Аполлион

Swallowing down the lump that felt like a permanent fixture in my throat, I shuffled over to Aiden and sat beside him, pulling my knees to my chest. Gods, I didn’t know what was worse—if Seth was completely gone and there was no hope for him, or if there were a part of him still in there somewhere. Either way, wondering about it was hopeless. Right now I was on a mission to discover a way to destroy Seth. So did it matter? In the end, I couldn’t allow him to transfer power from me. Too many lives rested on stopping him.

Aiden must’ve been the proud owner of an internal clock, because when the sky started to turn orange beyond the irregular holes in the roof of the cavern, he stretched like a jungle cat coming awake from an afternoon nap.

He sat up fluidly and leaned over, placing his hands on either side of my bent knees. Heat rolled off his bare chest. He pressed his lips to the sensitive space beneath my ear and murmured, “Good morning.”

“Good morning.”

“I’m guessing we weren’t overrun by spiders?” Aiden popped to his feet and stretched again, raising his arms, his back bowing.

“No.”

He sent me a look over his shoulder and then bent down, grabbing his shirt off the bag. “You hanging in there?”

I nodded.

As we ate a quick breakfast of gerbil food and got ready to head back out into the tunnel, I debated on what to tell Aiden. I couldn’t hide the fact that I’d had some sort of interaction with Seth again, but I wasn’t sure how to put what I was feeling into words that anyone could understand.

When he handed me the musty-smelling cloak, I finally said something. “I saw Seth last night.”

Aiden stilled, hands clenching his own cloak. “Okay.”

I focused on his shoulder. “I know I should’ve said something earlier.”

“Yes. You should have.”

A flush stained my cheeks. “I didn’t really see him. Not like last time. He talked to me through the connection. He doesn’t know what we’re doing. He asked, but I didn’t say anything.”

“Of course.” He slipped on the cloak with quick, stiff movements. “What did he want?”

I shifted my weight uncomfortably. “I think he just wanted… to talk.”

“To talk?” Disbelief colored his tone.

“Yeah, he… I think there’s a part of him still there. You know, a part of him that’s confused, but he really believes that Lucian cares for him.” I trailed off, shaking my head. “It doesn’t matter. You ready?”

Aiden studied me a moment, then nodded. With our hoods in place, we left the little slice of peace behind and ventured out into the dark, narrow tunnels, traveling them in silence. Since I couldn’t see Aiden’s face or his eyes, I wasn’t sure what he was thinking, but I was sure it had something to do with Seth. It was what I was thinking about as we navigated the darkness, with only our footsteps echoing in the silence.

I wished that I had seen what was happening to Seth before it had become too late, noticed how the aether and akasha had been affecting him. Most of all, I wished I had seen how badly he needed someone—someone who accepted him, even loved him. Instead I had been so wrapped up in my own problems I hadn’t seen what everything had been doing to him.

What I’d been doing to him.

In a way, I had seriously failed Seth.

After two hours of nonstop walking in the dark, a small speck of orange light shone ahead, and the closer we got, the larger the spot became until we could see the world outside the cavern.

“Finally,” Aiden muttered.

He stopped at the rough, irregular opening and peered out over the sloping hill that led into a thick mist that blanketed the orange sky. “The Vale of Mourning,” Aiden said. “We’re close to the Plain of Judgment.”

“Hopefully Apollo got word to Caleb.” I stepped out. The drab grass crunched under my boots. “It shouldn’t take long.”

And it didn’t, taking only a half an hour to get down the hill and to enter the mist, which gave way like stirred smoke, revealing the Vale.

The place was as depressing as it sounded.

Bare trees dotted the landscape. Their branches curled down at the ends, as if weighted by the suffering that seeped into the air. Slabs of gray rock rose from the dull grass and a small creek, its water dark and moody, parted the plain.

People were everywhere.

Some were by the creek, lying listlessly on their sides. Their fingers trailed into the water, their bodies shuddering over and over again with deep, heavy sighs. Others were perched upon rocks, sobbing openly, hands clutched to their chests. A few sat at the bases of trees, tucked into balls as they cried out.

The Vale of Mourning was a cesspool of heartbreak and suffering—the final resting place of those who’d died unhappily in love.

I couldn’t get past these people fast enough. Although no one approached us, as they seemed too lost in their misery to even notice us, the lump that had been in my throat all morning grew rapidly. Depression was the air that was breathed here. Sorrow filled the river. Grief rooted the dead trees in place.

Even Aiden’s steps seemed heavier, as if we were walking through the rain-soaked Asphodel Field.