He had, the day I’d come to plead for Callista’s memories. I just hadn’t understood what it meant, at the time.
Charon opened the box, revealing two gleaming coins. “I don’t understand either of you. The trade failed, yet the Acheron returned what was taken.” He extended the box toward Callista. “But perhaps the blessing of your death-touched blood overpowered that, Callista. It doesn’t matter to me. I don’t determine outcomes. I only offer choices and exchanges.”
Callista took the coins with trembling fingers. I knew exactly what she was thinking about. That day, when she’d confidently lain on Charon’s altar, and offered her memories in exchange for the bride market. That day, when she’d almost lost what we’d begun to build.
I couldn’t allow her to stay here any longer. “Aion, we’re leaving,” I said as she closed her fist around the metal. “I’ll try to visit again soon. As for you, ferryman… Stay away from my mate.”
Hand in hand with Callista, I turned away from Charon. He called out to me before we could leave the workshop. “She’s not your mate yet.”
I pivoted back on my heel, snarling. His glowing blue eyes fixed on me with an intensity that made my fur stand on end. “You two are really a great match for each other. Getting angry at me, when I’m only revealing facts. Your threads aren’t entwined, and you know it.”
I couldn’t help but flinch. It was true. I hadn’t wanted to rush Callista, not after everything that had happened. But we still needed to complete our ceremony, the final step that would bring us together.
“Father, please…” Aion tried to step in.
“No, son, they have to understand,” Charon continued, undeterred. “The lake doesn’t fail, Theron. It knows and it reveals. Every moment of joy she possessed connected to your bond. Even at the end, the Acheron showed you what you meanto each other. Don’t waste what was returned. Don’t waste what Thanatos blessed.”
Callista’s hold on my hand tightened. The coins pressed between our palms, warm and pulsing with light. “We won’t,” she said quietly.
We won’t,the beast inside me agreed. And I knew there was nothing I wouldn’t do to complete that vow.
The Stygian Docks bore no signs of my furious rampage from just a week ago. The basalt felt solid and unmarked, as if I’d never torn through it. Charon’s obsidian altar stood at the pier’s end, its surface smooth and whole again.
It had never occurred to me to question the reason why these things happened in Asphodelia, why things could never truly wither away. I’d always assumed it was solely because of Thanatos’s blessing. I hadn’t been exactly wrong, but the answer had been more complicated all along.
Callista walked to the edge and sat down, letting her legs dangle over the water. The stone was cold enough that I felt it through my fur when I settled beside her. Her fist remained closed around the coins Charon had returned, their glow seeping between her fingers.
“So... The lake. It all comes down to that.” She stared out at the Acheron’s dark surface. The water stretched before us, pitch black and perfectly still except where it met the pier’s edge.
“Apparently,” I answered. “Does that bother you?” I didn’t know what to make of it myself, and I’d lived in Asphodelia all my life. My mate had every right to be frustrated and confused.
But Callista just shrugged. “I don’t know. If Charon’s telling the truth… Apparently, you wouldn’t be here if not for this lake. Or at least, for the power that created it.”
“But you’re still angry.”
“Of course I’m angry.” She opened her hand, studying the pulsing amber light. “Charon made a mistake and pushed you past your breaking point. Then he blamed you and acted like the consequences were inevitable.”
“They were inevitable.” The admission came easier than I’d expected. “I would have done anything to get your memories back.”
“Even if it meant losing yourself?” She turned to face me, almost as fierce in her tone as she had been when challenging Charon. “Even if it meant becoming something that could destroy everything you care about?”
The question hung between us like a blade. Below, water lapped against the stone pilings in a steady rhythm.
“Yes.”
“That terrifies me.” She shuddered, pulling her knees up toward her chest. “Not because of what you might do, but because of what it costs you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I won’t lie. Seeing Enyo die like she did… It hurt. I came to care for her, by the end. But I understand what happened. I respect it.” Callista bit her lower lip, suddenly looking so much smaller. “But, Theron… She just vanished. What if you do, too?”
All of the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place. This had never been about Charon, not really. Not for the first time, I cursed my own inability to protect her. Asphodelia should have welcomed her, shown her just how precious she was. Instead, it had almost destroyed her.
“I dream about you disappearing.” The confession escaped her in a rush. “Like Enyo did. Unraveling into threads of light until there’s nothing left.”
“I won’t ever disappear, Callista.” I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her against my chest, away from the edge of the pier. “You’re my everything. You always have been. Nothing in any realm could make me leave you.”
She didn’t answer, and I knew what she was thinking. That I’d left once. Pushed away by Phonos’s machinations.
