The bottom of Aphrodisia, Day 98 A.F

"Tybira?" As soon as I was certain our captors had truly left, I scooted towards Tybira. I took hold of her hands, ignoring the dried blood that clung to her fingers. "Tell me what's wrong. What did they do to you?"

My friend stared blankly ahead. Her hazel eyes were unblinking and hollow. She didn't so much as flinch. It was as if she couldn't even hear me.

"No, no, no..." I whispered, cupping her cheek with one hand, still clinging to her fingers with the other. Not again... "Please, please... just say something. Don't shut yourself down."

I couldn't lose her like I'd lost Lalita. Tybira had been the person to hold me together after my sister had died. It was because of Tybira I hadn't died in Amire's laboratory with Lita. I couldn't let The Lovers Most Perverse take her. Especially after what I did to Enki.

Exactly, Lady Lotus urged, you already handed The Magician's Icon to The Lovers. Take Fauna's before they can!

"Tybira... look at me." I guided her chin forward so that her seemingly unseeing eyes were directed at my face. "Please. I know they hurt you. I know... but we can still get out of here. But we can't get out without you. I'm not going to leave you here."

My speech went unheeded. Tybira remained motionless.

Fear laced my veins, gripping my heart like a fist. I'd been utterly useless when it came to helping Lalita, and it had taken her nine winters to say a word. I'd never forgiven myself for failing to save her. How could I bring Tybira back to me? Sighing as hopelessness washed over me, black as the shadows that surrounded us, I dropped Tybira's hand, scooting behind her.

Her slender shoulders we hunched, and with a pang, I noticed her prominent spine. How long had it been since she'd received a good meal? My figure had thinned dramatically from a steady diet of berries, but at least I'd been eating well at Amire's mansion. I wondered if he'd given Tybira any morsels of food.

Tenderly, I ran my fingers through her tangled hair, carefully picking apart the numerous snarls. I hummed softly, as if a sweet melody might cut through the darkness. Her dark locks had become greasy with an accumulation of sweat and grime. Separating the strands into easy to manage segments, I dragged my fingers through them, slowly managing to remove the knots.

"Roman beliefs are similar to Greek, aren't they?" I asked, although I wasn't expecting an answer. "My sister loved the Greek belief system." Enki's story had me wondering if that love was due to me being evidently chosen by two Greek goddesses. "When I was little, she used to tell me all these incredible tales."

Although Tybira made no reaction, I'd learned from Lalita that she heard me, and was at least partially listening.

"One of my favorite stories was about Nyx. She was the Goddess of Night, born from Chaos. She lived in the darkest part of Tartarus, with her two favorite sons, Hypnos and Thanatos. Nyx had lots of children. Some of the better known were Moros, god of doom, Oizys, god of pain and distress, Eris, god of strife, Nemesis, goddess of revenge, and of course Hypnos, god of sleep, and Thanatos, god of death. But then came a last son, one that surprised all the Greek immortals—Philotes, god of friendship."

As I spoke, I began twisting strands of Tybira's hair together into a simple braid. "Somehow, Friendship was born from Night. Nyx also had several children with Erebus, god of darkness, because you can't have night without darkness. With Erebus, Nyx gave birth to Aether and Hemera, god of brightness and goddess of day."

I looked around, blinking through the inky darkness of the cell. "I can't tell if it's the time of Hemera or her mother. All I can see is Erebus, but Erebus wasn't bad. After all, you need darkness to appreciate brightness. Nyx wasn't that terrible either. You need night to appreciate day."

I inspected the braid I'd been working on. Not bad. "In fact, Nyx was actually a very good mother. Once, to help the queen of Olympus, Hera, Hypnos put Zeus to sleep. When he awoke, the Lord of Lightning was mad enough to make mountains quake before him... and yet, when Zeus came after Hypnos, he found Nyx. With the help of her niece, Aite, the goddess of guilt, Nyx met Zeus's fury and forced the king of gods into submission. Because of Aite and Nyx, Zeus learned that there is a reason his lightening shows best at night. Nyx lets it. And Zeus learned better than to risk the goddess's wrath again."

