"That's the metal works, where the damned build the blades of the Underworld," I point out the low-hanging, dull grey buildings covered in soot.

"An ironworks?" Thane asks. "It's... necessary here?"

I shrug. "All I know is that our blades take metal. It's more metal than what you would use in the above... down here things are different."

Thane nods, his sharp grey eyes taking everything in. He's been examining the city ever since we were marched through the great bronze doors into the Palace of Irkalla. It's his way of dealing with the anxiety of waiting while I pace and curse under my breath.

"Where do you think Mara is?" I ask Thane.

"In the above, in Tmari, Lios," Thane replies calmly.

"Where? She's alone, isn't she? I can fucking feel it, can't you?"

"Yes, I can," he murmurs.

I heave a breath of pure anger, "Is she hurting, Thane? Is she scared?"

"Most likely," he says quietly.

"Fuck you. How can you be so fucking calm?" I growl at him.

"I'm not calm!" he roars suddenly, spinning around with murder in his eyes.

A knock on the door signals yet another intruder to this barren chamber one the outer walls of the Palace.

Thane visibles reigns himself in. "She is alone, Lios. Alone, hurting, and scared. And there is not a fucking thing we can do but wait and try to entice Urto into a fight with us, understand?"

"The Death god could maybe-"

"He already told us that the doors are closed. He's not even speaking to us because his Queen detests us. Mostly me," he admits in a raw tone.

The knocking comes again.

"There has to be something, Thane. Anything," I'm beyond pride, desperation making me beg my brother for a fucking miracle.

"We have to concentrate on our task, Lios."

"So we just wait for her to die and ignore her suffering? You think that's a good plan? You do? After everything?"

Thane snarls my way. "I hate this shit, Lios. I hate waiting and I want nothing more than to rescue my Princess, but we need to become powerful or we lose her anyway."

The knocking grows persistent. We still ignore it.

"Do you want power for yourself or for her, Thane?" I ask seriously.

He punches me in the gut. I was expecting it.

"I love her more than anything. More importantly, I trust her, Lios. I trust that our Mara is smart enough to find her way here if we can't win our way to the above. I want her to have gods at her side when she gets here. That war in the above? It's going to follow her here."

I nod, my jaw flexing. The knocking is now accompanied by calls of our names. I stalk to the door and swing it open, "what the fuck is it?" I growl before I register who it is.

Fuck me. I let the scales ripple over my skin, the horns peek out, my fangs lengthen into sharp daggers jutting from my upper lip.

"Belen. My friend," I whisper.

"Friend?" he grins wickedly at me. "I'm going to fuck you up, Captain."

He leaps at me with a straight punch to the head. I dodge it instinctively, the motion bringing him into the room past the doorway.

"You fucking killed me, you asshole!" he shouts as he tries to get a good hit in.

Thane saunters past us and shuts the door before walking back to the window.

I block Belen and hit him hard in the solar plexus. "You were the enemy, Belen. Maybe you should have trained harder!" I sneer. It's a bad memory, that day. I saw Mara again and lost her a moment later on that day.

He stumbles back from me. "You fucker!" he croaks out. "How could you destroy so much?" He looks around. "Where is Mara?"

That brings Thane's head around. "Who are you, again?"

Belen glares at my brother. "I am Belen. A Commander of the Recondites, Second to this asshole right here," he points at me.

"And how did you get to live in the Palace?" Thane snaps out another question.

"I am friends with Mara, the daughter of-"

"I know who her father is," Thane growls. "Stop saying her name so casually. How do I know that you are truly her friend?"

Belen looks at me, bewildered. "This is your brother, right? Gods, this is a mess." To Thane he responds, "I am her friend. And I'm concerned by the anger in your face that Mara isn't here?"

"She is not," I tell him.

"Fuck," he exhales explosively. "This is a disaster. Who is with her?"

My brother and I both fall silent.

"Shit," Belen says quietly, looking between the two of us.

---

Maybe it isn't so bad to be burned after death. This seems worse, to be sealed into a watery tomb. How strange, that I die as I entered this world, in the sacred waters.

The waters will not kill me. Even breathing it into my lungs does nothing but soothe the hurt inside me.

But I am starving. This body is wasting away faster and faster as I can't sustain it.

"Flesh is flesh," I say it so quietly, but it makes the waters tremble.

I am trapped in stone. Dying.

"Stone is stone," I murmur.

But I am Mara.

"We are Death," I whisper.

