Death sang through my blood and bones, its keening call pulling me from the dark depths of sleep. My eyes opened and I was instantly alert, the reverberations of a sudden and violent death still thrumming through me.

Even my power, muted and distant thanks to the spelled irons around my wrists, stirred from its lulled slumber. I took advantage of the sudden trickle of power and sent out a dark web of magic to search for the source of the tremor that had just flowed through the Ether. It was the kind of disturbance that only occurred when a life was taken before the Fates had ordained. And such a death always had consequences—dire, future-altering consequences that could rewrite the Tapestry of Life itself.

The last time I’d felt such a thing, my mentor and the last Lord of Myridia, Yrdin, had fallen beneath Deimos. Killed before his time by Varian’s own hand during the Battle of Brigand’s Bay. Then, the soldiers of Myridia had turned, not to the nobility who led from the back, but to the bastard son of a hated deity, along with the Seven, and the Sirens who fought at our sides.

Not even the acolyte’s death, as terrible as it had been, clanged through the Ether in this way.

But I was too weak to send my power any farther than the ground floor of the palace above. The death must have occurred at a greater distance than my leashed magic could reach.

Unable to do anything else, I slumped against the cold stone, wet from the spray of the incoming tide. Seawater filtered through the tiny slit in the rock above me each time a wave crashed against the cliff face. If a storm surge came, would the Dorian’s bother to uncage me before the dungeons flooded? I doubted it. The pompous zealots would probably claim my drowning was the will of the gods. So I tried not to think about the too-close tide or the frigid burn of the chains around my wrists—so cold I thought they’d leach every ounce of warmth from my body. Instead, I listened to the sounds of the darkness. To the noise of the skittering rats as they went about their nightly business. In the days I’d been here, I’d come to differentiate them from one another. I resisted the urge to name them. That felt like too much of an admission—an admission that I wasn’t leaving the cell anytime soon.

I heard them long before I saw them. A small web of the same magic I’d thrown out before told me what my ears had not already gleaned. Varian led his men towards me, his heart rate too high to make this visit a pleasant one. But with him . . . I sensed another, familiar presence—the whirling, angry chaos of Ares’ daughter tinged with a splash of water magic from his father’s side. The imprint of that strange mix of power was unmistakable.

I pushed away from where I sat against the wall and stood, hands fisted tightly. “Lux,” I called into the dim hall, its recesses only just lightening with the dawn. I tried to keep my pulse even, my voice bored. “I see you’ve reunited with your dear cousin.” I clicked my tongue. “I’m sure it was a touching scene. So sorry I missed it.”

Before them marched a squadron of soldiers. I chuckled, holding my chained wrists up to the light. “Do you really think all this is necessary? I suppose I should be flattered that you consider me such a threat.”

Varian pushed through the wall of his men. “Where are the rest of your Seven?”

“Well, hello to you, too.” I glanced from Varian to Lux, who only frowned coldly back at me. He had changed out of his usual black, trading it for a tunic of blue and silver—the colors adopted by his mother before her downfall. Before her murder. That was certainly an unexpected development. I only grinned. “Lux doesn’t know? What a poor spy he has made.”

Varian tensed, the tendons in his neck straining as he resisted the urge to turn his icy gaze towards his cousin. I decided to save him the trouble. “They’re gone.”

“Lux claims you gave an order when you were arrested,” Varian said, “in another language. Stygian, perhaps?”

“So you do remember some of what I once told you of the Land of the Dead? I’m shocked.”

“Where. Are. They.”

I shrugged. “Don’t know what you’re talking about. I gave no order.”

Varian watched me for a long moment, his jaw tight. Then he motioned a soldier behind him forward. Wordlessly, the Imperial unlocked the iron-barred door. It swung open with a great groan and Varian stepped into my cell. Before I could react, a wave of raw power hit me. I slammed into the stone wall, breathless as mortar rained down around me. “Liar,” he growled. Then his gauntleted fist buried itself in my gut.

I doubled over, groaning. Holding my stomach with my cuffed hands, I forced a breath past the vise of pain gripping me.

Then I lunged.

