In Aereus’s garden of death, I stared up at Uthyr’s cold, reptilian eyes. His dragon form made my entire body tense. For just a moment, my mind flashed with the image of the dragon attack, the sharp teeth piercing bone, flames searing flesh. This thing was a ruthless monster.
I swallowed hard. At least, I thought he was a ruthless monster. Maybe I wasn’t always the best at figuring out who the monsters were.
I closed my eyes, mastering my fears. Dragon or not, I had to get to Afeka.
With a noise in his throat like a deep rattle, Uthyr lowered his chin to the muddy earth. I looped my leg over the dragon’s scaly neck, half terrified by the power in this creature’s muscled back. Then I slid over his body until I found a spot on his spine where I could get a good grip on his scales.
Hazel climbed on in front of me, looking at ease on her perch. The creature’s blood pumped below me, his muscles twitching.
What I hadn’t expected was for Kur to climb on behind me, sliding over the dragon’s hide like it was second nature to him. And given Kur’s scales, maybe it was.
I turned to look at him. “You’re coming?”
“I’m going to make sure you two fae don’t fuck this up. Besides. It’s a long way back to Afeka, and you’ll both freeze to death without me. Probably fall asleep and slide off the damn dragon.”
“Thanks for your vote of confidence.”
My stomach lurched as Uthyr lifted off, his powerful wings thumping in the air to keep us a few feet above ground.
From the garden, Tanit lifted Adonis’s body, like a supplicant offering up a sacrifice. Uthyr grabbed Adonis in his talons.
As we took flight into the stormy sky, I gripped hard to Uthyr’s scales, using my thighs to hold tightly to the beast. The rain hammered against my skin, and Uthyr’s wings stirred the air around us.
I tried to peer beyond Hazel, then beyond Uthyr’s enormous haunches to catch a glimpse of Adonis, but it was no use from my vantage point.
Kur’s powerful arms curved around me, keeping me in place. With the rain pounding in my face, I could hardly see where we were going, but the speed of flight thrilled me all the same.
I’d actually done what I’d first set out to do—I’d defeated the horsemen. I’d slain them all, driven the archangels from the earth. A shimmering, blue sphere still glimmered around the earth’s surface, protecting us from the archangels’ onslaught.
The Great Nightmare was over. Right?
It didn’t feel like a victory. I couldn’t let it end this way, not without trying to save Adonis, too. If his soul remained in the underworld of the Old Gods, I had to imagine he was trapped in some sort of hell.
The freezing rain made my teeth chatter. I slumped back into Kur, and he steadied me on the dragon’s back.
“You two fae will get tired fast,” he said. “We have a long way to go.”
“Do you know where we’re going?” I asked.
“Afeka is my home, too. It will take us almost a full day to get there.”
Thank the gods Kur had come with us, because he wasn’t wrong when he said we’d probably fall off this thing. If there was one lesson I’d learned from riding Nuckelavee, it was that about three or four hours in, my thighs would be on fire.
Hazel’s dark hair whipped into my face as we flew through the air.
“I don’t suppose you have any of that magic that Adonis had? The kind that stops your muscles from hurting?”
“I have my own magic,” said Kur. “I’m a demon of the night, and I’m going to put you to sleep.”
I clutched tighter to Uthyr’s scales. “Not sure that’s a great idea, Kur. I’m kind of holding on for my life here.”
“I’m not going to let you fall.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, a soothing, starlight-tinged calm swept over me, curling around my sister. Her slim body slumped into me, and Kur’s muscled arms wrapped around me, holding me in place.
I sank deeply into a dreamless sleep.
I woke to the sun’s rays warming my skin. When I opened my eyes, we were soaring over a rocky terrain, the land tinged with stunning shades of blue and green. A turquoise river carved through the land below. Despite everything that had happened, hope stirred within me.
“We’re here,” Kur said quietly.
I prodded Hazel in the ribs, and she jolted awake with a snort. “What?”
I leaned in closer. “Tell your dragon to bring us down. This is Afeka.”
Hazel bent toward Uthyr’s ear, whispering something to him. Uthyr’s glimmering, membranous wings shot out, and he arced lower over the rushing river.
The wind whipped through my hair as Uthyr took us down to the river’s bank. Around us, red anemones bloomed in tall grasses, and I breathed in the humid air of Adonis’s birthplace. The dragon circled a few times above the grotto, where water rushed from a cave mouth over a rocky cliff face. It pooled below, a cerulean blue in the bright sun.
Uthyr swooped lower, aiming for a rocky cliffside above the river. Before he reached the ground, he hovered near the earth, his heavy wings pounding the air.
“What’s he doing?” I asked.
“He’s setting down Adonis,” said Hazel.
At least he was being careful. A moment later, Uthyr gracefully landed on the path next to Adonis. Kur slid off the beast first, then helped us down. Fatigue ate at my muscles as I slipped off Uthyr’s scales. If Kur’s magic hadn’t been here to soothe my body, I’d be lying on the ground right now, or possibly dead.
I crossed to Adonis, his body peaceful and perfect, his dark lashes stark against his golden skin. I crouched down, touching the smooth skin of his cheek.
“Do you know what you’re doing here?” asked Hazel.
I shook my head. “No idea. I only know I’m taking these stones into the underworld, and I’m going to try to make a trade for Adonis’s soul.”
I rose, and the Stones of Zahar thrummed faintly through the leather satchel on my back, already urging me onward. I felt their power driving me, compelling me to move past the rows of myrrh trees. Here, everything smelled like Adonis.
Kur crouched down, lifting Adonis’s body off the rocky earth. “We’re both going to find him. I’m coming in there with you.”
I squinted in the sunlight. “I’m not sure the Old Gods want demons in their realm.”
“I’m coming,” he said with growl.
A vernal breeze whispered over me as my footsteps crunched over the path. The grotto was the entrance to the underworld, but I felt life pulsing from it.
Kur trod behind me. As I walked along the cliff’s edge, the turquoise water in the gorge below seemed to shift in color. I swallowed hard, watching it redden to the deep crimson of blood. A shiver rippled up my spine.
I wasn’t entirely sure what that was about, but I wouldn’t say the blood river seemed like a good omen.
As we walked on to the cave’s mouth, distant cries skimmed past us—agonized cries. A woman weeping, a man’s tormented screams.