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  "If humans are fun, imagine what they're like once they become Sylfes? An entire race of people made to pleasure Gods. Nothing else."

  "That's not their purpose," Shep argued, the broody bastard going back to his moody disposition. "They're to be someone's husband or wife one day. Chosen for that purpose."

  "Yeah, yeah," Tate brushed him off. "But until then, they do a lot of fucking."

  Even Shep had to admit to that one. Because it was what they did.

  None of us talked about the fact that they could choose any of us to battle in the next Ascension. We could, and likely would, separate for the first time since we'd bonded as children.

  Which was why we didn't discuss it. Our bond was eternal and being separated would feel like losing a limb. So, we ignored it.

  Best practice.

  Chapter 2

  Mireyah

  I complained about the snow constantly, but I liked it a great deal more than most in my village. Hell, even in my region. Where everyone would be bundled off in their well-heated vehicles or hiding in their toasty buildings, I was perfectly willing to hike around collecting ingredients for the products we made in the shop.

  We were beyond the times when we made potions and elixirs to cure various illnesses and ailments, but the hygiene products we made were all-natural and organic and people appreciated them enough that the shop, Herbtopia, did a brisk business no matter the season.

  It thrilled me to be a part of it - to learn the craft I'd wanted to learn ever since I'd been a slip of a girl and Talisha had taken me to the store and introduced me to Serenity. They weren't close, but they'd been in the same class in school.

  Funny really, since Serenity felt more like my sister than Talisha did most days.

  The bell tinkled as I shoved open the door and walked into the empty shop. Not a person browsed the shelves loaded with bottles and scents of all kinds. "Sorry! I’m in the back," Serenity called out, making me smile.

  “Just me!” I replied quickly before Serenity interrupted her work to come help me, thinking I was a customer.

  She turned to look at me as I walked into the back room. It doubled as a workroom and mini storage. "There you are. I worried you'd become an icicle, and I'd have to bundle up to go out and find you."

  I rolled my eyes at her as I dropped the bag onto the table next to hers and peeled off my coat. I threw it on top of the pile on the big wooden chair in the southeast corner of the shop.

  I sneezed and Serenity chuckled at me. "I just fed the fire. Pull up a chair next to it and warm yourself. Tea's fresh too if you want something hot."

  I stood over to the teapot. "Thanks. You?" She shook her head as I held the pot at her. I poured myself a cup and sat right next to the fire to stop the runny nose. "Ugh, might have been walking around too much."

  "You were gone almost an hour. In the dead of winter like this, that's suicide. You know it," she chided me softly, and I felt bad enough because I knew how sincerely she worried about me.

  "Sorry, Serenity." Sufficiently, heated and with half a cup of tea in me, I stood up to peer around her. "What are you making?"

  "Just a simple rubbing balm for aches and pains. Nothing special to teach you. But with the exceptionally cold weather, we're running low." Serenity crushed some mint leaves with her granite-made mortar and pestle. I stepped back because I already knew how to make the balm and instead turned in a slow circle.

  "No Corinne today?" I asked, looking for Serenity's tarot-toting girlfriend who wore more bracelets than what I would call sane. It wasn’t necessary for me to ask - as I couldn't hear the tinkling of said bracelets, it was obvious she wasn't there.

  "Nah, she has a reading. Out of town." Her voice was full of pride. Pride in the person she loved who had found success in a difficult village to survive.

  "Still in the snow?" I looked out the window and even my cold-loving heart shivered at the strong storm swirling outside. "Anywhere is better than here, right? We got most of the white shit."

  "We always get most of the shit, Mi. You know it." She gave me a smile that proved how well-picked her name was for her.

  "Sure I do. The Gods screw with us. Where are Crystal and Tom?" I asked after Serenity's parents, who owned and ran the shop with their daughter. I grabbed one of the sacks of dried herbs off the table, tossing it up and down in my hand as I watched her scoop the balm with a massive spoon.

