Page 231 of A Kingdom of Wild and Power
So he returned, again and again, hoping perhaps to help the god with the eternally sorrowful eyes.
But this time, the world seemed determined to mock him.
It always did that, he had begun to realise. The moment he made peace with something, the moment he finally settled his mind… the world twisted everything apart again.
Kage halted at the entrance to the prison.
Zagreus was not seated upon his throne of skulls as he so often was, staring into the endless nothing with that quiet, distant superiority of his.
No.
This time the god sat upon the black volcanic earth itself, his body slumped against the side of the great white wolf.
At first the sight merely seemed unusual. Then it almost looked peaceful—two lonely creatures sharing the silence of a forgotten place. But when Kage saw the wolf’s blue eyes…
When he noticed the creature’s laboured panting and the sorrow glimmering in its expression…
He knew something was terribly wrong.
Kage approached slowly and stopped a few paces away, leaving a careful distance between them, as though stepping any closer might allow their sorrow to seep into him and drag him beneath its weight.
‘Wren went with Mal to Hell,’ Zagreus said quietly, without lifting his head. His hand moved slowly over the wolf’s white fur, stroking it with absent tenderness. ‘She returned not long ago and collapsed. She won’t get up… She can hardly breathe.’
As if to confirm the words, the great white wolf let out a soft, pitiful whimper.
Zagreus’ shoulders tightened.
‘She’s dying,’ he said, his voice breaking on the last word.
The tenderness in the god’s voice startled Kage.
Zagreus was many things; cold and distant, but this quiet grief was something Kage had never expected to hear from him.
The words themselves unsettled him even more.
Wren was already dead.
She could not die twice.
And yet the truth was stranger than that. Wren had been reborn into the valkyrian named Ylva, while the fragment of her soul that had once been Wren had taken form here in the Underworld as the great white wolf that now lay trembling beside Zagreus.
If Wren was dying…
Kage slowly glanced up towards the vast darkness stretching above the prison.
A terrible suspicion crept through him.
Something was very wrong.
‘It’s all right, Wren,’ he said softly, shoving his hands deep into his pockets to hide the way his fingers had curled into tight fists. ‘I’ll find out what’s happening.’
Zagreus looked up, those mismatched eyes shining with fragile hope.
‘I’ll be back.’ Kage turned away before Zagreus could speak. He refused to say goodbye.
Goodbyes carried a terrible finality. And he was not ready for that, not yet.
No.
