The Lion & the Deathless Dark

For two weeks, Kyrene and Septimus travel north by horse toward Estrys, an isolated fortress state where Septimus has hidden a divine harp needed to kill the god Kajmar. They avoid magical travel so as not to attract divine attention, riding across Kajmar’s territory. Kyrene observes Septimus’s fastidious nature, noting his endless supply of white clothes, books, and cigarillos. One night, she teases him about reading romance novels; he jokingly replies that he is reading a manual on caring for an “Ill-Tempered Human Bounty Hunter” (222).

As they ride through the freezing mountains, they discuss their plan. Kyrene suggests that as Kajmar is known for indulgence and sensuality, she could get close to the god by seducing him. Septimus mocks her confidence. Soon after, they arrive at one of Kajmar’s temples, a gaudy pleasure house. Septimus insists they stay the night for a proper bed. Kyrene is wary of bringing a vampire into a White Pantheon temple, but Septimus assures her the followers will be too intoxicated to notice. Tempted by the promise of a drink, Kyrene agrees. Later, Septimus sends a red silk dress—the outfit worn by Kajmar’s followers—to Kyrene’s room.

After bathing, Kyrene puts on the revealing red outfit. She enters the main room of the pleasure house and spots Septimus watching her from a corner booth. To prove her seductive abilities, Kyrene ignores him and targets the most powerful-looking man in the room, Johnus.

Kyrene flirts with Johnus, accepts a drug called venther from him, and allows him to kiss her and touch her intimately. The entire performance is for Septimus’s benefit; his intense gaze is what truly arouses her. As she, Johnus, and Johnus’s female companion become more entangled, Kyrene sees Septimus abruptly get up and leave the room. No longer interested in Johnus, Kyrene extricates herself and follows Septimus.

Kyrene finds Septimus alone in a hallway. He appears agitated, and his vampiric traits are more pronounced. They exchange charged words, and he admits that he was aroused watching her and had to leave because he couldn’t bear to see another man have her. He tells her he can sense the blood rushing through her body, betraying her own desire.

Kyrene realizes she has successfully seduced Septimus, who was her true target. She whispers, “I win,” and he impulsively grabs her, pinning her to the wall. The moment is filled with overwhelming desire, and Kyrene is prepared to sleep with him. Just as they are about to kiss, a silver crossbow bolt slams into Septimus’s shoulder.

Septimus collapses from the blessed silver bolt. His attacker is Johnus, who reveals he is a vampire hunter and believes Kyrene is under Septimus’s magical control. Kyrene grabs Johnus’s knife and drives it into his shoulder. Septimus then kills Johnus by using his Bloodborn magic to pull the blood from his body. The commotion attracts other hunters, and Kyrene and Septimus flee. 

Septimus goes to fetch the horses while Kyrene retrieves Zefiah. Hunters burst into her room and use illusion dust to disorient her. Outnumbered, she fights to the window and sees Septimus waiting below with a single horse—the second has been stolen. Kyrene jumps from the second story, and Septimus uses blood magic to cushion her fall. They escape under a hail of crossbow bolts, with Septimus killing their pursuers. Safely away, they collapse into hysterical laughter.

Kyrene and Septimus continue toward Estrys, sharing the single horse. The close proximity creates a new, less combative intimacy between them. Kyrene is plagued by nightmares of her friends’ deaths, and one night Septimus wakes her from one. To help her sleep, he begins a nightly ritual of reading aloud to her from one of his romance novels, and the nightmares cease. As they get closer, Septimus reveals that Estrys was founded by his brother Gaius, and that his older brothers are all dead. He asks Kyrene why Shiket bestowed Zefiah on her, making her the first Vindica Ultis in centuries. Kyrene evades the question. They finally arrive at Estrys and encounter an unnatural silence.

Septimus and Kyrene discover a massacre. The fortress is filled with the mutilated bodies of vampires, displayed in gruesome ways, suggesting that followers of Kajmar were responsible. In a lower chamber, they find a small, sealed room where a monstrous creature is pinned to the wall by swords, covered in pulsing red tendrils of blood magic. It is still alive. As it stirs, Septimus calmly kills it. He reveals the creature was once a man named Erekkus; a blood-soaked note pinned to the body confirms this. Behind Erekkus is a hidden alcove containing the golden harp. His composure breaking, Septimus tells Kyrene they must make the death of his people meaningful.

Outside the fortress, Septimus reveals a secret history. A prophecy foretold that his older brother, Gaius, would win over the goddess Nyaxia and convince her to end the curse on the Bloodborn. However, after complying with everything Nyaxia asked, she killed him. Errekus was a loyal soldier to Gaius, and he ended his days cursed, guarding the harp. Septimus vows he will be the last Bloodborn to serve Nyaxia. To save his people, he secretly orchestrated the war between the gods, making him responsible for the deaths of Kyrene’s friends. He dares her to kill him, but she responds that they share the same goal.

They take shelter in an abandoned house, and Kyrene finds a botany book and reads it aloud to Septimus. Later, a dream of a passionate encounter with Septimus becomes real, but they are interrupted when they are pulled into an illusion and confronted by the god Kajmar and Ix, the goddess of sex and fertility.

In the presence of Kajmar and Ix, Kyrene is forced to play the golden harp. The instrument’s magic reveals her deepest desires: first, a vision of her dead friends being alive but having never met her; second, a vision of herself with Septimus, sun on her skin and blood on her hands from her completed mission; and finally, her truest desire—a vision of the daughter she lost as a 17-year-old, living in a world where the sun never fell. Kajmar offers to trap her in these beautiful illusions forever in exchange for her service. Kyrene accepts his offer.

Kyrene convinces Kajmar to spare Septimus, claiming he is one of her desires. To prove his loyalty, Septimus offers to play the harp, knowing the divine weapon will burn him. He endures the pain to project a vision of his own: Kyrene slaughtering gods and destroying the White Pantheon. The vision culminates in Septimus himself killing Nyaxia. He claims this is not a fantasy but a prophecy. 

Septimus uses the vision to turn Kajmar and Ix against each other, claiming that only one of them can survive the events of the prophecy. The ploy works. Kajmar grabs Ix’s bow from his lap, thrusts it to Septimus, and uses chains of rosy mist to immobilize Ix; Septimus then shoots her with her own divine arrows. As Ix is dying, Kyrene thinks about her lost child and the many other lost babies Ix is responsible for. When Ix suggests Kyrene was to blame for her pregnancy loss, Kyrene delivers the killing blow with Zefiah.

With Ix dead, Kajmar turns on Septimus, intending to kill him and frame him for Ix’s murder. As Kajmar chokes Septimus, Kyrene smashes the golden harp and loops its string around Kajmar’s throat as a garrote. While Septimus uses the last of his strength to hold Kajmar with blood magic, Kyrene pulls the string tight until the resistance gives out and Kajmar’s head tumbles free. The illusion shatters, and Kyrene collapses, mortally wounded. The goddess Nyaxia appears.

Nyaxia expresses satisfaction at the deaths of Kajmar and Ix, taking Kajmar’s head as a trophy and planning to seize his territories. She praises Septimus and intends to let Kyrene die. However, Septimus insists Kyrene is his most valuable weapon and asks the goddess to help him save her life. Nyaxia relents, granting them passage home and giving Kyrene enough strength to hold Zefiah. As the goddess turns to create a portal, Kyrene sees an opportunity to attack. Zefiah screams for her to strike, but Septimus stops her, whispering, “Not. Yet.” Trusting him, Kyrene relents and misses her chance. As they pass through the portal, Kyrene falls unconscious.