by Hall, Linsey
Their job here wasn’t nearly over. And no matter how much her future was going to hurt, she couldn’t fall apart like this. It just wasn’t her. She wouldn’t let it be.
Esha shook her head violently, and it cleared a bit. She rose to her feet and headed back to the house. When she reached the front door, she scrubbed her hands over her eyes to get rid of the damning wetness and reminded herself of every shitty thing that had happened to her.
“This isn’t that different from everything else,” she said to the Chairman. “I’ve been left before and suffered loss, and I’ve been fine. I’ll be fine now.”
He meowed, and though she had no idea what he meant, she took it to a be I’m with you. She nodded resolutely and climbed the stairs to the house. The hall was dim as she made her way back to the kitchen, hoping for Aurora.
She got Warren instead.
“We’ll head to the temple now,” she said, trying her hardest to keep any inflection out of her voice.
He reached out to her. “Esha, I—”
“I’m going to get Aurora.” She turned and left the room, unable to look at him. Did she blame him for not telling her? Not really. But she also couldn’t look at him right now and keep her shit together.
There were too many unanswered questions. Would she be able to be with him, knowing that he would die? Or should she try to end everything now and save herself greater pain later?
Hell if I know. She huffed out a dejected laugh and climbed the stairs to the top floor. Aurora walked out of Esha’s room and met her in the hall.
“I was waiting for you,” Aurora said. “Are you all right?”
“Fine.”
“You’re no’.”
“I know. But I don’t want to talk about it. I can’t.”
Sympathy gleamed in Aurora’s eyes. “So you doona know what you’ll do?”
“No. It doesn’t matter now. Not until we destroy the temple and get out of here.” She clung to that. A job. As long as she had that to accomplish, she didn’t have to think about anything that hurt.
“Okay. Any ideas how we’ll do it?”
“Some. We can talk on the way. You ready to go?”
Aurora nodded and followed her down the stairs. Warren waited in the foyer, which meant she couldn’t leave him behind.
He stepped toward her. “Esha, can I talk to—”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” No, she couldn’t talk about it. But even explaining the nuances of that was a field fraught with land mines. Even though it was stupid to ask, desperation made her open her mouth. “Stay here. Please. We don’t know what could go wrong with this. Please stay here.”
“You know I canna do that. There’s no way in hell I’ll stay behind when it could be dangerous for you. And I canna stay away from every potentially dangerous thing because I might die. That’s no life.” His jaw was set.
“For me?” A crazed laugh escaped her. Did he have any idea how dangerous it would be for her to lose him? What that would do to her?
Clearly not. And he was the type of man to throw himself into danger on her behalf, no matter the consequences to his mortal body. It would kill him.
They weren’t going to get anywhere with this because there was no way she could convince him. She turned and headed out the door. The sun beat down weakly from overhead, illuminating windows occupied by soul shadows that watched them. Did they have any idea what was coming? That they’d soon be free to go to their afterworld?
She walked next to Aurora as they made their way to the temple, and though she could hear Warren’s footsteps behind her, she didn’t look back. When this was all over, she’d have to make up her mind. But even this small task of destroying the temple—which she doubted would be all that dangerous—made her skin tighten with fear for Warren’s mortal life.
Could she face that for all of her days? No. She shook the thought away and went to work plotting with Aurora how they would destroy the temple.
“Do you think you could make the floor crack like you did back in your world?” Esha asked her sister.
“Nay. I could do it because I created the world. The ground beneath the temple is too great a space for me to modify if it’s no’ already my creation.”
“What about forces of nature?” Esha asked.
“Well, lightning and fire are out because it’s made of stone.”
“So is flood. These days, it’s just bad form to melt a glacier.” Esha couldn’t laugh at her own dark joke.
“And I doona think I can muster enough wind to blow it over.”
“What if you think smaller,” Warren said from behind. “Remove key stones from the temple so that it topples over.”
