True form? Matt’s lion had never been black. My stomach churned. Had I done this to him? “We are not here to fight you. We are looking for the water of life.”
“Do you not know where you are?” Rawana laughed. “The River Lethe, the stream of oblivion and mortal life. This is the place that heals.”
I flailed in the water. “This can’t be it. There’s so much of it!”
Rawana cocked his head. “If you bathe in the river, you will be cleansed of your mortal suffering.”
I looked down at my shoulder. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed that it no longer screamed with pain. The gash was completely healed, and under the water, fresh skin gleamed instead. I swam closer to the boulder.
A long, thin rock, the shape of an arrowhead, lay at the edge of the bank.
Rawana stared down at me, blocking the path to the quiet forest behind him. “Past here is the final resting place of heroes, but you are not one. Neither is the lion. This one is marked. He has taken a soul from Elysium without permission. It’s why he remains frozen where your wounds have been healed.” He pulled the lion’s head up to expose its jugular and thrust the scythe against the vulnerable spot. “It is time to give another soul in return.”
“Stop! Take mine instead.” I grabbed the bottom of the boulder and hauled myself up. I slipped the arrowhead into my wet cargos and stood up, dripping from head to toe.
Rawana stilled. The tattooed faces on his arms twitched. The third eye glared at me. He said in surprise, “You would do that?”
I took a step closer to the muscled king. “I would offer myself to the demon king.”
Rawana let out a bellow of laughter. “Demon king—”
I threw the rock arrowhead at Rawana’s exposed navel. A flash of green burst from the Dragon’s Eye. On the heels of the arrowhead, it hit Rawana with deadly accuracy in the stomach. A golden apple fell from under Rawana’s navel and tumbled down at my feet. Rawana blinked. The scythe dropped from his hand, falling to the ground in front of Matt.
I let out a breath of relief.
Rawana clutched his navel, swaying in place. Then, his legs buckled, and he fell backwards on the boulder. Above us, the sky rumbled with thunder. Dark clouds moved fast to cover the blue sky. I ran to the fallen king. Picking up the scythe, I knelt down beside him.
His three eyes locked onto the Dragon’s Eye. “You possess surprising power.”
Unconsciously, I touched the Dragon’s Eye. Vane. The thought he might be here eased a knot of tension inside me.
From the ground, Rawana asked, “How did you know where to aim?”
“I know your story.”
A wistful expression came over his face. “Then, I live on in the mortal realm. I am pleased.” His third eye closed. “You do not seem like a warrior, little one, but you have proven yourself worthy. You have defeated me. The apple is yours.”
I glanced at the small golden apple. “What is it?”
“After I lost the nectar of my immortality, I was sent here. I was asked to protect this by the Father. It was stolen from him but he was able to retrieve it. He warned me that the great Lady would send someone to collect it, but I could not let them have it.”
The great Lady. The Lady of the Lake. Rhea. They were all the same. Excitement shot through me. My fingers tightened on the scythe.
Rawana eyed the blade. “Will you finish me now?”
I laid the weapon down. “Do I need to?”
Rawana gave me a twisted smile. “My spirit is linked to the apple. Now that you have severed it from me, I will not last long.”
The river behind me rose higher. Water splashed up the boulder as the landscape turned more violent. I held the apple out to Rawana. “Then, I will not take it. I didn’t come here to kill anyone.”
He gave me a weak smile of surprise. “You are kind, warrior. You remind me of the one I would have made my queen.”
I colored. “I am no queen.”
“A title cannot hold a kingdom, while the lack of it cannot lose you one. I lost mine because I took what didn’t belong to me.” Rawana blinked. He pushed the apple back at me. “The apple is rightfully yours.”
“What does it do?”
“I do not know. For my misconduct, I have been denied