  She screwed on the top of the jar she'd just finished filling with the thick balm. "They had to oversee a few deliveries, but they should be home by now. Good thing, really, with the storm. You should head home soon but before you do, pull up a chair. There's... something you need to see."

  I did, but I threw her a bewildered look. "Okaaaaay. What's up."

  She walked over to the desk next to the overburdened chair. Glancing over at the pile, she raised a brow at me. I just shrugged at her and smiled. She shook her head but didn't say a word as she pulled a slim envelope from the desk drawer and held it out to me. "I’m surprised they sent it here, but I suppose it's because you spend most of your time here, anyway."

  I hesitated, a small part of me frightened beyond belief to touch the shiny blue-gray paper. "What is it?"

  She laid it down in front of me and pushed it closer. "Best just open it, Mi."

  "I don't want to." I shook my head and felt the tears gather in my eyes even as my heart started thudding quicker in my chest. I took a deep breath before picking it up and opening it. I broke the dark gray wax seal and pulled out the card inside.

  "Oh god," I whispered. "I'd hoped…." I broke off, clutching my chest as horror settled over me.

  "It never misses, Mi. No one at all." She walked around the counter to pull me towards her, wrapping me in a tight reassuring hug. "You can do it. If you wanted to, that is."

  I shook my head, still burrowed into her chest. "I don't wanna."

  "Well, anywhere is better than here, yeah?" She laughed, and it sounded fake and hollow to my ears.

  "Sure. But you wouldn't want to leave Corinne, would you? Or Crystal and Tom?" I rubbed my knuckles over my eyes, and she reached over to pull my hands off my face.

  "Darling, you'll give yourself wrinkles. But no, I wouldn't want to leave them. But this is a dead-end place, Mireyah. A place forgotten by time and by Gods, except during the Collection. They finally remember us then."

  "Yeah," I agreed, not with a little bitterness. "They don't care one iota about us here."

  A pause. "You can do it, you know. All the way."

  "Sure, be a God. What's that? A one in a hundred million chance?"

  She laughed, shaking her head. "Thereabouts. Mireyah. I can't tell you what they're looking for since their picks year to year have been different. But if you're you, unless that's what they're looking for then they'll pass you over."

  Fear settled down to my bones. "I should just go." I looked out; the sky was dark as nightfall now.

  "If you go, they take it as a serious offense. They'll look for you and when they find you, they will punish you. Failing that, they'll punish your family." She gave me a long look.

  "No. I wouldn't want that." The bell tinkled and my head came up.

  "Stay. I'll tend to it." She walked out into the main part of the shop even as I stood for a glass of water.

  "Oh, hi, Ledge," I heard Serenity call out, and I stiffened when I heard the name. "Yeah, sure, she's at the back." I cursed Serenity for exposing me, making it so that hiding was out of the question.

  "Just wanted to talk to her about something."

  "I figured. I have eyes and a reasonably intelligent brain." I could hear Serenity shuffling back towards the door even as Ledger laughed. I quickly filled a glass with water and was casually sipping from it when she poked her head in. "Hey, Mi. Ledge is here and wants to speak to you. You up to that?"

  I winged an eyebrow at her, "Well, since you already told him I was here, it'd be rude not to talk to him, don't you think?"

  She shrugged. "I
don't know. You've never minded being rude."

  I walked forward and hissed in her ear with a laugh, "Bitch."

  "You got it." She passed me and went back into the workshop. "I'll give you two privacy."

  "Thanks." I stepped out and came face to face with Ledger. "What's up?" My eyes tracked towards the familiar blue-gray envelope he had clutched in his hand. "Oh."

  He looked down at it before his gaze landed on my face again. I saw the concern and the fear. I was certain I echoed them in mine.

  "Well, it came."

  I reached up to rub the back of my neck. "Yeah, it did, didn't it? I suppose we can't just tear it up and pretend it never did."

  He laughed - a short, barking sound. "No, I don't think we can."

  "Damn," I said with a forced smile.

