Page 95 of Of Blood & Stone

Searing pain ruptured through Elnok’s flesh as Kharis placed the sword against his back, disjointed memories of Tosh flickering in and out of his mind’s eye. Desperation laced through Elnok’s veins as he begged for the nightmare to end.

“Enough!” Sylzenya said.

Elnok regained his sense of self, the vine in his mouth falling to the ground. He looked up, and everything within him turned into ice. Sylzenya tipped the vial, pouring every last drop of the black liquid into her cut. Shrieking, she fell to her knees, the glass thudding into the dirt while her fingers gripped the soil. Her veins raised against her skin—turning black.

“Very good, Sylzenya. Now, stay down. It’ll take some time for you to adjust.”

“You fucking bastard!”Elnok screamed.“I’m going tokillyou!”

“So many threats, and for what?” Distrathrus hissed as he kneeled in front of him, his back to Sylzenya. “To protect a woman who’s part of the reason your entire continent suffers?”

“What are you talking about?” Elnok spat.

Distrathrus smiled. “A few days by her side and you think you know her, is that right?”

“I know she’d never do anything to hurt anyone.”

His smile widened. “My acolytes and Kreenas do more than create food and water for our people. They’ve been helping megather the resources to resurrect my true form for centuries, Sylzenya proving the most powerful out of them all.”

“You’re insane,” Elnok hissed.

Distrathrus sneered, digging into his robes and pulling out a piece of yellow orodyte. “Every Estean believes these store the earth’s impurities, and this is how Kreenas are able to create vegetation. But it’s only partially true.”

Elnok’s stomach soured, his head spinning.

“In my sister’s last attempt to destroy me, she filled the entire continent with her power, spreading it as far and wide as possible so I couldn’t use it for my restoration. But she didn’t consider the other ways I could gather it.” He flipped the stone in his hand. “I utilized my resources—her very people—convincing every Kreena and acolyte over the centuries to unknowingly reclaim my sister’s power by storing it in these stones. I then use your generously given Vutrorian steel to perform a perfect extraction, the ore specially made by my sister’s hand and the only substance able to break through orodyte.” He tilted his head. “These women think they create life, when in reality, they steal it.”

Elnok’s chest tightened, spots forming at the corners of his eyes.

“But you know what I find most interesting?” Distrathrus continued, “In order to take life, there’s always a cost, and these women don’t even question the pain it brings them.”

“You’re the reason their backs fucking bleed?” Elnok yelled.

“You make it sound so… distasteful.” Distrathrus’ yellow eyes narrowed. “But that’s besides the point, Elnok. What I’m very curious to know is would you still love a woman who’s been stealing life from your land? The reason you have famines, the culprit behind your droughts, the origin of your sickness?” He paused, rotating the stone in his hand. “The reason your friend will die in a few short days?”

Everything grew distant and cold, the trees bent in the wrong shape, his mouth dry and parched.

“You’re lying,” Elnok seethed, his arms trembling and vision blurring.

“You certainly wish that were true, don’t you, thief?”

Elnok didn’t dare break eye contact.

“Why tell me any of this?”

The High One grinned. “Because, Elnok, before I have Kharis kill you in these next precious moments, I need you to understand that Sylzenya was never going to be yours. She was and always will belong to me.” He slid his cold hand across Elnok’s face. “Mine to keep, yours to lose.”

Elnok clenched his jaw, a scream sitting in the back of his throat, every part of him desiring nothing more than to tear this god apart limb by limb.

“If what you say is true, then orodyte serum isn’t poison, it’s your sister’s power. And that means Sylzenya’s father put a goddess’powerinto her body, not toxins,” Elnok snarled. “He meant for her to defeat you.”

Distrathrus tilted his head. “Far more observant than your brother, I’ll give you that much. But Theraden’s plan was never going to work. I’ve convinced everyone—including Sylzenya—orodyte serum is poison, and once one believes in something so firmly, there would never be a reason for them to think otherwise; there’s no using my sister’s power without knowing the truth. Anyways, now that my undiluted blood has entered Sylzenya’s body, it’s eradicated all of my sister’s power from her veins.”

Bright yellow light suddenly illuminated the grove. Elnok turned to the source: the willow tree growing behind the marble throne surged with magic. But it was the person standing next to it that shone the brightest. Her hand was pressed onto its trunk, her hair and skin bright as the sun.

Elnok’s heart leapt into his throat.

“Impossible,” Distrathrus yelled, “Kharis! Nyla!What are you two doing standing around like that? Stop hernow!”

---