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“I love you, Rythos,” Maraveth said so softly it was almost lost to the roar of the sea.

Her silver hair clung to her, covering the swell of her breasts. The pull to look at her bare curves was almost unbearable, but my eyes stayed glued to hers.

Her hands rose to my face, gentle—so impossibly gentle—as she cupped my cheeks and tilted my face towards her.

The storm raging in her turquoise eyes made my jaw clench so hard it ached.

I could see it there, her turmoil. Like she had already done something she would regret.

The ship rocked beneath us, waves smashing against the hull as if the sea itself responded to the conflict within her.

“I love you,” she said again, voice slicing over the wind. The words struck like lightning, splitting open something raw in my chest. I leant into her touch, eyelashes fluttering against my cheek as I fought the warmth gathering behind them.

I splayed my hands against her bare hips, the touch igniting something desperate and aching in my chest. I wanted her to be mine, but it was too dangerous. The God of Gods would destroy everything she loved in a jealous rage.

“But Helion⁠—”

A beautiful melody cut off my words, strangling my words in my throat. Her lips curved in a slow seductive smile as she hummed. It flooded beneath my skin, and my fingers dug into her skin with sudden need.

I wanted her. The gods be damned.

“Helion will get over it,” she whispered as she leant down, lips pressing against mine and stealing my breath. I was nothing but a sailor who had fallen in love with the sea… and the goddess who ruled it.

And she wanted me as much as I wanted her.

The memory unravelled in my mind, slipping through me like sand between open fingers. Each detail faded, dissolving until nothing remained but the hollow ache it left behind.

The dull light of the cave came back into focus, sulphur flooding my senses.

I sucked in a breath, chest heaving as if I had surfaced from deep water.

My fingers flexed uselessly at my sides, grasping for something that no longer existed.

“You are dying,” the blonde hissed while the dark-haired Fate laughed. The sound grated against my ears. “You wish to know how to be saved?”

“Perhaps tell us something we do not already know,” Caelum said from beside me while I caught my breath.

The dark-haired fate hissed at Caelum, wading forwards until her breasts peaked above the bubbling lava. “The prophecy still stands. Maraveth must undo the damage she has done…”

“Save her fated mate...” Their voices overlapped, then split, then merged again. Never quite in sync, never quite separate.

“Fail and all will be lost. All kingdoms will drown.”

“A choice must be made…”

“Stop speaking in riddles,” I demanded, voice rumbling with restraint. “Tell me how I save her.” The shadows at my feet stirred, stretching toward them like hounds straining at a leash.

“You do not save her,” they said in unison. The dark-haired one laughed. A jagged, broken sound that echoed too long, as though the cave itself had joined in. The blonde’s tongue dragged slowly over her teeth, as if savouring the taste of the anger radiating off my skin.

Darkness crept out of my skin, crawling along it and rising to strike. Killing the temperamental creatures would be satisfying, but they weaved fate. Destroying power like that would have a cost, so I held onto the darkness like a leash.

I let out a frustrated sigh, jaw aching from grinding my teeth together.

I was asking the wrong questions.

“How do I get to the Seven Hells?”

The blonde’s lips cracked in a dangerous smile and my skin crawled as if a thousand insects burrowed along my skin.