So you are Daughter

In the suffocating darkness of the tomb I feel the Grief of thousands upon thousands of souls settle on me. A constant companion for two years it sinks down into my flesh, my bones, to my very soul.

I am a goddess. Grief is more than an emotion. It is its own entity with purpose in this world.

I am going to harness it. I think it will use the last of my strength, but I'm ready for what life brings me next.

I smile to myself. Every strand of the bonds crisscrossing this city is mine. Just like the black tablet said; I am the mistress of love's bonds. I am sorrow and shadow. I have absorbed grief, taken it in myself and let the sacred waters wash it away.

Now I am returning it tenfold. I'll give back every bit of grief and unleash it on this city of Love's sycophants. Let Inanji explain herself when no one can move past their own grief. I will saddle the demons in the Tasuri populace with the deepest of shadows until they lay down for the army of the undead.

I push the grief out, like a tar blanket that will stick to every bond, making them clear as day to me. The grief rises and falls, rolling out of the sky and into the city to be layered on streets, homes, markets... people. It runs off of clean surfaces and adheres to dirty ones.

I will break bonds that are weak, that are not fated to be by the souls' choice, but by Inanji's petty games. Only the strongest will survive. Let the above be filled with true love.

But first...

"Let death come," I speak to the undead, to the graven souls of grief, to the dead souls in this city.

"Take Tmari. Burn it to ash. Seek and kill and destroy it all. Let no one leave. Let no one live."

Even in my watery cairn, I can hear the screams. The pounding of the fists and feet grow louder and louder. Tmari is falling. Bonds snap and grief wells, bubbles and froths as the noble Districts are caught unawares by the sudden surge of undead attacking. Their gates are falling, their walls overwhelmed.

I can feel Rasted at the central gate to the city near the Mother's Quarter. Floods of Tasuri try to leave but the gate is broken, only rubble remains of both exits to the city.

The noise of battle grows closer to me. The mausoleum battlements above me are holding strong but the undead are swarming ever closer.

A loud sound, a scraping sort of screech, startles me with it's proximity.

My eyes jolt open.

Where am I?

I look around, stunned at the great hall I stand in. Wood columns thicker than four of me rise to a soaring ceiling supported by beams as large as a house. The walls, ceilings, and floors, are planks of warm wood the color of honey and berries. In the center of the hall is the only bit of stone I can see, a roaring fireplace of thick grey of a stone I do not recognize.

Weapons, some I've never seen before, hang on the wooden walls. Shiny and gleaming as if their blades have just been polished. I even see a saddle with pommels decorated with bright red tassels on display near one large window.

The windows... they stretch from the floor to thrice my height. I walk to one, enraptured by the sight of more wood outside.

No, no trees. They are trees that much like the wood of this hall, are larger and taller than any I've ever seen. Sunlight dances through the thick canopy of leaves and I have to strain my neck to see them, they're so high up. The trunks are straight and I would never be able to wrap my arms around even one of these trees.

I step closer to the window, only to see something... odd. Reaching out, I touch the smooth, cool surface of that covers the window. It's clear as if it doesn't exist, but there it is. I wonder if it is a magical barrier to keep me inside this hall?

"It's glass, Precious. Winters are hard up here. Nothing like where you live, beautiful."

I gasp, whirling around to see who spoke to me. The male is tall, as tall as Thane and Thelios, maybe even a smidge taller. Sandy blond hair is tied back from his ruggedly handsome, angular face. A scar that slashes over his left eyebrow makes his bright green eyes pop even more. He is dressed casually, in a green shirt that matches his eyes and dark brown leather pants. His feet are bare. I can see dark dirt on the bottoms, as if he was just walking outside.

I place a hand on my stomach to steady me. I feel different. Looking down, I see myself, healthy and much more filled out, dressed in a dark green dress with gold tassels on the stiff skirts. At the cuffs of the sleeves twinkle emeralds the same color as the eyes of the male striding towards me.

"Isn't the forest beautiful in the summer?" he asks me, smiling with white teeth.

"Winter has only just ended," I whisper.

"Ah, I chose to show you summer, Precious. I like summer the best."

He is walking closer to me. The... glass... at my back suddenly feels like the trap I thought it was.

"Don't," I warn him when he is only an arms length away.

"Don't be afraid of me, Precious." His smile falls. Disappointment flashes in his eyes.

"My name is Mara," I snap at him. This male is dangerous. I can see it in the way he looks at me. Like a predator waiting to pounce.

