Page 43 of What Sleeps Within the Cove

I wondered how much longer the ferryman would be able to show preference for Estrella before the Fates intervened, suspecting it wouldn’t be much longer at all from the tension on their face.

I turned my attention back to the river and the odd boundary that kept the creatures contained within the water. They’d become something monstrous, so distorted by their time there that I couldn’t help but swallow and wonder if that had been what might have become of me had the ferryman not pulled me free.

However much longer we had where they were still an ally to Estrella, I would never not be grateful for the love a father felt for his daughter in spite of all the odds stacked against him and the interference of the Fates.

Something rested upon the top of the pool as we continued, a stone figure of a woman that seemed to float at the water’s edge. I studied it intensely, the figure far too familiar for my comfort. Had she not been crafted from a pearlescent quartz, I might have questioned whether or not my mate had somehow found her way into the Void to meet me.

The cloak framed her face, the intricate way the stone was carved mimicking even the wrinkles in the fabric. I knew in my heart that it was meant to depict my mate, felt that tug on my soul as the ferryman rowed us past her, but where Estrella’s face should have been was only a mask of darkness. Like staring into the night sky, she wasentirely featureless with only the gold and purple sparks of starlight to shine through the void of light. Her hands were the same where they rose at her sides, reminding me so much of the way her fingers looked as if they’d been dipped into the night sky itself.

The Void beside her shifted, a spark of purple and blue light spreading from an epicenter. It morphed and molded, spreading into a gateway of sorts as a male figure emerged through the gap it created. He was nothing but a twist of shadows and starlight, golden eyes gleaming through the galaxy he created.

I knew who he was immediately, had seen this likeness depicted so many times in the books I’d read as a boy, hiding away in the library archives with my father when Mab was on a rampage.

Khaos.

“Kharon,” I said, drawing their attention to the Primordial in our midst. They didn’t seem fazed by the being’s presence, grunting under their breath before he continued rowing. Khaos glided his way across the surface of the water, abandoning his place beside the statue of my mate in favor of keeping up with the boat. He did not hurry or rush to get there, but as the view of light on the other side of a small cavern appeared, illuminating the void with a reddish hue, Khaos moved his form into our path and blocked the way.

Kharon sank their staff into the waters, making the boat come to a swaying halt. My balance shifted as I fought to find my footing, my body slamming against the edge of the boat inevitably. Khaos’s eyes were a burning gold as he studied me, the light of a thousand stars glowing from the form on his body.

He was darkness made flesh, the night sky made real.

The power of the galaxy held within a single breath.

The ferryman bowed their head low as they kept to the back of the boat, leaving me to kneel before Khaos like a sacrifice. “What business do you have in my Void, God of the Dead?” the Primordial asked finally. I wished more than anything for facial features I could read, for even a hint of emotion, but there was nothing of the sort to be found.

The Primordials were not human, though they could take humanoid forms when they chose. They were the personification of their magic, a home for the various aspects of nature to be contained.

“I only seek passage into Tartarus,” I said, keeping my voice calm and quiet. Using this entrance to Tartarus felt like trespassing, like a defiance of the Gods and the natural order of things. I would do it anyway for the sake of my mate, but Khaos had to allow it.

He did not answer immediately, the weight of that burning golden gaze on me heavy, studying me and finding me completely lacking. I hated the familiarity of that feeling, the knowledge that I’d felt it before and couldn’t place where I might have encountered such judgment.

“She does not belong to you any longer,” he said finally, making my head snap up to fully meet that gaze.

“She is my mate,” I argued, swallowing back my unease. What business did Khaos have with Estrella, so much so that he would meet me here to warn me off? “We belong to each other.”

“Our Child of Fate has finally returned home. You will not interfere in her purpose in this place, Caldris. Swearing to that will be the only way I permit you to pass into Tartarus so that you may offer her comfort in her trials here,” the Primordial said, and I shoved down my resentment over the warning.

I never wanted to get in the way of Estrella’s destiny or her purpose.

“I will not interfere in anything she herself desires to do during her time here. I will swear to that,” I said, considering how she might feel if she knew that her destiny was so tightly wound with the Primordials.

“Very well,” he said finally, nodding his head forward with a final foreboding look. “If you hurt her, you will answer to us.” The darkness spread open once more, leaving him to disappear into it and leave the path clear for us to make our way out the cavern and into Tartarus.

The ferryman did not hesitate to row forward, bringing us into the gap and allowing us to flow down the river. The cavern was bright, with crystals shimmering on the cave walls as the light from the prison reflected off of them. It added an eerie hue to the space, making the walls seem as if they too burned like the pits of Hel.

The current swept us along, dragging us down a decline that was so sharp I felt unbalanced. Sitting on the floor of the boat, I held onto the edges as we careened down into the light.

Just like that, we’d left the Void behind us and entered into the prison of Tartarus.

TWENTY-SEVEN

ESTRELLA

The glowing green waters of the Acheron were so different from the Styx that it took my breath away. It looked the way I imagined poison would, shimmering in a vial and just waiting for someone to ingest it. I swallowed as I approached the shore, turning my attention to the Morrigan who were to serve as my guide.

In spite of Medusa’s presence, I wouldn’t shun the Goddess who had shown me loyalty and honesty. I didn’t know that I could trust a word out of Medusa’s mouth, her own self-interest a mystery to me.

Perhaps she really did care for me when I’d been a baby, maybe she’d wanted me when I’d been born.

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