“You’re wrong. You know nothing of Neferet. The Priestess was broken and mad before she began listening to my whispers.”

“I know that Neferet has caused the Goddess much pain, and that means she must be stopped,” Erebus said.

Kalona laughed again. “And now you prove beyond any doubt you know nothing about Neferet. She has chosen the path of chaos. Not even death can dissuade her from it.”

“And yet you will dissuade her.”

“You fool—a week ago the Vessel Aurox, fully in the magickal form of a beast, gored Neferet and hurled her from the balcony of a building as high as a mountaintop. Last night Neferet regained enough of her physical form to manifest on this campus, cause a fledgling to reject the Change, and kill an adult human. Then she disappeared again. She is immortal. She cannot be killed,” Kalona said.

“And yet something must be done with her. You opened the door to immortal power to her—you will close it.”

Kalona shook his head, gathering the cold light of the moon close to him. “Who are you to command me? You are my brother, not my Goddess.”

“I speak for your Goddess!” Erebus’s light flared, burning so brightly that even Kalona could not help but recognize the divine and borrowed power of Nyx he wielded. “When first you Fell from the Otherworld you wreaked havoc upon the humans who attempted to succor you until Nyx heard their cries and answered the prayers of their Wise Women, calling together and allowing them to use the Divine Feminine within them. Thus was fashioned A-ya, she who entrapped you for generations.”

“I remember well what happened,” Kalona snarled. “I do not need you, or Nyx, to remind me of that dark time.”

“Silence, you fool! I come with an edict from Nyx!” Erebus blazed. “I do not remind you of the time. I remind you of the reason behind it. You rejected your Goddess, and in your attempt to replace her you used and cast aside many women, until A-ya was created. Then you recognized the spark of Nyx within her. That is why you were vulnerable to her. That is why you loved her.”

Kalona looked away from Erebus. There had been a time, in the not so distant past, when he would have arrogantly denied his brother’s words and used his own immortal power to cast him from the mortal plane and back to the Otherworld.

But Kalona had changed. And the truth in what his brother said burned him more than did the harsh light Erebus had inherited from his father, the sun.

So the winged immortal remained silent, still as a statue, as Erebus’s Goddess-touched words continued to batter him.

“But you would not remain imprisoned. Even entombed in the earth, wrapped in the arms of she who was breathed to life by Nyx, still you yearned for that which your arrogance had caused you to lose. So you sent out your cloying whispers, seeking another who had been touched by Nyx—one who might fill the emptiness within you. Since the moment she was Marked, Neferet was special to the Goddess, because of, and not in spite of, the horrors she had survived. But she was, indeed, a vulnerable young fledgling. That is why Neferet was susceptible to your call. That is why, after she completed the Change, you convinced her to free you.”

Kalona wanted to flee—to run from his brother’s hurtful words, but something within him bade him stay and hear the edict Nyx had sent Erebus to proclaim.

“And because she, too, was only touched by the Goddess and not Nyx incarnate, Neferet failed to fill that emptiness within you. Her failure turned to poison. Do you deny that you thought you loved her, just as you believed you loved the maiden, A-ya?”

“I deny nothing, just as I acknowledge nothing. Speak your edict and begone. Your words weary me.”

“Look within yourself. It is not my words that weary you. The day you can admit the truth about your past and accept full responsibility for all the evil you have loosed in this realm, is the day your load will begin to lighten.” The anger in Erebus’s voice softened, though the power of his Goddess-enhanced visage continued to blaze. “Then you met the fledgling, Zoey Redbird, and you were instantly drawn to, and angered by, her connection to Nyx. You wanted to seduce and destroy her.”

“But I did neither!”

“Only because Zoey’s connection to Nyx is, indeed, strong, and unlike A-ya, she is a woman, fully formed with a will of her own and, unlike Neferet, she is not damaged. Zoey Redbird’s heart is loyal and true. Though your actions almost destroyed her. Do not forget you shattered the child’s soul. Do not forget you trespassed into the Otherworld, risking Nyx’s wrath. Because of that the Goddess herself interceded on her daughter’s behalf.”

