by Eva Brandt
Cassia looked at him like he’d just sprouted a second head. “You knew she would do this?”
I couldn’t blame her for her outrage. I was pretty infuriated myself. I loved Adrian like a brother, but in that moment, I wanted to rip him to pieces for his deceit. I would’ve probably done if he hadn’t been... well, Adrian. “Is this true?” I hissed. “Did you know?”
“I suspected,” he answered. “That doesn’t matter right now. You need to trust your queen. It won’t end this way. It can’t.”
“Oh, I beg to differ. I swear this is almost boring. I can’t believe my lovely Eranthe would make the same mistake twice.”
I turned, only to see that at one point when we hadn’t been paying attention, Fufluns had popped up in the room. He was eyeing Eranthe’s two bodies with interest and making no attempt to hide his lecherous intentions. “This time, she won’t escape me so easily. This time, her soul will be mine.”
Fuck.
Eleven
Between the Future and the Past
Eiar
“So, here we are again.”
Eranthe sat cross-legged on the floor of my crypt, the very same one I’d dragged her mind into when she’d been attempting to clean the lake. “I didn’t mention it before, but I feel like our taste in decorations has taken a significant nosedive in The Voievodat.”
“The crypt came with the position,” I replied, grimacing. “I inherited it, and everything else, from the former Grand Lich.”
I joined my other self, marveling at how alike and yet, how different we were. “But you didn’t go through all that trouble to talk about my furniture. What are you planning, Eranthe?”
I hadn’t expected Eranthe to go so far and take such a chance. I’d already realized I’d underestimated her, but still, her defiance had blindsided me and left me utterly baffled. I should’ve seen it coming. Literally.
“You mean you don’t know?” Eranthe asked me. “You don’t remember.”
“My memories change every single day, Eranthe,” I replied. “They’re fragmented and strange. It’s part of the reason why I can’t hold onto this body any longer. You’re so indecisive it’s tearing me apart.”
Eranthe lay down on her back and stared at the ceiling. “I’d apologize, but you know that’s not indecisiveness. I just refuse to be trapped in a role I didn’t ask for. Besides, there’s already a version of me that is the Grand Lich. No matter where you came from, I still believe what I told you the first time. We can make things work.”
“You’re much too optimistic for my sanity. What do you hope to accomplish? I am your future, and if you aren’t happy with that and choose another path, I will cease to exist. It’s that simple.”
“It’s really not. Nothing about this is simple.”
I couldn’t argue with that. The threads of time were tangled and that alone was so complicated I wanted to die just to escape it.
“Chronikos is the only place where this type of magic could be accomplished,” Eranthe said. “In some ways, we live outside time. But we’re not in Chronikos now. The spell will come undone. We have to make sure my little ploy doesn’t blow up in our faces when that happens.”
The ice crystal Eranthe had used to bring us together suddenly appeared in her hand. “This isn’t just soul magic. It’s also elemental. It’ll keep us anchored to Chronikos... for a little while. Long enough for him to take the bait. But I do need your cooperation to do this.”
I met Eranthe’s eyes and just like that, all the pieces fell into place. I remembered the surges of Eranthe’s magic, Mormo’s strange message, and first and foremost, how much of a vengeful bitch I could be.
“I like the way you think, Lady of Spring. Come on. If we’re going to make this trap as efficient as possible, we have some work to do. And you have some soulmates to return to.”
“So do you,” Eranthe answered. “I’m curious about the emperor, Eiar. Is he good in bed?”
I shot my other self an unimpressed look. “The emperor is married, Eranthe! He’s not my soulmate. I haven’t slept with him.”
“No, but you will. You know that you will. It’s only a matter of time.”
I didn’t appreciate being mocked by my own past. My relationship with Octavian was a sore spot and I didn’t want to discuss it. Growling, I grabbed Eranthe’s arm, willing my magic to slide into her.
