As I knelt, Lachesis approached Callista, her robes swishing without noise. “You chose Hellhound Theron over your superior suitors, Phonos and Loxias. Tell me, bride of Agrion, what do you see in our harvester?”
Even challenged by Lachesis herself, Callista didn’t back down. Her voice was trembling, but she stood her ground. Her courage took my breath away.
“I see someone who risked everything he personally owned,” she answered. “I see sacrifice and commitment. Doesn’t that mean more than any amount of coin in the world? Isn’t his dedication worth far more than a treasury?”
Shocked murmurs rippled through the crowd. She’d just faced Lachesis and stood her ground. This went beyond being simply death-touched. Only those truly worthy of Thanatos’s grace could do such a thing.
A smile played at the corners of Lachesis’s mouth. “Then let the threads be measured accordingly, child.” She twisted her wrist and her rod appeared in her hand. “Hellhound Theron, approach the stage,” she ordered, pointing at me. “Your work for Asphodelia has earned you the bride’s attention.”
The idea that I still had a chance was almost too much to fathom. Aion practically had to pull me upright and snap me out of my shock. “Go, Theron. Go.”
Never had I been more thankful for my friend’s partial immunity to the Moirae. Still dazed, I moved through the stunned crowd. Monsters parted before me, creating a path toward the stage.
Lachesis watched Callista with indulgent eyes, no doubt already knowing what was going to happen. My beautiful mate didn’t disappoint. She barely glanced at Loxias and Phonos before stepping toward me. “I choose him.”
Phonos released a sound that, if louder, would have been a death screech. He clenched his fists, his talons digging into his flesh and drawing blood. As for Loxias… If he was surprised, he didn’t show it. He knew better.
Callista reached for my hand and entwined our fingers. “It is for him that I traded my memory. Not anyone else. It was always going to be him.”
Her touch sent fire through my veins, and the soul bond recognition flared between us like lightning. She was mine. Not because I’d bought her at the market, but because she’d chosen to be.
Lachesis said nothing, but she nodded in approval. The simple gesture sent ripples of power through the agora, and Phix finally recovered from her trance. “The choice is made!” she cried out. “Let the claiming ceremony commence!”
The crowd began to cheer, but I caught Phonos’s furious glare and Loxias’s fathomless stare. They wouldn’t accept this defeat easily or gracefully.
It didn’t matter. They’d already lost. Callista had chosen me, and nothing they could say or do would change that.
Chapter 5
Theron's Den
Callista
Hisdenfeltlikecoming home.
It was strange of me to think that. I barely remembered what “home” even meant. I certainly hadn’t deemed Agrion worthy of the word, not with my secret always looming over me like a specter.
But when I walked into Theron’s quarters, I knew. This carved sanctuary felt different, genuine, protective, mine. The sunken fire pit blazed in the center, casting shadows over the rough-hewn walls. Bright asphodel flowers bloomed in every corner, their warmth reaching for me the way no living thing ever had.
My bare feet sank into the thick pelts covering the floor. “This is where you live.”
“This is wherewe’lllive.” He turned toward me, his eyes alight with something that made my stomach flip. “Together.”
The correction shouldn’t have meant so much. I’d spent three years as Agrion’s weaver, always hiding, always alone and afraid. I’d fled my own village under the weight of my curse. Now this otherworldly Cerberus spoke of togetherness and permanence so easily. It was almost too much to bear.
Something about the air here settled into my bones, as though the space itself recognized me. I brushed my fingers over one of the flowers, and the bloom leaned into my touch. I couldn’t contain my gasp. “This… What’s happening?”
“The death energy recognizes you,” Theron said, noticing my wonder. “The asphodels always seek the presence of the death-touched.”
Iaso had told me about death energy, how it sustained this city and how only those like me could survive it. I’d never sensed it so clearly before.
It should have scared me, like it had in the infirmary. It didn’t. “It feels... Welcoming.”
“Because you belong here,” he told me simply. “With me.”
I believed him. How could I not? He anchored me in ways I hadn’t deemed possible. And yet… I stepped away from the flowers, trembling. “I don’t know what I am anymore.”
A few days ago, I’d almost died believing myself worthless and cursed. Tonight, I stood in the den of a beast who’d dragged me from the edge of death itself. Everything about my existence had transformed beyond recognition.
