Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
“I haven’t done anything yet,” my mother says with a raise of her chin. “And you know that horse isn’t my servant. They’re nothing but a spy, operating on your behalf. I saw Sarvi take flight. Didn’t take me long to fly up after them and bring them down. With Sala’s help, of course. I couldn’t do any of it without the help of my adopted daughter, who is a better child than you or Lovia will ever be.”
I grind my teeth together. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because,” she says, “it is time to take back what is rightfully mine. My father married me to Tuoni because he wanted the demon blood to rule again one day. All I had to do was bide my time, but Tuoni grew bored of me. He cast me aside. Can you imagine getting married, putting in the days, the weeks, the eons, and then having that marriage severed?”
“You took on Ilmarinen,” I point out with a groan, the cold pain still rolling through me. “You made him your new husband.”
“I had no choice. I needed him for my magic. Now, he’s obsolete, depleted, with nothing left to give. What better time than now to put my plans into motion? The Old Gods have been depending on me to raise them, to build an army to do their bidding. And that’s just what I’m going to do.” She pauses and smiles. I don’t see my father’s face anymore; the more I look at her, the more it looks like my mother’s demon features. “And you’re going to help.”
“I will not help you,” I manage to say.
“But I need the horn of a living god,” she says, pouting. “And you have such lovely horns, Tuonen.”
I stiffen. She can’t be serious.
“Use your own,” I tell her.
“I already have. It wasn’t enough. Though I suppose I could get it from Sarvi here,” she says, looking at the unicorn. Sarvi’s head snaps up briefly, though it’s quickly weighed down again by the iron collar.
“Sarvi is a servant,” I tell her. “Father’s most loyal one. They are not a god.”
She lets out a caustic laugh. “You really don’t know anything, do you, Tuonen? Sarvi is a god in their own right; a god of servitude. We’re all gods down here.”
“Except for me,” not-Hanna says with a whine.
“You are a goddess,” my mother says to her fiercely. “You are my daughter.”
“Not by blood,” I point out.
Not-Hanna immediately twists my horn, sending more ice and pain cascading through my body, enough that I crumble to my knees. “Mother, please, stop her!” I call out.
“Hmmm?” Louhi says. “See, there you are. You are my blood, and yet, I barely feel anything for you. Isn’t it funny, the way things work? I can give birth to you and feel like you’ve been nothing but a waste of space, licking your father’s boots your entire life and spurning me, and yet, here is Salainen, not of my blood, but definitely of my spirit. She was discarded, and I took her in, made her a queen. It was so selfless of me, don’t you think?”
“Take my horns then, if you must,” I say to her, grinding out my words. “But let Sarvi go.”
A low, guttural sound comes from her, and the snakes in the room all hiss at once.
“That’s why I know you’re no true son of mine. You have a bleeding heart, just like your sister and father. It’s so…messy.” She picks up the broadsword and holds it in her hand, brandishing it in front of Sarvi.
“I will take your horns, Tuonen, and I will take Sarvi’s too. There is such a thing as punishment, something your father’s side of the family doesn’t know much about dishing out. I caught Sarvi trying to leave, and it’s through Sala’s magic that I was able to glean why they were leaving. It was because of you. You wanted to warn the Forest Gods and your sister about me. You wanted to cry for help, like a fucking baby.”
She moves her sword to her other hand then back again. “If only you had kept your mouth shut, son. If only you had trusted me a little more. You could have kept up the charade. I would have kept it up for as long as you let me, but you worried about your father too much, didn’t you? You immediately suspected me. Talk about playing favorites.”
“Where is my father?” I ask, though I’m afraid of the answer.
“He’s dead,” she says sharply, and it’s like a dagger in my heart. “Sala killed him. She’s a Godkiller, you know, someone you would want on your side. Sala killed him and then tossed Hanna in the cell with him. They’ll rot together in Inmost, the lovers they are. The last thing Hanna will see will be the Inmost dwellers running loose as they swarm to the surface to join the rest of the Bone Stragglers in my army.”