"I won't hurt you, Mara," my name rolls off his tongue and he smiles when he says it, as if he's had something sweet in his mouth. "I just wanted to meet you, finally. To invite you to my home."

"I don't want to be here, Urto."

His smile widens, "you know who I am," he states, pleased.

"Why did you bring me here? You are too late. The undead are destroying Tmari."

"My precious Mara," he rumbles, "Tmari is only one city. Just as your Tasuri are only one of the creatures that walks the earth." He paces to me, eyes burning bright. I see a ring of red flash against the green irises and I know he's more upset than he lets on.

"You love the Tasuri," I say. "You love that they war with each other."

"I do," he admits readily.

I narrow my eyes at him. He is stalking me and I am retreating. I didn't even realize I was, but we are moving away from the window and closer to the fireplace.

"Why bring me here?" I ask again.

"I wanted to meet you properly. A god can't greet his goddess?"

"I am not yours."

He smiles. "Inanji tells me that you are trying to wed with two Tasuri males, Precious. You are young, so I understand the appeal of having a husband, but-"

"They are my Fated."

"They are upstarts, Mara," he says. I can see his temper start to rise. "Your Champions are still just Tasuri souls. Nothing special."

"My Champions?" I ask.

He smiles, "Sweets, you don't know? Your males are in the Underworld, Champions of the Arena."

I smile at the thought of my males. They are safe in my father's kingdom. But, Urto keeps talking.

"Females of the greatest beauty throw themselves at them night and day. The Champion always lives a life of debauchery."

I stiffen and eye him. Suddenly, I start laughing. His face falls dangerously. "You think that my males are fucking other females, Urto?" I step closer to the male. "Don't you think that I would know? Our bonds are strong, forged in the fire of Grief herself." I smile as I refer to myself in the third person. It seems that the mantle of the goddess is resting a little more comfortably on my shoulders.

"Bonds, Precious?" he sounds strangled. He forces a smile for me, "gods don't have bonds."

I am about to protest when I see it. Even here, I can see my own twin bonds, burning brightly with living fire. Other bonds, Poppy and my friends, my gargoyles, even my cats and assassins. All of the lives I touch.

Urto has nothing.

"Oh, Urto," I whisper.

His red-rimmed eyes slide shut as he leans closer. "You have sympathy for me, Precious?" I feel his warm breath wash over my face. "Stay here with me," he suddenly bargains. "Be my Queen."

I take a step back from him. "I have my Fated males, Urto."

His eyes spring open, entirely red. "Why refuse, Precious?"

"You have Inanji-" I try to reason with him.

"That whore," he scoffs.

"You are on her side in this war!" I scold him.

"I simply like war, Precious. Is that is? You want two nothing males instead of a god?" he asks me in disbelief.

"I love them," I tell him simply.

He crowds closer to me. The heat pouring from his body is uncomfortably hot. I feel his breath wash over my face. "You can love me, Mara. I could destroy those males and claim you for myself. I am a god. They are nothing."

A tear slides down my cheek. I feel his thumb brush it away. We both gasp at the shock of pain.

"You see?" I ask him in a trembling voice. "We can't even touch each other. Leave my males alone. They have done nothing to you."

He looks at his fingers in contemplation. "You are like liquid fire, my precious beauty." His green eyes swing to my face. "I will claim you as my own, Mara. I am tired of Inanji's games."

"You can't keep me here," I tell him, firmly.

He smirks back to me. "You are welcome to try and leave, my Queen. The forest here is endless and filled with every sort of dangerous beast."

I scoff. "I am not a fool, Urto." I turn and step into the flames of the fireplace. "Youth doesn't make me an idiot."

I hear his swearing as the flames lick over my skin. It's unbearably hot. The dress of golden tassels and emerald jewels disappears, burned to ash in an instant. My grey robes that have seen better days return.

"I will destroy them, Mara!" is the last I hear from Urto before the flames consume me.

I look into endless black. The water laps over my body, soothing the burns. I sigh. Back into my tomb. I can't even cry in here, I'm already surrounded by my own tears.

The sounds of war continue. I reach out, unsteady from the unexpected journey to Urto's forest, and seek out my bonds.

Something is different. A rage. My stomach flips. Was angering Urto a mistake?

Then I feel it. It is Inanji's rage. Urto has abandoned the field. He is going to try to hurt my males. Seething, I push harder into the bonds.

"Faster. Destroy it. Burn it all. Hurry."