Blood of Two Crowns (Hallowed Fates #2)

Chapter 60

Chapter

Sixty

MALEKAI

T his was going to be fucking challenging. Only a few minutes had passed since Val, Mareina, and Nakoa had surfaced to Atratus, and already I was pacing a hole in the fucking floor.

What if Zurie frees Azrael as he freed her?

Lathrimos had remained with me and was now frowning as he watched from the still doorless entry of Mors’ home.

“There has to be a way.”

Lathrimos’ frown deepened, still mourning the absence of his best friend. “For?”

“What would happen if I were to try and leave Avernus?”

Lathrimos’ face paled as if the mere idea is born of nightmares. “It is forbidden.”

The only way I was able to keep the volume of my voice below a roar was to speak through clenched teeth. “Azrael could be killing the only two people in this entire world that I love. Even if Zurie’s synchronous visit to the palace is merely a coincidence—there will be other occasions when they will need me to protect them. I will not stay here for the rest of eternity praying for their safety.”

Lathrimos’ face hardened in a way that enabled me to see him through a different lens. “I don’t think you understand… If you cross that threshold between Avernus and Bellorum… You could become something else. Something other. You have a body in this realm. An immortal one. If you try to go to the living realm, your soul would remain here but it would be set adrift. Like a ship without a captain or an anchor. And this physical form…”

I held my breath as Lathrimos scrubbed a hand down his face. “You would become a soulless monster?—

I huffed a mirthless laugh, cutting him off. “A little late for that...”

The scowl that Lathrimos burned into should have set me aflame.

—driven solely by an insatiable hunger. The people and things that matter to you now will be nothing compared to the need you have to feed. Blood will become your sole source of sustenance.”

My eyes narrowed with doubt. “So you’re saying I’ll become a sanguinati?”

The curling of Lathrimos’ lip told me I’d just said something monumentally stupid.

“You’ll become a demon. The worst of their kind. A Syfaro Vescor.”

I gave a noncommittal grunt. “Never heard of him.”

Lathrimos rolled his eyes. “ A soul-eater.”

Ah. Right.

Perhaps, it would be better to try and entertain some other options. I didn’t know much about them because they were such a rare entity, but what I had heard and seen in illustrations or paintings was… unsettling.

I’d nearly been prepared to dive through that threshold.

Still…

Lathrimos strode over to me, wearing a compassionate look as his gigantic hand on my shoulder. “She’s a Goddess of Death. She’ll be fine. They wiped his memory with the River Oblivion… there’s no way Azrael would be able to overpower her or Nakoa without the memories of his magic.”

“Do you have a library? Did Mors, I mean?”

Lathirmos’ eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Why do you ask?”

I glared back. “You already know. Humor me.”

After a longsuffering sigh and a few long moments of internal deliberating, Lathrimos finally relented.

“There’s one at the palace.”

“Palace?”

“Mors moved out of it after he married Soteira and built this place... 600 or so years ago.”

“Does anyone reside there now?”

“Palace staff. Some of Mors’ friends, if they haven’t all chosen to reincarnate already.”

“Does Mareina know?”

Another nod.

“And she doesn’t have any interest in living there?”

Lathrimos gave me a guilty look. “Nakoa only knew of this place, and he came frequently searching for her… I think she…”

Realization washed over me. My precious tessari mú. She must have been so heartbroken and torn.

“She was waiting for him…”

Lathrimos shifted a little uncomfortably as though the very idea of discussing Mareina behind her back made his skin crawl.

“Would you mind showing it to me?”

Lathrimos huffs. “You might want to shift into your drakonati form, though. Otherwise, I’d have to carry you.”

I gave a thoughtful hum as if I were actually deliberating which was the better option.

There was no fucking way I was going to risk shifting into my drakonati form and getting stuck in it again.

I failed to stifle my grin as an image of Lathrimos soaring through the sky whilst carrying me in his arms like a bride entered my mind.

Lathrimos’ jaw drops. “You are joking?”