Page 87 of What Sleeps Within the Cove

He repeated his strike, darting forward at a run as I swept my hand along the grass at our feet. Wrapping my fingers around the threads I found there, I raised them up until the ground responded. The lump that formed between us tripped him, leaving him to spiral toward the ground.

“What the fuck,” he mumbled, catching his balance just in time to avoid the crash.

I lashed out with a thread, using it like a whip that cracked against his face. The tiny bead of blood that welled on his cheek was a testament to the control I’d learned, and his hand reached up to touch it for a moment before he laughed.

We moved in tandem, his body moving with sharp thrusts and lunges meant to maim. I dodged them all, using the threads around us to defend myself. He jabbed his sword at my face, leaving me to wrap it up in threads that I snatched from the sky. They were golden when I grabbed them, gleaming with light as I twisted them around Rheaghan’s sword and focused in on the hardness of earth. The threads turned to stone, the weight dragging Rheaghan’s sword down to the ground as something fell from the sky.

The crow landed beside us, shattering into bits of rock upon impact. I swallowed back my remorse, hating that I’d been so wrapped up in our sparring session that I’d forgotten the implications of my magic. The threads controlled life itself, controlled fate and the universe.

It was not something to be toyed with, even if doing so would result in me having a better understanding of my magic. Rheaghan laughed as he got to his feet, the joy on his otherwise empty face almost worth the consequences of my stupidity.

He didn’t seem oblivious to the way I stared at him, searching for signs of the man I knew. He released his hold on his sword finally, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pants.

“Did we know each other before I died?” he asked. The words were confirmation that he at least knew he was dead, that as much as they’d been stripped of all they knew, these people were at least given that much.

“Not well,” I said with a sad smile. It was the truth, as much as it pained me. We’d been robbed of having more time together.

“I think I would have liked to know you better, Estrella Barlowe,” he said, earning a smile from me as I stepped forward and held out my hand.

He met me halfway, grasping me by the wrist and leaving me to do the same. “Well, you can know me now instead,” I said, offering him the only consolation I had.

That part had been a lie for the moment, but maybe not forever. If I survived long enough, if I was able to claim the army that had been intended for me, maybe both versions of Rheaghan would have the opportunity to know me.

Maybe, just maybe, I’d get to know my brother in the end after all.

FIFTY-FIVE

ESTRELLA

The journey to the Phlegathon took the entire morning after we bid the residents of the Tithe settlement goodbye with the rising sun. It had only taken a couple of hours for Caldris to awaken without me, seeking me out the moment he realized I was gone from the bed we’d shared. I’d spent those hours trying to draw Rheaghan into using his magic, exposing him to my powers constantly to no avail.

He’d still never thought to attempt them, and the reflexes I knew he must have remembered didn’t kick in to accomplish the task either. It had made for a very bittersweet farewell, even if we both suspected it would be a temporary thing. I wanted nothing more than to convince him to come with us, to take the brother I’d never known away from this place and attempt to remind him of all he had once been. Instead, I’d left him behind, offering him the peace that came with not remembering the circumstances of his death.

Not remembering that it had been his own sister, the verywoman he’d desperately tried to protect from herself for centuries, who ended his life.

I reached up, holding out a hand for Belladonna as she shifted back to her living form and wound herself around my hand. As I passed her off to Medusa so the tiny creature could avoid the river and subsequent trial, my arm felt empty without her.

Caldris was quiet but supportive as we approached the river, words not needed between us in the moments where I stared down into the next river I would need to face. The river itself ran red, the water a mix of molten lava and hardened rock where it cooled as it flowed through the icy waters. The riverbanks were littered with skulls and bones, horrifying statues carved into the cliff face itself. A great winged beast with three heads perched atop the cliff where it had been carved into a collection of five skulls, his great, leathery wings spread wide as if preparing to take flight.

It was scaled like a serpent, so similar to the sea monster we’d seen only a day prior. But whereas that one had been beautiful and ethereal, this creature was molded from darkness and menacing even though it did not move. The craftsmanship that had been needed to craft such a statue was incredible, the dedication making me stare at the creature far longer than I should have.

I stared down at the lava, my blood boiling within my body already making me feel as if I was burning from the inside. The call of the river in my veins was what drew me forward, standing at the edge of the pointed cliff. The drop down to the river was too large for a human to survive, a blow that would shatter the bones of any mortal on impact. Caldris guided me toward the narrow, winding steps down to the riverbank that was made of human remains, the bones scattered about like sand.

I didn’t leave that cliff face as I stared down at the river below, unable to tear my eyes off the burning water. Flames burned atop the water, steam hissing through the air to form little clouds. If the fall wouldn’t have killed a mortal, the burning river would have certainly done it. With a swallow, I slipped my hand out of Caldris’s grip, following the instinct that had me pressing closer to the edge. He knew my thoughts, watching me with apprehension as I prepared to do the very thing that he would warn me not to attempt.

But there was no arguing with the need inside me, no more patience now that we’d come this close.

I sprinted the rest of the distance to the edge, diving off it face-first. My arms stretched above my head, angling my body so that Icould slip through the surface of the water as smoothly as possible. I had to hope that the water beneath the lava wasn’t boiling, that it would only hurt for a moment before offering me a blissful reprieve from the pain I knew I would feel on impact.

I fell, time seeming to suspend in those moments when I closed my eyes and waited to feel the pressure of the water against me. I waited to break through the surface, feeling like I just kept falling.

And then I broke through, immense pain tearing through my body. First it was the horrible ache of the impact, the shattering of my bones that immediately worked to reknit themselves back together. My skull felt like it shattered into a million pieces, jagged edges putting pressure everywhere at once. That faded as I healed, the distinct scent of sizzling flesh reaching me through the water. My body burned, the lava and boiling water temperature consuming me in the flames. It felt as if my skin blistered, as if I would never reach the bottom and be freed from the eternal torment of brutal, endless heat.

I sank deeper into the water, my body unable to move through the pain, even though the panic that had started to consume me demanded I turn around. It warned of an impending death even I could not survive, a body melted into the Phlegathon never to be seen again. I’d reached the point of no return, the knowledge that I would never make it out of the water before it was too late.

So I swam deeper, heading for the volcanic rock at the bottom of the river. There was nothing to greet me there, no trial or Primordials waiting to cast judgment over me. With trembling fingers, I reached out to touch the rock at the bottom. My hand was red, the skin melted from my flesh to reveal the bleeding muscle beneath.

My finger stroked the rock finally, feeling as if this was my last breath. I didn’t allow myself to feel the panic or the fear, sinking deeper into the pain and just wishing it would end. I knew Caldris would feel it, that he would know exactly what my last moments were filled with, so I worked to pull the window closed on our bond, sheltering him from the moments thathadto be the end.

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