Between the Moon and Her Night (Between Life and Death #3)

Chapter 24

Aurelia

O ut of all the things I expected the Spirit Realm to be, I did not expect it to be so quiet. Yet, that was exactly what it was. It wasn’t a bad thing. If anything, it was peaceful. Calm.

The Golden Palace, in the Immortal Realm, had been quiet, too, but that was a different quiet. That quiet was lonely. The kind that amplified your thoughts in the worst of ways. The kind that robbed you of sleep and left you pacing the floors back and forth, feeling like a locked-up animal, stuck in a cage.

A cage.

That’s exactly what I thought the Spirit Realm would be like, but here, I was reclined on a lounge chair on Death’s expansive, sprawling balcony, my skin warmed by the peculiar giant star that floated above in the amethyst sky, surrounded with black, fluffy clouds. The luminescent ball was not yellow like the sun, but rather silver like the moon .

Despite how bright it was, it didn’t hurt my eyes to look at it. I had been studying it for some time as I casually picked at the tray of food I had found on the bedside table when I awoke earlier, accompanied by a small card that had Little Goddess written on it and a beautiful black rose. With a hunger in my stomach and a yearning in my soul for fresh air, I decided to bring the tray with me outside. Apart from the raven that was perched on the balcony railing, I had no qualms about my choice.

I broke off a piece of the flaky, fluffy biscuit, a few crumbs falling onto my lap, and said to the bird, “Are you the same one that was watching me while I was in the Living Realm?”

The raven didn’t respond.

“I’m guessing you were.” I tossed the freshly baked goodness into my mouth. Like butter, it melted on my tongue. I reached out my arm, offering the raven a chunk. “Would you like a bite?”

It didn’t so much as move.

“Suit yourself,” I said with a shrug, popping it into my mouth.

When the silence stretched on between us for a while longer, I decided to try another approach. “I can’t imagine you would be none too pleased with your master, with him shifting your duties and all—having you keep watch over me instead of collecting souls. A grand reaper reduced to a babysitter.”

The bird side-eyed me.

I chuckled. “Ah, I have your attention now, do I?”

Sandalwood and amber enveloped my senses as an umbra fell over me, shrouding me in its darkness. I realized then that I hadn’t gotten the bird’s attention after all—it was interested in the tall, tall drink of muscles and masculinity that stood behind me.

I tilted my head up, eyeing the smirking male.

“Enjoying yourself?” Von asked.

“As much as I can be,” I huffed, wondering if today was the day he would call in the next part of our deal. I decided to ask. “Have you come to claim me as your bride today, Death?”

“Not today, Little Goddess. Today, I have other plans for you.”

“Like?” I asked, eyeing folded clothes in his hand. “What are those for?”

“They are fighting leathers.” He tossed them to me.

Instinctually, I recoiled when they landed on my stomach, an “Mmph,” squeaking past my lips—the element of surprise conjuring it forth.

“What for?” I asked, gathering the smooth, impenetrable fabric in my hands as I sat up, swinging my feet onto the obsidian floor.

“For training, of course. You cannot expect me to have a queen that does not know how to hold her own in battle.” He stepped around the chair.

Who didn’t know how to hold her own in battle?

I shot daggers at him. “I’m insulted.”

“Good.” His lips twisted, his large hands bracketing his hips as he towered over top of me. He wore a set of tight-fitting leathers that had my gaze roaming and my mind swirling with dirty thoughts. His raven mane was subdued in a fighter’s top-knot. “Let that be the fire that forges you into a grand warrior.”

Green eyes lowered to my torso. The clothes evaporated from my hands, and the next thing I knew, they were on me—my body wrapped in tight, form-fitting leather.

“Starting today, you will come to train with me and a few others every morning,” Von said as he glanced at my bare feet, conjuring a pair of knee-high leather boots, much like the set he was wearing.

I looked up at him, placing my hands on the chair to steady me as I leaned back. “Must you dress me every day?”