I craned my neck to get a better look at Tybira's face. Still unresponsive, but—perhaps it was wishful thinking—I could swear her eyes didn't seem as hollow as before.

Encouraged, I continued. "In some versions of the story, Nyx and Aphrodite both gave birth at the same exact moment. Aphrodite's son was Eros. Like his mother, Eros became a deity of love and beauty. Nyx gave birth to Thanatos. Somehow these seemingly polar opposites were equals. Love and Death, mirrors of each other with countless similarities, such as inhuman beauty and a silky voice, meant to draw mortals near. Mesmerizing became a chief quality of both gods. But despite their beauty, the gods were both warriors, able to ravage countries in a day when angered."

Sighing, my thoughts turned to my sister as they so often did. The story of Nyx, coupled with the tale of Eros and Thanatos had always been her favorite, and thus, it became my favorite. I couldn't count the number of times I had described the mirrored gods to her, hoping she'd finish the story for me. Lalita had always told it better. However, Lita never joined the telling, but sometimes the corner of her lips would tug upward as I concluded the fable.

"It's so odd that gods who couldn't appear more different have so many similarities... but when you really think on it, it makes perfect sense. They're halves of the same idea. Love and Death are respectively the thing people want most to find, and the thing people want most to avoid. And how many deaths have been caused by love? I'd guess millions—just look what happened to Troy. It is fitting that Eros and Thanatos should be equals."

"Love... Lovers... torture..." Tybira whispered, so softly the darkness nearly swallowed her voice.

Her small vocalization shocked me as greatly as Lalita's first words had. A guilty part of me felt bitter. Why did Tybira recover so quickly when Lita hadn't?

Tybira's wide, bloodshot eyes trailed to the door as if she was waiting for it to open. I wondered if her animalistic senses could detect someone coming. Bracing myself, I awaited the entry of Nose, Scraggly-Beard, Red, or The Lovers.

Damn... There I was talking about the brutal strength of love when Tybira had been traumatized by two maniacal Arcana who claimed to weaponize the emotion. For all I knew, Eros had been their patron god in Ta Ro.

Moments passed, and the door remained shut. My rapid breathing slowed. I squeezed Tybira's hands, shocked at their low temperature. "Can you tell me what they did to you? If you're able to. Don't if it's too painful, but if you think letting it out might help, I'll listen."

She was silent for several moments, in which I feared she'd retreat into her mind again, but finally Tybira took a deep breath. "They had Freki and Romulus."

"What did they do to them?" I wasn't sure if I wanted to know. My stomach clenched at the thought of harm befalling those poor wolves, especially little Romulus, who'd barely reached maturity.

"They didn't do anything to them..." Tybira pulled her hands from my grasp, covering her face. "I did... I killed them."

My eyes widened in disbelief. Tybira would have never harmed her beloved familiars. "You-you what?"

She tilted her face upward, eyes clenched shut as she moaned, "over and over..."

"Hey, hey..." I placed my hands on either side of her face. "Just slow down and breathe. When you can breathe easier, then you can tell me what happened."

Tears streamed down her face, collecting beneath my fingers. Tybira gulped, shoulders shaking. Finally her sobs turned to ragged breaths. "Familiars don't actually die... well, they die, but they come back... unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless I die."

"So, Romulus and Freki are alive?" I asked. "And Gladiator?"

Tybira nodded numbly. "Until The Lovers kill me."

"Then what's the problem?" I couldn't hide my happiness at Tybira's words. The wolves were alive. Although the familiars were bonded to Tybira, I still cared about them. Especially Gladiator. Without the scarred wolf, I would have been unable to rescue Cyprian. All three of the wolves had become as much a part of our alliance as Tybira and I were. "If they're alive, that's fantastic!"