Kalona looked away again, remembering that brief, bittersweet moment when he, once again, had been in the presence of Nyx.

She had not forgiven him, and Kalona had wept tears of bitterness and regret.

“Neferet trapped my soul and used the power of Darkness to command me to do her bidding. I did not willingly trespass.”

“Neferet again. Your influence created that creature. She is your responsibility to stop. The Goddess’s edict is thus!” Erebus made a sweeping gesture. The yellow light of the sun shimmered, and became blazing written words burned into the air:

He who was once beloved of mine

shall defeat she whose love for me once did shine.

With this command I do intercede.

Death’s Warrior must protect those who are in need.

If his heart doth open, bared again

forgiveness may conquer hate and love win … win…

Erebus pressed his palms against the wooden desk and leaned forward so that his face and his brother’s were mere inches apart. Kalona could feel the heat coming from his sunlit body and smell a summer day on his breath as he spoke.

“I would say that I hope you fail, but I need not waste my hope. An immortal cannot be defeated without a sacrifice that is equal or greater than immortality. You are capable of great anger, great violence, great battles. You have never been capable of great sacrifice. You will fail. Nyx will continue to feel the pain your mistakes have caused, and I will continue to console her.”

Kalona’s anger finally proved too much for him to contain. With a roar he stood, knocking over his chair and bringing his hands together in a mighty clap that released a frozen blast of moonlight from between his palms. The cold, silver light extinguished Erebus’s ball of sunlight. With a hiss like a sword meeting a blacksmith’s forging waters, Erebus disappeared.

There was a knock on the door, and Darius’s voice carried easily through the sudden silence. “Kalona? May we have a word with you?”

CHAPTER SIX

Kalona

Kalona righted the chair he had knocked over, sat, smoothed back his hair, and drew a deep breath before saying, “You may enter.”

When he saw that Zoey and Stark followed Darius into the room he had to stifle a groan of irritation. Though it seemed he and Zoey had come to a truce, things were not simple between the two of them. Stark, of course, had long been an annoyance. Kalona supposed it didn’t help the boy’s attitude that he had skewered and killed him in the Otherworld.

“Wow,” Zoey said, looking from Kalona to the glass sunflower and vase, and then to the huge tapestry that took up the entire wall behind him, which depicted a black ship with the prow of a roaring dragon. “It’s super weird to see all of Dragon’s stuff here, and you there.” She pointed at Kalona, sitting behind the Sword Master’s desk.

“It is disconcerting,” Darius said softly, as if he hadn’t wanted to comment, but couldn’t stop himself from speaking.

“More like disturbing,” Stark said. His voice was cocky, like he enjoyed baiting the immortal.

It is the sliver of immortality he shares with me that makes him so bold, and so annoying, Kalona thought. I wonder how bold the boy would be if he knew that sliver is also a conduit I can follow to his soul?

Kalona acted as if none of them had spoken, but made a mental note to get rid of the old Sword Master’s belongings. It was past time to make room for the new.

“You said you wished a word with me, Darius?”

“I do. We do,” Darius corrected.

“Do you know if the school has a basement?” Stark asked.

Kalona shook his head. “I have never seen it, but the House of Night is an old building and I suppose it would be logical if it did exist.”

“So you and Neferet have never been down there?” Zoey asked.

He met her gaze, looking for an ancient maiden deep within her dark eyes. “Being beneath the earth has proven to be a complicated experience for me, and one I usually have no desire to repeat.” Purposefully, Kalona made his voice teasing, deep, knowing.

“You’re missing the point of the question.” Stark took a protective step forward so that he was positioned between Kalona and Zoey.

Kalona’s smile mocked the boy. “Perhaps you are missing the point of my answer.”

“Yeah? I don’t think so. I think your answers are fucked up most of the time,” Stark said.

“Then stop asking for them.”

As Stark moved forward, reaching for the bow he habitually carried slung across his back, Zoey grabbed his wrist, pulling him back.