Page 27 of Vicious Is My Throne

Maybe it was my imagination, but our enemy’s name rang over the stone, slithering down the edge of the ravine, only to be swallowed up by the inky darkness. A small stream dripped over the edge, and even when I listened hard, that water never splashed down.

As if the ravine had no bottom.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. The stone doesn’t feel like the right answer.” I took a hesitant step toward the edge. “Maybe we’re looking for whatever’s down there. That darkness…isn’t natural.”

Tavion—Ardaric—nodded. “Whatever’s down there feels wrong, like the blight. Like the shadows that came behind the creeping rot.” His sword slid out of the scabbard silently, nearly as long as I was tall.

“What are you planning to do? Stab something? We came here for answers, Tavion.”

“That’s a strange name. One I’ve never heard before.”

A young boy in his late teens wandered toward us with a generously freckled face and big blue eyes. He was dressed plainly, brown pants tied at the waist and a loose linen shirt, his hands plunged deep in his pockets.

Every hair on my body stood up, Tavion sweeping his hand out and shoving me behind him.

“Why is that a strange name?” I asked, futilely trying to pull up my magic, to find any kernel of power inside me, but there was nothing.

“You don’t belong here.” He waved his hand at Tavion. “You look like us, you sound like us, but we both know you are not from this place.”

“Where is this place? And who are you?” Tavion demanded with a wolfish growl, as if he, too, was reaching for magic that didn’t exist here. I set my hand on his arm and stepped around him, willing him to follow my lead.

“We got off on the wrong foot.” I laid my hand over my chest and gave the boy a half bow. “I am Amalla. This is Ardaric. What is your name?”

The boy smiled. “You well know who I am, my queen. And so does your mate.” A furrow formed between his blue eyes. “You know not to come to this place. If you awaken them, you will destroy us all, for if they escape, there is no more blood to seal the tomb.”

I nodded, pretending I understood what he was talking about. “Yes, and I have no intention of waking…him. I was only checking to make sure he still slumbered.”

“Him and his foul sister.” The boy wrinkled his nose. “The cost was far too high to imprison the twins, and even our queen would have to answer for waking them.”

“How did they end up down there? Who imprisoned them…with blood?”

The boy’s lips quirked as he looked between us. “Is this a test of some sort? Or a game?” The smile fell off his face. “Though games were more your sister’s forte.”

“The twins are no game,” I told him seriously. “They are evil and dangerous and a threat to our survival. But as a test…tell us the story of their imprisonment, as you remember it.”

“After years of wanton destruction, Saphrax and Vitigis captured the twins and brought them back to Empyrean to answer for their crimes. You, as our queen, cast them into the Pit after accepting the sacred sacrifice as the price for their permanent imprisonment.”

The boy looked at me expectantly.

“What were their crimes?” I asked softly, swallowing. “And what was this…sacred sacrifice?”

“They ravaged half our world before Vitigis stopped them. He fell during their capture and will always be revered for his selfless act to save this world. Gattica and Saphrax volunteered to pay the cost of our world’s survival, so the balance would forever be maintained.”

“What balance?” I asked slowly.

“Imprisoning a god has a cost. Blood for blood. A life for a life. Two of them locked away forever, two of you had to die. Balance.”

Horror sluiced through me.

Exactly what Cosimo had said was written on that page of symbols. To stop them, I’d—we’d—have to sacrifice ourselves in the process.

Tavion and I traded a look before he slowly sheathed his sword. “Is the world saved?” From where I stood, this realm—except for the abyss before us—was beautiful, with twin moons rising overhead, the sky still blushed that perfect shade of pink. “In your opinion, I mean.”

“We are saved, but should they ever escape, they will devour this world like they’ve devoured every one before, and since only the two of you remain, you would both have to die to lock them away. There would be no more gods.”

“We should kill them, then.” My gaze drifted to the ravine, the darkness that seemed to be listening to our every word. “Kill them and end this for good.”

“My queen…only sacrifice is accepted as payment. The only punishment can be imprisonment. Not death, never death.”

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