Page 245 of The Edge of Darkness

“Easy now,” Lyceius tutted. “You have not heard the full story.”

“What story?”

“The one where an ancient king broke an ancient oath. It was a bargain, really—between King Emmeric and I. You see, Emmeric pleaded to the fae for protection during the second war. They denied him, and he suddenly fell ill. You know of this; your history teaches it. But what it does not teach is that he came to me, afterward, begging for me to spare him. He promised me his life, and the devotion of every king after him, if I would only cure him of his illness and spare the humans from my wrath. He promised he would work toward ensuring that the realm would one day submit to my rule. So I struck that bargain with him, and when he recovered, he began turning humans away from the gods they knew and loved.”

I shook my head. “I don’t believe you. You are not the god of healing. You do not have that power.”

“That is correct. Emmeric was a fool. He was so focused on saving himself that he neglected to take into account that I had no ability to save him. The fact that he recovered was simply fate. But he saw it as a bargain well struck, and went to work, following through on his part.”

“I don’t believe you,” I repeated.

“Why do you think there are no more temples in the human lands? Why are there no images or statues of the gods? ‘The gods turned their back on humans long ago.’ Is that not what you were taught growing up? Your kind suffered through the first war because none of the other gods came to your aid, isn’t that right? Where is your dear Karios? Hmm? In all this time, has he ever shown his face to you?”

“He stripped you of your talisman, and created me. That was his intervention,” I said in the god-king’s defense.

Karios had tried to help. It was just that no one knew it. That fact had been stricken from the records, lost to lies and time.

Lyceius’s face hardened, irritated at the reminder that Karios was still always one step ahead of him. “Yes, yes. But have you ever stopped to think about how the mere mention of talismans was removed from your history entirely? That was all thanks to Emmeric. Your lineage, your very birth, is something no one in the human realm is even aware of. It was all a part of my plan. Don’t you see?

“What do all men want, deep down? Power. Control. Status and wealth. These are the things that men’s hearts covet. They are also man’s downfall. It was the king who bargained for human safety, not Karios. It was the king, who pledged fealty to me, and instilled an entire system of ideologies that ensured every generation thereafter was stripped of hope and the old ways, so that when I rose to power, there would be no objection. All because he wanted to live. He wanted power and all the things that came with it.

“He told your kind that the fae were the enemy, making my legions seem like less of a direct threat. If humans would have sided with the fae, they would have been less likely to fall away from the gods and take up this new ideology. Emmeric knew that division creates weakness. He capitalized on it, just as I instructed him to.”

“That was your plan all along? To get us to lose our faith?”

He smiled. “A great ‘falling away,’ as I like to call it.”

I already knew the truth of this. The fae had been made to look like the enemy. But hearing it from the fallen god himself was like a slap to the face. We humans had allowed it to happen. The separation, the hatred, the avoidance, it was all to keep us in line. Submissive to a god who was never truly on our side. And when the humans attacked the fae, it had been out of anger and greed—both incited by Lyceius’s ploy to turn us against each other and make us weak.

Humans had already begun to lose faith in the gods when none of them, not even Karios, had intervened. So the fallen god capitalized on it. He saw the opportunity arise with Emmeric’s plea, and used it—used him.

“You’ve been conditioned,” Lyceius continued, still smiling like he’d just won this war before it had even started. “Over thousands of years, kings have thrived, each of them sworn into this secret order that was loyal to my agenda. Each of them slowly breaking down human morale and resolve, little by little. Pulling them away from everything they were taught. The lies have been spun so perfectly for so long, and no one thought to question them.”

I narrowed my eyes at the fallen god. “I will ensure everyone else knows the truth when this is done.”

“See, that is the ideology that will get you in trouble. It is the very reason why the king is in shackles, enduring his punishment.”

Beside us, Roirdan and some of the others stirred anxiously.

“Broderick started asking questions. And when someone begins to wonder, the action spreads like a weed, until dozens are thinking for themselves and questioning the truth. Thankfully, I had a loyal servant keeping an eye on him.”

“Where is the king?” I demanded.

Lyceius cocked his head. “You don’t stop, do you?” A smug laugh crawled up his throat. “Dare I say you get that from me?”

“Shut your fucking mouth,” Niall said, his shadows spilling out around him and whipping at the air.

At the sight of them, Skadi’s eyes sparked to life. “What a delightful start,” she said, her tongue dripping with disdain. “Now, shall we move on to the next pressing matter?”

“Yes,” Niall said, matching her sarcasm. “Tell us how a goddess from another world was able to come into this one unnoticed, when her sister was intercepted upon arrival.”

Skadi huffed a laugh. “It’s rather simple, really. Turns out, it’s all about location. I just so happened to land here, in The Wastelands, which, Lyceius tells me, is a place Karios no longer keeps tabs over.”

“Mmm. How fortunate.”

Niall’s false sense of amusement only stirred the goddess’s ire. Her expression darkened, and her voice turned deep as she said, “My amulet. Bring it to me. Now.”

Movement caught my eye from where Niall began fidgeting with his hand inside his pocket, almost as if he was . . . nervous.