Page 99 of A Haven of Brimstone and Darkness

Her smile is sad. “Our Kingdom fell,” she says, “but not our world.”

I stare back at her and then slowly I look to Kalix. “Go get Tryphone.” Kalix doesn’t immediately move to follow my bidding, but instead glares at me, the barely restrained need of a beast unleashed writhing under his skin—unsure of what to do.

Leaning forward, I go on my toes and press a kiss to his jaw. “Go,” I whisper. “Let’s end this.”

Kalix stares at me a moment more, the sharpness of his gaze easing marginally before he turns and heads to the God King.

“Why isn’t he using his powers?” I ask, turning back to Ariadne.

“Because I stole them,” she says, gesturing to a fallen sword—the very same one that had pierced me.

I flinch away from the sight and the reminder of the pain that had sucked the air from my lungs. “You stabbed me?” The silence of my question hangs between us, a quiet demand for an answer.

Ariadne tilts her head to the side and shuffles around until she stands in front of me. The opening into their old world—the world the Gods came from—hovers just above our heads as she cups my cheek.

“I’m sorry for all of the pain I’ve caused you, daughter mine,” she says, bowing her head so that our foreheads brush together.“I’m so sorry for all that you’ve lost because of my choices, and I’m sorry that I had to stab you to save you.”

“Save me?

She cups her hand over my lips, stopping my question before I can say it. “Henric’s power was always quieter than my own,” she says, answering the unspoken desire nonetheless. “He only ever truly found hissunderin battle when he was wounded, when there was more on the line than life and death. Sunder is what allowed him to tear the fabric of reality.”

And I’d had it all along. “That was why I saw the Mortal Gods even when they’d been transformed into animals,” I guess.

She nods. “Before Tryphone stole his abilities, your father had the ability tosunder. That’s why he was taken before Makeda could stop them. It was too strong even for Tryphone.”

Before I can reply, she continues, her own storm gray eyes glittering with unshed tears. Mine are all gone. I feel no tears, only a deep need for answers, for this whole fight to be over. “This is what happens, my darling,” Ariadne whispers, bending closer so that only the two of us hear her words, “when you become responsible for a life born of your soul; you do what you must to protect it. I will always protect you.”

She pulls back, and in her eyes I see a storm of pain and love. My next words turn into shards of glass. They stab at my insides, blood trickling down the back of my throat.

Tryphone isn’t the only one that needs to be gone from this world. “You’re leaving too.” The statement is both a command and goodbye.

My mother’s face softens, and all at once, I recall the man from so many months ago. The man whose child had died from Talmatia’s carriage and how he had clutched his dead son to his back as he and his wife had been led to freedom by Regis and me.

My wife carried my son for nine months to bring him into this world … it’s only fair that I carry him out of this world.

I get it now. The decisions that she’d made. The abandonment. The words she’d spoken. She’d sacrificed for me, killed for me, would kill me to save me. Ariadne brought me to Anatol in her soul, and though I’m casting her and the rest of the Atlanteans back into their world, she’ll leave me here when she goes. Because as much curiosity as I have for their world, the truth is that we—the Mortal Gods—belong here.

“It’s time to say goodbye.” Caedmon appears at our side.

I glance at him. “You knew this would be the end, didn’t you?” I ask.

He blinks and then shrugs, the shoulders of his tunic rising and falling with the movement. I’ve never seen him so dressed down aside from when he’d been in the prison—he almost looks … mortal. “I’m the God of Prophecy, Kiera,” is his only answer and I want to roll my eyes.

Tryphone is shoved past us by Kalix as Theos and Ruen drag a spitting and screaming Gygaea. I swallow at the sight and turn my gaze upward.

“What do I do?”

Ariadne touches my shoulder. “Call them,” she whispers. “That sword stole the God King’s powers, but it never stole yours. You are now the strongest of us—call them all to the opening and send them through.”

Closing my eyes, I inhale sharply. I let go of all of the distractions around me. Sight. Sound. Scent. Sensation. I release it all and become the very fabric that holds the worlds together. Finding the fissure I’ve created, I stick phantom hands inside and widen it a bit more. Somewhere in the near distance, Tryphone’s shrieks and demands rise up.

Ignoring them, I cast my mind further. Little lights begin to pop up—some brighter than others, some barely bright at all—but all of them have one thing in common. None of them belong in this world. Tugging against those lights, I drag them fromtheir homes, from their beds, from their pleasures and pains. When I next open my eyes, it’s to see the sky full of silver strings, each of them slowly reaching for the opening to the world.

“This power of yours is what allowed you to reach into others’ hearts,” Ariadne murmurs thoughtfully. “Like your father reached into mine. This power is that of a true savior.”

I shake my head as string after string of the Gods—Atlanteans—disappear through the crack in the sky. The second they draw near, the wind catches and sucks them all in.

“I’m not a savior,” I tell her. A glance to the side reveals that Caedmon is gone. Was he already sucked in? I turn back to my mother. “I’ve killed.”

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