110: LOGICAL FALLACIES

(Kihrin’s story)

I rushed forward. “Teraeth!” I screamed at him, but he danced on, oblivious. Sweat slicked his body. He must have been exhausted, but he couldn’t stop dancing. His mother’s magic wouldn’t allow it.

I pulled my hands into fists. I refused to let this continue. This ritual wasn’t a solution. It was, at best, nothing more than a stopgap. And not worth the lives it would take in payment.

I hadn’t realized until that moment how much Vol Karoth terrified Thaena. That she was willing to do this just to put off facing him for a few more centuries.

As if summoned because I thought her name, Thaena appeared.

“I don’t think I’m going to let you interfere this time,” Thaena said.

I turned to face her. I won’t lie—I was pretty scared myself. I wasn’t holding Urthaenriel. I didn’t have a Cornerstone. My own magical defenses were decent, and I hadn’t neglected my talismans, but against Thaena?

She could kill me whenever she liked. With a snap of her fingers. With a wave of her hand.

I sheathed my sword. Why pretend?

She looked a little puzzled, but she didn’t kill me instantly, so I took it as a good sign.

“Come on, Khaemezra,” I said. “You don’t have to do this. He’s your son. Doesn’t that matter to you?”

“Of course it does,” Thaena said. “You think I wanted this to be the way things turned out? I’m doing what I have to do. The fact that I don’t enjoy it doesn’t change its necessity.”

“Except it’s not necessary.” I spread my arms. “Thurvishar and I have another way to power the crystal. You don’t have to do this.”

Those hard, unyielding mirror eyes reflected no expression at all.

“I don’t believe you,” Thaena spat. “Argas is dead. Taja is dead. I refuse to accept that they’ve died for no reason!”

I inhaled a jagged, painful breath. Taja was dead. Oh, that hurt. “You can bring them back, though, right?”

She started laughing. “Oh, little fool. I was never the one who brought anyone back. I’m the Goddess of Death, not Life.” A look of horror came over her features. Thaena looked to the side, as if seeing something a long way away. She shuddered and then scoffed. “And now Galava’s dead too.”

It felt like being kicked. How could Galava be dead? “You can fix it, right? There must be something…”

Thaena regarded me coldly. “There is. And I’ll take care of it right after I take care of you.”

She unsheathed her swords.