Unbroken Bonds (The Bonds that Tie Book 6)
Unbroken Bonds: Chapter 2

FELIX GOES inside the cell to check Sage over, but the god-bond didn’t do any damage to her that he can replace. North agrees to let her go home for the night under her Bonded’s watchful eyes. Kieran hovers over her like the god-bond is going to physically fall out of her and he’ll have something tangible to fight, something to murder with his bare hands. Felix is also staring at her like she might drop dead at any second, so really, they’re just as bad as each other.

Wick doesn’t say a word.

Neither does Riley.

As I watch them all leave, I feel a little puddle of dread start up in my stomach about that whole situation. It sort of feels like I’m leaving Sage in a den of wolves, snarling at each other’s throats and just waiting for the chance to rip them out.

There’s also other things for me to worry about here.

North is still covered from head to toe in grime and gore from the battlefield, the war we’d fought and won today, but I don’t hesitate as I lean forward and wrap my arms around his waist and soak in a little of his strength for a moment.

I’m exhausted.

The type of exhaustion that I haven’t felt in a long time. The type where I could pass out for three days just to recover. I haven’t felt this way in months, not since I’d stopped fighting my bond and accepted what I could do with my Gift to help my Bonded Group and our community. I knew that the fighting had worn me down, my body becoming a conduit of power as I pulled souls and churned them through to my Bonded, but I wasn’t expecting it to affect me like this.

Usually, I feel stronger.

“It’s the god-bond’s pain. She weakened the vessel before the bond took over,” Gryphon’s bond says, and I feel North tense against me.

Nox steps a little closer to Gryphon, his own eyes black, but the look on his face makes it clear that he’s the one in charge, merely calling on his Gift right now because of the tension in the room. Atlas and Gabe are both hovering close to North and I, their own eyes clear and concerned without a single trace of the gods within them.

We probably couldn’t handle any extra power in this room right now.

“Calling me a vessel isn’t the best idea right now, buddy,” I mumble back, but he hears me well enough.

“You are the vessel. Whether the other vessels like it or not, that is what you are.”

“Gryphon might be my closest friend, but I’ll kill you both without question if you keep talking to her like that. You’re a threat to her right now, and I know Gryphon would agree with me,” Nox says, the shadows creeping up his arm ominously.

I don’t like any of them talking like that.

He looks around the room with the unerring look that we are now accustomed to seeing from the bonds, unblinking and emotionless. Nox watches him closely, wary and ready to spring into action if the bond does decide to hurt me to get to the bond inside of me.

That’s not really my concern here.

I’m worried because the gods within us all had released the rest of us, taking refuge in the back of our minds the moment that we’d returned to the Sanctuary. Except Gryphon’s had stayed in control. It could be something as simple as Gryphon allowing his bond to experience the new world it’s been born into or maybe the fight had weakened him like it had me. Maybe he’s not strong enough yet to wrestle the bond back into the recesses of his mind. Either way, we really shouldn’t take any chances, especially not now that we know there are more of them out there.

With one last squeeze, I let my arms drop away from North’s waist, and I step around him to stand at his side to look Gryphon’s bond over once more. Atlas and Gabe both watch me without a word, but Nox steps a little closer to flank my other side. His shadows swarm around our feet, shifting and writhing unhappily at the danger in the room, especially while it wears the face of one of our Bonded Group.

Procel steps out of the dark cloud and drops down to sit on my feet, his unblinking void eyes fixed on Gryphon’s bond. Azrael hasn’t left my side since the fighting had first started at the Wasteland, but he shifts a little to let his brother join him in guarding me.

It feels as though they’re both spoiling for a fight.

Don’t provoke him, I send to Nox through our mind connection, hesitating for a second before sending it through to all of them except for Gryphon, I don’t think he means any harm. I think it’s the same as when Gabe’s dragon came out to play. He’s just… introducing himself.

Gryphon’s void eyes flick to Gabe and then back to me, proving once and for all that it doesn’t matter whether or not I’m trying to block him from the conversation, my mind is an open book to him in this state.

They all see it as well, but when Atlas replies to me, he keeps it within the mind connection. I think it’s more out of habit than secrecy anyway.

If he calls you a vessel one more time, starts Atlas as though he’s beyond over this shit, but North just flicks his hand at him dismissively.

I’m more worried that he won’t give Gryphon back. I’m more concerned that he is planning on keeping control and getting rid of his own vessel. He’s already said that he is as devoted to Oli as the rest of them are. I think the god-bonds are most dangerous to whoever they live within.

