Ianswered her prayer.Ihelped her resurrect Malphas. When he rose, Phoebe realized he was different. Of course, he was. When I brought Malphas back to life, I stole his soul. Oops.

“Bringing Malphas back to life came at a price,” Ahrimad said, a coy smile playing on his lips now. “One life taken for another returned. Now, being the decent brother-in-law that I am, all Phoebe had to do was never use black magic again, and the life taken would not behers. However, if she did use the magic, she would succumb to a madness unlike any other. And if Malphas wanted his soul back, all he had to do . . . was free me. Free me from the otherworld in which I was trapped throughout all of this. But he didn’t, did you, Malphas? You kept me imprisoned in that mirror under the willow tree. Now, the details of what happened next are a little fuzzy . . . ”

“We’ll all turn to ash and bones by the time this little fable of yours is finished,” Death hissed.

“Ah, I remember now,” Ahrimad continued, relishing in the spotlight. “Throughout all of this, Phoebe had been pregnant with their little half-mortal atrocity of a son. Once he aged, I drew the boy into the woods to free me. Because ofyou, Malphas. Because you were afraid of me. Afraid of what else I would do to your family if you released me. But you found out exactly what I was capable of, didn’t you? Now your son had a bleak future for freeing me, and you were as soulless and cruel as ever.

“Poor Alexandru had a difficult boyhood.” Ahrimad walked a slow circle around Death and the high-level demons on either side of him. “One day, he couldn’t take the pressure anymore. He killed himself. How sad. And to think, his own mother had to discover the horrifying scene. The deal was done. One life taken, for another returned.”

I was sick to my stomach.

“You can finish the rest, Malphas,” Ahrimad said, sounding bored. “I’m sure Death is dying to know how the lovely story ends.”

Malphas refused at first, defiance in his onyx eyes and visible restraint in his jaw and neck. But he ultimately succumbed to Ahrimad’s command. “I was away, traveling, and your mother used black magic to resurrect you on her own.”

“When I said to tell him the rest,” Ahrimad snarled at Malphas, his voice slipping into something monstrous as he bared his fangs in a malicious smirk, “you know what I meant.”

Malphas’s hands clenched at his sides. “I won’t.”

“And why is that, I wonder?” Ahrimad asked, feigning sympathy.

Malphas grated his teeth. “Because it will destroy him.”

Death yanked at his chains with a hiss. “The fuck it will, old man. I already know what you did next. I was there.”

“No, you don’t,” Malphas said. “You remember what I wanted you to remember.”

Death stared back at his father, motionless.

“Your mother wouldn’t let you die,” Malphas said after a long stretch of silence. “She used the blackest of magic, and this time, it worked. But the consequences were instantaneous. She became seriously ill. Bedridden for weeks, though we hid the true reason from you. In those weeks, I saw glimpses of rage, violence, hate in a woman who had embodied selflessness and love. I thought we were losing her. Then, one day, she was fine. It was a miracle. The dark side to her had vanished entirely.

“You fell in love with the mortal Annona,” Malphas continued, and Death visibly flinched. “When your mother found out about Annona’s pregnancy, she tried to convince me to bring her into our home. She was so excited about having a grandchild. She loved babies. But I was so furious with you. You’d disobeyed me by being with a mortal, you’d risked our exposure to outsiders. So I renounced you and your unborn child. Your mother and I fought for weeks. It drove you and her out of our home.

“For months, I lived in solitude. I wanted to mend things with you both, but my pride kept getting in the way. One night, I had this . . . terrible feeling in my gut. It was nightfall, and I rushed to your home on horseback. As soon as I entered the front door, I heard screaming. Annona shouting for help. Ahrimad’s power had gained full possession of your mother, and she was in a . . . rage. She killed Annona, ripped into her womb . . . You were crying, horrified, confused. I could only imagine what you’d witnessed. Your mother saw you like that, and she fought with everything she had. A glimpse of her came through, and she begged me to save her from herself. She begged me to kill her before she hurt anyone else. When I hesitated, the madness controlled her again. Then she lunged foryou, and I . . . ”

Malphas bowed his head, his eyes tightly closed.

“I did what I had to do,” he said with finality. “I couldn’t stomach the idea of you remembering your mother in those final moments. She was never the monster in your life. I was. I thought if you knew the truth, if you knew that your mother resurrecting you had triggered Ahrimad’s deal, you’d hurt yourself again. Blaming me for their deaths meant you’d live. Live to seek vengeance. Your mind was fragile—you were in shock—and I changed your memory. I made you believe it me who killed all three of them.”

“And then your son went and killed you and died in the arena with me to become an eternal god of death,” Ahrimad interrupted chirpily. “Wow. Your parenting skills are unmatched, Malphas.”

“No,” Death said, his voice breaking. “No,no. I was there. I saw you kill all three of them. You’re lying. You’re lying because that’s what you fucking do. That’s all you know!”

“Show him, Malphas,” Ahrimad commanded.

Blackness spread from Malphas’s cold eyes, but the raw emotion staining his features remained. “Yes, my liege.”

Malphas made a small motion with his hand, and Death’s head snapped back.

Death swayed on his feet like he might fall, his eyes wandering all around the room. He dropped to one knee, and then the other. His head hung forward, his arms restrained by the high-level demons. My heart clenched at the sorrow glistening his eyes as he looked up at Malphas. “How could you?”

“I wanted to tell you,” Malphas said. “Itriedto tell you, I—”

“Two thousand years,” Death whispered in a rough, hollow voice. “Two thousand years!”

Suddenly, the mirror-like surface of the portal oscillated and swelled with a loud crack. A new ripple shimmied across its surface. Ace, who stood closest to it, backed away, whereas Ahrimad gazed curiously at it. His amber eyes snapped to mine.

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