Page 246 of A Kingdom of Wild and Power
If she struck now, if she gave in to the fury clawing at her ribs, she would not only lose Ash.
She would lose Kai.
And the thought of that, of losing the one person who had managed to anchor her, however imperfectly, caught in her throat like glass.
But then, what had all of this been for? All the years. The pain. The obedience. The blood she had spilt at Hagan’s command.
It had all led here.
To this moment. To Ash Acheron.
Dawn exhaled slowly, the breath trembling as it left her.
Not today. Perhaps she was a coward. Or perhaps… she was not yet ready to decide which part of herself would win.
With reluctance that tasted bitter on her tongue, she lowered her hand. The magic dissipated into nothing.
Hesitantly, she slipped her hand into Kai’s, his grip warm and steady around her own. She let him lead her forward into the shadowed mouth of the castle, and away from Ash, whose smile lingered behind her like something that refused to fade.
I wonder what would happen if Hades gets his way and creates the God-Killer.
If all the gods vanish…What will happen to the kingdoms?
Tabitha Wysteria
Mal did not know how long she had drifted beneath the water.
At first, panic had seized her, sharp and suffocating, clawing at her chest as though she might drown not from the water, but from fear itself. Yet slowly, almost imperceptibly, that terror softened… then faded entirely.
In its place came warmth.
A strange, enveloping warmth that wrapped around her like a cocoon, lulling her into stillness. The weight of the depths no longer felt like a prison, but a sanctuary.
And with time, she stopped fighting.
She let herself sink into it.
Into the silence. Into the comfort.
Into the absence of everything.
The world above began to blur, then to vanish altogether. Wars dissolved into nothing. Gods became distantechoes. The sharp ache of betrayal—the knowledge that every soul she had ever trusted had lied to her—dulled, then slipped away entirely.
Mal closed her eyes.
And drifted.
She forgot the world that had stolen Haven from her, that had torn Kage from her side, that had taken her mother and left only ghosts in her wake.
She forgot the world that had forced her to leave her own child behind, hidden away with Vera and Allegra, out of reach of divine cruelty.
She forgot it all.
And so Mal drifted, weightless and unburdened, letting the darkness cradle her as though she had never belonged anywhere else.
Mal found herself dreaming.
A soft, beguiling dream of a world where nothing had gone wrong. Where it was only her, Ash, and their daughter. No gods. No curses. No bloodshed. Just quiet days and gentle laughter, a life untouched by ruin.
