Page 44 of The Scattered Bones

My face burns white hot, but not down the center where Lovec marked me in blood. It’s my eyes and temples that sting… where I painted the prayer ashes just as Kaid once did. Lovec isn’t lending me his strength. It’s Varas. Whether or not he has claimed me, the Great Thief is with me now. He wants me to avenge his faithful’s execution, and a reckless idea floods my mind.

Until War carved my husband apart, I’d never seen a god besides the one I was pledged to, but Hreinasta was housed in human flesh. I’d never seen a deity in their true form until my twenty-first cycle. Valka is a monster in size, his eyes almost white save for the faint grey in his irises, and I didn’t realize that was a trait of the gods until I met Lovec with his ice blond hair and pale eyes with their hint of blue. The Stranger’s pure white eyes flash through my memory, but I shove him aside. I have no time to consider what that means, and my thoughts turn to the men at my back. Have they ever encountered a god other than Valka? Do they know what the deities look like? Here in the solitary North, they cannot travel with ease between multiple temples like in Szent. If I’m right, they have no clue what Varas the Thief looks like. Even married to Kaid, I never heard the god described. Perhaps he keeps his appearance hidden so he may plunder unnoticed in the night, and here I am, wild and unhinged in War’s inner sanctum. I’m disheveled and painted in ash, sweaty from hacking apart the visage of a god. The soldiers haven’t attacked because they aren’t certain how I got in here. Not a single guard witnessed my entrance, so my arrival must be by divine intervention. They don’t know what I am, and I grin with wicked intent.

I hoist the decadent ceremonial sword over my shoulder and spin toward the soldiers, eyes crazed and mouth curved in a deranged smirk. My face burns again, and I take it as Varas’ approval of my plan.

“I wonder if my brother knows how easily his defenses can be breached,” I say, praying that these men have never met Varas. “I had to create such a racket to get your attention.”

I laugh as their grips tighten on their weapons, but they make no move to attack. I start to pace before the holy flames, kicking a chunk of debris with chaotic energy as I saunter through the chamber.

“I wonder. Should I tell him when I return to Szent?” I whirl on the men with aggression, and they collectively flinch. I fight a smile. It seems they don’t know what Varas looks like, and my sudden appearance is enough to convince them I’m the Great Thief.

“Should I tell my brother how his acolytes slept while his inner sanctum was ransacked?” No one makes a move, and I lunge forward so fast that the ceremonial blade is against the frontmost man’s throat before he can even blink. “Do you make it a habit of refusing a god? Do you find it wise to ignore their questions?”

He swallows, the sword’s tip bobbing against his Adam’s apple.

“Perhaps I should kill you all so that Valka knows the quality of men who serve him. That they let the Thief into their midst to insult their god,” I snarl, leaning closer to the soldier, enjoying how his muscles stiffen. His eyes bulged the minute I alluded to myself as Varas. I was right. These soldiers have met no god besides War. Battle forged their massive deity, so to them, it’s realistic that Varas could be a small woman, a creature agile and slight enough to slip through defenses and steal unseen.

“Or perhaps I won’t kill you.” I yank the sword back so fast that it nicks his skin, sending a thin trickle of red down his throat. “Valka would be angry with me, and I am not the god of war. I prefer to plunder what I please in the dead of night, not to fight bloody battles. I’ve stolen from my brother while his faithful stood unaware, and the punishment he’ll inflict on you for your failure will be far greater than any violence you might suffer at my hands.”

I saunter through the crowd, and the soldiers step aside, letting me pass with uncertainty. I channel Kaid’s confidence as I stroll seemingly unbothered through the throng. I mimic Hreinasta’s haughtiness as I sneer at their shocked expressions.

A young soldier snaps out of the group’s trance and moves to cut off my escape. Everything within me panics, and I almost stumble, but then my face burns so painfully, I understand. Varas won’t let me back down now, so I launch myself at the charging man.

“Are you so foolish that you would raise your hand against a god?” I snarl, swinging the golden sword in a harsh arc. It slices through the soldier’s uniform, the tip coming to rest against his heart. “I am the Thief, and you dare to defy me?” I scream. “I should flay your flesh from your bones for this insult. My presence here is between my brother and me. I have no intentions of slaughtering Valka’s acolytes, but to raise a blade against a god is to wish for an agonizing death.” I step so close to him that my breath hits his cheek, and he flinches. “What say you, boy?” My voice suddenly sounds different, as if Varas is truly speaking through me. “Will you challenge me?”