My heart clenches painfully in my chest. I take a step forward without meaning to, everyone in the room protesting in their own way, but Nox’s hand locks around my wrist as he holds me back from going any further. I can’t stop myself though. I can’t just stand by and watch Gryphon’s bond get rid of him any more than I could let Nox sacrifice himself for North.

“My bond already told me that I’m the perfect vessel for it, and it won’t hurt me. If you do anything to Gryphon, I will reject you until my last breath. I don’t care how much it hurts me, I won’t accept you. I will have you both or I won’t have you at all… Do you understand that? Look at me and know that I’m telling you the truth, Soothsayer.”

Even as its head cocks to the side a little, he knows I’m telling the truth. He knows that I’m as devoted to my Bonded as he is to me.

He stares me down for a moment before he finally speaks again, his monotone voice sending chills down my spine. “That is the difference between this time and last. This time, we’re going to survive this. All of us. I’m not going to kill the vessel. I’m going to use it to keep you forever.”

GETTING Gryphon’s bond back to the mansion should be as easy as calling Kieran here to Transport him but, because for some reason, the universe hates me, it’s not.

After getting Sage safely back to their house, a situation in one of the other Wastelands had arisen, and Kieran was pulled away to evacuate the TacTeam personnel. As much as North would love to call him back here, he would never risk any of the other community members, not unless it were actually an emergency. So instead, we’re forced to make a game plan.

It’s not exactly going to be easy to smuggle him out of the building without anyone catching a glimpse of his void eyes and unnaturally expressionless face.

There’s too much potential for panic around here already.

Instead, we call Sawyer to bring us down some bandages and wrap those around over his brow like a large headband, not quite covering his eyes but obscuring them enough that anyone who thinks they might see inky blackness could be convinced otherwise. Okay, so it might take every last inch of North’s charm and maybe a little of Nox’s intimidation techniques to really make it work, but we’re willing to do whatever it takes here to get Gryphon home.

I mean, what could go wrong?

“A variety of things, Bonded. Don’t tempt fate,” North drawls at me when I’m stupid enough to say it within his earshot.

I keep one eye on Gryphon’s bond and the other eye on Atlas, who is still staring at it like he’s planning on doing something drastic to get it to give Gryphon back. It would be a very sweet moment except that I know it has exactly nothing to do with the budding friendships that are finally forming between him and the rest of the Bonded Group and everything to do with the potential here for me to get hurt.

Okay, it’s still kind of sweet.

North also shoots Atlas a look as I answer him. “If anyone tries to ask questions, we both know you’ll be able to spin a story here. That’s kind of what you do, right?”

I’m mostly giving him shit just to get a smile out of him or Nox, and the smirk that the younger Draven brother sends me has my heart skipping a beat in my chest. Being in on his twisted and dark jokes is my new favorite position to be in. It’s a good distraction from the twisting pile of nerves that my stomach is in at the mere thought of Gryphon’s father, the General, replaceing out about this before we’ve even had the chance to speak with Gryphon himself.

That situation is pretty far up the ‘no, thank you’ list.

We convince the god-bond to play along with us, but only if I agree to stay at his side the entire time. Gabe is happy enough to trust my decision, thank god, because Atlas and North both hate that. Nox agrees to stay with the two of us as a buffer and, begrudgingly because he hates this idea all the way to hell, Atlas does as well. He’s poised to dive in front of me the moment things might take a turn for the worse.

I do my best to direct him out of the building and into one of the ATVs while North does exactly what I’d teased him about and runs interference like his life depends on it.

Being a pariah in the community really does have its advantages. No one attempts to get close to us, not even Gryphon’s own TacTeam operatives who look stricken at the sight of the bandage across his eyes.

It’s a tense fifteen minutes getting Gryphon into the ATV and back to the house, but we make it without anyone noticing.

Or Atlas killing the god-bond.

There is a deep sense of relief that settles over my soul as I step into our house once again. I don’t want to think about it too much, but there was a moment while we were fighting that it had crossed my mind that maybe we weren’t ever going to get back here. A moment when the Resistance had just kept coming, more and more bodies piling up around us, where it had felt inevitable that we would be stuck fighting for our lives and our community forever. A moment where I had thought that maybe I wouldn’t ever be kicking my shoes off in this front foyer again, lining them up carefully alongside my Bonded’s and smelling the fresh paint of the building around us as Gabe slowly finishes it off.

