Page 44 of Bought By the Manticore

He was right. We were both broken in different ways, and we were both monsters of Asphodelia. If I’d been in his position, I might have acted the same way.

“You knew it was me in that room,” I said. “You thought I was a starving beast who had finally given in to his curse, and stepped in the way. You’re right, Eryx. I do not blame you for protecting my mate.”

“But she does. And it is to her that Iaso and I both owe an apology.”

Eryx turned his blindfolded face toward Ianthe. “I took an oath to protect the dying, and I thought the draught would spare you pain. Instead, I nearly destroyed the only cure you ever had. I stripped you of your choice. For my arrogance, and for the agony I caused you both, I am terribly sorry.”

Iaso let out a shuddering breath. “You have my apology as well. We should have listened to you when you told us what you wanted. We just couldn’t see Skaros the way you did.”

I looked down at Ianthe. When I was trapped in the dirt, I had wanted to tear Eryx’s throat out for the freezing draught he had forced on her. But I didn’t need to fight this battle for her. Beneath my hand, she was completely steady. She didn’t tremble. She didn’t shrink back against my chest.

She rested her hand flat against my fur, her fingers curling slightly as she looked at the blindfolded Gorgon. “You were blind to the truth,” she said slowly. “But the sickness is gone, Eryx. We won’t need the wards again. And what you did… It’s in the past.”

I felt a fierce, burning pride radiate through my chest. I stared at the two healers, letting the heavy weight of my gaze press down on them.

“You heard my mate,” I rumbled, the gravel in my voice smoothing out. “Just keep your potions away from Ianthe, healer, and the ledger is settled.”

“You have my word,” Eryx said quietly. He offered a faint smile and took a step back, giving us the space we had fought to carve out in this city.

Ianthe turned her face up toward mine. I pressed my muzzle against her cheek. “Let’s go home,” I murmured.

I folded my leathery wing around her shoulders, shielding her from the cold draft. Together, we walked away from the Kratos Circle, leaving the roaring crowd and the healers behind.

It was over—and it was time to rest.

Epilogue

Ianthe & Eryx

The young woman had arrived two nights earlier from a northern province of the Korinos Wilds.

She stood beside me in the shadowed alcove overlooking the Agora of Echoes. The dark Asphodelian silk hung loosely over her narrow frame. I knew her story because it was a common one. She had caught a winter sickness and survived, but the illness had left her barren. The woodland clans valued only women who could bear children, so they had simply packed up their camp and left her behind in the snow.

She had walked to the lake, paid the Ferryman’s toll, and chosen Asphodelia.

Today, she had to face the Bride Market.

Down in the underground amphitheater, the air was thick with the heat of the bronze braziers and the restless energy of the crowd. Hundreds of bidders packed the carved galleries. They shifted their bulk, their guttural rumbles vibrating up through the stone floorboards.

The young woman gripped the edge of our stone archway, her knuckles turning white. She stared at a scaled brute in the closest tier as he fidgeted impatiently, his unblinking eyes locked on our alcove.

I stepped closer, covering her cold hands with my own.

“Look past their size,” I told her, pitching my voice softly to slip beneath the noise of the cavern. “The Blighted Ones are more than what they seem.”

She blinked, tearing her gaze away from the brute to look at me. “They haven’t stopped staring.”

I pressed my palms flat over her hands, offering her the anchor she needed. “They use their death crystals to prove they have the strength to harvest. They’ll want to show they can provide for you in a world that cast you out.”

She swallowed hard and bit her lower lip in obvious anxiety.

“But the crystals don’t mean anything, not for you,” I continued, making sure she heard every syllable. “Every monster out there is bound by the law of the Moirae. They offer. You make the finalchoice. You hold the power. Just like in the bride markets in Korinos.”

Out on the central stage, Phix rose to her full height. The sphinx stretched her golden wings, and the low growls faded into a tense, expectant silence.

I let go of the girl’s hands and stepped back into the shadows.

The young bride took a slow, deep breath. She smoothed her palms down the front of her silk tunic. Without looking back, she stepped out of the alcove and walked into the bright light of the braziers to join the sphinx.