A wall of my own power moved with me. My shoulder rammed into Varian’s stomach, forcing him to the algae-covered ground. The wave of smoky darkness moved past us, sweeping the males who lingered in the hall off their feet. A tremor ran through me as a surge of life left each of them. Even Lux. He was on his knees, face bloodless and eyes wide. As many times as we’d spared, I’d never used this much power on him before.

Knowing Varian would regain his strength before the rest, I wasted no more time. I raised my bound fists and struck again and again until blood ran from the corner of his mouth and dripped from his nose. When I drew back a third time, his head rose to meet mine so quickly that his features blurred. I fell back, dazed from the impact.

That was all it took for two of the stronger Imperials to surround me. To grab my chains and wrench me to my feet. Slowly, Varian stood. He grinned at me, his teeth awash in red. The black pupils of his eyes drowned out the blue as Dorian Bloodlust overcame him.

Shit.

The gauntleted fist reared back. The first blow had me struggling to force air into my lungs. The next had black spots dancing before my eyes. But the third . . . When his fist connected with my abdomen, a sickening crack rent the air—ran through my body like a white-hot poker.

A rib. The bastard broke my rib.

Varian, hearing the crack, rolled back on his heels, watching me with a satisfied smile. “This is the last time I’ll ask nicely, old friend. Where are the rest of your Seven?”

I laughed, bright stars sparkling in my vision as pain exploded through every inch of me. “Friend? You called each of us Seven that, once. Even Yrdin thought of you as a son. But that made little difference when you cleaved his head from his shoulders.”

His eyes darkened, face pale. I wheezed in a breath, trying to prevent the brittle bones within me from shifting far enough to cause permanent damage. “So you ought to know they are far beyond your reach by now.”

Varian watched me for a long moment, a vein at his temple ticking violently. Blood still seeped from the corner of his mouth. “Well and so,” he said, eyes moving toward the iron bars of my cell. “You know, my ancestors built this dungeon to hold the strongest of the God-Blooded. Iron bars, iron chains. Iron is mixed into the very mortar around you. Even the stones are rich with it. And combined with that, your fetters hold spelled ore, stolen from Hephaestus’ own forge while my grandfather fucked that troll’s beautiful wife . . . And those chains, they are truly something, aren’t they?” He strolled closer, arms casually crossing over his chest. “And yet . . . it seems they are not enough.”

“What . . . are you . . . on about?” I wheezed.

Varian glanced behind him, toward the hall. Where a figure still lay crumpled on the floor.

Guilt struck me stronger than any magic ever could. Dead. Again, Varian had dressed a sheep in wolf’s clothing. He was a human and he was dead. My magic had killed him.

Behind Varian, Lux’s calm voice sounded. “You’ve proven that this cage isn’t enough to hold you, Aidoneus.”

Not Aidon. Not boss, as he so liked to call me. Aidoneus.

“It may even be possible that you’ve Shadow Walked,” he continued. “You didn’t happen to visit the parapet walk last night? Where Soren of the Solna was on guard?”

Even the small amounts of magic I’d used had been a monumental effort with the fetters. To Shadow Walk . . . I shuddered. I hadn’t dared attempt it for fear I’d become lost in the Ether. Or worse, stuck in the Underworld until my father deigned to release me. Lux knew me well enough to understand it. Whatever he was playing at . . . I narrowed my eyes. My gaze flashed between them. “Oh, I see now. There has been another death. You’re looking for a scapegoat to blame this one on too. Another like what occurred in the temple.”

“Is that a question?” Lux asked. “Or an admission?”

“Bring Aurora down here,” I tried to purr past the shooting pain. My voice came out a bit strangled. “I’m sure she can vouch for me.”

My words only earned me another shove against the wall. There was not a single hint of blue left in Varian’s eyes. “Shut your gods-damn mouth.”

“Happily,” I said, though his hand was now around my throat. “But isn’t this an interrogation? Aren’t I supposed to speak? To spill all my dirty little secrets?”

