Last Rites (Darkling Mage 6)

“And what price do you expect in return?” I said, still haughty, still defiant.

“Nothing,” Artemis said. “Absolutely nothing. Call it a matter of evening out the injustice. Your homunculus was an aberration, an anomaly. His coronation was a mistake. This is us setting things right.”

This was as good an apology as we would ev

er get from the Convocation. I looked around myself, at the glimmering eyes of the vastly powerful deities surrounding us. I couldn’t even imagine the limits of their might. Among them was Tsukuyomi, son of Izanami, god of the moon. Though he’d stayed silent throughout the meeting, he still smiled at me, nodding encouragingly. I nodded back.

“Then we accept,” I said.

“Excellent,” Nyx answered. She raised her hand, a swirl of tiny stars and galaxies gathering in her palm. The vortex quickened, spinning faster and faster, until it coalesced into a single, milky crystal. She extended her arm, and the crystal drifted towards me. I took it carefully out of the air.

“Don’t worry,” Artemis said. “It’s not that fragile. But it will sense your intent. If you truly feel the time is right to summon the Convocation, then smash the crystal, and those of us who hear will answer your call.”

I looked into the crystal, marveling at the cosmos swirling within its heart, an entire miniature universe. When I closed my fingers around it, the crystal felt warm, alive, as if it truly did hold the power of so many stars and suns within its facets.

“Thank you,” I said, finally remembering to be polite.

“Yes, well,” Metzli said, coughing into her hand. “It’s the least we can do.”

Chernobog threw her a withering glare, which she ignored.

“Then this gods-moot is adjourned,” Nyx said.

One by one the gods faded into the darkness. Tsukuyomi smiled at me again as he vanished, and Artemis twiddled her fingers in a sort of mocking, sort of flirtatious goodbye. Nyx drifted towards me, her hair a mass of burning stars. Beside me, Sterling gasped.

“Brave choices you made there, Dustin,” she said, smiling out of the corner of one mouth.

I shrugged. “I swear it wasn’t on purpose.” I scratched the back of my neck. “Maybe I need to see someone about these anger issues.”

She pressed her hand against my chest, her touch at once so cold, yet so warm where her skin was studded with stars. “I blame this, truthfully. The shard of the Old Ones is still buried there, and for as long as it exists, they will keep coming. They sense you, even here, even now.”

“But he can’t just die,” Gil said softly. “Surely that’s not the solution. There has to be something better than just snuffing Dust out.”

“Izanami’s ritual may yet be of use,” Nyx said, cocking one shoulder. “I’m glad at least that I’ve donated my hair to a good cause. As for those other ingredients?” She breathed out and tutted. “Quite the challenge. But you don’t have to die for this, Dustin. At least I hope not. There’s more of your life that must be lived yet.”

I nodded curtly. Well and good for a goddess to try and comfort me, but her existence wasn’t tied to – well, the rest of existence, the way that mine was.

“I don’t know how to thank you for your help,” I said. “But remember, I will call on you.” I placed my hand over my breast pocket, where the Convocation’s crystal still burned warm. “There’s no chance in hell that I won’t.”

“And we will be waiting.” She waved her hand across the sky, and slowly, Sterling, Gil, and I began our descent. “You spoke, Dustin Graves, and you made your case.”

Nyx began to fade as we sped back to earth. “Let no one say that the gods did not listen.”

Chapter 18

“On the list of the shadiest things we’ve ever done, this is really close to the top.” Asher tutted at me, his fingers twisting a handful of my jacket.

“Do you have any better ideas?” I hissed. “Because I’m all ears.”

Asher bit his lip, but his glare didn’t waver.

“Good,” I whispered. “Then stay quiet.”

Because quiet was what we needed right then. Hospitals don’t tend to be very busy after dark, and this one was no different. Apart from the beeping of medical machinery and the occasional shuffling of a night nurse’s feet, the building was mostly still, and silent.

You guessed right. Sterling and Gil had gone back to the Boneyard, but Asher and I were going to try for one of Izanami’s ingredients. Pretty simple guess as to which one, I’m certain. We were huddled in the shadow of a large cabinet, waiting for things to truly settle down now that visiting hours were over.

I’d smuggled the two of us in through the Dark Room, going vaguely by the building’s floor plan and basing our exit point on what we could see from the ground floor. It was a good thing I bothered checking, too.