“So,” he took another deep breath. “First things first. You need to know how to kill the others. Alogun is easy. Bind his hands and feet, and hold his face underwater. Hold him there for five minutes and that will be all. Chalik will be more difficult. Every piece of gold or precious stone she owns acts as protection for her. You can harm her, but you cannot kill her until she is penniless. She has caches hidden everywhere. You’ll find a list buried in a vault under the prison in my father’s home. It was current before all of this happened, but she might have moved some of the items by now. I’m sure you’ll find them all. You’re tenacious.

“You will also need someone else to hold the realms together. I think Alogun’s spell is doing it right now, but it’s weakening. Tell the others that if they can pool their energy, they can sustain most of the lower realm. They will need to give up on the other two. They’ll need to move people to safety first. Help them do that. Please.”

He paused for more air.

“As for me, you’re correct. There is one more way to kill me.”

“No!” A voice cut through the field.

Aria immediately spun in its direction, ready to attack, and then froze. She blinked, rubbed her eyes, and blinked again. The sight did not change.

She felt Achi stumble to her side, somehow having found his feet.

“Ovi?” He whispered the word as if he had encountered a shadow in the night and a strong word would drive it away.

The object of their attention stood only a few yards away, close enough to see, but too far to touch. She wore Aria’s face but wore it better. This being had never drawn a bow in her life. She did not know how to harm anyone. She wore the hope and innocence of some whose worst experience had been a bad dream. There was no mistaking her. This was the figure in Achi’s paintings. With her hair braided but unadorned, her feet bare, and her dress bright and simple, she was somehow more beautiful than Aria had ever been.

“Don’t leave me.” She sobbed. “Please. I’ve been waiting. I’m still waiting.”

Achi took two steps forward, then his knees gave out. “Ovi,” he whispered. “I - where have you been?”

She was already gone. The spot was not as empty as it had been a minute before. But for Achi’s stunned expression, Aria would have doubted her own sanity.

She turned to Aria and found him staring at the empty spot with undisguised longing.

So much for his professed love.

“Don’t worry,” Aria said, suppressing the ache in her chest. “She’ll find you. Your love is the stuff of legend, after all.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Achi turned to her, still dazed, but with new-found strength in his gaze.

Aria narrowed her eyes. “You’ll still tell me, right? I don’t want to start all over again.”

Achi kept staring at her. He stared for so long, she wondered if he was frozen. His eyes seemed to be boring into her, taking her apart and putting her back together. Analyzing her.

She wanted to hurry him, but she also wanted to wait. Curiosity warred with grief. The longer he waited, the longer it would be until she learned if he had finally abandoned her.

Finally, his expression changed. The uncertainty left it along with every last trace of fear. His shoulders relaxed and his breathing grew calm.

“As I was saying,” he said, “there is one more way to kill me.” He shot a glance at Alogun and Chalik. “I suppose there is no need to hide it from them.”

Aria frowned in confusion.

“The third way to kill me is to make me break a promise,” Achi said. He smiled, looking surprisingly worry-free. “So, you see, you could never achieve it without my aid anyway. All I have to do is make a promise and fail to keep it. Easy.”

“What are you doing?” Aria asked.

“I’m giving you what you want.” He smiled more broadly, delighted by her confusion. “I promise, in one minute, to give you a bar of soap. There. I don’t have a bar of soap with me so this will be easy.”

“You won’t search for Ovi?” Aria felt stupid and confused.

Achi shook his head.

“Whyever not?”

He smiled again. Those knowing smiles were growing irritating and Aria was suddenly aware of a clock ticking down to the end of his life.

“It was odd,” he said, “the moment I saw her, I couldn’t breathe. I have been waiting for so long. I’d stopped hoping. I thought - I’d never been so happy in my life.”

“And then?” Aria asked.

“And then, nothing happened.” His eyes expressed confusion. “I always thought something would happen: when I knew her and she knew me. Some magic, I suppose. Or that she would look like the most beautiful woman in the world.”

Aria raised an eyebrow. “And?”

Achi shrugged. “And she didn’t. There was no destiny between us. I’m not certain that she was even Ovi. I looked at her and I looked at you and I knew who I loved. Or - no. I think that I realized that there is no destiny. I can choose. And I realized that I already chose. To me, you are Ovi. Whoever she is, if she’s even real, she’ll find someone else.” He gave her a refreshing smile. “Save as many mortals as you can. ” He glanced at Alogun and Chalik. “And forgive those two if you can, but kill them anyway. They won’t forgive you back..”

“Cancel the promise,” Aria said. She needed more time.

Achi shook his head. “If you change your mind,” he said. “Come and get me.”

She shot toward him, no plan in mind, just the idea that she could stop him somehow. He collapsed without ceremony. Like Tivelo, he simply dropped, eyes closed. Aria arrived in time to catch him, but it was like catching a wooden log.

They went down together. Disbelief beckoned her, but failed to draw her in. As sudden as it was, he was dead. And she was surprised that it hurt.

Behind her, Alogun sighed, “and we’re back at the beginning.”

Aria ignored him. She bent over Achi and kissed him. She did not think about the action. She simply did it as if she’d surrendered control of her body to another woman. She waited a few seconds and watched his face for any signs of life. For several seconds, she watched it, but nothing happened. She kissed him again. Then a third time, and then a fourth. Nothing.