Page 238 of Children of Fallen Gods

All at once, I realized.

I realized why this magic felt so unfamiliar, so inhuman.

I realized why I had been dragged here, the moment I opened that passageway between me and the deepest levels of magic.

You’re Fey,I said.You’re the Fey king.

Now I understood. The Fey that Nura held— the ones that she was trying to make into the next Reshaye—

She had created it. She hadcreatedthe war she was trying so hard to stop.

We don’t want a war with you,I said.Your people were taken by one human.Onemisguided human who doesn’t deserve the power that she had. But her reign is over. And I swear to you that I’ll return the people she took from you.

You are lying to me.

I never lie. It’s a personal flaw.

A humorless chuckle shivered up my spine.You do notknowthat you lie. But it is a lie, nonetheless. And even if it is not, I am past the point of trusting any word that comes from your fickle mortal minds. And how easy it has been, to turn you against each other. Humans are weak and selfish, easily-divided. My people were that way, once. Too busy squabbling over petty issues of pride to innovate, to fulfill our potential. Not anymore.

He would not stop. He would kill for Reshaye. He would kill Tisaanah for it, and anyone else who stood in his way. He would ravage Ara, and maybe we would deserve it.

But I wouldn’t let it happen.

Listen to me.My magic grabbed for his. We tangled, equally matched. He was very far away. I could feel that. The distance was the only thing keeping him from overpowering me.

A war between our peoples would be bloodier than either of us are prepared for,I said.I don’t support this, and I never will. We can still stop this from happening. I will return your people to you. We will never hurt you again. I swear it.

Funny, how an hour ago, I was begging Nura for the exact same consideration.

You’re right about humans,I said.So much about us is vile. But we also have the potential to be better. Give us that chance.

The presence paused in consideration.

But then the sky lit up. Both of us stopped, our attention snapping to this new intrusion: a burning thread of magic drawing from this deep, deep level.

My blood went cold. I recognized it immediately.

Tisaanah.

The king’s focus on her was all-consuming. He reached out for that thread, as if examining it, pushing further. And it was only then that I realized there was something else intertwined in it, too. It was a faint little fragment of magic, so weak that I wouldn’t have seen it if I wasn’t looking. But once I did, I knew it. Of course I did, because once it was a part of me, too.

The king’s desire was ravenous. He wanted her. He wantedReshaye.

It was only a split second of distraction. Still too much. I lost my grip on the magic above, my resistance slipping. It was the only opening he needed. He forced his way through the door.

I heard the voice whisper, closer than before,

I have already given you enough chances.

My eyes snapped open. Before me was Tisaanah, emerging from the flames.

But when I stepped forward, my body was not my own.

Chapter Eighty-Three

Tisaanah

Iran down the stairs, cutting through bodies like they were nothing. Something in the air had shifted, the magic growing sicker and sicker. The Syrizen threw themselves at me. When one fell, another was two steps behind. If I’d had time to think about my situation, I would have been amazed I made it this far alive — though perhaps that was because the Syrizen, at least near the end, were not trying to kill me at all. At one point, a particularly strong one overpowered me. I cringed in anticipation of a blow, but it didn’t come. Instead, she wrapped her arms around me and began to drag me away, and only made it a few steps before my dagger twisted in her gut, her flesh rotting.

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