“I would never?—”
“I watched you,” I shouted. “You killed me. Some game between you and Ezra, one life after another, you’ve been killing me. The voices…” I plunged my hands into my hair pulling as the Remnants swirled around me and voices of my past lives, all of them whispered one over the top of the other so I couldn’t hear a thing, couldn’t think straight enough to string thoughts together.
I love you, too.
I will protect you.
I will break you.
Burn the realms.
Let them fall.
Dance with me.
Trust me.
We loved him too, Huntress.Sylvie crooned.All of us loved him. And he broke us. We are what’s left of everything he broke because we were too weak to say no to him. We will be your strength. Put your mask on.
I felt myself sinking into the shifting ground more than saw it beyond the shadows that were building and building. I needed control. I needed absolute control. But I wasn’t stronger than Sylvie. I could feel her smile in my mind. Could see her pushing me further into the pit of madness.
“Enough,” I heard him roar outside the wall.
Had I spoken aloud? Repeated them? I did that sometimes.
“Fight back, Paesha. Find yourself in there and fight it. Remember me. I’veneverbeen the one to kill you. It’s always been him. You die in my arms every fucking time, but not at my hands. Remember.” His voice broke. “Please.”
All of my past lives emboldened the Remnants as they whipped past me like angry wraiths, swirling and threatening. They knew I was weak for him. Because they had been too. But their anger had festered. And they didn’t believe his innocence.
“You’re not supposed to forget, but you forgot them. Didn’t you? You forgot and it tastes like broken flames,” I said, my voice drifting in and out like static. The Remnants twisted around me as I stared into the darkness, my eyes tracking movements only I could see. I quieted. “They move differently here. Can you feel them watching us? Waiting?”
“Who, Paesha?” Thorne stepped closer, cautious. “There’s no one here.”
I laughed. “Everyone is here.” My gaze snapped to a point over his shoulder. “Quiet. She’s trying to tell me something important.”
“Who is?”
“Who is what?” I tilted my head, listening. “She says you taste like betrayal when you bleed. Is that true?”
Thorne tensed. “Paesha, you need to?—”
“The Remnants want to play with your memories,” I interrupted, my focus jumping erratically. “They’re so hungry for something real. Something divine.” I reached out, fingers tracing invisible patterns in the air between us. “I could let them. Just for a moment. To see what happens.”
“Look at me,” he demanded.
My eyes met his, but they weren’t quite focused. “I see you. I see all of you. Past and present and future, bleeding into each other like watercolors. Oh! Rain.” My voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “Do you know what happens when gods forget themselves? When their stories unravel? Someone showed me. It’s beautiful and terrible.”
The shadows pulsed around us as I stepped closer.
“We should break you open,” I said conversationally. “Just a little crack to let the light in. To see what’s true.” My fingers reached for his face, trembling slightly. “They’re screaming so loudly, Thorne. All the things you’ve loved and lost.”
My expression suddenly cleared, vulnerability flashing across my face, though I could hardly see him beyond the mass of shadows swirling around me like a wind storm. “Help me. They won’t stop talking. They won’t—” Then just as quickly, the moment was gone, replaced by an eerie smile. “But we’ll be fine, won’t we? We’ll find Irri together. We’ll fix everything. Trust me. It’s dark here.”
Thorne punched through the darkness like a beam of light, refusing to let my power keep him away. He threw his arms around me, and the voices screamed and screamed in my mind. They ripped at his clothes, pulled at his skin, but still he held me.
“I remember every single one of them,” he said, his voice raw as he held me tighter. “Every smile, every tear, every moment of joy and heartbreak. I loved them all. That was never a lie. I loved them completely, wholly, with everything I was. Each one was precious, perfect, irreplaceable.”
The Remnants tore at him, but still he didn’t let go. His power pulsed against mine, not fighting but supporting, holding me up as I struggled against the madness.
