Page 153 of Children of Fallen Gods

{He is poisoned,}it whispered.

Poisoned?

{For too long, he has been toying with magics beyond him. He is dangerous.}

“Tisaanah,” Zeryth said, “why did you lie about how you were taken?”

I froze, my eyes flicking to Vos. “Why is he here?”

Zeryth’s smile did not waver. “He is here because he offered you up to Atrick Aviness. With the help, of course, of Lady Erksan here — ever-loyal friend of Aviness.”

My jaw clenched.

Vos.Gods. Of course.

Every time I thought of my kidnapping, I had to fight back my anger. Now, with Vos on his knees in front of me, it was nearly impossible to choke down.

{How you insisted it could be different. And yet, I have watched hundreds of years pass, and I know it is the same story, so many times. So many betrayals.}Reshaye coiled around my hurt. Dangerous. I carefully kept control away from its grasp.

“I don’t know what you mean,” I said.

“Do not lie to me, Tisaanah.”

“I did not know that either of these people were involved.”

The truth, technically.

Zeryth’s lip twitched.

“Then it must be quite a shock,” he said. He leaned closer, and I was so distracted by the unnerving gracelessness of his movements and the veins around his eyes that I nearly jumped when something cold pressed to my hands.

I looked down.

It was a dagger.

“How lucky for you, then,” he said, wandering back to the window, “that you’ll get to have your justice.”

Lady Erksan fell against the floor, weeping. “No, please, no, no, no…”

But Vos met my gaze directly, lifting his chin as if to present me his throat. His face was still, his image defiant, but I wasn’t fooled by the way he looked. Neither of them shielded their minds. Their terror consumed the air. Erksan’s fear was like that of a startled animal, brittle and fragile, befitting of someone who had never known suffering. But Vos’s was heavy with dark knowledge. He was afraid of death, yes. But he knew what pain was. He knew what it was to suffer.

{It would be a mercy to give him death after all he has endured. To give him the fate that he deserves, for what he did to us. He bends beneath the weight of it.}

It would be a lie to say that a part of me didn’t crave vengeance. Reshaye found it in me, a little shard of white-hot anger. That part of me hated Vos for what he did to me.

Perhaps just as much as Vos hated me for that one lie. That one lie that destroyed his life.

I did not look away from him as I said, “Let him live.”

Reshaye’s surprise rippled, at the same moment that Zeryth’s face snapped to me.

“You begged me for his life. You sold away half your soul to ensure he was provided for. Then he turns you over to Aviness to be killed. Or tortured, ordissected. And you tell me‘Let him live?’” He whirled to Max. “What about you, then? I take it you would justloveto do it.”

Max was visibly tense, his jaw tight. “You’re acting insane, Zeryth.”

Zeryth barked a rough laugh. “Insane?! I’m saner than I’ve ever been! It’s amazing, actually, how sane getting everything you’ve ever wanted makes you.”

“Exactly,” I said. “You have everything that you want. You are the king.” I went to the window and lifted my chin, nodding to the partygoers below. “Now give them what they want. Perhaps now, they will be reluctant to love you. But show them you can be the king they need. Show them you know mercy.”

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