Chapter Forty-One

Lore recognizes the Night Sister as her mother and remembers her childhood among the Buried Watch: her mother had been marked by Nyxara’s darkness while pregnant, Lore had accidentally channeled Mortem as a child, and the Sisters later marked Lore to enter the goddess’s tomb. Instead, Lore’s mother secretly helped Lore flee. Now, as Night Priestess, Lore’s mother says she should have let the tomb consume Lore before Lore reached ascension, because Lore is one of Nyxara’s chosen and must die to prevent another catastrophe.

Anton insists that his deal with the Night Priestess be honored: the Buried Watch will return to the Church, the Sisters will get their avatar after six villages are added to the dead army, and Anton will deliver Lore’s death. Anton begins pulling Mortem from Lore to form another killing spell, intending to use Lore’s goddess-touched power to destroy another village for Apollius. In the process, Lore realizes that August’s ritual bound both Mortem and Spiritum into her, allowing her to channel life as well as death.

Lore pulls Spiritum from Anton, painfully but successfully healing her wound and breaking Anton’s control. Bastian then arrives through the burning garden, injured but alive, and Anton greets him as the hoped-for vessel of divine power. The Night Priestess urges Lore to submit for Bastian’s sake, but Gabe appears behind Anton, holds a knife to the Priest Exalted’s throat, and disarms him. Lore calls back the suspended knot of Mortem, absorbing it into herself and understanding that the death power is not merely channeled through her but rooted in her own body.

The conflict shifts to what should be done with Anton and Lore. Gabe pleads for Bastian to strip Anton of authority rather than kill him, while Anton claims prophecy demands Lore’s death because her growing power will let Nyxara infect her and bring apocalypse. Lore proposes that Gabe can teach her stronger mental guards, as he once helped her suppress Mortem and prevent deaths in her dreams. The Night Priestess accepts that she cannot force Lore to choose death, warns that Lore is the seed of the apocalypse, and retreats into the well when Lore refuses to sacrifice herself.

Bastian promises Gabe that Anton will live, but uses Spiritum to make thorned vines and blood-red roses erupt from the stone and encase Anton’s body. Anton remains barely alive, trapped as another living statue in the garden, which horrifies Gabe and confirms his fear that Bastian may become a tyrant. Bastian retrieves the bloody crown from Anton, places it on his own head, and declares the reign of the Sainted King.