Varian’s lips pulled back from his teeth. Even the males who held me stumbled back, away from the General Prince. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

Then I realized. He wasn’t sure if my words about Aurora referred to her lie-detecting abilities or if I spoke of something else. If I had somehow seen her and she was able to provide me an alibi. “Losing control over Aurora, old friend? Well . . . isn’t that interesting.”

The vein at his temple throbbed so fast I worried it would burst in my face. “You keep her name out of your mouth.”

I stood silent, waiting for some of the Bloodlust to leave his eyes. Just as I’d done a thousand times before when we were young—when Yrdin had trained us together, to fight as Myridians fought, and that Dorian urge to kill had only gotten in the way.

Soon, a ring of blue appeared. Varian swallowed thickly. Coming back to a place of reason, he released his hold on my throat. “If your Seven are gone, that leaves only you,” he said with another glance toward the corpse. Toward the human he’d brought down here on purpose, to prove I was still capable of killing. “As we’ve just seen, your power is still strong. Perhaps I’ve underestimated your reach.”

“I had no part in the girl’s death. Nor in whatever happened tonight.” I paused, considering the feeling I’d awoken to. “This Soren . . . he was strong, were I to guess. Young. Just like Leda of Skyy.”

Varian’s lips curled, disgust coloring his features. “I won’t play your games.”

His words were worthless enough that they didn’t warrant acknowledgment. “One of the gifts of my blood is sight in near-complete darkness.” I took a pained breath. “When the light faltered on Nemoralia, I could still see her—could still see death claim her. She was little more than a walking corpse, using the last of life left to her in a desperate attempt to find aid.” Another wheeze as pain shot through my side. “A pitiful sight. I wished death for her, not because I placed her in that state, but because I knew the end would be a mercy. Her suffering must have been unimaginable. But I did not cause it.

“Look at that man there,” I continued, gesturing towards the body on the floor with a wince. “Human, utterly human. Just as you sent your most disposable guards to arrest me, you brought him here as a test because you know me. You know me well enough to know I do not use my power when it can be avoided. You know I don’t kill without reason, just as you know I abhor harming humans,” I said with a pained groan. “So, tell me, Varian . . . Does that guard’s corpse look like Leda’s? Does it look like the newest victim’s? As much as you want to paint me as the monster, you know me better.”

Varian looked between me and the dead man, a rare thoughtfulness on his face. Again, he stepped close, but the look in his eyes . . . It was as if he wanted to speak to me quietly. To not be overheard. Idiotically, I leaned in. Only to have him ram his head against my own. Unprepared, my head snapped back, banging into the stone with enough force that my vision darkened. He hauled me up by my hair, my rib screaming in protest at the twisting movement. “Claim innocence all you want,” he said. “I’ve seen the truth of you on the battlefield. Even before then, my father warned me of what you are.”

Footsteps—heavy leather boots—thudded over the stone. The two guards who’d fallen back a moment before. A burning chill encircled my throat. Every ounce of magic within me disappeared at the contact. Then a heavy click as the iron collar locked into place.

The Imperials retreated. Varian’s fist once again slammed into my side, right over the broken rib, where my flesh already swelled. I collapsed around the pain.

“You’re a fool, Aidoneus,” he said as I lay panting on the ground. “You should never have come here. You wanted a fight with me? Fine. I’ll even say the murders were fair game. But Aurora?” He shook his head, eyes a bit unhinged as he looked down at me. “Entering her Trials, trying to take her from me—that was too far. So I will end you. Perhaps in the Trials, or perhaps once you fail. It doesn’t really matter.” He leaned down then, a sadistic smile twisting his lips. “But you should know that it won’t end with you. I will hunt down the rest of your Seven—your pretty little sister included. One by one, they will fall until Myridia has no one left to lead. I might have let you keep your little island, before. Might have let your people keep their freedom. But now that you’ve come between us—confused the female I love—all of the Shards will pay for your interference.”

He backed away, then, letting one of the guards lock the cell door behind him. “Enjoy your accommodations,” he said with his blood-stained smile. “I hope you find them comfortable. You need your strength, you know. The next Trial is sooner than you think.”

As they left, Lux turned to glance at me over his shoulder. My friend only stared, his face as cold as a death mask.