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“What do you think I’m doing?” I snarled. “I’m saving the fucking fox!”
He’d left the safety of Cahlish. For her. He’d climbed the mountain. For her. He’d snuck through Irrín and crossed the river. For her. And now he was being chased across the dead fields of Sanasroth by a horde of feeders. He must have been tired and ready to give up, but he was still coming. For her. And I was not about to let that little fox die.
“And the day you save me on a battlefield, I’ll put on a dress and dance a fucking jig.”
“Never doubt your powers, sweet one,” she’d told me. “Each one of them is a gift. Each one will prove exactly enough when you have need of it. Have faith in yourself. You will always be enough.”
“Don’t you know? There isn’t much I wouldn’t sacrifice to make you happy, Osha.
“Well, I suppose if no one else is going to say it, then I will. You look downright fuckable, Saeris Fane.”
“Your father was felled by his own hubris. He was too arrogant. He believed himself invincible, and I had the pleasure of showing him otherwise. A god sword will make worm food out of any of us, no matter who wields it. But, regardless,” I called in a clear voice. “I am no child. My name is Saeris Fane, and I am your queen.”
You can own your fantasies with me, Little Osha. There is nothing in this realm or the next that I won’t give to you if you desire it. All you ever need do is ask.
Because what was a book, if not a portal into another realm, another time, another life even.
“Where there is light, there is always darkness, shadow weaver. To kill a queen, you will need to visit the darkest of all places. You will need to strike a deal far more costly than this one if you hope to succeed. And the beast who lies in wait for you there will not be so easy to trick as me. She will eat you whole, shadow weaver!” Joshin roared as I held the flickering torch to its body. “She will tear away your soul and feed on it for decades!”
Carrion immediately tried to pull away, but I hugged him tighter—too tight, maybe—refusing to let him go. He sagged, burying a single, choked cry into my chest, and that was all I heard out of him. His body rocked with silent sobs for a minute, and I held him. And then he stopped, and it was over.
“I won’t sacrifice him.”
“You have no flaws, Saeris Fane. You are perfect in my eyes, imperfections and all. I’m in love with every part of you. Your stubbornness. Your wicked tongue. Your foul temper when you’re tired. Your inability to close any door quietly—”
“Every part. I love all of you.”
The dresses are just . . .” His brow furrowed. “They’re an invitation. The life you lived in Zilvaren was hard. You had to do everything for yourself. I’m here now, and—no‚ wait. No, let me finish. I’m here now, and just because I am your mate and you are mine doesn’t mean that I expect you to sit around looking pretty, or . . . or put down your weapons and adopt a different way of life. I would never want that for you. But you don’t have to be one thing here, Saeris. You can be many things. You can wear your leathers and fight every day of the year. I would never ask you not to. But
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“And what would happen when I get old and die?”
“Then you get old, and you die.”
“And you’d jus...
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“I would go with you, Osha.”
“I’m young in the eyes of this place,” he said. “And yes, there are plenty of things I still want to see and experience in this realm. But I wouldn’t want to see any of it without you.”
“It’s never been given an official name here. The pantheon of undergods and the dragons they breed there call it Diaxis. But personally . . . I’ve always called it hell.”