The soldier backs down, and I lower the weapon with a smirk. “Smart boy,” I say deprecatingly as I push past him, my shoulder knocking him forcefully aside. Varas must be granting me his strength, for the young man stumbles, nearly crashing to the floor. I stifle the look of surprise and swing the ceremonial sword casually over my shoulder as I stride for the exit. Just a few more feet and I’m free. I cannot believe I pulled this off, the only explanation for my success the stinging of my skin. I barely breathe until I depart the inner sanctum, and I don’t slow as I move toward the temple’s exit. No one stops me, and when I step outside into the cool night air with Kaid’s head strapped to my back, my knees lock to stop me from collapsing in relief. I did it. I found his final piece and escaped with my life. This moment is surreal, and tears fill my eyes as I force myself to keep walking. I need to disappear into the trees. I need to—

The ground shudders with such thunder that I almost fall to the dirt, but I don’t need my vision to know what shook the earth seemingly to its core. I don’t need sight to understand who just landed before me, blocking off any chance of escape. My face goes cold, the burning evaporating from my eyes as Varas abandons me. His aid won’t extend to what stands before me with brutal purpose.

“Such beauty and performance might fool men, but I am not so blind, thief.” His authoritative voice rattles the air, and fear pulses through me in scorching waves. I stood a chance when my enemy was mortal, but now? Now I will die, for blocking my escape is the god of this temple himself.

War.

* * *

It happens too fast.A blur of motion, an explosion of pain, and suddenly I’m on the ground, certain every rib in my chest has cracked. I lay on the dirt, unsure how my face came to be pressed against the earth. One second, I was standing, and the next I was sprawled on my belly, my body breaking. I was foolish to believe I could steal from Valka, that I could escape with Kaid’s final piece without garnering the attention of the very god who executed him.

“I must say, I’m impressed with you, little vessel,” War thunders as his footsteps draw closer.

“I am not her vessel.” I spit blood onto the grass as the horde of soldiers at my back slowly circle the fight.

“You found every bone I hid,” Valka continues as if I’d said nothing. “I was tempted to remove his head from my temple, but I wanted to see if this beautifully defiant sinner had it in her to challenge me. If I’d known a warrior’s heart beat within your breast, I would have taken you from Hreinasta and claimed you as my own. Despite your beauty, which still shines through your brokenness, your determination and strength are your greatest assets. Your talents would have been wasted as a human shell.”

“At least that we can agree on,” I slur, pulling myself to my hands and knees, but before I even register his movements, Valka’s fist slams into my chest. I fly through the air as something inside me fractures, and I land with a scream on a soldier. We tumble to the ground, and the world blurs around me from the pain.

“’Tis a moot point, though,” Valka continues. “Hreinasta is a primordial being, the goddess even I must bow to. Despite my desire for you, your treachery knows no bounds. I was content to let you live in quiet freedom after you fled, but you were so determined to find your thief that you forced my hand.” He bends before me, capturing my jaw in his crushing fist. “What is it you plan to do with him, anyway? You cannot bring him back. Is burying his bones together worth all this pain? Your lover is dead. His soul is in pieces. Are you really so foolish as to incur both mine and Hreinasta’s wrath over a corpse?”

I try to speak, to curse him, but all that escapes my mouth is blood.

“Pity,” he snarls. “Such beauty. Such bravery and determination. I had hoped to avoid this, little vessel, but you have forced my blade.”

He unsheathes his sword with deliberate movements, his soldiers stepping back to escape his blow, and that’s when I see it. Darkness flutters in the trees. It’s barely visible, only a faint blackness winding against the night, but I know what it is. I recognize the familiar pull.

Lovec, grant me your strength as the hunter. Udens, your strength as the protector. Kaid, I love you. Until we are both dust.

Valka draws back his sword, and my vision blurs again as blood pours from my mouth. I can feel the broken bones inside me as I bleed internally. The pain is too intense, but as his blade cuts through the air with the whistled song of death, I launch to my feet.

I scream in agony, my limbs faltering, but I do not stop. Valka’s sword carves into the earth where I’d lain, the wind from his blow hot on my back, but I do not slow as I vault for the trees. My vision darkens. I have seconds before I pass out, seconds before Valka slices the life from me as he did my husband, but I do not stop.

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