  "Wanna go together? Figured we could either carpool or there's always the train." His smile was so pitifully hopeful that I wanted to give his cheeks a pinch.

  "Sure. I'd rather take the train, to be honest." I hated driving. Did I ever mention that? Especially in the snow.

  "Okay. I'll come around the day after tomorrow before 5 AM and pick you up. We can leave the car at the station."

  I sighed. Damn the city for being over five hours away. "Okay. I'll see you then."

  ✽✽✽

  I sat next to the window on the top floor of the tallest building in Srieburgh. The people walking along the ground below were nothing but insignificant specks, and it was easy to see how the Gods believed themselves above us humans when they literally towered over us.

  Srieburgh was a complex mixture of metal and glass, wealth clear in every corner. I knew the outskirts of the city itself were pits of despair as we’d had to travel through them to arrive in the building that housed the Gods during those rare occasions they deigned to visit. Women chattered nervously around me, anticipation in their every expression as they waited for their names to be called.

  When we'd arrived, the human guards had separated Ledger and I. Men into one room, women to another. Only male Gods could evaluate a human female, and only female Gods could evaluate a human male. There was something distinctly sexist about it, but I was certain it wasn’t the worst we would encounter that day.

  "Cerys Avery?" the female attendant asked, and I watched as a dark-haired girl stood and brushed off her skirt. The garment was clean, undoubtedly the best item she owned. Only the best for the precious Gods.

  I scoffed against the window, ignoring the pointed whispers as the other girls stared at me in shock.

  "What?”

  "How can you disrespect the Gods so?" one girl whispered, and I turned to look at her. I wanted to glare, but the hope on her pretty face was too much to stomach. Cerys disappeared behind the glass doors with the attendant, strutting her way down the hallway until she faded from sight.

  "The Gods can get fucked for all I care." My lips tipped up in a sweet smile, and her eyes widened at my words.

  "They will. Often." One of the other girls snickered, acting like she would somehow be special to them. Like any of us were ever anything more.

  "Congratulations. You'll be another hole for them to jerk off in." My smile ratcheted up a notch until the girl's own laughing face faded into oblivion.

  My parents would be horrified to hear me. Though they knew I hated the Gods, they had absolutely no idea how much I despised being another object for them to use to their black hearts’ contents then discard when it was no longer shiny and new. Pretty or not, my self-worth wasn't wrapped up in my looks, and I could see the Gods for exactly what they were.

  Pieces of shit.

  The room fell silent, none of them having another word to argue against me. Even the most optimistic of humans knew what the odds were of even being selected during Collection Day.

  Cerys fled through the glass doors as they slid open with a hiss, tears running down her cheeks.

  I guess that was a no, then.

  Lucky girl.

  "Mireyah Bolstad?" the attendant asked, and I took in a big swallow of air, standing from my seat with one last glance for the city below. My eyes darted to the North, knowing somewhere in the distance far beyond what I could see even from that height, my family waited for me to come home.

  "Follow me, please," she continued when I didn't step toward her.

  "Not so brave now that it's your turn, are you?" the bolder of the girls spat as I passed, and I turned a glare her way without pausing in my steps.

  "I suppose we'll see, won't we?" I asked barely sparing a second for the words to pass my lips before I strode after the attendant.

  I held my head high, although I should have shown reverence. The Gods who would evaluate me may not have been any of the four Core Gods, but they were Gods and more than capable of striking me down where I stood.

  I was just a human.

  A filthy insignificant human.

  The glass doors hissed closed behind me, and I shoved down the flinch I felt tingling at the base of my spine. The attendant’s footsteps were near silent, the perfect version of a human. Not seen; not heard, unless needed.

  My boots clunked along the hall in contrast, even the cleaner version my mother had forced on me that morning. High boots that went to my knees, encompassing my calves in warmth. This far South, it was almost too much - such a foreign feeling to not be frozen for once. The thick layer of my fleece lined pants and bulky jacket didn't help, but I kept them on even as sweat pooled in my pores. Covered was safer. Skin would look like I was trying to be Collected, and that couldn't be further from the truth.

