Page 94 of Bright Soul

“Until this meeting, I was not sure how you and Braza would accomplish such a feat,” Phaeron admitted. “But perhaps the four of us, plus the might of a full ancient powercore, can match a starving goddess. Before we decide anything, there is one huge downside I will remind you all of.”

“It’s permanent?” she guessed.

“Surprisingly, no. You could disband the circle once you have slain Myuna,” he said. “It ties our fates together as one. If any of us die, so do the others.”

“Victory or death,” I said.

He grunted in agreement. “As it always has been. If we go this route, we will be the ones to distract Myuna while Auric weaves the Void to trap her and drag her back to Soiluire. I would not put you in such danger if there was any other way, bright soul.” There was a distinctbutto his tone.

There probably wasn’t another way. None of us could fight Myuna alone without being consumed.

“Are you willing to do this?” she asked Phaeron.

Without hesitation, he said, “In time, I would have begged for the opportunity to share eternity with you. So what if it is a little early? I love you dearly enough to share you.”

“I love you too,” she murmured. She drew up to the tips of her toes to share a kiss with him before turning to me next. She took my hands, craning her head to look up at me. “What about you, Geo?” she asked.

“Now that I know it’s possible, I want it more than anything. You can always use my magic to keep yourself safe,” I said. After a couple moments, I thought to add something, and she waited with a knowing look until I did. “I already recognize you as my only love, my duty and devotion. This is merely a formality.”

She started to blush again. “Even if you have to share me?” she asked in an undertone.

“At first, I found the others unworthy of your attention,” I said honestly. “In time, they have become tolerable.”

Ben, who waited a few steps away for his turn, scoffed. “Tolerable. C’mon, Geo. You can say we’re friends at this point.”

“We’ll be family yet,” Phaeron added.

“Even…more than tolerable at times, yes,” I ground out. “I have bent for you, Cress, made myself flexible to change.” For a gargoyle, it was akin to admitting the impossible, yet I was more than that now. I was a man because of her.

She reached up to kiss me next. “Thank you, Geo. I know it couldn’t have been easy.”

“Yes.” An understatement. I released her, reluctant to see her turn away, but she needed to talk to Ben.

She met his eye, and he smirked. “Why’d I have to be last? Now I have to follow up what they said,” he snarked.

Cress looped her arms around his shoulders, pressing closer to him and dropping her voice. “Because I think you’re the only one as scared as I am over how big a step it is,” she murmured.

As they put their heads together, Phaeron caught my eye and angled one horn toward the door. “Now is a good a time as any to give them time,” he said to me. “Call to me when you have a decision, bright soul.”

“Okay,” she answered over her shoulder.

I led him out, heading for the room where the torchbearer I’d captured yesterday was resting. “I have a large request,” Phaeron said once we were alone in the elevator.

I felt a sudden, oily surge of trepidation. “What is it?” I asked.

“I want to give my daughter a new life, and one of the only ways to accomplish that safely is through making her a gargoyle.” He clasped his hands together. “Will you assist me?”

We arrived on the correct floor as I answered, “That is highly illegal.”

He didn’t say anything else until we entered the torchbearer’s room. She lay on the bed, arms cuffed over her chest by my quartz, ankles tied to the bedposts. Though I was assured she’d be kept asleep until Phaeron could see to her soul, her eyes were open, unblinking, and glowing white from within.

Sitting by her bedside was none other than Lucas, who withdrew his hands from her arm when we came in. “I was just—”

The torchbearer lifted her head from its pillow at the sound of the door latching closed behind us. An overwide smile split her face. “Phaeron et Sudair.” It wasn’t a normal human’s voice, but the screaming echoes of dozens of wailing souls all speaking in chorus.

That had to be Myuna speaking through her. But Phaeron didn’t reply immediately, instead taking a ragged breath and stopping short with his eyes narrowing to tiny slits.

“You took something from me, Phaeron et Sudair. I felt you kill my beloved Endaeron,” she continued. Lucas clapped his hands over his ears when she laughed, and that awful sound seemed to jolt Phaeron back to himself. He reached out with lash of shadowy magic, lassoing it around the general shape of the torchbearer and pulling.

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