"Their pain was real," Tybira murmured. "Though their deaths weren't permanent, they still felt the pain. And the fear. I felt it too, slicing across my neck as I slit their throats, over and over. I tormented them... I could see the betrayal in their eyes every time. They couldn't understand why I continued to cause them such agony. They didn't know that if I refused to kill them, The Lovers would, then kill me and make their deaths real."

I bit my lip, searching for something to ease Tybira's guilt. "Maybe they do understand... Maybe they'll forgive you."

"And what if they do?" she asked. "They continue to be punished because I forced them into this Game? There are so many people looking to kill me, and now their lives are tied to mine."

"Then that's all the more reason that you can't give up," I pressed, placing my hands on her shoulders. "If you give up now, you're not just giving up on yourself, you're giving up on the wolves. If you let The Lovers break you, then your death will mean the death of Freki and Romulus. Permanently."

"Even if we got out of here, who's to say I won't still fail them? I don't know how to break the familiar bond."

I frowned. "I can't promise that won't happen. Not if everything about the Game is true. But I can promise this: if something happens to you, I'll do everything in my power to keep your wolves alive."

Tybira was still for several moments, but she finally nodded. "Maybe... If I die, I need you to make sure the wolves get out. They can outlive me, but I can't outlive them if I'm going to die too. As long as I'm alive, they'll remain... I can't die while one of them is fallen."

"I promise. So, please, keep fighting. If you won't keep going for yourself or for me, keep going for them."

She nodded slowly, eyes hardening. "I am going to rip those twins to shreds." As she spoke, I could see the tips of her fangs glistening in the darkness. "When do you think we'll have a chance to escape? I know where they're keeping Freki and Romulus, so I'll need time to get there. They have an entire menagerie on board."

"I can try to stall while you storm the menagerie," I agreed. "But I don't want to leave without the men. Cyp and Enki could be a big help. Cyp can fight, and Enki's illusions-"

Tybira let out a soft snarl at the mention of the Magician. "Lying, manipulative bastard."

"I know he hurt you," I mumbled, glancing at the ground. Although I told Enki I wouldn't, I did owe it to him to put in a good word with Fauna. I'm not Lady Lotus.

For now, the witch hummed.

I ignored her. "Enki loves you."

"You mean he loves playing me?" she huffed. "In that case, you're absolutely right."

I let the subject drop. If Enki and Tybira were going to work out their differences, it needed to be between them. I couldn't interfere without risking my friendship with Tybira, or causing Enki to turn further against me. It was better if I stayed out of it altogether.

Still, I couldn't allow Tybira's anger to cloud her judgement enough that she might choose to abandon Enki. "I know you hate him, and I'd hate him too if I were in your place, but do you really hate him enough to leave him with The Lovers?"

"He's with them now, isn't he?" she asked, glancing at the door. Her expression was unreadable. I wondered if she'd even been fully aware when they passed each other. Her eyes had been so utterly blank at the time.

"Yes," I answered. "They took him as they dropped you back here... He seemed pretty weakened already, so he might be back soon..."

"Serves him right," she grunted, but stared at the floor. After several heartbeats, she swallowed. "What do you think they're doing to him?"

"Probably something to do with you," I guessed, thankful that Tybira seemed to show some compassion for the Magician. "They're The Lovers. I figure they always try to use love against their victims."

"That would require him to have a heart," she snapped. Though, finally, her voice softened. "But we can't just leave him here... He deserves to suffer, but I can't do it... To be stuck with The Lovers... even Enki doesn't deserve that."

"Good." I flushed with relief. I didn't want to fight Tybira, but I wouldn't have been willing to doom Enki if she'd deemed abandonment a worthy punishment. "Once the men return, we'll tell them the plan." Mentally, I added, that is if The Lovers haven't managed to break them. Why had Cyprian been gone for such a long time?

"Thank you, Ayesha," Tybira whispered. "You saved me again. Just like back in Amire's laboratory."

Lady Lotus cackled smugly. I wonder if the poor thing knows just how close you'd been to killing her. She has right to be grateful for your pathetic mercy.