Page 57 of Princess of Death

A moment later, the outline was distinct, a man who floated in midair and slowly crept toward the dais. His arms were relaxed at his sides, but his spine was slightly curved, his chest toward the sky.

He eventually came to a stop, surrounded by the blue mist.

Bahamut nodded to one of his servants. “Take him.”

Monsters that were neither man nor animal placed their long fingers on the man’s body and pulled him from the mist.

The second he was pulled free, he awoke. Fought the hold on his body and dropped to the earth. He panicked once he realized where he was, surrounded by a darkness he didn’t understand, creatures he’d never seen. He was there because of the agreement he’d forged—and it clearly wasn’t worth it. “No.”

The corner of Bahamut’s mouth rose in a smile. “Welcome home, Nathaniel.”

“No!” He tried to fight the claws and the strength of the hunched beings.

“Take him to his cell,” Bahamut ordered, watching his creatures do his bidding.

They took him up the stairs and to the castle—and he screamed the whole way.

Bahamut looked up at the sky once again, like he expected more. “Guess that’s it for the day.” He turned to look at me beside him, like he somehow knew I had something to say.

“I have a request.” A request that would surely be denied.

He continued to stare.

“I’ve served you faithfully for nearly sixty years. When I arrived here, I was quiet and compliant. I remain so.”

“Yes, you’ve adapted to the darkness quicker than others.”

Because I did it for the right reason.

“What is your request, Wrath?”

“Anya has passed on to the afterlife.” I loved her still, even after all this time, but the love was no longer the same. I’d watched her love my brother the way she loved me, the way her happiness shone brighter than the sun. My heart let her go once I knew she belonged to someone else. Her death stung, but not the way it would have decades ago. “My sons remain behind. They’re both healthy, but they’re in their sixties, and tragedy can strike at any moment.” Men tended to have shorter life-spans than women. I could lose either one of them at any moment. My brother had lived an unusually long life, dying in his eighties. I was certainthat the happiness that Anya gave him was what kept him going for so long.

Bahamut’s eyes narrowed slightly as he waited for me to reach my destination.

“All I want is for them to know that I didn’t abandon them…before they’re gone.” I wanted them to know I’d watched them grow into men. I’d watched them become fathers themselves. I’d watched them care for their mother like I asked. That I loved them as much from a distance as I did when I could hold them in my arms. “Please.” It had taken all my patience to wait as long as I had. But I knew I needed to serve Bahamut for decades, to do my time to earn this slim chance.

“No.”

I fought my despair and kept a straight face, knowing he fed off sorrow.

“That’s not what we agreed to.”

“My wife is gone. The debt has been paid. I can never get this time back with my sons, but I want them to know that I was always there…even if they couldn’t see me?—”

“No.”

“How did you come to be what you are? Did you leave no one behind? Did you ever care for any living person?”

His stare slowly hardened. Rain clouds masked his blue eyes. “One day, you will come to forget everyone you ever cared for, Wrath. Give it a hundred years. Maybe two. But it will happen.”

“I will never forget my boys.” Never forget my love for them. Never forget the absolute joy they gave me. The way each onefit into a single hand when they were born. The way they would climb all over me like I was a tree.

He looked at the dais again, the subtle smile returning. “We’ll see.”

8

LILY

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