Page 206 of A Kingdom of Wild and Power
Mal refused to let her thoughts stray to Makaria—her sister, trapped within this very ring because of her. She would not allow guilt to rise. She would not allow herself to feel anything at all.
‘No,’ Mal replied evenly. ‘I have not.’
Livyatan chuckled, the sound cracking through the air like lightning splitting the heavens.
‘I have come to visit another king of Hell,’ Mal continued. ‘The one named Lucifer.’
A silence fell over the beach. It was thick and heavy. Almost suffocating.
For a moment Mal wondered whether the ancient creature had even heard her.
Then his voice returned, darker than before.
‘You should not seek that king.’
‘Why not?’
Livyatan did not answer.
Mal glanced back over her shoulder towards the cliffs, where the small keep stood nestled between the pale stone.
‘Why does that place resemble the one in the mortal world so closely?’ she asked.
The great beast laughed again, a low, rumbling sound.
‘Do you know what we are, child of Hades?’
‘The kings of Hell.’
‘But do you knowwhat we were before?’
Mal stiffened. She glanced briefly at Wren, who only shrugged in helpless confusion.
‘You were angels of the Sun God,’ Mal said.
Livyatan’s laughter rose again, deep and ancient.
‘Yes. We were his warriors. His messengers. We fought his wars. We carried his will into battles against other gods.’
‘What happened?’
This time Livyatan did not laugh.
He seemed to grow strangely still, thoughtful. Mal had the odd impression that if such a creature were capable of sighing, he would have done so then.
‘He fell in love,’ Livyatan said slowly, ‘with a goddess who did not love him in return. The goddess Nyx loved another.’
‘Who?’
‘The one known as Lucifer.’
Mal felt her body tense.
‘When the Sun God discovered the truth,’ Livyatan continued, his voice echoing like distant thunder across the silent shore, ‘he commanded us to destroy Lucifer, one of our own.’
The great serpent shifted slightly in the water, the vast coils of his body stirring the dark sea.
‘We searched for them everywhere. For Nyx. For Lucifer. We hunted them across realms, prepared to slaughter our own brother in the name of obedience.’ His voice deepened. ‘But then we discovered that Nyx carried a child.’