It was supposed to be a warning, but it didn’t work in the slightest. Eranthe just laughed and threw her arms around me. “Don’t hate yourself, Eiar. In fact, we’ll make a decision, here and now. To never hate ourselves again.
“My soulmates told me something the other day. They said I was perfect and I’d never be a replacement for anything or anyone. Obviously, there was some context and I won’t go into details, but I think I believe them. I might not be perfect in general, but I’m perfect for them. And you’re perfect for the emperor. It might not seem like it now, but I’m sure it’ll happen.”
“You’re a terrible person, you know that?” I asked her, sneering.
“What did you expect? I’m Eranthe, Lady of Spring.”
The taunt echoed my own words from one of our earlier meetings, and all of a sudden, I could see this whole situation from a different perspective. Maybe Eranthe was right. Maybe Octavian and I did have a chance.
After all, I’d done far worse things than separate a man from his wife. Octavian didn’t love her, so it stood to reason that I could take her place.
“You know what? Fine. If we manage this, I’ll go along with your insanity and seduce the emperor. But first, we have a certain asshole to put into his place.”
“Wonderful.” Eranthe got up and brushed the nonexistent dust off her dress. As her hand touched the material, the gown started to turn blood-red. “We’re going to make Fufluns regret he ever wanted us as his wife, and we’re going to take everything he is in the process.”
For the first time in what seemed like ages, I let out a real, joyful laugh. “I look forward to it. But you do realize that, to make sure your plan works out, we have to start over from the beginning.”
“I’m not afraid of the past.” Eranthe extended her hand toward me and smiled. “Are you?”
“Of course not.”
As I spoke, the doors of the crypt opened, revealing another chamber hidden beyond. Shadows licked over the floor, a power beyond my own and Eranthe’s reaching out to us, taunting us.
At that moment, I could’ve sworn I heard the sound of mocking laughter echoing against the walls of the catacomb. I ignored it and took my other self’s hand. Together, we ventured out of the crypt, and into our past.
My mother’s ritual room was just like I remembered it, clean and warm, teeming with the essence of her earthy, comforting magic. It should have been far more welcoming than the crypts of the Grand Lich. It wasn’t.
Eranthe and I walked in to witness a scene that was carved into both of our hearts. The teenage version of us stood side by side with the younger Pandora and Tarasia, stubbornly facing our mother. “We know what we’re doing, Mother,” Pandora said. “We’ve made our decision. We’re going to help Cassia. Father has given us permission.”
“Your father is a deity and doesn’t always understand the limits of a demigod’s body,” our mother replied. “This isn’t a good idea.”
“But you’ll allow it anyway,” teenage Eranthe said softly. “You know this is for the best, don’t you?”
Selene pressed her lips together in displeasure. “I don’t, but I can’t stand in your way. If Cassia is the Lady of Winter now, it must be for a reason.”
Not for the first time, I wondered what that had meant, why she’d said that, if she’d known what would happen when she’d agreed to our idea. She’d always claimed that she hadn’t. I’d never quite believed her, and Eranthe seemed to agree with me.
“One of these days, we’ll have a real conversation with our mother about appropriate risks and how to prepare your child for a dangerous ritual.”
“You know I don’t,” Eranthe replied without missing a beat. “I just wish I could’ve been a better queen and a better sister. But it’s not too late. We can still do it, together.”
In front of us, our mother was guiding our past selves to three stone slabs, all of which were already engraved with the symbols of Chronikos and of the seasons. As she strapped Eranthe to the slab, Selene leaned over and brushed her lips over Eranthe’s forehead. “I am so sorry, Ery,” she whispered. “I wish I could’ve protected you and your sisters from this pain. I hope that one day you’ll be able to forgive me.”
“There’s nothing to forgive,” teenage Eranthe said.
“Not very likely,” I answered, at the same time.
The memory of my mother couldn’t see me, but still, it was satisfying to say the words, to let out my resentment. Granted, it would’ve been even more satisfying if I could’ve inflicted the same amount of pain on her as she had caused my loved ones, but you couldn’t have everything.
