Page 14 of A Reign of Roses
I knew better than to say what echoed in my mind like a death knell:That will kill me.Instead, I took two bracing, fortifying breaths—
And I drank.
It was as if I had guzzled liquid lightning. Charring my throat, seizing my body as it oozed down my gullet. I choked on most of it, sputtering half up, collapsing, knocking the chair out from under me. It clattered somewhere behind me, shattering some bottle…I didn’t know. I couldn’t think. Couldn’tbreatheas agony shrieked through me. As my soul fled my body, digging through layers of earth for her—
Consciousness found me sprawled acrossthe polished wood floor. Alive, it seemed. And still in that sleek den belonging to a God. Bergamot incense and pungent spirit filled my nostrils. I choked back a gag.
My mouth ached. My very skin…weaker, somehow. The pulsesliding along my veins, so quiet I couldn’t hear it. I grasped at my body, my jaw, my thundering heart. “What did you do?”
My muscles, as I stood, sore though I’d barely climbed today. My tongue, heavy in my mouth. My eyesight, blurred…
“It’s only temporary—”
But I couldn’t hear past my own horror. “I’m…mortal.”
“All rebirth demands death. Now you are a slate, cleared and readied for a new inscription.”
“How?” I hardly grit out.
“A weapon forged with not only my own power but the other eight Elder Gods’ as well. A relic to grant you the blood you seek.”
“The blade…”
“Touch the steel once, and you will regain your lighte tenfold.” Len’s eyes gleamed with victory. “You will be reborn, full-blooded.”
Despite accomplishing all I’d set out to, relief evaded me. I was a mortal man. Mortal, until I got my hands on the blade. “That was not the agreement,” I breathed.
The God stood from the table. “It’s already been done.”
“You knew all along, didn’t you?”
For the first time, remorse crossed his eyes. “I had an inkling.”
I thought I might hurl myself at him. Claw the skin clean off his face. But I was no longer Fae. I shouldn’t have risked the wrath of a God when I was, and I certainly wouldn’t now.
“And if I never touch the blade?” I asked around my splitting headache. “If I can’t find it?” A simple fall down the stairs could kill me now. I’d never make it through Lumera. I’d never locate the blade in the palace unscathed.
“The realms will be doomed.”
No, no,no—
Why had he done all of this? He knew I could never destroy myfather if I wasn’t Fae. Why did I need to swear to complete the prophecy in her place? Why did my intentions matter to him at all? How could he—
A singular, near-juvenile hope blazed in my mind. “Was this all a test? Are you…Will you bring her back?”
Ice in that voice as he regarded me with less than pity. “No.”
“Could you?” I had to know. “Are you choosing not to?”
“I would have,” he said, pushing his chair neatly back into the table as if finishing up supper. “If it were possible.”
“Why?Whyisn’t it possible?” I was pathetic, and I knew he was sneering at me, and that nothing I said would work. Knew that I was weak and broken, covered in my own sickness and sweat, andstill, I couldn’t stop the words from shoving past my lips. “I’ll bring you her body. I’ll scour the realms for it. I will pay any price you demand. Obey any request.”
“Go, boy. Find the blade.”
“Please.” I knelt to the floor, my mortal knees cracking against the wood. “Please.” My throat was so tight I could barely speak around it. Tears burned in my eyes.
“Please,” I begged, wrung out. “Please bring her back to me.”
