Page 76 of Ties of Deception

I smiled at her, the movement making the wounds in my cheeks sting. I continued to back toward Ethen, who was beside me in a heartbeat. “Your system never gave me the experiences to learn.”

Constance raised an eyebrow. Sebastian wiped the mess from his face. His wounds were already healed. Mine were not. A Grace’s powers couldn’t work on herself.

Ethen’s eyes scanned my throat with horrified concern as one of his hands found the small of my back. My heartbeat calmed with the familiarity of his presence. How desperately I had wanted him close. How desperately I wanted to touch him, embrace him, kiss him now that I knew it wouldn’t kill me. I fought another wave of dizziness, my pulse bounding in my ears. Something was swelling under the skin of my throat.

“Don’t remove those metal shards,” he whispered to me. “One is too close to your jugular.” He glared at Constance. “Heal her.”

Constance laughed, a horrid bitter sound. “Why?”

His face darkened, and his voice was pure cold rage. “We will leave for the Unseen Lands now. If you don’t heal her, I will take this as an act of war, and we will reclaim all the souls you stole by force.”

She folded her arms. “After your little performance for the empress, and your refusal to comply with our demands, war is inevitable. I’ve always wanted an excuse to ‘visit’ the Unseen Lands.” She lifted an eyebrow. “Are you worried she might bleed out once those shards are removed? I did warn you not to kill her again. You’re just like your father. I saw the death of his Fated too, you know.”

I glared at her, ignoring the growing terror on Ethen’s face. I would be fine. We would find a way to safely remove them. There was no way I was going to die on him again. Speaking hurt my throat, but I didn’t care. “How can you call yourself Ismara’s daughter when you seek war? When you seek the power of death to give to your soldiers to conquer the world? You say it is to bring Blessings to many, yet you can’t even Bless the people of one small island fairly. Life and death were always meant to be kept separate.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Sometimes short-term sacrifices have to be made for the longterm good. Once I have enough Graces, I will distribute them more fairly.”

I laughed at her and the sound came out strangled. “Nonsense. You’ve had enough for years. The world you have created for Graces here in Atos may look idyllic, but it is evil, Constance. Evil!”

Her face smoothed into an expressionless mask. “I see you have both made your choice. Pity. I had looked forward to working alongside you, Purity.”

My breath caught as Ethen tensed beside me. What was she…

The shards of metal in my throat shattered. The pain was unbelievable. I screamed. My vision flashed and fragmented, and I fell to the floor, not even sure which direction was which. I raised my hands to my throat and felt a warm fluid engulf them. Desperately, I tried to staunch the flow of blood in horror as the world became fainter by the second. Every touch was agony.

Ethen screamed beside me, his hands on my shoulders, then moving to try to staunch the bleeding at my throat. “Heal her! Heal her now! I’ll marry whoever you want. I’ll do whatever you want. Just heal her!”

The world started to slip away as familiar blackness crowded the corners of my vision. At least I’d fought with everything I had. At least I’d had those extra moments. At least we’d kissed.

I hoped I had left some good in this world in whichI’d been reborn as a Grace. I thought of those empty hospital beds. Maybe those saved lives were enough to make it all worth it.

Chapter

Twenty-Nine

It was too hard to keep my eyes open, but at least I could still feel Ethen’s touch. It would be the last thing I’d felt both times. There was a rightness to that.

Constance’s voice sounded distant, panicked. “I…I can’t. I can’t heal her!”

Ethen’s voice was stricken. Angry. And also, too far away, despite his hands on my neck. I wanted him closer. I wanted to tell him that I loved him. That I forgave him.

“What do you mean you can’t? You’re a goddess of life! You’re Ismara’s daughter!”

“I can’t! I can’t do anything! What did you do to me?” Her voice was full of horror.

“I didn’t do anything! Try harder!”

“I told you I can’t!”

I tried to say the words I’d wanted to say for too long before it was too late. “I…I…”

A blinding white light exploded, searing me to the core. Then the pain vanished. Everything vanished. I could no longer feel Ethen’s touch. I was drifting, bodiless, untethered.

Then, all at once I was falling, plummeting, hurtling toward something.

I gasped. My lungs felt strange, achy. I forced my eyes open, and the first thing I saw was Ethen’s face staring at me in panicked bewilderment. I smiled at him and lifted my hand to his cheek. The blood from my wound was gone. I sat up, feeling stronger than I’d ever felt in my life.

Constance and Sebastian were gripping each other on the far side of the room, and their eyes were on something else—somebody else.

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