Page 168 of Children of Fallen Gods

When I finally awoke, it was because I became aware of movement beside me. Weight — warmth. The familiar tickle of black-and-silver hair.

I kept my eyes closed, relishing it.

“I know you are awake, mysterious snake man.”

“I know you know, demanding rot goddess.”

My voice sounded like sandpaper. We went silent, listening to each other breathe.

“You’ve got to stop doing this,” I said, at last.

“What?”

“The near death experiences. They’ll kill me if they don’t kill you.”

I heard her smile in her voice. “I like to live an exciting life, Max. This is part of my charm.”

“When all this is over, maybe we’ll take up hiking. Something scenic with a low mortality rate.”

When all this is over.

The realization dawned on me slowly. Zeryth was dead. The war was over. What did that mean?

Did that mean it was all over now?

I almost didn’t want to ask. I wanted to live here, in this moment of potential possibility, as long as I could.

As if she knew what I was thinking, Tisaanah said, quietly, “It is over.”

I closed my eyes.

“Max?”

“I heard you. I just…”

I just can’t believe it. It just seems too good to be true.

“Max.”

“Hm?”

And what she said next made the world tilt on its axis: “Reshaye is gone.”

* * *

“Gone.”

Nura stood there with her arms crossed over her chest, repeating the word slowly. Her eyes were narrowed, her stare hard.

“Yes,” Tisaanah said. “Gone.”

Nura’s eyes narrowed further.

She stood by the doorway of our room in the Tower of Midnight. She was wearing the same outfit that she always wore, that white jacket buttoned up to the neck, with one notable difference: the insignia now embroidered on her lapel. A sun and moon eclipsed — the insignia that had been on Zeryth’s jacket, not very long ago.

Zeryth’s death had given Nura the thing she had always wanted the most: the title of Arch Commandant. Or at least, acting Arch Commandant, surely to become official in a few weeks. Not that there was anyone who was going to challenge her for it, now. Zeryth’s death was cleaned up easily with a thin story from Nura. His supporters gave their loyalty to the Orders, not to him personally. Many breathed a sigh of relief to have the Orders headed by someone more stable.

I hated Zeryth too much to pity him, but I felt something close to it when I realized how easily the world had moved on without him. He had given up so much to gain power, only to be cast aside as an incidental footnote in history. It was almost sad.

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