“There’s a demigod trapped inside this castle?” he asked. “How?”
“I know not. I was already caged. It was some time before she took over the castle. She does not remember what happened either. She knows not even who she is.”
“How could a demigod not know who she is?” I asked. “Never mind. We’ll figure that out later. Why are your sister and parents dead?” But then, I already knew this too, didn’t I?
When her mouth tipped into a crestfallen smile, it was so different from Rafaela’s that, for those moments, I ceased seeing my mother reflected in her.
“Given how I have spent my last centuries, there is no way for me to be certain, but I must assume that Rafaela killed them as she did me.”
All too aware of our urgency, I still could only stare while I searched for words.
“How is it that you’re dead but still have your head?” Baz asked. “You are a sänglure, are you not?”
“I am. Was. Or perhaps still am. When does a person cease being what one is? See, Rafaela and I were bonded twins.”
I gasped.
“It is different for bonded twins. She alone could kill me without taking my head and my blood.” Her eyes glittered darkly, her glow fading noticeably. “She severed our bond?—”
“The bond can be broken?” I asked as my chest squeezed.
“Anything and everything can be broken. After she unbound us, she was able to kill me as if I were human. She locked me in that cage and”—her voice caught—“walked away. She never looked back.”
“She left you to starve to death?” I asked, though I already knew. When we’d found her ghost, she was flesh stretched taut over bones.
Her smile was bitter; her glow dimmed a bit more. “That is Rafi for you.” Her jaw trembled. “I never … never imagined what she would do. I never fought her. Never did anything to stop her. She just…”
“The cage,” I blurted. “She put me and my brother in cages just like the one we found you in.”
Her eyes held mine—searching for what, I couldn’t tell—for long enough that her light faded more. “Of all the things I struggle to believe about Rafi—Rafaela—that is one of the most difficult. That she would do that to her own children…” She shook her head. “We promised—we swore—that when we became of age we would destroy the cages forever.” She wrung her fingers, noticed, and let her hands fall to her sides. “She locked me up before then.”
“By scorches,” Baz muttered.
“What’s your name?” At the very least, I wanted to know her name before she left this world forever. Rafaela couldn’t be allowed to erase the existence of her bonded twin so easily.
Again, that devastated smile. “Micaela. Our parents enjoyed having a matching set. We were bonded twins of the blood. That was unheard of. We were expected to embody great power. I was stronger than Rafaela, you know.” Lost to memories, her eyes unfocused. “When she destroyed our bond, she took my power for herself. That is another thing only bonded twins among sänglures can do.”
“Micaela,” Baz interjected, ever so gently. “Don’t focus on the pain. When your light finishes fading from this world, you need to be as free of the darkness as possible. The Etherlands is within your reach. Don’t let your sister rob you of that too.”
Micaela nodded, as if steeling herself. Her luminescence intensified. “You are mates. It is why you are bared to each other.”
“Yes,” Baz answered immediately, while it took me a few moments to even comprehend what she was suggesting.
I chortled. “Wait. You mean … us?” I gestured between Baz and myself, for the first time noticing a fine thread, glowing faintly, tying us together. “Wait, wait. Baz and me?” My voice rose in pitch despite myself.
“Yes,” she and Baz replied together.
“No. No, no.” A strained laugh wrenched free. “You think that’s what this thread is? It’s not that. It’s the Rillis rope, filtered through into…” I glanced around. Darkness engulfed us, pressed down on us on all sides … and also set us free. “It’s the Rillis rope, just here.”
“It’s not,” Baz said.
“We’re not. Baz, I assure you, we’re not.”
“We are. Destined mates.”
“Destiny does love fucking with me. But that would be going too far, waaaaay too far, even for her.” But was there ever too far for the demigods, who considered us their playthings, here for their amusement? “No. You’re wrong.”
He faced me. Calm acceptance smoothed his features. “It’s why you couldn’t kill me when you tried to stab me in the heart. Your aim was true. But it’s ancient faithum. You can’t kill your one true mate. The forces of this world don’t allow it. To do so would be a violation of nature. It’s a bond much like the one between twins.”