His voice sent a pang through her, but her mind latched onto the idea. “That could work.”
They arrived at the square a few minutes later and took up positions. Esha and Aurora stood about fifteen yards back from the temple at the north and west corners. Going into the alleys on either side had been deemed too dangerous once the building started to collapse, so they stood in the square.
Warren took up a position just behind her, no doubt to protect her from whatever might come at her, and she tried to ignore him. She looked up to check the sky, pleased to see that a great grouping of winter clouds had begun to fill the blue. It gave the whole square a gloomy feel, but they’d be perfect.
“Ready?” Aurora yelled.
“Yes. North corner first!” Esha returned her attention to the sky. Once she felt the Chairman’s warm little body lean against her leg and saw Aurora’s familiar do the same, she focused all her energy and power on the clouds. When she could feel Aurora doing the same, she yelled, “Now!”
She forced a great blast of wind toward the clouds. Her breath grew short with the strain, but eventually the clouds gathered together in a group so dense and heavy that they turned the color of charcoal. Together, she and Aurora forced them into a whirling funnel, smaller than a tornado but just as deadly.
When the sky shrieked with the force of it, she and Aurora directed their cloud tornado toward the north corner of the building. It collided with the stone and great chunks of granite exploded into the air. Esha’s chest vibrated with the reverberation.
Aurora dodged, barely escaping a huge boulder that crashed down next to her, cracking the ground. Her broken concentration withdrew her power and the tornado faltered. Esha pushed everything she had into keeping it going, and finally Aurora scrambled to her feet and rejoined her.
“West corner!” Esha yelled. It’d been stupid to start with the side closest to them, but they were no demolition experts, and hindsight was twenty-twenty.
With a heave of joined power, they directed their tornado to the far west corner. A great crash sounded and one whole side of the temple began to collapse in on itself, blocks of stone tumbling as great plumes of dust rose into the sky, blending with their clouds.
They’d turned their cloud tornado to the east corner when a great shrieking flowed through the streets, growing in volume and ferocity. Her attention broke from the tornado just long enough to see a horde of souls flowing through the streets into the square.
Shit. They couldn’t stop the tornado or they’d never get it started again.
Warren cursed when he saw the mass of souls rushing toward them, clearly intent on saving the temple. They were a surging wave of black shadow, a force of destruction racing toward them.
Didn’t they know the soulceresses were trying to help them? Or were they just shadows of themselves acting on ancient instinct, as they had at the museum?
“Aurora! Get closer to Esha!” he yelled and drew the dagger that had freed Aurora from her souls.
Aurora ran toward Esha, still controlling the tornado, and he clashed with the first of the souls, protecting the soulceresses while they destroyed the east corner of the temple. The shade joined him, along with several other shadows. He got the impression that they’d died more recently and still had their minds instead of merely
instinct.
When the dagger passed through the shades, they flew off into the sky as Aurora’s had done, freed to go on to their afterworld. But it didn’t stop the horrible too-wrong chill when they touched him or the force of their determination that pushed him back toward the soulceresses.
“Warren! Stop! Too dangerous!” Esha yelled.
She feared for his mortal life. And she was wise to. Contact with the souls weakened him, as if they sucked out his life force. But he hadn’t a choice. They’d be on Esha in seconds if he quit.
He struck harder and faster, sending souls toward the sky with every swipe of his blade. But a new soul always filled in the gap left by one he’d freed, and dozens pressed in on him and the souls who fought by his side. With every brush of their shadowy forms, a chill raced through him, followed by a shot of weakness.
Every strike of his blade or movement of his feet came slower and slower as the endless tide of souls brushed against him and stole a bit of his mortality, as if they tried to steal the power of his soul as they had before they’d died. He’d sent dozens to their afterworlds, but the hundreds that still surged forth from the side streets would be the end of him.
