Page 93 of This Shattered Star

He hummed in agreement. “But he was clever and still bent on making her life miserable. The god used his imprisonment to his advantage. He ravaged the mortal realm until it was nothing but a pit of darkness and despair. He butchered many. All in the name of staining her hands, her soul, once more. Those lives were on her conscience, as she was the one who sent him there. And if that wasn’t enough, he cast his own magic around what was left—whowas left, so that they could suffer in darkness, just as he had.”

“Let me guess. The mortal realm is supposed to be ours?” Kodhan nodded in response. My eyes nearly rolled out of theirsockets. “That is beyond ridiculous. And trust me, I have heardmanystrange things coming from the dark alleys of Aedreath.”

“Is it, really?” he asked carefully. Like he was testing me.

Scoffing, I shook my head. “Kodhan, come on. You can’t actually believe any of that, can you? Orthil was arealperson. The kingdom is littered with his name after hundreds of years. The beasts in the sky arereal. We see and hear them all the time. But this blood-thirsty god?”

I grimaced.

“What of him? Where is he now, if he’s supposedly trapped here? If we know of Orthil, and he ruined daylight for us all, surely we would know about him too. And gods are immortal—which draws another line across your story. He shouldn’t have been able to kill his brethren in the first place.” All the facts were concrete, and yet, a twinge of unease slugged through my veins.

What if the storywasreal? What if an angry godwasprowling beyond the Veil, amongst all the other awful things surrounding the Temple of Borealis?

Suddenly, the dragons didn’t seem so terrible.

He considered me for a long moment, his fingers still dancing across my skin. “The story ends in two possibilities. The first leads to the goddess finally acting on what she should have done to begin with, which was to rip his head from his spine and end him like he had ended the others. The second leads to the god disappearing between the secluded folds of the ravaged realm, biding his time until he can wring more chaos when it is least expected. Ever true to his name.” His lips curved into a smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

Blinking slowly at him, I said, “Please tell whoever came up with this story that it’s downright awful.”

“I admit it could use some work.”

“Or maybe it is your storytelling that needs improvement.”

His chest rose and fell with his laugh. Stars, I could never get enough of the sound.

This changes nothing.

This changeseverything.

The damage was already done.

The constant ache in my heart had been given the smallest of reprieves. It no longer hurt with each beat. It felt lighter. Less of a burden to carry.

I knew better than to ignore the reason why.

But despite it all, I would’ve chosen it again. Chosenhimagain.

Shadows flickered in my periphery once more. This time from the darkest corner of the room. It was as if they had sensed my selfishness and gleefully took it upon themselves to lap it up like it fueled them.

Two thoughts occurred to me at once.

One being a breath-seizing realization that my curse had worsened. Not only was I absent of magic, but I was also going mad. The frequency at which my hallucinations occurred continued to rise at an abnormal pace regardless of how much I’d eaten or slept. Grew stronger, more vivid, moretangiblewith each apparition.

I knew then, that if my curse was worsening, it meant the gods knew I was close to finding a way to break it.

And they would do anything they could to ensure I would fail.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

“Theia and Brannon are on their way,” Kodhan whispered, startling me awake.

“I fell asleep?” Surprisingly, it had been dreamless. Rubbing the bleariness out of my eyes, I scrambled to sit up straight. “For how long?”

“A few hours, I’m guessing. I went to sleep after you did.” Kodhan had already straightened and rebuttoned his vest. Completely unbothered.

Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I asked, “Did anything happen? Is everything alright?”

Behind me, the mattress groaned. “Theia didn’t mention anything. Just that they were on their way.”