Page 148 of Wrath of the Dragons
“The Etril Forest,” I say as she takes to the skies. How she knows where I need to go is a mystery that I don’t have the energy to thinkabout. She flaps harder, flying us over the scorched and bloodied earth, leveling out as we make it to the beginning of the forest behind the castle that Elowen and I ran through. When she first summoned Sorin and I swore I was looking at a goddess. Snow swirls around the peaks of the Seren Mountains that sharply cut through the clouds.
“I should’ve grabbed you a cloak,” I mutter, pulling her into my body to try to keep her warm, covering her hands with mine and breathing onto them now that Venatrix is level. “I can feel you pulling me to you, beckoning me, and I’m going to find you, angel. I promise.”
Venatrix calls out to the others, dipping low to land on the forest floor at the base of the temple ruins. The sky is just as bloodred as it was over the battlefield, and shadows still cling to me. I don’t know what’s happening, and I don’t have even an iota of curiosity.
I think about the last smile she gave me.
I think about the kiss before the battle.
I think about every fucking regret, and I form them into blades in my mind, sheathing them at my side, and carry her into the temple.
Wind whips through the broken pillars, scattering the bits of white rock that must’ve chipped off of them when they cracked. Some still stand, but others stretch into the forest. They might have been reclaimed by greenery at one time, but now are smothered in winter. I force myself to set Elowen down, her dark curls splaying through the unmarred snowfall like a sleeping angel.
I will see her again.
I unsheathe a knife as I walk toward the altar, slicing my palm open and letting my blood dribble down. “I, Cayden Veles, King of Vareveth, summon the Goddess of Souls, Mercy, and Destiny to strike a bargain.”
Chapter
Seventy-four
Cayden
When I look around theruins, I notice swirling marks along the walls and floor taking on a silvery glow. The wind stops howling, and the world goes quiet aside from the growling dragons perched upon the crumbling structure. I walk back to Elowen, taking a protective stance in front of her body and sheathing the knife in favor of a sword.
The dragons take to the skies as the stones rumble beneath us. The fallen white pillars rise from the ground, as does the collapsed ceiling, as if pulled by some invisible force. Eerie, chilling laughter floats through the newly formed structure as if it had never been in ruins. The dragons perch around the perimeter, still able to see through the tall archways.
Cayden Veles,the voice goads.What has your anger done this time?
Silver wisps sparkle through the air until they band together, forming a portal that resembles a whirlpool of liquid metal. A woman steps through, clad in a draping dress made of fabric that matches the conjured portal. Her red lips mirror the blood I spilled to bring her here. Pale hair is pulled away from her face and her skin is even paler; it’s like she wishes to blend into everything around us.
“You summoned me, king,” she says, stepping around the altar to look around her temple as if she’s seeing it for the first time.
“You are the Goddess of Souls?” I ask, still not willing to believe the gods are real despite the display of power.
Her pale blue eyes glow silver as she settles her gaze on me. “And you are a man reeking of desperation. My favorite kind of mortal to make deals with.”
“Bring my wife back,” I demand. “If you truly are a goddess then I’m the man who woke you, and you are in my debt. If you require further payment, take my life in her place.”
She tilts her sharp chin to the ground, clicking her tongue. “And you would force her to live with that? Don’t you think she has hurt enough?” Her icy eyes return and drift to Elowen. “Such a pretty soul, so bright, and yet so broken.”
“Her soul is mine,” I state in a low tone, summoning the shadows from the depth of my pain and curling them around my arms, letting them snake across the floor and coil in the corners like vipers ready to strike.
She laughs in a girlish way, light and aloof. I always thought the gods would be more threatening and formidable, but the Goddess of Souls looks like an ordinary woman aside from the silver eyes. “I can taste your suffering. There are those who still slumber who will wish to inspire your agony.”
I clench my jaw. “If you don’t bring her back, I will reduce this world to nothing. I will kill every last bit of life and take away everything that makes you a goddess. You will be as powerless as I am at this moment. I will rip away everything you hold close and force you to watch it die. You will rule over a wasteland because I’ll be here with my sword and shadows, ready to wage a final war on the gods.”
She tilts her head, intrigued rather than perturbed. “Do you truly think you could win?”
“It’s not about winning.” A cruel sort of smile lifts my lips. “It’s about creating the most suffering before death claims me.”
She purses her lips. “I cannot take your soul because you have a destiny to fulfill.”
I dryly chuckle. “If you refuse to strike a bargain that ends with Elowen’s soul being returned to her body, you will have made an enemy today and believe me when I say I am the last person you want working against you. You won’t have to worry about destinies because I will rip this fucking world to shreds. The gods may be back, but they will not go to sleep next time; they will die at my hands.”
“As I said, notallthe gods have returned.” She smartly takes a step back as my shadows slither closer to her. She waves her fingers through the air, and something pulls in my chest. “How far are you willing to go for her?”
“Farther than you can fathom.”