He had no doubt that he’d stay and die to protect Esha. So he and the shades continued to battle the souls, warding them away from Esha and Aurora. The weakness dragged at his muscles and weighed at his bones until he nearly went to his knees. Force of will alone kept him upright until he heard the crashing roar of the final corner.
A billowing plume of dust rose up into the sky as the rubble settled into itself. Finally, the shrieking of the souls stopped, leaving behind a sudden eerie silence. The shadows shot for the sky, rising out of the city and toward freedom. The mysterious shade that had helped him through this journey hesitated. It flashed from shadow to solid form, revealing a woman he hadn’t seen in centuries. Avera.
“Mother,” Aurora whispered.
“What?” Esha asked.
A smile flashed across Avera’s face, love and gratitude shining through, before she too returned to shadow and flew up toward freedom. The rising souls darkened the sky until there was nothing left but settling dust from the temple.
They stood alone in the square with the ruins in front of them. Warren could hear Esha and Aurora whispering about their mother. Her soul must have recognized them and helped them through the city. When he tried to catch Esha’s eye, she looked away.
“Holy crap, look at the city,” Aurora said, changing the subject from her mother.
Warren dragged his gaze away from Esha and glanced around. Everything was dingier, with stones tumbled here and there and the windows broken.
“It’s aged,” Aurora said. “The souls must have been what kept it from decaying.”
“It’s time to get out of here,” Esha said, already turning and heading back to their base camp to pack up.
The streets were eerily silent as they walked, and it became clear that the souls were truly gone. The city felt genuinely abandoned for the first time, not just because of the absence of souls, but because of the ancient state of the buildings, their windows broken and stones worn and crumbling.
Esha was backing away from him, as surely as the souls had retreated from the city. They reached the house in record time, Esha setting a fierce pace with her familiar trotting at her heels. When they entered the foyer, it was no longer brightly decorated and inviting. The tapestries, drapes, and carpets had all faded and worn through, beige shadows of their former glory.
It was truly an ancient house now, no longer protected by the soulceresses’ souls. It was cold, too, no doubt because the magic had fallen from the hot springs below, and they’d returned to their normal course far away from the city and the glacier.
“I’m going to grab my stuff, then we can get out of here. You can share my snowmobile on the way back, then we’ll aetherwalk home. I’ve got just enough power. Do you?” Esha asked Aurora without looking at him.
“Aye, I can get out of here.”
“Good.” Esha turned and started up the stairs while Aurora headed for the kitchen.
“Wait.” Warren reached out to Esha.
She stopped on the stairs, her back stiff, and spoke without turning around. “I can’t, Warren. Today, when you fought the souls, I couldn’t bear it. I was so worried for you that I could hardly keep my attention on destroying the temple. I’m glad you have your soul back and can have the normal life you’ve always wanted, but I can’t watch you die. I’m used to being alone. I’m not used to loving someone and losing them. It’ll tear me apart. Don’t ask it of me.” She ran up the stairs, a harsh sob of breath the only indication that she wasn’t fine.
Something hard and horrible tightened in Warren’s chest. Watching Esha back away from him earlier today after he’d been declared mortal, her eyes wide with horror, had felt like having an ice pick driven into his heart.
This was worse. More final. Not just a panicked reaction on her part, but a final cutting of ties because her past was too much to overcome. She’d avoided mortals for decades. Now he’d become one.
His soul, the thing he’d wanted more than anything else, now cut him off from her. He’d lain awake nights, thinking of how it would feel to have his soul back. To be mortal again and have his destiny in his own hands. He’d vowed never to lose it again. He’d hold fast to his soul, the most important, valuable thing he could ever have.
Until Esha. Having his soul back made him feel normal. Having her made him feel extraordinary. Yet he couldn’t have both. He’d always thought that when he finally got his soul back, everything would be perfect.
