Page 68 of Eternal Sacrifice
“You can ask Cole,” Justice responded, nodding like he knew the dragon would agree.
It made me feel better knowing the dragon would be here to protect Jace while we retreated to the Hell realm.
Justice
Jaspernearlyblewhishead off his shoulders when Fox and I arrived in Hell, missing two party members. He stayed in the old hunting cabin for a week straight, mentally messaging daily that he wasn’t returning to the palace yet. He finally decided to return when I got sick of asking him how to manage the sins and common demons.
My hands were needed elsewhere as Fox required ‘round-the-clock care. She retreated into herself, preferring to spend time twisted into a nest inside her gallery. I often sat beside her, resting my hand on her shoulder while she pretended to sleep.
I pretended not to notice her tears.
There wasn’t anything left to do except wait for the small elf child to grow into her power. We couldn’t spend the majority of the following two centuries like this.
“Come on, Fox. You need a dungeon trip,” I said, patting her on the back before rubbing my hand in a circular pattern while she took a shuttered breath.
“I’m not in the mood for sex, Justice,” she said, her tone thick like honey.
“No sex dungeon trip then,” I said, wrapping my arms around her middle as I snuggled up against her back. “Just a minute for you to escape from this reality.”
She looked at me over her shoulder, her eyes black as night. Most days, she looked like a wandering spirit, shuffling from place to place.
“Up you go.” My grip around her middle tightened as I hauled her up, and her body acted like a rag doll. I placed her on her feet but held onto her so she didn’t collapse.
“I just feel so tired, Justice,” she sighed, leaning against me.
At least it was a start.
“One step at a time, Fox,” I encouraged, taking a step and encouraging her to do the same.
We shuffled our way through the palace and then into the beyond in search of a ring portal. Hell insisted we take the long way until Fox walked by my side at a lumbering pace.
“Is your plan to wallow until you get them back?” I asked, bending down to rip a bundle of lavender out of the ground to offer her.
“I don’t have a plan. Clearly,” she laughed without finding it funny, but a smile remained on her face after she lifted the flowers to her nose and breathed deeply. “It doesn’t matter what I do. Everything I touch gets taken away.”
“Not everything, Fox.” I scooped her up, cradling her, and her arms looped around my neck. “I’m stickier than a sticker.”
“Peanut butter can remove a sticker, Justice.” She sighed, but this time I felt a faint waft of something other than despair from her.
“Where?” I said, snapping my head to look around wildly before smiling at her bewildered expression.
“You make the perfect sort of nonsense.” Her mood had lifted, and it felt like the pressure in my chest had found the release valve. I had plenty of experience dealing with broken minds. Mending them was more of a matter of finding a suitable glue.
A door blocked the path up ahead, attached to nothing. I gripped the copper knob, twisting it to open the door to ring four. My fox held my hand as we stepped through the portal together. The air around us felt thicker, settling into the bottom of my lungs along with the scent of decay. It grounded me, and I took another deep breath.
Fox relaxed with every step we took toward my dungeon, knowing it offered her the escape from the reality she desperately craved. She walked steadily into the room, and I followed.
“How many of Jax’s fractures are left?” I asked.
“Two.”
“Would you trust me with one?” I held out my hand, not knowing if she would be willing to part with any of them.
She reached into her rune, pulling a blue-tinted wisp free and placing it in my palm.
“Thank you, Fox.” I leaned down to kiss her forehead before hurrying over to my cupboards.
I had experimented with fractures centuries ago, attempting to figure out the cause of the voices inside my mind. That was when I discovered they were pieces of memories from the soul’s life.
