Page 24 of A Song of Saints and Swans
It wasn’t as if my sister and I had never fought before—countless millennia together guaranteed it—but never had her words cut so deeply.
“Can you imagine having hope?”
No, dearest. I cannot.
Instead of allowing her to glimpse my pain, I’d retreated, determined to get myself under control before facing her again. It barely worked, but my mood improved exponentially when I returned to find Rena kissing Anthia by the lake.
Seeing them together filled me with such indescribable joy, I forgot everything else. My flames instinctively reached for both of them, brushing over their skin—eager to connect and join my sister in claiming our consort—before abruptly fizzling out.
Which brought me back to reality.
“…when the icy fingers of death could rip you away from your loved ones at any moment…”
Just as my greatest wish was within reach, I was harshly reminded of how impossible it was. Time was no longer just a vague notion reserved for mortals. It was a looming threat—a ticking time bomb pounding in my chest, overpowering my heartbeat.
And every beat is one less second I have with them.
Despite what it looked like that fateful day in London, I hadn’t magically purged the mysterious substance I’d come in contact with in that cursed lab. It still poisoned my veins with unprecedented tenacity, corroding me from the inside out.
Killing me slowly, one second at a time.
While Perun and the other deities in our realms were aware of The Facility and its insidious network, we rarely concerned ourselves with mortal designs. Marena was an oddity for how she interacted with humans, and it washerinvolvement with this crew that piqued my interest.
Well, that and a certain swan.
Mostly out of boredom, I’d offered to search the lab after Vasi’s Rider was shot. It seemed an easy enough task, with little risk. After all, I thought I was invincible—that nothing made by human hands could take down a god.
What a fool I was.
Now I knew better. Whatever was being kept in that cold storage room worked quickly and efficiently. It was a miracle I made it out of there at all, but somehow, I reached Anthia’s hotel room.
And Anthia.
I collapsed into a coma-like state the instant my head hit her sweet-smelling pillow. That was a survival tactic—a way for my body to conserve energy while I desperately searched within for what was left of my powers.
When I finally relocated my source—originated from the World Tree itself—I was horrified to discover I hadn't just been temporarily weakened…
I’d been stripped of my immortality.
Little more than a weakenedhumanat that point, I’d felt the darkness of eternity closing in, threatening to pull me under—to wherever gods went when they ceased to exist
Untilshecalled me back.
At first, I thought the life-giving spark I sensed was myfire reigniting. I quickly realized it was coming from another creature—one who shone like a beacon and burned like a flame.
Mytwinflame.
While Marena was my other half, Anthia’s soul called to me with a song too familiar to be coincidental. Desperate to hold on to the life raft I was given, I captured the swan shifter with vines, pledged silent devotion with my lips, and prayed she wouldn’t let me fade into nothingness.
I was already enamored with Anthia before that day, but my obsession only grew after that.
Along with this strange cocktail of unfamiliar emotions.
Besides beingafraidfor the first time in my ageless life, I was grappling with dependingon another for survival,andaccepting the depths of what I felt for my savior.
Now that I’d tasted Anthia on my tongue—now that I’d felt the silky softness of her thighs tighten around me in release while my sister drank down her cries…
How do humans deal with losing a gift like this after such a short time on earth?