How wrong he’d been.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Esha dragged her hand over her eyes, wiping the tears away. She just had to find her clothes and pack them. Then she had to go down and meet Aurora. Then they would get Warren and go home. Then—
A sob broke free of her attempt at normalcy. Nothing was normal now. She loved a mortal. Warren.
And she wouldn’t be able to stay away. She’d be drawn back to him, like a fish on a line, unable to help herself. But it would be a bittersweet happiness, always overshadowed by his looming death, followed by an eternity of loss.
A banging sounded on the door. She wasn’t surprised. Hastily, she scrubbed away the tears right before Warren burst through.
“Warren.” She turned from him. “Can you give me a minute?”
“Nay.” He was in front of her then, wrapping her in his arms and pulling her to him. She collapsed into his warm strength, then shook with more tears. To know this, and know that she’d lose him?
“You’re no’ going to leave me,” he said, his words muffled in her hair.
She shook her head. She wouldn’t. As much as it would hurt to watch him die, she’d be drawn back to him, unable to help herself.
“And I won’t leave you either.”
She pushed out of his arms and looked up at him. His eyes were fierce. “You can’t control that. You’re mortal now. You’ll have to leave me.”
“I doona have to stay mortal.”
“You can’t become a Mythean.” She reached up to run her hand down the side of his cheek, her heart cracking more as she did so. How would she ever bear this? Their lives would be terrible with this always hanging over their heads.
“Nay. But I can stay a mystery monster.” A tender grin kicked up the corner of his mouth at the reference to one of her earlier insults.
“What?”
“I’d like to make you a deal,” he said.
Gods, he’s handsome when he looks at me like this. Golden and good, with eyes like a midnight forest and sincerity and strength radiating from him. “What do you mean?”
“I’d like to sell you my soul.”
She jerked backward, horrified. “What?”
“Soulceresses can buy and keep souls. If you buy mine, I canna die. I’ll live as long as you do.”
“No.” She shook her head frantically. “Your soul h
as been all you’ve wanted for centuries. It’s your humanity. You said so.”
“I was wrong. I thought it would fix whatever was broken inside of me, but I was wrong. Losing my clan, my family—that’s what broke me. I’ve been hollow since then. Living for so long is a burden once you’ve lost those you love. I couldn’t do that to you. To be with you, to keep you from having to suffer the pain I did when I lost my clan, I’d sell it in a heartbeat.”
“Me?”
He shook her lightly. “Of course, you.”
“You care for me, I know that. But I’m a soulceress. I just—I don’t—”
“I doona care for you. I love you. There’s a difference. A damn big one. You’ve saved my life, saved my soul, woken me from the coma of existing but no’ living. And I love you. You’re strong, brave, determined, selfless, funny. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted but dinna realize. You’re what makes me whole now, no’ my soul.”
“Wow.” Her mind scrambled to absorb everything he’d said. All the words that she’d never expected to hear said to her. That she’d needed to hear them. A dark place in her heart that she hadn’t realized existed was filling up with light.
“As long as I’m alive, I know that I won’t be able to resist the urge to protect you,” he said. “I know you can protect yourself, but I canna help myself. Except, I’m mortal. No matter how good a warrior I am—and I’m damn good—I won’t live long against magic. If I want to stay in this world with you, I can’t be mortal. I’d trade my soul in a heartbeat to have a life with you and be able to protect you.”
“Oh my gods.” She couldn’t believe he was saying these things.
He took a deep breath and pinned her with his gaze. “I’ve seen what happiness can be, and it’s with you. You already have my soul.”
Her head spun. “But you’ll be sick if I use its power.”
He shrugged. “You’ll just have to be careful. Stay fueled by borrowing power like you do now. And it won’t drive you mad as it did Aurora, because my soul will want to be with you. I can guarantee it.”
Holy hell, he meant it. And it would work. If he was willing and she was careful, it would work. She threw her arms around his neck, hugging him close, her mind still buzzing with happiness and confusion and awe at the turn her life had taken.
