Page 19 of Salt & Blood

When their eyes locked, he lunged for her, clutching her to his chest and breathing in her rose and parchment and saltwater scent. Gods above, everything about her was perfection. His memories of her hadn’t done her justice. The softness of her hair. The smoothness of her skin. The way her breath caught in her throat when she was overcome with emotion. The small sigh that escaped her when he touched her.

It was like he was experiencing everything for the first time. He was reborn, though he didn’t know how or why. All he knew was that deep within himself a strange silence echoed into a yawning void. Typhon was gone. But more than that, Evander’s whole being felt hollow.

Something was missing. Something within him had been severely altered.

But that didn’t matter. Right now, he would savor every moment he had with Mona. He pressed himself further into her embrace, stroking her hair and letting his salty tears trace down his cheeks as he clung to her tightly. Gods, he would never let her go again.

An eternity could have passed, and Evander wouldn’t have noticed. He could have lost himself in her arms, holding her forever.

But he couldn’t deny that something felt different within him. Now that he was adjusting to these new heightened senses, that strange emptiness in his chest only intensified. Slowly, he withdrew to peer into Mona’s eyes. She, too, was crying but she beamed at him, her eyes sparkling with joy and relief. He couldn’t resist bringing his mouth to hers in a gentle kiss. He yearned to do more—to ravish her and taste the sensitive parts of her body that would make her moan with desire—but there would be time for that later.

For now, he needed to figure out what had happened, and why he felt so strange and empty.

His eyes reluctantly left Mona to sweep around the vast cavern. A crowd of unfamiliar women with unsettling amber eyes peered curiously at him. He recognized Trivia—or rather, Pandora—and the sun god who had forced her to fuel the portal to let everyone in Elysium through.

Then, his eyes landed on someone he thought had been lost forever. His eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Romanos?”

Romanos offered a tight smile and nodded. Something guarded filled his eyes, making Evander frown. Slowly, he extricated himself from Mona’s grasp, taking her hand in his as he made his way to where Romanos stood.

“What are you doing here?” Evander asked, surveying the room once more. “And…whereis here?”

“You’re in the mortal realm,” Romanos said. “In the Rhea desert. This is where the fire witch coven lives. They are friends of mine.”

Evander’s head spun. This was so much information to process. He rolled his shoulders back, and they felt strangely weightless. Then, he froze, realizing why: his wings were gone.

His stomach dipped as he met Romanos’s solemn gaze. “What happened to me?”

He was afraid to learn the answer. Had he already died? Was this all a vision from Tartarus, meant to taunt him?

Romanos opened his mouth, then hesitated, his gaze dropping to the floor as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I, ah, siphoned the death magic from your body.”

Evander’s heart thudded wildly in his chest. “What does that mean?”

“It means, I called the death magic to me, and… it came.”

It took several beats before Evander registered what his brother was saying. “You stole my magic from me?”

“Hehealedyou,” Mona said, squeezing his hand. “Evander, you were dying. It’s a miracle you hung on for as long as you did.”

Evander’s mouth was dry. His death magic—his demonic essence—was all gone. “I—Can you give it back?”

Even before Romanos shook his head, Evander knew the answer. He had to ask, though.

“I cannot. It is irreversible. The death magic within you had become infected, weakening you like a disease. When I siphoned it, it merged with my own magic, changing it and altering it to fit my own powers.”

Evander bristled at the notion that Typhon had been a disease. He had simply been another side to his soul.

“Altering it?” Evander repeated slowly.

Romanos’s brow furrowed. “Yes.”

Evander swallowed, unsure of how to directly ask him if a demonic presence now lived inside him. “I—There was… another being inside me. A powerful manifestation of my death magic. I could sense his presence almost constantly. Do you—Do you feel him?”

A stunned silence rippled over the crowd, and Evander had to fight to keep his gaze from straying from Romanos. Hehadto know.

Romanos’s eyes were full of regret when he replied, “I’m sorry. But all the magic I took from you has merged with mine. If there was any presence or being that lived inside of you… it’s gone now.”

Gone.The word echoed like a haunting melody in Evander’s mind.

---