Page 139 of Between Fear and Favor

“My ankle,” she panted. “I think he cut me, I think it, oh gods, Rain?—”

She wrapped her legs around me, trying to get her wound as far from the Supreme as she could as I stumbled backwards. I needed to get her out of there—and fast—before any errant drop of her blood could fall upon the blooms and bones the Supreme had assembled.

The man’s own blood poured from his nose, no longer long and straight as I’d known it. He stumbled to his feet, chasing after us, but the second I stepped past the obsidian, I summoned her fire. I summoned my wind. I summoned her shadows and I summoned the water from the font.

He stopped in his tracks, mouth agape.

“Did it work? Did he do it? Did I-Did my blood—” Em began, sobbing into my shoulder. “Oh, gods,” she cried, clinging to me harder.

“I got you out. We got out,” I said, soothing her the best I could despite using both my hands to summon whatever divinity I could find to threaten the villain standing in the doorway.

“I got the handkerchief,” she said, sobbing renewed against my skin. Tears splashed my neck, and I didn’t know what the fuck she was talking about.

“It’s all right, Em. We’re safe.”

“Then why is the ground still shaking?” she asked, body tense.

“That’s just me. I’m fucking angry, dear heart.”

A wet laugh spilled out of her as she loosened her grip on me. She slid down my body, and my anger renewed when I noticed the welts on her face. He’d tried to fucking scratch her.

“Hanwen, help me. I’m going to end your pathetic?—”

The Supreme fell to his knees, grabbing a dagger from the ground. Holding it against his throat, he laughed, as he stabbed it through his own neck.

“I don’t fucking think so,” Em said, darting forward as his body slumped onto the cavern floor. “Don’t just stand there, my love.”

And with my queen, the Beloved, we knelt over the man who’d nearly destroyed our entire world—and healed him.

Damia, Death Bringer

She was not a goddess,nor was she human. She just was. Death had created her and rued her and hated her and taught her. Death had loved her and had forgotten her. Death had served her as she had served him.

The stories said she was innocent, a precious flower plucked too soon. The stories said she was tainted, fruit left to rot beneath his tutelage. She was both Death's downfall and his conquest.

Some called her gifts fate, some called her gifts chaos.

But what the stories forgot, what the stories neglected to tell, was that she was all of those things and none of those things.

When Death had created her, he'd remembered what the first gods forgot. He'd made something both desperately needed and endlessly hated.

Time.

And despite both mortal and immortal attempts to thwart her, time was his obedient servant, and she always managed to collect.

Chapter 63

HONOR

My head was achingas the bells sounded and the baby squealed. Katherine’s forehead was still damp with sweat as she wrestled the surprisingly strong newborn to her breast. I could only stare in awe. Katherine must have severely miscalculated when the boy in her arms was conceived. Average sized, he was healthy. Pink and angry with clenched fists and a tremendous wail, the tiny creature couldn’t have been seven weeks early, as she had said. The woman hadn’t questioned herself, only thanking the gods for an easy birth.

“We have to go, now,” Marella asserted, panting as she bounded into the room. She frowned at the tiny bubbles of blood rising from Katherine’s body, and I couldn’t help my grimace. Most of the mess had been caught by the blankets before the unnatural change to the air had occurred. It could have been a lot worse. I stood from the stool at the foot of the bed, finding the bucket beside me. Inside, the water had turned into a large bubble, and all I could do was stare for a moment. I stuck my hands inside it and swished them around, cleaning them. It was oddly calming, all things considered.

“You should go,” I told Marella, nodding. “I’ll stay.”

“Nor,” she pleaded. “Come on.”

I swallowed, looking down into her eyes. Her dark hair floated around her face, and with how much weight she’d lost after her father’s death, it was a wonder she didn’t float away herself. “It’s not often the gods send us a sign. Rhia brought me here to stay with her,” I said, nodding toward Katherine.

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