“‘Make me a king,’ pleaded a boy called Erris. ‘Make me as high as my brother. Make me mean something to him.’
“‘What will you give?’ asked the god’s Shadow.
“‘My life. My time. My heart.’
“‘Then you shall be king,’ said the Shadow.
“The god did not like what his Shadow had done, but the Shadow slinked round him, easing his sorrow. ‘How dare a man resent the will of the gods? It is why his brother was made king, and he was not.’
“And the god understood the truth in his Shadow’s words, but still sometimes he looked into the mirror that showed Erris on his throne, king of nothing, ruler of no one, all the years of his life robbed away, and more. The god mourned. But he could not undo the things that his Shadow had done in his name.
“As the centuries spun away, the god forgot it was his Shadow who had done it at all. He imagined himself on the mountaintop, making a cruel bargain with Erris that Erris did not understand.
“And so he came to blame himself wholly, and the Shadow stayed.
“More and more, the god’s Shadow left him alone in the Circle of Sorrow to go out and do his bidding in the world. More and more the god sent him, more and more the god wished him back.
“And when one day the god’s Shadow whispered in his ear that the world was dying, that the Circles were closing and the earth fracturing apart, the Shadow offered him a solution, a chance at freedom, at absolution for everything he’d done. He only needed to find someone, to findno oneto take his place. Because the god was the only one who could heal the world.
“Rudion knew that. He slipped into the Circle of Time and looked into the future. He saw Niren, the chosen Bearer of Souls. He saw Eda, who was unimportant but strong, and he knew he’d found the one to take the god’s place. The god agreed. For even though he had meant, in his heart of hearts, to pay an eternity for his crime of bringing death into the world, he longed for freedom. He longed to be rid of his chains, to walk in the winds of Endahr and be joined at last, at last, to Raiva, who held his heart in her hands.
“And so he told Rudion to bring the girl to him. After all, she was nobody. She didn’t matter.
“And yet.
“The god watched her grow up. Saw her joys and her sorrows. So many sorrows. And he pitied her, but he could not turn back from his path. Because without her, all the world would die.
“It was just that one should suffer so that the world could live.
“The god would make that choice, if he could. He longed to make that choice.
“But instead he watched as her parents died. As she made a deal with his Shadow. As she grew up and seized the Empire his shadow self had promised her.
“And he watched as his Shadow stole her friend into death, the one she had bargained away without meaning to.
“He watched as the man she loved betrayed her for his Shadow.
“He watched and he watched and he watched.
“And at last.
“At last, you came.”
Eda blinked, coming wholly back to herself in the Circle of Sorrow, the spell woven by Tuer’s story suddenly broken. “Why did you tell me all that?”
“So you would know everything.”
“So I would pity you,” she spat.
Tuer shook his head. “I mourn the pain you suffered on my account. I mourn the things my Shadow did to you. But he succeeded in doing what I asked of him. He brought you here. And now that you are here, now that you know the whole of the truth, you must choose. What will you do? Time grows short. Soon my Shadow and his fellow spirits will devour the world, and there will be no choice left for you to make. Choose.”
Eda flicked her eyes to the mirrors, to the god who crouched before her. Her fury sharpened. She did pity Tuer, pitied him as much as she reviled him. Like she pitied and reviled herself.
“Choose, little one. Before time is gone.”
“I will not be bound by your chains,” said Eda. “I choose to live. But I will not leave the world to perish because of your mistakes.”
Tuer shook his head. “You cannot make that choice.”
