If she closed her eyes and turned her face toward the moon she could almost see him. Almost feel the warmth of his words pressed against her skin. The last words she heard him speak.
...I will come for you. But if death should find us first then we will welcome it; for then our souls will find each other in the world after this...
The tears fell silent and cold but the fury burned loud and hot beneath her skin. Vengeance would be hers. Those who had taken from her would pay. All who had taken from her would know the power of a Goddess's vengeance.
'When I look upon you I understand his rage, his pain.' His voice appeared through the silence like an assassin, soft and deadly.
She did not turn to look at him, did not move to wipe the tears from her cheek. She heard him move into the chamber toward her, and then he was close. As he pressed against her everything inside screamed in protest.
'You will be the end of Gods and men, Azura,' Calate whispered, inhaling deeply of the skin of her neck. He pressed his lips to her, his fingers coming to settle covetously across her throat, then he lowered his hand to her breast.
She pushed him from her forcefully. 'You will not,' she hissed. This morning she had awoken to find him watching her while she slept. Each day his patience with her wore thinner. Each day his hatred for Leoth burned darker.
His eyes narrowed before a smirk rose to his mouth. 'Think you he abstains from the sating of his desires? Two whores left his chamber as I entered - the stench of their coupling was repulsive, truly.'
Lies, she knew. She would not rise. 'You saw him?' she asked, her heart leaping.
'I did.' There was provocation in his tone. Taunting. His eyes watched her carefully, as though her pain were a study he sought to master.
'Tell me of him, please.'
'He is as defeated and joyless as I expected.'
She went to him, reaching out to clutch at the rich silk of his robes. 'Brother, you must let me go to him - if only for a moment. There need be no more death; this war can cease, but you must let me see him, please.' She did not care then that she begged him. She could bear anything if it meant an end to this.
He reached out to touch her cheek, his eyes turning unimaginably soft as he gazed down at her. When he pulled her close to him she stiffened. Could she offer him this? For Leoth. For Ethis? For peace.
Yes. Yes, she could. She could bear anything if it meant an end to this.
He brought his lips to hers and kissed her hard. His cruel mouth hot and cold all at once. A sickening moan passed from him to her as his fingers fisted her hair. When he broke away from her lips he said nothing for many moments, his golden eyes almost sad as he looked at her.
'Think you I am a fool?' he asked, smiling softly. She shook her head. 'You shall see him on the morrow, Sister. When our armies meet across the battlefield. It will cheer him to see you by my side do not you think?'
'I will not stand by your side.'
'Oh but you will, Azura, you will. I will make you watch as I destroy him. And when it is done, and his name is nought but a curse upon this realm - you will come willingly to my bed. Tearful and glorious in your grief.'
'Then you are a fool,' she said. 'For I will never come willingly to your bed!'
He let out a deep sigh. 'Then you will leave me no choice. No choice but to show all who lifted their sword or spoke a word for his cause, the same fate as he. How many more shall lie dead in your name then?' He asked. 'My mercy is yours to wield, sister.' His gaze was as sharp as his tone was magnanimous.
Hopelessness rose to suffocate her. 'I am but a toy... A toy you do not care for but cannot bear to see in the hands of another. You have ever been a jealous and selfish child, Calate.'
He moved toward her quickly, forcing his body against hers once more, his eyes blazing bright gold in the firelight. 'And I suppose he is the hero, Azura??! Despite the countless innocents he has slain, despite the unnumbered who have perished in his name and yours - he is to be the hero of this story?'
'He did not want war... we did not want this...' she shook her head, pain lancing through her. 'We wanted only.... each other.'
'You wanted our end!!' He roared.
The prophecy. A child born of her and Leoth. The fall of the Gods. It had been foreseen.
The prophecy did not frighten her. Nor did it frighten Leoth, for no child borne of their love could be the cause of such destruction. But it had frightened Cal and Zy. It had frightened them enough that they had risen armies to avert it. Such death and destruction over a life not yet formed. It was unfathomable to her.
'Prophecies do not destroy Gods, Calate,' She said quietly. 'Gods destroy Gods.'
'Oh, and how right you are dear sister, for I shall see him destroyed.'
She levelled her gaze at him, unflinching. 'But you are not a God. You are a weak, jealous, and fearful thing.'
His smile faltered, a tremor of violence moving across his face. She felt he might strike her then but she was unafraid.
'On the morrow, when he is captured and brought before you in chains when the men and women of Ethis cheer my victory, I will show you who is a God and who is not. Then I shall ask you again who the hero of this story is, Azura.' He moved away from her toward the door.
'You will lose,' She called out. As always, her hope was a light that shone brighter each time she belittled or defied him. 'You will lose because he fights for that which is greater than himself; something greater than a God. He fights for love.'
Calate smiled and it was as cold as new frost. 'You are as much of a fool as he,' he said. His voice was thick with pity. 'You should sleep, sister. We march at sunrise.' He spun on his heel and stormed from the chamber.
'You are destruction,' she whispered into the silence. 'We are destroyed.'