Dovetailed Read Online Free

huddled together, and exhaled heavily. They wanted to leave. Death had damaged them—at least, that’s what her mother said. Venus’s eyes watered. It didn’t matter that they weren’t her parents by blood. They’d raised her, hugged her, and kissed her when she got hurt. They’d encouraged, sang, talked… For sixteen years they were all she’d known and she loved them.
    They were her parents.
    Certainly not the Gods, Ith and Aetha. Their DNA might flow through her immortal veins, but they weren’t her parents, they’d given her up. Of course they had their reasons. They wanted to protect her. They wanted her to understand and have empathy for the people she would rule.
    Amberlee and the souls of her parents stood a ways off from everyone. What they were saying to each other, Venus didn’t know. She could’ve listened in, if she’d desired, but didn’t feel it was necessary. Amberlee had tears running down her cheeks. Her arms were wrapped around her waist, as though she were trying to hold herself together.
    For a brief second, she almost changed her mind, but she resisted. Amberlee deserved the privacy.
    Venus knew the King and Queen’s choice would make Amberlee more bitter, more hardened than she needed to be, but she hadn’t been able to convince them to change their minds. They were going. At least she’d convinced them to give their only true heir, their daughter, Amberlee some words of advice, a proper good-bye, and even forgiveness.
    Once they had finished speaking, Venus addressed the crowd. “Souls on the right, I command you to rise and move on. May the Gods guide you and keep you.” As she spoke, she raised her hands and spoke words that were foreign to her ears, though she somehow knew to say them and what they meant. “Return to the world of your Maker.”
    Like a rip in a dress seam, the ceiling pulled apart. Venus watched layers upon layers of soil give way to inky black water, then a deep blue that proceeded to grow lighter and lighter until it was the color of the sky. She noticed it was not the sky of Kelari though. It was filled with smoke and clouded gray.
    The sight saddened her. “Go,” she commanded gently.
    A force moved toward the souls, surrounded them, wrapped them in a cocoon, and carried them like a gentle tornado from the room. Except Cheverley. Venus made sure her soul remained. The poor girl seemed confused and huddled against the ceiling as it closed again, as though trying to force her way out.
    Venus turned her attention to the souls on the left. One floated toward her. It was Chev.
    “I told you I wanted to move on as well,” she said, her voice hard.
    Venus nodded. “You will,” she consoled. “Stay here, next to me. I’ll help you move on when I’ve finished restoring these souls to their bodies.”
    That seemed to calm Chev. Her soul fluttered patiently next to Venus.
    To the remainder of the souls, she spoke. “I command your bodies and souls to reunite and place Kelvieri boots on those kels still in need of them.” She still wore her Kelvieri boots. They were part of a ritual every Kelarian went through at the age of sixteen. Inside the heels of the boots were symbols of the weaknesses each kel needed to work on.
    The boots had been Ith and Aetha’s way of keeping the Kelarians safe from Ramien. He was a Ferether, and survived by consuming the essence of other souls.
    Michael is half Ferether , Venus’s mind whispered.
    She remembered feeling a tugging from him that night on the beach, right before he brought her into Helker. He was half soul eater, half Kelvieri. He was also her husband.
    Kind of. Sort of.
    Wasn’t he?
    She’d been about to marry Ramien when Michael showed up. They’d used a special knife to destroy the Ferether while the priest continued the ceremony, seemingly oblivious to the death and destruction happening in front of him. After Ramien died, Michael stepped into Ramien’s place and said, “I do.”
    It couldn’t be