“I must,” he said with a single nod. “It’s either that or leave you naked and chain you to my bed so that no one can see what is mine.” He shrugged a broad shoulder. “Choice is yours, little bride.”

“You are unbelievable.”

“Indeed, I am,” he purred. Light reflected off his rings as he held out a hand for me to take. “Come.”

I eyed it suspiciously. “Only if you agree to give me a closet and return my clothes to me, the ones that you dissolved that day in the forest—as well as my cloak,” I stated, knowing bargaining was a language he understood.

“I can agree to that,” he replied. “There is a room across the hallway. You’ll find your cloak and beloved peasant rags in there, as well as a plethora of clothing for you to choose from.”

Peasant rags . I narrowed my eyes at that.

“Oh, I almost forgot. The man you inquired about, Early. He has been reunited with his wife, as you requested.”

“Really?” I asked excitedly. “That was fast.”

Von nodded. “His wife had been placed in the Second Tier of the Spirit Realm, which made the transition fairly simple. Their children, grandchildren, and so-forth are there as well. It’s the best tier to be in for mortals. Many equate it to paradise. I can take you to visit them someday if you’d like.”

My heart warmed at this happy news.

“I would like that,” I said before I placed my hand in his.

“What is this place?” I asked as my boots sunk into the soft, shifting black sands as I walked ahead, taking in the grand structure that circled around me, made entirely of molten glass.

“It is my amphitheater, and what we are standing in is the arena,” Von answered. He stood off to the side, watching me as I took it all in. “Predominantly, it is used for entertainment purposes, gladiator battles and such, however, in the mornings, I close it to the public and use it for training.”

“It’s . . .” I looked around, trying to find the right word, but nothing seemed to do the spectacular, monstrous structure justice, so I settled on the best one I could find. “Breathtaking.” I glanced over my shoulder at the tall warrior king, his defined forearms laced loosely over his broad chest. “You made this?”

“I did,” he answered with a single nod. The white feather— my feather—woven at the end of his slender braid caught my attention. The rest of his hair was pulled back into a ponytail. His leathers clung tightly to his muscular, massive frame—trapping my gaze .

“Where did you get the idea to build such a structure?” I asked, momentarily unsure which structure I was referring to. Peeling my eyes off his ridiculously climbable body, I looked up, meeting his emerald hues.

“No one has ever asked me that before. To be honest, it just came to me, almost like a distant memory.” He blew out a breath of air, more chuckle than exhale. “I couldn’t get it out of my head, to the point it became like an obsession. Just like you.”

I rolled my eyes.

A wolfish grin twisted his lips before he continued, “So I worked on it every hour I could, getting everything perfect until it was finished, a year later.”

Perfect was a good word for it. The meticulous attention to detail was etched into every inch of this place. The fact that it took him only a year to build it was . . . unfathomable. I had to hand it to the big guy—he really put the god in god.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” I said, looking around, marveling at it some more. I couldn’t even fathom how many people must be able to fit in the sprawling, never-ending rows of seats, how deafening their cheering and roaring must be when the place was packed full.

“It is the only one of its kind in the Three Realms, although beyond our realms, in other lands, more exist.”

“There are other realms beyond our own?” I asked curiously, tilting my head to the side.

“Indeed, hundreds of them. Have you heard of the Ancient Ones?”

I started to shake my head, but then stopped. I had heard those words spoken once before. “Ezravaynia said something about the Ancient Ones, but I didn’t really understand what or whom she was referring to.”

“They are a much older civilization. One that vastly predates the creation of the Three Realms. They were the first to come up with structures such as this one—using them for their own entertainment. They would throw different souls into the arenas and have them participate in trials, some that were of the mind, others that were to show off strength or skill.”

I took a moment to take all that in. Turning to him, I asked, “How is it that you know so much of these . . . Ancient Ones?”

“I have one locked in the lowest level of the Spirit Realm,” he said with a simple shrug.

The hinges in my jaw sprung open. “Sorry, what?”

“A story for another time. We’ve got company.” His gaze shifted to our left, towards an open arched doorway.