Page 44 of The Blade in the Ashes
The spell that kept me focused on Caldrius broke as Hyrax lurched forward, composure cracking and face reddening as he yelled, “It is not my honor in question!”
Once again, I flinched, a memory forcing itself upon me.
“This is how you speak of your Gods?”
Shattering bone.
The Dragon’s screams.
The metallic smell of blood was all around me.
I swallowed down the rising bile in my throat. He was doing this for me. He was torturing them for me.
“I don’t want this, Hyrax.”
He was out of his mind. He was going to kill them for not realizing he wanted a temple built for me. As if I even cared about that at all! As if I valued a building more than the lives that now hung in the balance.
His gaze locked on mine. “As my true-born daughter, you deserve it. It is not just I who they should be worshipping.”
Kamon turned, understanding dawning on his features. He stared at my chest, the unmarked skin free of the Bident we’d once painted there to mark me as a Descendant of Hyrax.
Only I wasn’t simply a Descendant of Hyrax.
“Of course,” Kamon agreed a bit breathlessly. “We will build temples to you as well, Your Holiness. Temples to worship the Goddess Theadora.”
Hyrax grinned, a slow, insidious kind of expression that made my blood run cold.
“Good,” he turned, climbing back towards his throne and sitting himself upon it. He stretched out his arms, resting one on each side and looking far taller than was natural for any man.
He wasn’t a man.
He wasn’t just any God either.
Hyrax was a High God, and I’d been foolish to think that being his daughter meant I would be safe from him.
“Theadora.” Steely eyes, mirrors to my own, bore down upon me. “Don’t you think it would be polite to thank me for ensuring that you receive proper adoration?”
Damon was shaking in my lap.
No.
Damon wasn’t shaking; I was.
“Y-yes,” I stuttered, sounding as hollow as I felt. “Thank you.”
“Thank you,what?” Shadows danced in the planes of his face.
“Thank you, father.”
Chapter Thirteen
Clay
Ifelt painfully aware that I was dreaming, and yet I couldn’t help but enjoy the bliss of the delusion.
Because dreams were the only place where I could have her with me.
Soft pink lips pressed to mine. Thick golden hair tangled between my knuckles. Breathy sighs surrounded me.
