Page 71 of Once Written in Gilded Blood

Whatever they did. I think now we have a chance to set things right. We can start anew. We can…

My legs slow, and I stop a handful of feet away from Kalel and Alira. Tears spring into my eyes, and I fall to my knees. Tessa kneels beside me, staring with grief the same way I do and embraces me tightly. Ustel and Nina cry softly.

Two statues crafted from marble with gold veins are wrapped in one another’s arms. A promise. A wish. A sacrifice.

They gave us the veil back. They altered fate.

What cruel gods would have them endure such an end? But maybe it’s not the end. It is a new beginning.

Chapter 27

Nikolai

Four hundred years after the war

It’s strange, looking back at how different things were back then. Four human lifetimes is no jaunt in the park. And yet I remember everything as if it were yesterday. The flower beds filled with bones, the wars waged, the wrath of the gods against demons for merely existing.

It all seems like a dream, a terrible nightmare. But what bloomed from those dreams is real and true.

That love truly does conquer all. With change, forgiveness, understanding, and a guided heart.

“Thank you, old friends, for your sacrifice.” I bow my head at the statue I’ve visited every day since. Raindrops tap against my shoulder and signal that it’s time I head to the chapel for the celebration of life.

I take a moment to look over the statue once more before I leave. Alira and Kalel locked in stone the moment they stopped the war and became the new veil for Devicit. The kingdom that has hosted both demons and demigods for centuries.

“Come on, Dad, we’ll be late,” my son calls out from farther down the path. He doesn’t understand why I come here so frequently. I’ve told him time and time again that I’m visiting old friends to pay my respects, but he will never understand the gravity of what they did. He has grown in beautiful times because of their sacrifice.

My old friends wouldn’t recognize me if they could see me now. I smile and follow my son back across the fields and into the kingdom. I’m older, wiser, and have lived so much life. I hope one day that the gods will set them free. I hope one day they get to see the Faultore that they’ve created.

Beautiful flags and banners are strung up in the streets. People laughing and sharing food and stories that bring joy to our hearts. Tessa and her family are already at the chapel by the time I arrive. She gives me a warm hug, and we sit down near the back as the celebration continues on. Our friendship is a testament to time and overcoming our grief together. Our commitment to building a better world.

It’s hard to believe that there was ever a time when this wasn’t our normal. Children with horns and those with golden blood play together as the adults remember and celebrate what happened four centuries ago.

“Do you think our efforts will help them one day?” Tessa asks. Her eyes have wrinkles around them now, and her brown hair is streaked with gray. A few rows up I catch sight of Ustel and Nina laughing with their children.

Will our efforts help our friends someday? It’s hard to say.

Demigods have willingly chosen to be buried here in the kingdom alongside the demons. And while at first, it was nothing more than the cycle of life, something truly beautiful came of it.

The soil has begun to transform beyond the veil’s power. The answer was always so simple and right before our eyes. Together. Only together could we overcome the gods and the wicked games they played and to create a sanctuary for all. The flowers have spread beyond the kingdom and far into the charred lands. Even to Mortem, some say. Maybe one day we won’t need the veil anymore, and the gods can see what beautiful beings we are together.

I lean back against the pew. “I hope so. But I don’t think either of us will see the day.”

Chapter 28

Pluto

Five hundred years after the war

Tall pale-blue reeds of grass sway with the coastal breeze. The scent of flowers and ash looms in these fields, reminding all who pass of the sacrifice that was made so long ago for Devicit to regain its veil. To unite the demons and the demigods where they will never have to relive the horrors of the past.

I step carefully around the children shouting and laughing as they run back toward the kingdom. They don’t seem to notice me since I’m wearing a long black cloak and keep my hood down. For this is how death likes to move around the living, unnoticed. The dragons left this place long ago, returning to the Gates of Mortem to safeguard the entrance.

Jupiter and Neptune were angry that Kalel and Alira found a way, against all odds, to save what they believed in. After so much doubt and reason to hate one another, they chose love. But their anger was drowned with the relief and joy shared by the other gods. Minerva and Apollo celebrated with a fruitful summer for the mortals. Without Apollo’s arrow and Minerva’s wisdom, I am not sure how far little Alira would’ve made it on her path.

I stop walking when I reach the middle of the meadow, hands folded behind my back. I take in the statue of the two lovers, locked in a sweet embrace, their foreheads touching and looking into one another’s eyes.

I’m not sure I believed in love until this very moment. For seeing the statue in person is much more moving than only peering into a pool of water in the depths of Mortem.