I don’t want to admit this to any of them, though.

The problem is that my Bonded Group doesn’t need to be able to read my mind in the way that Gryphon’s god-bond can to know what I’m thinking.

Gabe slings an arm around my shoulders, pulling my body in close to his as he presses a kiss to the top of my head.

“I’m just as happy to be home as you are,” he murmurs quietly, and I clear my throat a little as I nod back.

Relief.

That’s all I’m feeling right now.

The surprise of Senator Oldham’s void eyes and Gryphon’s god-bond waking up has distracted me a little from what we’d actually done in the Wasteland, of how many people I had torn the souls out of, taking their power and funneling it through to my Bonded. It’s only now that the job is over, that I’m stuck facing the consequences of what my Gift has done.

Physically, I’m tired, having given most of the power away. But mentally, I now have to compartmentalize everything that I’d done back there so that I don’t spiral into a pit of self-loathing.

It’s a well-worn path and so easy for me to do.

I squeeze Gabe for a second longer before I duck into Atlas’ arms for a quick hug there as well, wanting to check in with each of them in at least a small way before I lose myself. They all seem to know that without much said, thank God.

As I step into the kitchen area, I replace the small piles of clutter still where we’d left them, as though life here had simply been put on pause while we were camping out in Alaska and fighting for our lives. As much of a neat freak as North is, his own bedroom and wardrobes both at the Draven manor and here in the Sanctuary immaculately kept, there’s no stopping the small piles of life that accumulate. It’s proof that there’s six people living in this house, all of them with their own varying degrees of cleanliness and clutter.

I can’t help but sigh once more as I stare out at it all, just a small happy sound at the space that we’ve all built together. North carefully steps in front of me, framing my face with both of his hands as he pulls me in for a gentle but firm kiss, pressing our foreheads together as he pulls away.

He murmurs quietly to me, “Go take a shower, Bonded, and get yourself cleaned up. Take a breath, get yourself feeling human once more. Then we’ll deal with this.”

He doesn’t say what exactly this is, but both of us turn our heads to stare at Gryphon’s bond regardless. It’s standing by the table staring right back at us both, its eyes cold and calculating as it watches our every move.

I feel the same draw to it that I’ve always felt to my Bonds, but this time, my head can’t let go of the fact that it might be plotting the death of my Bonded.

I love the god-bond. My bond also loves it.

But I love Gryphon more.

North kisses me one last time before he pulls away again. “Shower, Bonded. If it hasn’t made a move yet, I’m sure it’ll wait until we’re all clean.”

I take two steps towards my bedroom only for Gryphon’s god-bond to take a step towards me, as though there’s an invisible thread connecting us, and he can’t be more than a step away from me at any time. He’s only halted by Nox planting himself between the two of us, his shadows still playing happily at his feet in a show of relaxation that doesn’t quite meet their maker’s stern facade.

“She’s going to go get cleaned up, and you’re going to wait here,” he says firmly. When the god-bond’s eyes shift away from me to stare him down, North flicks a hand subtly in my direction to get me moving. He steps up to his brother’s side as they both prepare to face the god-bond and replace me a little alone time.

I love them both now more than ever.

I scurry away without another word, trusting them both to deal with this situation for me. I glance over my shoulder one last time at the god-bond wearing my Bonded’s face so blankly and try not to puke at the clenching in my gut at the sight of him.

No one attempts to follow me.

I don’t know if North knows in that way of his that I really do need a minute to myself or if he just needs the others out there as backup, but as I slip into the bathroom and peel away the filthy Tac gear from my body, I’m relieved.

While I wait for the hot water to kick in, I take stock of myself in the mirror for a moment, getting an eyeful of the mess I’m in after the ferocity of the fighting. North fussing over me wasn’t anything out of the norm, especially after that shield had come up around me and Davies to keep him from me, but looking at myself now, I’m surprised at his restraint.

Underneath the filth of the fight, my hair is so white that it’s almost transparent, what little color had been in it has leached completely away. I doubt it could get any lighter than this, though I suppose I felt that way the last time I had used my Gift. It still found a way to get lighter. My eyes look sunken in my skull. My skin is dry and dull and bruised, and every bit of the exhaustion that I’m feeling is etched into the lines and bruises on my skin.

I let my eyes drift down slowly and replace an array of scratches and small marks littering my arms and legs, along with the bruising from Davies’ attack. My Bonded might all look perfect, thanks to the power boost I had given them, but I already know a trip to see Felix is in my future. There’s no way any of them will stand for me healing the slow and normal way once they get a look at the small smattering of damage I’ve taken.

