Page 108 of Ruin of Revenants

Shadows coalesced at the edge of the clearing, making me shiver. They swirled around me until eventually forming something like a shape that hovered over me. “You think all I do is lead everyone astray into tricky bargains and suffering and death,” a deep, rumbling voice said. “Perhaps I do despise Vithenna for what she has done, but there is more to it than that. The restless souls cry out to me. They deserve a place in the afterlife, not to be used as the goddess’s puppets.”

“I expected better from her,” I muttered. “She brings life and healing, does she not? And yet she’s making the whole kingdom suffer.”

“But life isn’t fair or kind, not always,” Mortius rejoined. “Sometimes, there is mercy in death. The repose one craves after a long struggle.” I sensed his gaze on me, even if the only indication of movement was a shifting of shadows. “You should understand this. Your power to resurrect is not only tied to life, but also to death and the renewal you find rising from the ashes.”

Licking my lips, I studied him curiously, some of my fear abating as I remembered the moment Mortius had appeared to me during my resurrection. “I saw you. When I died.”

Rumbling laughter swirled around us, Mortius' shadows dancing. “Yes. So many of you forget about your ties to me. It’s why phoenix shifters are so feared—even, sometimes, by the gods themselves—because your magic is sourced from so many of us. You are a blend of contradictions, of life meeting death and healing meeting pain. You can sense death and pain, seek it out to tend to it. That is me and my mercy. You can pour healing and life into others. That is Sanvo and Vithenna. And you have the power to both withstand and wield flames—that is Solea.”

I dipped my head in acknowledgement.

“I confess that your suffering is great enough to draw my attention, but now I ask: Why did you summon me? One god cannot undo a curse another has wielded. What Vithenna has done, I’m powerless to stop. Those limits were placed upon us at the beginning of time, to keep each of us from interfering in one another’s domains.”

“Emberglade and the dead need your help,” I explained. “Surely there is another way to break her curse than by the offer she gave us, which is merely adding to the killing. She wants either Archer or myself to slay the other.”

“Again, no deity can break a curse cast by another god. Otherwise, I would gladly end this blasphemy against death.”

“There must be another way,” I said, my voice breaking. “You’re a god. Isn’t there a loophole to prevent one god from completely destroying the kingdom? Vithenna can’t kill off all of Emberglade without some way the other gods can stop her, right?”

The shadows stirred, the focus of Mortius' gaze heavy on me once more. “The loophole would be using you, letting you wield death’s power on my behalf, so I am not directly working against her curse. It wouldn’t stop the army all at once, but it would give you more strength to work against it—the ability to send each soul trapped within those roaming bodies to their eternal rest.”

I sucked in a heady breath. “Are you saying I can do that because of my magic that is already tied to death?”

Again, the shadows moved, this time in a way that was reminiscent of a nod. “It would have to be you, yes. And it would come at a price. The afterlife is out of balance, and this is no guarantee we will stop the entire revenant army. If I give you a portion of my power to wield, Isoria Gildmere, it must come with the agreement to let me work according to my will. You must also let me take the souls of the living whose time has come. In the battle to come, you will not only help me send on the revenants’ souls, but also those of soldiers and companions you fight alongside. Your healing powers will still work, but for some, their time will be over, and you will have to accept that and send them on. That is the burden of using my power.”

My throat burned with the implications. Me, a phoenix shifter who had always wielded the power of life and healing, who had fought so hard to offer nurturing and compassion to those around me, would have to send souls on. I’d have to let death work through me, taking instead of giving life.

Swallowing thickly, I nodded, the air in my lungs feeling too trapped to let me voice my words of agreement. But there was no other choice. To help Emberglade, to spare Archer, I could pay this price. I’d become an instrument of death for the sake of those I loved. For the hope that we could end this curse at last.

Chapter Fifty-One

Isoria

Creeping through the castle grounds and into the secret entrance for the tunnels was a painful reminder of the times I’d ventured down these passages with Lily, Owen, and Archer. Now everything was changed—perhaps irrevocably.

My chest was tight and my body buzzed with a strange new energy. It was like I could feel Mortius' shadows whirling within me. I felt conscious of the heartbeats of everyone within the castle, their pulses reminding me of the ticking of a clock, counting down their time on earth until it ran out. And I couldn’t stop thinking of the burden I’d bear in the upcoming battle and the death I’d wield—for now that I carried Mortius’ power, there was no avoiding the fight. I’d have to stay in Rainsong, for good or ill, and see Emberglade’s fate to the end, bitter or sweet. Who knew how many fae the revenants would strike down before I could interfere, how many victims I’d have to work to send on instead of using my healing magic and trying to fight against death instead.

Mortius had claimed he also had mercy, but all I could think of was the heaviness that clung to Archer through his curse, the emotions that Mortius fed off to further fuel his power. His flavor of mercy wasn’t the same as mine, wasn’t what I’d grown up with under Mama’s gentle teachings. Clearly, the gods did not give our earthly lives the same weight and value we did.

As I entered Archer’s rooms, goosebumps rose on my arms. It was eerie creeping through the empty space, knowing that its owner wanted me dead. If the wrong person discovered me here, the king wouldn’t hesitate to order me killed on the spot.

Onyx was waiting, not on Archer’s bed, but on mine. Curled in a semicircle, he looked small in the middle of the vast mattress. The sight made my grief crack open further, a strange reminder that I’d never again be safe in these rooms, able to cuddle Onyx freely, read books with Lily, or bake in Archer’s private kitchen.

Sitting down, I nuzzled the cat, who rose, stretched, and promptly curled up in my lap purring. His comforting presence was welcome as I considered my next move. If I could find a way to get a message to Orchid without alerting everyone to my presence, then hopefully she could spread the warning. Rainsong wouldn’t be utterly blindsided by the revenants.

Unless the army veered off course for some small village along the way, I didn’t think there was a chance for Archer and his friends to return before they arrived.

A tentative knock at my bedroom door forced me into action. Afraid it was a servant here to clean, perhaps only knocking out of habit, I leapt up, disturbing Onyx, and dropped to my knees to crawl underneath the bed. Footsteps crept inside, their movements tentative.

“Oh, Onyx,” a soft, familiar voice murmured, picking up the disgruntled cat as he approached her, clearly wanting someone to cuddle him.

Orchid. Hope unfurled in my chest, and I scurried out from under the bed. “Orchid!” I exclaimed.

The maid let out a cry of fear, rearing backward and dropping poor Onyx, who glanced at her, affronted. She pressed a hand to her chest, breathing heavily. “Isoria?” she breathed. “You scared me.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, a smile pulling at my lips in spite of everything. Seeing exactly who I’d hoped to see, someone who I could trust, was immensely relieving. “I have an urgent message to share, but I don’t know how to tell everyone without revealing that I’m here.”

And so, as swiftly as possible, I relayed our journey to my friend, explaining how Archer had turned on me once our bond was broken. How Vithenna had offered to end her revenant army if he killed me or I killed him. I finished by sharing about my wild escape and choice to come back to Rainsong after communing with the god of death himself.