  The attendant shoved open the heavy doors at the end of the hall, her eyes on me as she beckoned me forward. With one last deep breath, I stepped forward - rounding the corner and stepping into the bright lights of the room where my fate would be decided.

  With or against my wishes, it didn't matter.

  Stepping up to the red mark on the floor, I raised defiant eyes to stare at the five Gods watching me in boredom.

  The attendant stepped up next to me, whispering. "Your coat, Miss." Holding out her arms, she waited until my nose flared, but I handed the protective layer over.

  "I'll be needing it back," I whispered. She nodded with a disbelieving smirk, taking my coat with her as she fled the room. The doors closed behind her with a thud, locking me into the space that I wanted nothing more than to flee.

  Still, I held my ground - staring over at the collection of Gods. My steel-gray eyes connected with the bronze ones of a Kald God, a Northern House known for its control over the cold.

  He turned his body, taking the few steps down to where I stood. I didn't move, proud of the fact that I didn't flinch when his hand reached out to touch the braid that curled over my shoulder.

  "This is perhaps the closest I've ever seen."

  "To what?" I asked surprising the Gods. The one touching my hair smirked in amusement, tugging the band from my braid free and working his fingers through it to loosen it in a mass of waves that fell around my shoulders.

  "To the color of freshly fallen snow. Even the Vide isn't right. Their hair is too stark white, you see. Too shocking. Yours is soft, like snow." He chuckled when my only response was silence.

  "He has paid you a compliment, human. You should show your appreciation," one of the other Gods interjected. His half gray hair that fell around his shoulders marked him as a Byta, shapeshifter. The hands he waved in my direction had pointed nails, much like claws.

  "And how might I do that?" I hissed before I could stop myself. I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth, not because I feared retribution. But because of the way the Byta tilted his head and stared at me. With an interest I didn't want to attract.

  Ah, Hell.

  "On your knees would be a good start." He chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest. I stared back defiantly, pleased to find my knees didn't tremble or do something foolish of their own volition.

  I would not kneel for a God who didn't deserve my respect. And
a useless compliment for one of my physical attributes was not worth my respect. "No?" The Kald next to me laughed. "I can make it worth your while, Northern girl. Perhaps you wish to live somewhere warmer?"

  "I would sooner freeze to death in the barren wastes of the North than kneel for the likes of you." My voice sounded braver than I felt, a monotone warning leaving my lips as I glared at him. He was close, too close, and only moved in closer after my words.

  "Take off your clothes and be done with it," one of the other three Gods drawled in boredom. "Let us evaluate so we can all move on with our day."

  I paused, considering my options. The weight of their eyes on me felt poignant, like it was a moment I could never take back a moment that would have a significant impact on the path my life took from that point forward. "No," the word slid between my lips slowly, echoing in the cavern of a room.

  "State your name, human."

  "Mireyah Bolstad."

  “I believe you have been misled, Mireyah. Whenever a God tells you to do something, you do it. The word ‘no’ does not exist in our presence.”

  The God stepped forward from the shadows. Blue hair adorned his head in a mess of curls, the Majele God nothing but toxic as he made his way toward me. He took up residence on my other side, no doubt to intimidate me.

  "And yet my answer will not change," I whispered, watching his blue eyes widen in understanding.

  "You would truly deny me?" A smile took over his face, and I suddenly understood that I may not have been in control as much as I'd thought. My defiance didn't seem to derail their plans for me, but to cave in that moment would have been to show weakness.

  My pride wouldn't allow it.

  My mouth wouldn't shut up.

  "I would deny you until the end of time," I returned, ignoring the deep, grating chuckle of the God on my other side.

  "Perhaps we shall have the opportunity to test that theory, hmm?" he asked, stepping back to allow me some space. I was under no illusion that it was for my benefit, not truly.