The real damage is to my mind, but they’ll all know that as well, I suppose.

I rub my hands over my arms as I stare off into space, forgetting entirely that the water is probably piping hot by now, and a chill settles into my bones at the sight of the aftermath of using my Gift. It’s nothing that I wasn’t already expecting, but it still bothers me. There’s no denying how many people I killed today.

It’s written all over me.

Finally, I duck underneath the hot spray and let it fall over my head, soaking through and washing away some of the disgust I feel at myself. I have to scrub viciously to clean my hair; the blood and dirt is a nightmare to wash out. By the time the water falling from me finally starts to clear, I hear the door open.

I don’t need to turn to know that the god-bond has come looking for me.

I open my mouth to tell it… something, I don’t really know what, when North’s voice filters through our mind connection to me.

The gods have agreed to tell us what we need to know. All of them.

GRYPHON’S BOND refuses to speak unless he is seated right next to me, so I replace myself wedged between it and Atlas, his arm around my shoulders as he tucks me in close to his side. I’m still not afraid of the bond doing anything to me, but I already know that this is more about satisfying Atlas’ need for my protection than anything else.

North sits across from us all with a file in front of him that’s full of Nox’s research notes, everything we have so far on the god-bonds throughout history. Nox sits on the other side of Gryphon with a stern face and watchful eyes as he takes in the god-bond wearing his best friend. His shadows are still out and snuffling around on the floor at our feet, pretending that they’re docile and playful creatures and not the nightmare monsters they truly can be should anything happen to Nox or I.

Perfect little puppies.

Gabe is sitting on the other side of Atlas, nursing a small glass with an antacid in it. His face is still looking a little green as he sips away at the mixture. When I give him a questioning look, he grimaces at me.

“The dragon ate too many of the Resistance, and apparently, that doesn’t agree with my stomach.”

Atlas scoffs and laughs at him, barely reacting when I dig my elbow into his stomach uselessly. He does duck down to press a kiss to my hair, almost as though he’s repentant.

A total lie.

North’s eyes flick around at each of the Bonded Group until they land on me, sticking for a moment on the color of my hair and the bruise around my eye before he says, “I’ve already called Felix, and he will be down to see us once the TacTeam members who were injured are in stable condition. He’s been delayed with the influx from the second Wasteland clean-out.”

I shrug and wiggle into Atlas’ side a little further, taking comfort in the warm weight of his arm around me. “I’m not worried about it. It doesn’t hurt or anything, and I think we all have bigger issues to deal with.”

North’s mouth turns down a little further, but he gives me a curt nod. I already know that he is the fixer of our Bonded Group, the one who has to make everything as perfect as it can be. So his attitude is merely because there is a problem he can’t immediately fix, the unpleasantness of it doubling since it’s his beloved Bonded with the issue.

Sometimes, I think I don’t deserve this man and his love.

I try to shake the feeling out of myself, the tendrils of self-loathing that sometimes come after I’ve used my Gift like this, but they have their claws dug in tightly under my skin.

The god-bond next to me cocks his head again. He looks curiously like a feline every time he does it, but when he reaches out his hand towards my face, everyone at the table reacts at the same time.

“No.”

“Don’t touch her.”

“If you even attempt anything on her right now—”

I hear them all, but my bond moves my body regardless, leaning my face in until his palm rests over my bruised cheek. His Gift flows through me, chasing away the throbbing pain that was there before, and I think that’s the end of it, his pain-numbing ability a familiar thing to me by now.

Then North’s eyes widen across the table from me.

“Since when have you had the ability to heal?” he says. “Or is this something that has come with the god-bond waking up?”

I feel the god-bond stroke his thumb over my cheekbone, the first true sign of affection between the two of us, and I don’t need my own bond kicking in to nuzzle further into it.

I don’t think it’s going to kill Gryphon.

It might be naive of me to say, but I don’t think that any of them are displeased with the vessels they have woken up inside of this time around; not even North’s bond, no matter how much they have argued.

It could have easily killed him long before I came into the picture.

“There is nothing in the mind that I cannot manipulate.”

Atlas’ arm tenses around me and he snaps, “Get out of her head.”

The god-bond only stares him down, apathetic to the worries of the ‘vessel’ in front of it. “Healing her was as simple as convincing her mind unconsciously to do so. She was never in any danger.”

