into him as she spoke. “You have joined the ranks of your predecessors and are now my Avatar…and the first true King of Anden. The wyverns will answer your call. You will see the hearts of your people to better serve them. You will rule without question and none shall be able to stand up to your dominance. Remember this important warning. Failure is answerable to me, and I will intervene in your activities if necessary. I have before, and I will again.” She released him, pushing him down onto the throne. “Good luck. Save my people from the death that awaits them, and…go find your sister. Show her that you are more than worthy of her love.”
Lariana leaned over and kissed his forehead.
Then everything was gone, and he sat in a throne room by himself.
45
Mave
Mave stood alone on the peak, staring in awe at the storm that whipped around her but didn’t touch her anymore. It perfectly cocooned the summit. The stone and rock under feet were warm. The air was warm. She thawed, and her pain subsided as blood flowed again, and her body could finally begin its healing process.
She was there. Turning in a circle, looking around, she wondered where she had to go now or what she had to do.
“Kristanya!” she screamed.
“No need to yell,” the familiar voice said. “I’m right behind you.”
Mave growled and turned slowly to see the goddess walk out of the storm.
“Welcome to the one place on this earth where the dragons can still stand in the mortal realm and the one place where mortals can stand in the next. You stand on the border of two worlds, both of which I helped create,” Kristanya greeted, opening her hands and gesturing to the surprisingly boring space. Just an open bit of mountain, the summit surrounded by a storm. “Protected by the male dragons, both to keep all of you little mortals out…and to keep all of us females in.” She gave Mave a vicious smile.
“This is where you and I will figure out why you won’t make me your Avatar. Why you’re willing to let the Andinna die,” Mave said, glaring at the goddess, her fury compounding. A flame, that nearly died on the mountain, roared back to life. “And the Avatar of Amonora said you’ve meddled in my life before! What is that about?”
“Yes. We’ll talk, then we’ll move forward with the test. There is no turning back for you now, little girl.” Kristanya’s eyes narrowed. “You want to be my Avatar, and Amonora’s charity case is right, I have meddled in your life before. We’ll start with the meddling, as it’s being called.” Kristanya was suddenly right before Mave and touched her lower abdomen, palm out. Her free hand grabbed Mave’s shoulder and squeezed. Mave didn’t move as those fingers dug into her, painful even through the padded armor. “For decades, I saw souls come to me for final judgment, and they would tell me of you, murderer of your own people. Some of them lied. They were sad specimens of Andinna, but others…they could have had wonderful lives that you cut down too soon.” Kristanya growled. “Then decades became centuries. I told my sister, Amonora, to take something from you, something I felt you didn’t deserve. This.” The hand on Mave’s lower abdomen pressed. “That which brings so much death has no right to bring life into the world. I cannot create, as the goddess of death, and you brought more death to your own people than any other Andinna in history. This is your penance for killing so many. You will never have a legacy.”
Something in Mave broke a little. Something very small. She would never have a child. Mave hadn’t even known she might have wanted one.
That option was now ripped away from her, but it wasn’t herself Mave hurt for. Her husbands would never know the joy Kian did when he saw Senri pregnant. Mave would never be able to give them that. They would never have their own children…unless they found another female to have them with.
That cut Mave’s heart more than anything else.
“But you know why I did it,” Mave tried to say as Kristanya squeezed her shoulder harder. “I had to survive. I didn’t get to choose who I had to kill on those sands, Kristanya.”
“When you came to Anden, I went into your dreams, angry with you,” Kristanya said as if she were admitting a secret. “I had no intention of training