Page 134 of Of Blood & Stone

No, she wouldn’t have. She was the goddess of life, not death, she couldn’t…wouldn’t?—

“Just as I gave Sylzenya power, so I can take away. It’s a tiring effort, and I can only do it every so often, but I needed you to seek a way into Estea, and you needed a purpose. So, I figured out what would motivate you.”

Elnok’s hand squeezed Sylzenya’s so tight she held back a scream.

“You’re the reason Orym’s sick,” he whispered, “the reason he’s going to die.”

Laying the red flower in the grass, the goddess looked up.

“Yes, Elnok,” she said, “I am.”

Chapter 32

Two in One

Hot, molten rage drowned out all other thoughts. Elnok barely noticed Sylzenya’s hand in his, the comfort she brought while everything around him dissolved into fire, anger, and nothingness.

The reason he’d been looking for this damned, magical tree was to find Orym’s medicine. And yet, it was this very tree, the goddess residing in it, that was the cause of Orym’s death sentence. A full circle. A full fucking circle and he walked it like a blubbering idiot.

“Howdareyou,” Sylzenya shouted at the goddess.

The goddess, Aretta, sat in the middle of a meadow decorated with yellow and red—orodytes and blood.

“You’re the goddess oflife,” Kharis added. “How could you put someone’s life on the line for this?”

Aretta raised her hands. “This is war, and like Sylzenya said the other day during your journey, casualties are expected.” She looked to Elnok. “Weren’t you the one who told her to keep using her power even if it killed people in your land? Does your humanity only start and stop with people who’ve saved you, Elnok Rogdul?”

Elnok sneered, unable to keep his body from shaking. “You don’t deserve to lookanythinglike my mother.”

“You can place all your blame on me, or you can see who the real culprit is. My brother motivated my actions. It’shisbloodlust that’s caused my hand to move in such ways.”

“Why?” Sylzenya said, letting go of Elnok’s hand and stepping forward, “What happened between you two? Whatreallyhappened?”

The goddess stood, twirling yet another flower in her hand, Elnok’s stomach growing sick the longer he looked at her face.

“A lot of what he’s taught you is true. We created this world together, and we loved each other while doing it. Brother and sister. Two born of one whole. But when I made humans, I discovered a joy I hadn’t felt yet.” She paused, a small smile peeling along her mouth. “I fell in love with one of the humans.”

“I fucking hate it here,” Elnok growled.

“I had children—Esteans. It’s why you and Kharis can wield my power. But it caused my brother great jealousy. One night, one of my grown children went out for a night hunt, and they came across one of my brother’s creatures. They were terrified, convinced it had been tracking them to kill them.” She paused, crushing the flower in her hand. “In the end, they both killed each other. Both were afraid of one another, but my brother was convinced that my daughter killed his creation out of bloodlust. And so, he decided to destroy every human he could find.”

Silence filled the meadow as she folded her hands. “He and his monsters needed a swift end, otherwise my creation couldn’t exist in peace.”

“You’re right, wecan’t. And we have you to thank for that,” Elnok retorted.

“But he was your brother,” Sylzenya interjected, “couldn’t you have discussed the matter? Made sense of it some other way? Come to a peaceful solution instead of involving us?”

“The price for life will always be pain.”

“Bullshit,” Elnok muttered.

Kharis tapped his empty chest plate. “But you wanted us to go to war, didn’t you? You wanted to fight, and you wanted to put us to the test against his monsters; to prove we were better—that you were in the right, and he was in the wrong.”

“Hewaswrong,” the goddess argued. “He demanded I end all of your lives over a misunderstanding. I tried to save you.”

“By threatening to do the very same to his creation,” Sylzenya said, “you can’t honestly stand here and blame him for everything when you had the chance to fix it.”

The goddess shook her head. “I underestimated how much of a hold he has over you. Even in your right mind, you defend him over me.”

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