But it’s not as easy as that.

It never is.

Nox stares at him for a moment longer, his eyes narrowing as he examines him. I raise an eyebrow at him, questioning what exactly it is that he’s seeing here that the rest of us are missing, but he shakes his head at me.

Whatever it is, he doesn’t want to share it with the rest of them.

North clears his throat to get the god-bond’s attention once more, before gesturing a hand at him. “We’re all here. We’re all willing to listen to what you have to say, and, no matter our concerns, we’re willing to let you sit next to your Bonded… For now.”

The god-bond lets his hand fall away from my face, only to cover my thigh instead, his fingers flexing as he gives it a squeeze. I’m not sure if this is supposed to be a power play or the beginning of a seduction, but my bond is immediately interested in playing along.

I have to shut it down pretty damn quickly.

North watches its every move, but no one attempts to stop it from touching me. Once I’m sure I have control of myself, I let my hand cover it. My own bond hums with contentment in my chest at the connection, even though I won’t let it take things any further right now. It’s in a blissfully happy state with how everything is going at the moment, and I take that as a good sign.

“We’ve been here since the beginning. Since sentient life has walked on this earth, there have been others living amongst the Gifted.”

I glance over at Nox. This lines up with what his research has been saying, but he doesn’t react to anything that the god-bond is saying. He just watches it with clear eyes as he soaks in every little word, hunting for clues, as he always has.

“The first time I awoke, I did not get to meet my Bonded. I knew something was missing and that there was more to my existence than the desolate life I led. Then the second time… you were there.”

He turns to look at me, and for the first time, I see some expression in his face.

Hunger.

The type that has butterflies rioting in my stomach, the type that says that this man would consume me in the most satisfying and delightful ways if only I would let him, audience be damned.

My cheeks flush, and I clear my throat under the heat of his gaze.

“Each time I woke, there were more and more Bonded, until we knew that time was repeating itself, that the six of us were supposed to walk together. But the timelines never quite lined up. The closest we got was four of us at the same time, the last two missing out by a decade. The Draconis takes longer than anyone else to re-cycle and awaken. It has always been this way.”

The Draconis, the Soothsayer, they have names for themselves, but they’re nothing like the ones we have for each other now.

I turn to look at Gabe for a moment, but he’s grimacing as he finishes off the last of the antacid, still looking green around the edges.

“What do you want? From us, I mean?” I say, the words tumbling out of me before I really think them through.

I clear my throat again and try to be clearer. “What is it that you keep coming back for? Or do you have no control over this ‘rebirth cycle’ you’re on?”

He leans forward in his chair, the hand on my thigh tightening a little more as it answers me slowly. “We return for the Eternal. We return because it calls out to us. The thought of a lonely existence for my Bonded is unthinkable. While the Eternal returns, so shall we.”

The Eternal.

I meet North’s eyes for a moment, watching his flare with interest before I shut my own and check in with my bond.

Is that your name? The Eternal?

What use is a name to a god? But yes, it is what they have called me.

I always hate when it talks in riddles like this, but the fact that it’s answering me at all gives me hope.

Why do you keep returning if you’ve lived hundreds of lives with each of them? Why continue to come back here?

I can feel the itch of irritation on my skin, the emotion not my own, and I’m expecting a full-blown bond tantrum from it. Instead, it floods my mind and takes over my body before I have the chance to fight back.

THERE’S SMOKE EVERYWHERE.

The area around us is burning, a wall of flames devouring the well-established tree as though it’s nothing more than scrub. The ground underneath our feet is blackened by the ash. Even through the makeshift leather shoes on my feet, I can feel how hot the ground is, as though scorched from the sun itself.

Every fiber of my being is exhausted.

There are no more souls left to take, none but our own. And no matter how hard the Corvus pushes me to take his life force into myself to repair the damage done to my body, I will not do it.

I couldn’t hurt him any more than I could hurt the rest of them.

The devastation of the battle between us and the other god-bonds is severe. Piles of bodies around us in various stages of damage and decay, hundreds more have been consumed by the shadows with little to show that those Gifted had ever existed in the first place.

Still, it’s not enough.

My energy is waning, and once again, we’re going to be separated from each other in death, as we always are. I look down at my vessel, and I replace that I’ve already taken significant damage. The Corvus and the Crux are both unable to heal me the way I can heal them. The only one of my Bonded who has that ability isn’t with us this time. Even if there were a Healer I found tolerable nearby, I doubt they would be strong enough to fix the mess my stomach is in.

