"You're not ready for this."
Raihan sounded hoarse, but strong, as he clutched Lian Yue to his chest. Under her cheek, his pulse thudded, hard and fast.
The sound of it drowned him out.
The Gate.
It throbbed like a living wound in the air, huge and oozing bloody threads that were too much like muscle and blood. The ground beneath it fractured with every beat, and the wind cut cold as the void beyond.
Something was coming through.
No—someone.
Lian Yue staggered to stand up. "What is that thing?"
"The Gate of Reaping," Raihan supplied darkly. 'The Death Court uses it to send their hunters to the living.'
"Why now?"
"Because you're awake. Because they sensed you." He stared at her soulstone, which was gold against her flesh. "Because they want you dead."
Lian Yue's knees trembled. The voice that had thundered in her brain still reverberated, like a death knell:
"The Reaping begins."
Out of the Gate strode the figure of bone and black silk, his features concealed behind a face of silver death. But when Lian Yue met his eyes—two pools of smoking darkness—she knew.
He wasn't a man.
He was something ancient. Something made to kill gods.
"The Mourner," Raihan muttered.
The air was thickening as the Mourner advanced.
Around him, grass died. Trees blackened. The very stars in the sky appeared to lose their radiance.
He came to a halt ten feet away from them and drawled, "The heretic goddess has risen. She is going to be executed."
Lian Yue straightened. "I'm not a goddess."
The Mourner tilted his head. "Not anymore."
He waved a bony hand and the air became icy.
And before Lian Yue could respond Raihan pushed her behind him and exerted himself. Shadows flowed from his hands, wrapping them in a skein of smoke and obsidian fire.
The Mourner didn't so much as flinch. He waved his hand—
And Raihan's shield was broken like glass.
They were thrown back by the impact. Lian Yue's ears rang. Her bones ached. Raihan groaned next to her, the sound of blood dripping from his mouth.
"You cannot oppose him," growled Raihan. "Not yet."
"But I can't run."
"Try this instead," he spat, guiding the belt through her grasp. "Reach inside the soulstone. Invoke the light in your blood."
"I don't know how!"
"You don't need to know. You need to feel."
The Mourner was coming.
Lian Yue's panic spiraled. Her body shook. Her vision blurred—
But Raihan's hand on hers soothed her.
She closed her eyes.
Feel.
She reached.
And her soul burned.
---
The world went white.
She was standing in a field of gold, stars swirling around her head like a crown.
And at the center of it all was a woman.
Her.
Celestine.
But it was different this time. No longer in the war robes or the drenched power. She wore white. Her eyes were soft. Her face… mournful.
"You came," she whispered.
"I didn't mean to."
"You did. "Because deep down, you want to know."
Lian Yue stepped closer. "Who was I?"
Her right hand shone, and with an exhale, the stars above sang.
A memory played in the sky.
Of a girl with the light of the gods. Of a Court that feared her. Of a shadow man who worshipped her as if she were deliverance itself.
Of betrayal. Of war. Of confining what could not be killed.
"You shattered your soul to save the world," Celestine said. "And him."
Lian Yue's voice cracked. "But I caused so much death."
"And now, you have a chance to reimagine it."
The field faded.
---
On the other side of the world, Lian Yue opened her eyes.
Golden light erupted from her soulstone. Her body rose off the floor.
Raihan looked up at her, his eyes growing wide. "By the stars..."
The Mourner halted.
The brazen voice of Lian Yue resounded like a bell: "You will not have me!"
And the air shivered at a gesture of her wrist.
Light exploded.
The golden fire ripped through the Mourner, who screamed.
His mask cracked.
His body staggered.
But he didn't fall.
He laughed.
"You've stirred only a portion. I am death incarnate. I will not die."
With a snarl, he lunged—
But Raihan was there riding him, and his sword met skeletal claws in mid-flight.
"RUN!" Raihan roared.
Lian Yue didn't want to. Every cell in her body was begging her to stay, fight, protect him.
But if she was dead, she could not protect him.
She whirled and ran, golden light still spinning about her, the Gate throbbing behind her as if it were a vile enchantment.
She never stopped until the forest took her.
---
Hours passed. Or maybe only minutes.
She blundered into a desecrated shrine, deep in the woods. Cracked stone. Ancient sigils. Sense of incense of old cold.
She threw herself inside and panted.
"I'm losing my mind," she murmured to herself.
"No," came a feminine voice, a soft one. "You're just now remembering it."
She jumped.
A woman emerged from the shadows. Pale, pearly iridescent light, dusky mouthed, fleshy and flabbergasted, the male baby was, And a baby was for ages to be to moons and roses!
"I've been observing you," she said. "Since the stars moved."
"Who are you?"
"A seer. A liar. A lover of fates." The woman smiled. "But for you? I'm a guide."
"A guide to what?"
The woman knelt beside her.
"To your past. To your future. And to the truth about Raihan."
Lian Yue's blood chilled. "What truth?"
The woman leaned in.
And whispered—
"He never quit loving Celestine. And you never should have woken."
---
As the shrine door banged to Ii Lian Yue froze in his spot.
And, from behind her, a voice for which she was not prepared, growled:
"I told you to run."
She turned.
Raihan stood in the doorway.
Covered in blood.
And his eyes were his eyes no more.
They glowed black.
-