Page 79 of A Haven of Brimstone and Darkness

“As his daughter,” Ruen says, “it would make sense that she’d have more protection from his anger.”

Not enough, considering that she’s rotting away in a secret prison beneath the great brimstone mountain of Ortus Island.

“It’s clear that the relationship between Danai and Tryphone is strained,” I say. “Probably because of my mother.” I swallow, tasting ash on my tongue. “What if … I offered to take her place?”

“Take her place?” Theos moves towards me and grips my arm, turning me to face him. “What are you suggesting,Dea?” Twin golden brows draw together and his lips curl downward as tension fills his expression.

“It wouldn’t be real,” I assure him, reaching up and cupping his hand on my arm. “But if he thought he could gain the same love from me that he could from his daughter…”

“Caedmon plans to use you to kill him,” Ruen says. “That wouldn’t?—”

“Surely, he doesn’t know that though,” I insist, pulling from Theos to go to the end of the bed. My fingers latch on to the ornate wood and curl around the top as I lean into the frame. “He doesn’t know me—who I am. What I’d be willing to do or what I wouldn’t be. If we assume that Tryphone isn’t as knowledgeable about my past—about the secrets Makeda, Danai, Caedmon, and even my mother kept from him—then it explains why he hasn’t tried to kill me yet. It explains why he’s brought us here to drain all of the Mortal Gods of their magic.”

“Divinity,” Theos corrects almost absently.

I wave my hand at him. “No, it’s magic,” I reiterate. “The Gods aren’t Gods—they’re Atlanteans. A subspecies of Fae according to Makeda. What we have isn’t Divine Right. It’s magic.”

Ruen scrubs a hand down his face and tosses the pillow to the side. “Kiera, this is madness. You want us to let you go to the God King and admit that you know you’re his granddaughter?” He scowls at me, a muscle in his jaw jumping beneath the surface. “No. Never. He’ll kill you on the spot.”

“Then what do you suggest?” I snap, gesturing around the room. “Because we’re out of time, Ruen. We have limited options and a lot of lives to either save or let die.”

Ruen slams his fist into the mattress. “You’re a Gods damned assassin!” he yells. “Letting those fuckers die should be no issue for you.”

My chest squeezes and I release the bed’s footboard, taking a careful step back.

“Shit.” Theos reaches for me even as Kalix gets off the bed.

“I didn’t mean that,” Ruen says, his lips parted as if he, too, is shocked by the callousness of his own words.

“Kiera.” I dodge Theos’ grasp and take another step back.

“If that’s what you think of me,” I say quietly, my voice dropping into nearly a whisper as I try not to scream … or cry. “If you think my time as an assassin dulled my senses to death and that I am so far gone that I’d be willing to sacrifice hundreds if not thousands to save my own skin…” I settle my eyes on Ruen’s, not caring that his newly replenished color has drained away once more. “Then Tryphone isn’t the only one who doesn’t know who the fuck I am.”

Without waiting for Ruen’s response, I turn and leave the room, striding past all of the doors to our bedchambers until I’mfar away from the residential hall. I keep walking until I taste salt on my tongue and feel an icy wind stinging my cheeks.

Only when I stop on a parapet between two buildings with the moon hanging fat and heavy above me, half shielded by clouds, do I realize that I’m crying.

Chapter 37

Kalix

Rain falls in a loud sweep over the island as I make my way through the corridors of Ortus. Serpents reach out to touch the edges of my mind—never daring to intrude deeper unless I invite them. I send them slithering away, following up with a few small commands for them to carry out along with the heads of some of the Terra Nubo and Zalika use as their own servants.

Despite naming themselves as head Terra over Ortus, my brothers and I—as well as Kiera—know better. Finding the decapitated heads of two human Terra on their beds should be enough to give them pause—for a time. I feel no regret over severing those humans’ skulls from their bodies. After all, they’ve been dead a long time. No one else seems to scent that.

A crackle of white tears a strip through the clouds, illuminating the figure sitting on a small walkway between two of Ortus’ Academy’s spire-like towers. I count: one … two … three … before I’ve reached the fourth second, a low thunderous rumble follows.

I turn the handle and step out into the rain. My footsteps on the short path are loud. There’s no way she doesn’t hear me as I approach. Still, she doesn’t turn to face me, and it isn’t untilI stop at her side and take a seat, throwing my own legs over the ledge between the open spaces of the railing, that she even speaks.

“I’m surprised they sent you to find me,” she murmurs.

“No one sent me.”

I stare at her, taking in the lines of her profile as she grips the railing bars and leans back, tipping her face to meet the rainfall. Like living moonlight, she is a spot of silver against the backdrop of glassy, onyx brimstone.

“Why are you here then?” she asks.

I find it hard to tell what she’s thinking and wonder if this is how she might feel around me. I can’t tell if she’s been crying. Her face is too soaked with the rain for me to know if the water clinging to her lashes is from the sky alone. When I don’t answer her and offer no intention of my own as we sit beneath the pouring rain, Kiera finally sits up and turns to look at me.

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