Death Contract

rling around Caius's bo

always come to me the same way-broken, desperate, willing to trade anything." His fingers, l

k as the abyss be

not shift with the wind. I

throat was dry, but he forced hi

he sound hollow.

s it has al

ontract unfurled itself. The ink was silver, moving, shift

ords

em, Caius felt the weig

ath Co

upheld by the god of death himself. It was older than kingdoms, older than the gods who s

ad bee

cheated

borrowed

deliberate movements. "For every divine sou

ad known there would be a price, but

many

d wider, too sharp, too

flin

en or beasts. But the gods' own creations-th

one was

a hundre

screamed. The way she had cursed the gods as the flames t

hat

us repeated, voice hoars

will not be instant. It will not be painless. B

ands curled into fists

t time, Ereb

adows

d again. "That will reveal

f-truth. But it

us had alre

d for the

ers brushed the parchme

The Road

in cam

a blade or an open wound. No-this pain was deep,

e of a c

ngly tying his sou

ways believed in

Seraphin

olden robes gleaming in the midday sun, their lips curled in

rough the flames, her voice raw, agonized.

bled, but the moment the priests declared her an

rong person. She had

fe that the gods h

ey had burne

ds had don

his home. Now, it was

ad wandered for days, searching for something-anything-that could bring her ba

are meant to

refused to

o the only god w

one hundred lives for th

The ink burned, spreading up his skin like vi

soft now, almost ge

tract v

warrior, once a hero-becam

rbin

r of th

nd to dea