My mother stepped away from the slab and bound Pandora and Tarasia as well. Once everything was in place, she returned to the center of the room, where our father was now waiting.
“I take it they haven’t changed their minds,” he said, no trace of his regular sunny smile on his face.
My mother shook her head. “You shouldn’t have agreed in the first place.”
“I had to. Everything comes at a price, Selene, and I’m not exempt from that rule just because I’m a god.”
The first time I’d heard that, all those years back, I hadn’t really understood what he’d meant. Now, I did. “He must’ve gotten in trouble for interfering in the civil war,” I told Eranthe. “That’s why he allowed it.”
“I suppose it makes sense. He stepped in for our sake. It stands to reason that the other gods would ask him to pay the price.”
I chuckled bitterly. “Our offer must’ve been a godsend. No pun intended.”
“Maybe, but it was still our choice,” Eranthe reminded me. “No one forced us into this. We all agreed and, as reckless as it was, we still do.”
“I wonder if that’s really the case now. We didn’t change our minds, but I’m pretty sure our sisters disagree.”
Eranthe looked away. I knew it hurt her to acknowledge the pain she must have caused Cassia. And then, there were our soulmates, all of whom had witnessed that dreadful episode on the iceberg. “I did what I had to do. They’ll understand.”
I nodded silently and returned to watching the ritual. By now, Helios and Selene had ended their conversation and were making the final preparations for the power transfer.
Unlike in Cassia and Snegurka’s case, the original carriers of the powers of the seasons weren’t here. Helios had taken over the throne of the seasons himself, with only Selene to help him.
It had been meant as a temporary state of affairs, until Cassia was old enough to contribute. I wondered now who would’ve become the other avatars of the seasons had we not done it.
Helios extended his hands and a circle of bright flame surrounded him and Selene. At this point, the memory grew blurry, as my teenage self had been unable to get a good look at what my parents had been doing. Eranthe frowned and her hold on my hand tightened. I responded to her call. Our magic, so different, but so alike, came together, and our view became a little clearer.
Helios knelt in the center of the circle of fire and closed his eyes. At the same time, Selene started to chant. The air in the ritual room became thick with energy, my mother’s words reaching into the very core of Chronikos to realign and shift the responsibilities and skills of its guardians.
“Powers of spring, come to me. May you guide our souls into eternal youth.
“Powers of summer, come to me. May you light our paths with eternal sunlight.
“Powers of autumn, come to me. May you grant us eternal bounties.
“Bless these vessels with your magic and accept the offerings of their hearts and bodies. Eranthe, Tarasia, and Pandora, daughters of Helios and Selene, stand before you, to be the next guardians of The Land of Time.”
The ritual room started to shake. Helios let out a choked grunt and clutched his chest. The light around him flickered erratically and currents of magic erupted from his body, zeroing in on my teenage self and my sisters.
The moment the energies of Chronikos struck them, the screaming started. It wasn’t a pleasant scene to watch, and not because it reminded me of my suffering. When I’d lived through the experience, I’d registered my sisters’ agony, but hadn’t been able to focus on it. Now, I had no such distractions, and I got a very good look at the sight of Tarasia’s skin peeling off and Pandora convulsing in her bindings.
As for my youngest self, she was trapped in a cocoon of thorny vines, all of which were doing their best to mimic the energies of summer and tear teenage Eranthe’s flesh off her bones.
“I’d forgotten how much this whole thing sucked,” the current Eranthe muttered. “All of our shared rituals are taxing, but never quite like this. No wonder we landed ourselves in such a mess.”
“We were young and foolish. It’s too late for regrets now.”
We couldn’t do anything to change what had happened, so we watched in silence as the ritual and the torture continued. I actually felt relieved when something went wrong. One of the chains around Tarasia’s wrists melted away and snapped. Tarasia’s feverish gaze settled on her father and she shot him a feral smile, one I didn’t recognize.
