Page 49 of Once Written in Gilded Blood

This is what’s to come. Or perhaps it is already happening. There’s no telling how much time has passed already.

“Take us back to the kingdom. My people need me.”

Alira gives me a sympathetic look, her lips pursing. “Kalel, until we figure our way out of here, we can’t help anyone.”

Venus stands and approaches us beside the pool, shaking her head slowly. “We cannot take you out of Mortem. But you can find your way together. Take your time. Things move slower down here, each hour a mere second there.” She bends down and presses a kiss to the top of Alira’s head.

“How? What are we supposed to do?” I press her.

Venus smiles. “Only the two of you will know.”

Time moves that slow down here? I let out a relieved breath. That makes me feel a bit better, knowing my kingdom hasn’t already been burned down, as Pluto showed us in the pools. But I don’t want to have hope of returning to Faultore. No one has come back from Mortem, have they?

Alira’s eyes fill with many questions that she doesn’t have time to ask her mother.

“We will meet again, Alira. I’m sorry we didn’t get to know each other more. But know that I have given everything for you to have a sliver of happiness.”

Alira tips her head down and swallows back whatever words she’s keeping in. She looks at me and gives me a tortured look.

“We should go,” I say, knowing there are a million things I need to say to her too.

She nods, sparing only one look back at the two gods as they watch us ascend the dark stairs back to Pluto’s throne room. An immense ebony door made of bones frames the exit. I don’t know what to expect on the other side of those doors. I swallow nervously, looking down at Alira.

But at least we are together.

For better or for worse.

Chapter 19

Alira

My fingers glide over the enormous doors made of bone. Skeletons are reaching out on each one for the center, as if they too wish to see what lies in wait on the other side. I’m hesitant to open them and see what lies beyond the threshold.

I look over my shoulder, hoping I’ll see Venus again, but she and Pluto remain on the lower level. We really are on our own. With no clue how to get out of Mortem, and knowing that we have to.

My heart feels like it’s been stomped into mush. After everything with Kalel, and now finally meeting my mother, only for it to be treated as a business transaction. It’s not like the gods are known for their caring qualities, but I was hoping for…something.

Demigods aren’t supposed to meet their parents. We are unwanted creatures; it’s the very reason why Alzhor is even a kingdom. I never thought I would meet her…not like this.

When I was a child, I would run around the orphanage and daydream that I was on a journey to meet her. That she was waiting for me to find her somewhere beyond the dull walls of Alzhor.

But only in death do I meet her.

Only in death does my heart waver in ways it didn’t when we were alive.

My gaze shifts to Kalel. He looks different. His dark hair is flat, clinging to his forehead like he’s been asleep all night. There’s a distinct sorrow in his stare as he looks at me. As if he’s lost the will to fight for anything after speaking with Pluto and Venus.

I know how he feels.

What is the point of us? We were only alive to suffer for one another. Dancing around fate and death as if we could ever truly escape them.

“Ready?” he asks as he sets his hand on the door handle.

“I don’t know what I’m ready for, or what we’re supposed to be looking for,” I admit slowly. It doesn’t feel right that we have to set out together like this. Not after what we just did to one another.

Then why do I yearn for him to hold me? To tell me none of it matters, even if I know it’s a lie? I’m not sure either of us can ever forgive one another.

He chuckles and lifts his shoulder. “Me neither, but we won’t get there by doing nothing.” Kalel extends his hand to me, an innocent gesture that stirs my emotions.