I can see the strain around the Corvus’ eyes as he looks me over as well. I can see the rampant need in him to fix me and wipe away the damage, but I have already started to accept that this lifetime of ours is over. Just another chapter in a book that doesn’t seem to have a happy ending… or even just an ending in sight.

I don’t know what it is that we had done in a previous life to be cursed in this way, to wake up and replace one another, over and over again, but never truly replaceing happiness. To be hunted by those who should be nothing more than ants beneath our feet. If only we could all wake up together. If only we could complete our Bonds and replace peace together.

Instead, we are cursed with nothing but destruction, death, and decay, heartache and loneliness, over the span of a millennia.

This memory hurts my bond.

It tiptoes around it in my mind, fussing with it like a festering and weeping wound, one of a hundred other deaths they had endured at the hands of our enemies because we are separated and weakened without each other.

Without a complete Bonded Group.

The Crux returns to us, blood covering his hands and his face in the shadows as the darkness from the tree coverage bends towards him. The face he wears is different, but the soul inside is still true, still perfect and mine, no matter which vessel he wears. Even though it’s nothing more than a memory, I cringe away from it inside, as loyal to my Bonded as my bond is to the other god-bonds. I suppose that’s why we work together so well.

My bond agrees.

Even in the memory, I can feel that the strength of my spirit is the strongest my bond has ever felt. I had always believed that my power came from my bond, but being here in this vessel, I can see that’s not true. This vessel is different. It’s weaker, the limits to what it can take are much lower than mine. I can see clearly that they’re not a good fit.

Even without the bond, my Gift is more than the other Gifted could ever hope to have.

“We’re not all going to get out of here alive. If you need to take our souls to live, do it. We will return to you again in another cycle,” the Corvus says, but I shake my head.

“There is no use being here unless we’re together. There is no me without you.”

He drops down onto his haunches, the shadows that wrap around his legs are obedient to their master as he shakes his head at me. “I can’t watch you die again, Eternal. Don’t make me watch it all over again.”

The cycling is slowly starting to chip away at us.

This reincarnation of the Corvus is more open with his pain than any others have been before because the vessel might be new, but the soul is tired. The soul has been on a long journey to get to this point, and it’s starting to take its toll.

“We can make it,” the Crux says, looking behind us to the mountain opposite the fire, where the sun is slowly starting to set an orange glow on a blackened sky as the rays of light fight to shine through.

“If we leave now, we can make it.”

The Soothsayer didn’t wake up with this cycle, still decades away from his next turn on this earth, but I don’t need him here to know that the Crux is lying. He’s trying to give his brother something to distract him before our deaths together, something small to get him through the pain of the night, because it’s always this way.

It’s always standing together and watching the destruction around us as we go forth to our death.

We have a hard choice ahead of us now. Whether we choose to take matters into our own hands here and now, to leave behind these vessels and begin the cycle again on our own terms, or if we continue to fight until our bodies give out. We’ve made the decision many times before, never truly happy either way.

I do want to fight. I want to leave the small, sheltered area that we’re in at the moment and run until I replace that god-bond that haunts us. I want to tear it apart with my bare hands, to show it the same callous treatment that it has shown me and mine. But no matter how many times I’ve killed it, it continues to wake. It wakes and hunts us down.

I’m tired.

More tired than I ever wanted to admit to my Bonded. So tired that I hope I don’t wake with the next cycle or maybe ever again. Maybe I need to give up, to know that the small pockets of joy that I have found with my Bonded are all we’ll ever get, to go to my final resting place at peace, to know that at least I got to meet each of them.

If only for a few moments in a thousand lifetimes, I got to know those who complete my soul.

“Don’t think like that, Eternal,” the Crux says, holding out a hand and pressing it to my cheek.

He’s having to take care of both of us now, something that doesn’t sit quite right with me, but I lean into his hand anyway. It feels strange to do, like the hand isn’t familiar to me, but at the same time, it feels like home, because the god beneath the skin remains the same.

“You two should go. Leave here quietly together. I will stay for a little longer, finish what we started and hope that our enemy sleeps through the next cycle.”

He always would give every last piece of himself until there was nothing left, but the Corvus and I would never let him leave alone, not if we had a choice in the matter. Instead, we brush ourselves off, standing together. I try not to wince at the state of my vessel as the blood continues to drip down to the scorched earth beneath our feet.

“We will finish this together,” I say. “We will go to sleep together.”