Page 10 of Children of Fallen Gods

“I’m not going in there.”

Max turned his gaze to me, his jaw set and eyes bright with fury, and all at once, the memories flooded over me.

Max’smemories.

Memories of dark-haired siblings running to meet him here, at these gates. Memories of his father’s grin and his mother’s embrace.

Memories of Reshaye’s rage, and their corpses.

All here, in this house.

We were in Korvius. Max’s childhood home.

Anserra tilted her chin towards Max.

“He said that you wouldn’t like being here,” she said. “And to tell you that the sooner you come speak to him, the sooner you can leave.”

Max stared forward with a jaw set so rigid it trembled.

“He?” The word rolled out between clenched teeth.

And it was Nura who answered as she stepped past us. “Who else?” she muttered. “Zeryth fucking Aldris.”

Chapter Four

Aefe

Once upon a time, I was a princess.

I was just a child then, of course. Too young to know better than to wear that power — that safety — carelessly. Like most children, I saw my circumstances as constant and unmoving. I did not question whether I deserved what I had. I did not question whether I could lose it.

But then, I’d have no reason to think such a thing. I was the Teirness of the House of Obsidian, the heir to the greatest power in the greatest house of all the Fey nations. If there was anything to make one feel untouchable, it would be that. I lived in a beautiful room crafted of polished black stone, high at the top of the cliffs that housed the House of Obsidian, and I’d look out over the most incredible view and take it all for granted.

I lived so far above the ground, and it never even occurred to me to look down.

For ten years, I lived that way — gluttonous on comfort and power and, above all, love. Now, it seemed like a whole other world, a cruel dream invented by a lonely mind. Perhaps it was a dream, because when it ended, it ended fast, like snapping awake to a crack of lightning.

It was all stolen time, anyway. I never should have held that title. My blood was tainted, cursed. Unsuitable.

One night, I went to sleep the Teirness, and I woke up with my father’s hands around my throat. Perhaps he should have killed me that night, for what I am. But instead of taking my life, he took my title.

What had amazed me the most was how simple it had been. By morning my sister occupied all the spaces of my old life, as if one princess could be seamlessly substituted for another, and the world went on as if nothing had changed, all while I was still falling, falling, falling from the heights of my power, with nowhere to look but down.

Once upon a time I was a princess.

But that was a long time ago, and I’ve been hitting the ground ever since.

* * *

My head smashedagainst the stone floor, teeth tearing the inside of my cheek, vision darkening, sound dampening.

My lips curled into a smile. Thick warmth seeped between my teeth and dribbled down my chin, pooling in purple smears. For another second, the world was slow, silent.

Then the rest of it hit me all at once. The smell of sweat and spilled wine. The raucous shouts of drunken spectators, the shift of the grit beneath my feet. The rough ground under my hands as I pushed myself back up, the cool air across my skin as I whirled —

And the pain, waking in my knuckles as they smashed against a bony, angular face. He staggered. My opponent was larger than me, but skinny and out of shape. I threw myself over him and bared my teeth, my razored incisors sliding from my gums.

He turned away, but not fast enough. I caught the point of his ear. He howled.

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