Page 40 of Destined to the Reaper

She nodded with a somber expression. “Cornelius needed at the very least manticore bones to perform the binding ritual. But the heart is even more potent. With it, he will be able to ensnare both you and Charon. Once the ritual is complete, you will make him nearly immortal. And this time, he will enjoy the fullspectrum of your Death and Regeneration Magic, without being bound by the covenant against killing.”

“Harnessing me, I understand. But why Charon?” I asked, confused.

“Because the Ferryman will provide him with an endless supply of souls,” my mother explained grimly. “Instead of ferrying the deceased to their appropriate realm of the afterlife, Cornelius will funnel them into his constructs. He will amass an immense army of enslaved souls, trapped in the powerful creations that he will build.”

“By the Gods…!” I whispered, horrified.

“By the gods, indeed. The Gods, the Ancients, and the netherworld as a whole is in uproar. My son, Cornelius’s fate is sealed. In two days, on All Souls’ Day, he intends to perform the ritual while the Veil is the thinnest. He must be stopped before it is complete. You must defeat him. If you fail, if he ensnares you, all will be lost. Therefore, we will have no choice but to finish the task.”

The intensity in her eyes made her underlying meaning clear. If Cornelius won and managed to bind me again, they would have no choice but to kill him, which also meant me in the process.

I gave her a stiff nod. “I understand. This gives me less time than I thought, but very well. I will be ready.”

“You cannot do this alone, Pharos,” she warned in a soft voice.

I immediately stiffened. “Not Kali. She wouldn’t survive.”

“She will if you claim her,” she replied dismissively.

“It must be her choice,” I said in an obvious tone.

“Then make her choose to go through with it,” she retorted with a hint of irritation. “Do you really think your female will sit on the sidelines while you confront Cornelius after what he has done to her brother? If she’s not tethered to you, she will die.”

“I won’t let her come unless she’s bound to me,” I said firmly.

“You cannot shackle her, you fool. You should know by now she has her own mind,” Mother said, rolling her eyes.

She then waved at the large wall on the left side of the room next to her spinning wheel. An intricate network of threads came into focus. Most people couldn’t see it, even if they tried, unless she deliberately showed it as she was now. As a Reaper, I could always see people’s life threads. Out of respect, I never peered at my mother’s wall by altering my vision when I used to visit her before. But this time, I greedily studied it only to feel my blood drain from my face.

Two threads shone brighter among the complex web that very few sentient beings could even begin to guess how to interpret. They belonged to Kali and me. They branched out, showing the possible outcomes of our future. Normally, a person’s life thread was like a tree, its limbs spreading in various directions, some branching out further, and others cutting short quickly.

While my own thread was a source of concern, it was Kali’s that retained my attention. There were only six branches, four of which indicated her death either in the next couple of days or within the year. Of the remaining two where she lived, only one matched my own exceptionally long thread of near immortality.

“She only lives in two scenarios?!” I exclaimed with this belief. “And they’re both the palest options?! Why just these two?”

The thickness and intensity of the glow of a thread indicated the likelihood that it would come to pass. The paler it was, the less probable it would be the path chosen by the person concerned. Various choices they made along the way could shift the focus from a different path making the desirable one become stronger. I needed to make this happen for my mate.

“Because she’s your soulmate. If she doesn’t die by your side in two days, she will wither away without you if you fall alongside Cornelius. Guilt and sorrow will eat away at her. Kali will only live and thrive if you do. So you must convince her.”

“Don’t you think I want to?” I asked, my anger not aimed at her but at the situation. “In the end, she doesn’t owe me her soul or to sacrifice herself for me. Surely there is another path where I keep her safe even should the worst happen, and I fall?”

She snorted and shook her head with a mix of affection, amusement, and discouragement.

“Oh, Pharos, you are always so angelic. You would get along with Asheron. You are both too sweet for your own good. Did you not get any of my ruthlessness?”

“You can’t blame us for that,” I teased affectionately. “You chose to have us with angels.”

She made an unimpressed face while waving a dismissive hand. “For your father, I’ll grant you that. But Asheron’s sire is a true fallen. And an obnoxious one at that.”

She muttered that last sentence under her breath, making me chuckle.

“Alderan is of the divine, nonetheless, even though he’s more chaotic,” I said gently. “I’m assuming it was your hand that helped free my brother?”

She lifted her chin defiantly. “No one messes with my children and gets away with it. It doesn’t matter how long it takes. Bind her, Pharos. I’m not losing you now. You do not understand how many loopholes I had to exploit to get your mate to act now before it was too late. This is the best outcome for the both of you. But you only have two days.”

“She cannot be coerced into this, Mother,” I said with frustration as I began pacing around the room. “And telling her any of this feels like blackmail and manipulation.”

My mother huffed and rolled her eyes at me. “Truth beats deception any day. Kali wants you. She wants a future with you. The mate bond never would have worked otherwise, and she would have died in the crypt. Stop overthinking everything. By keeping quiet, you’re not protecting her. All you’re doing is taking away her free choice.”

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