Page 236 of May: Bloom & Bane

Ash, my wing, he whispers.

A searing tear shoots through the right side of our back as the remaining iridescent wing is shredded, pale bone punching through the emerald veins until two massive, skeletal wings span the width of the sunroom. My bones elongate until my frame is at least three feet taller than normal.

Ashán?! he screams, as a freezing heat erupts across our face. It’s burning! Why is it burning?

A brilliant blue flame ignites over our skull, engulfing the bones. The shadow-tendrils around our head whip into a frenzy, fed by the frost-fire.

The void between my ribs uncoils, spilling across the floorboards and coalescing into a single column. The smoke hardens, lengthening into a heavy staff, topped by a wickedly curved blade of bone.

For one breathless, soaring heartbeat, the sheer majesty of it paralyzes me.

I did it.

I told Eden the truth. That must have been the key all along. This is a gift. The moment the scales finally balance. We are equals now. No more hiding in the dark or being stuck in the void. I am whole. I can finally mark her.

I can feel the bright living thread of her soul humming at the other end of the bond. For my entire existence, she has been Sage’s to feel, and mine to ache toward. Someone I loved from one room over. A joyful laugh rattles my hollow throat. This is how Sage has always felt her. This is what it means to truly feel our mate. Every line of her soul is vibrating against mine.

Sage. I rasp. I can feel her so clearly.

I take a step toward the door, ready to run and show her—to apologize. As my foot lands on the floor, that beautiful connection twists. The pull jerks me forward, clenching around my throat like a spiked collar.

Ashán… he rasps. The scythe. Look at your scythe.

“What?”

The invisible pull drags me another lurching step toward the door. “Sage, I can’t stop… Something is pulling me.”

LOOK AT IT! he bellows.

I force my burning gaze down to the weapon in my hand, etched into the blade in fine script, as though it was forged that way⁠—

A name: Eden.

The world stops turning around me. I force my eyes shut. “No!” I breathe. “No, no, no.”

This isn’t a gift for telling her the truth. It’s a target. The scythe wasn’t summoned by my desire to protect her—it was specifically designed to reap the very soul I would tear the universe apart to keep.

I crack my eyes open, but her name is still there. And there is a second name listed below hers, a name I have whispered into the dark a hundred secret nights with my shadow curled around a tiny warm soul: Vaelína.

The sound of my blood rushes in my ears.

…Ash. Sage rasps. Who is Vaelína? Why is there a second name? I can feel him piecing it together inside of us.

Ash, WHOSE NAME⁠—

“It’s hers. It’s the baby’s.” The collar tugs me another step. “I named her months ago. In the dark, when no one could hear me. Because of what Eden calls you…”

I’m dragged forward again, and my chest ignites; the golden symbol Damon drew over my sternum is finally visible—it’s a clover.

“When it gets dark, and it will get very dark, that will remind you what you’re fighting for when the Reaper can no longer remember.”

The mark pulses, and Eden’s green eyes and cinnamon freckles flash behind my eyes. The truth of who I am pours through the hunger like a hand reaching down into deep water.

My body lurches toward the door, skelva catching on the frame as we pass through, desperately trying to stop myself. The wood splinters under my fingers.

“Let go of me,” I roar.

Whatever is controlling me heaves us into the cold. My feet dig furrows into the frost. Every step is another battle I fight and lose. The wide black sky opens overhead.