Fire magic could drive anyone insane. That was why demons were so crazy, and that was why Snegurka had completely lost her sense of self when she’d used the soulmate summoning spell. Tarasia had an affinity for it. She took after our father more than the rest of us. For this reason, she’d been picked to be the avatar of summer. It wasn’t enough.
“Power,” she hissed. “I want more power. This world will be mine.”
She extended her now free hand toward her weakened father. Helios screamed as if he was being ripped apart. Come to think of it, that was an accurate description of the process. Tarasia was extracting the energies of sunlight from his body, and she wasn’t being gentle. Since he was the god of sun, he would not survive it.
“Tarasia, no!” Selene cried. “Stop it. You’re killing him.”
“And why should I care?” Tarasia asked, still smiling in that horrible, cruel way. “If I’m a tool for him, he’ll be a tool for me.”
Selene stepped in Tarasia’s way, blocking her view of Helios. “I won’t let you hurt him any—”
The ground beneath her feet cracked, and she stumbled, unable to finish her phrase. “Your power can’t compare to ours,” Pandora said, laughing. “This is our realm. We are the seasons, and you are nothing. Just the mistress of a god, a sad little nymph whose only achievement is birthing four powerful girls.”
The words made me flinch, not because they weren’t true, but because I knew what reaction they’d cause. All of a sudden, the anomalous power transfer between Helios and Tarasia stopped. Helios got up, his eyes glowing with a dangerous light. “Don’t talk to your mother like that. She deserves better.”
“Does she really?” Pandora asked, tilting her head. “Why?”
The real Pandora would have never asked that question. She was far kinder than she seemed, although three-quarters of the time, she disguised that warmth behind sexual intercourse. She’d always been the one least likely to blame our parents for their abandonment, since she was too busy blaming herself.
But maybe that wasn’t completely true either and on some level, Pandora was just as angry as we were. With the power of autumn drowning out her regular self, her innermost feelings had come out.
To his credit, Helios didn’t blame any of us for this development. “Enough. You’re not in your right minds. Once we finish the ritual, you’ll remember where your loyalties lie, and you will apologize to your mother.”
He lift
ed his hand and pointed it toward Pandora. It was the worst thing he could have done.
I’d never reacted well to threats addressed at one of my loved ones. That day, when the ritual had taken place, I’d been more upset than ever, anguished over the pain I’d seen Cassia endure.
Seeing my father about to attack my sister broke something inside me.
The vines around my teenage self came free and flew toward Helios. He never saw the blow coming. In an act modeled after what Cassia had done to Snegurka, the sharp tip of the plant pierced Helios’s chest.
The plant burnt to ashes as soon as it made contact with the sun god’s blood, but the damage was already done. Helios clutched his wound and stared at himself in apparent disbelief.
“Oh,” he said simply—and then, he collapsed.
“Helios, no!” our mother cried, lunging toward him.
She pressed her hands to his chest, frantically trying to stop the bleeding. She didn’t have much luck. Nymphs were natural healers, but Eranthe had attacked Helios through a power far greater than Selene’s. It would take time for the wound to close, and it was time Helios didn’t have.
Selene had never given up without a fight. She was just as stubborn as we were, and she wasn’t about to let her lover die.
“Powers of time,” she shouted, her hands still covered in the blood of a deity, “come to my aid and do what I cannot. Grant Helios, the god of the sun, a second chance.”
Her voice cracked as she spoke the final words. She obviously realized just how dangerous this was, for her, for us, for every person in Chronikos. In my heart, I admired her a little for making that choice. Would I have done the same thing for Octavian had I been in her shoes? Maybe.
Either way, the magic of Chronikos did come to her aid. The chamber we were in started to shake. The younger Eranthe cried out in her bindings, as did Pandora and Tarasia.
Selene threw herself over the now unconscious Helios, still whispering words under her breath. It wasn’t an actual chant, more like a prayer and a hope. “Please, please. Please let this work. Don’t take my family away.”
