Chapter 5 The World Notices

The envoy stumbled backward, slamming into the stone wall. "Alive... He's still alive. The Plague Goddess didn't kill him. This can't be real."

Darius picked up his worn cloak and draped it over his shoulders. "Reality has a way of disappointing people. You sent me here to die as a joke. Now the joke is laughing back."

Mara stood right beside him, her unsettling stillness radiating through the chamber. Her infected gold eyes scanned the terrified officials and guards. Several men tripped over each other trying to create distance.

"Send every rider!" the envoy screamed. "Tell the empires. Tell the Pantheon. The first marriage held. The weakest prince survived the night with Mara!"

Darius walked toward the doors with Mara at his side. No one dared block their path. Outside, horses galloped away in multiple directions, kicking up dust. Darius could already imagine the messages spreading like wildfire across the continent. The impossible had happened. The Plague Incarnate had a husband who still breathed.

They reached the trading post by midday. Old Mira dropped her broom the moment she saw them. "Darius? You're walking... and she's with you? Both of you together?"

"Walking, talking, and still breathing," Darius said. "Any stew left? Turns out surviving a goddess works up an appetite."

Mira hurried inside, casting nervous glances at Mara. She served two bowls with shaking hands. Darius sat down and pulled out the old, dusty ledger he had studied many times before. He opened it to the marked page.

Mara sat across from him. "What does that book contain?"

"An old continental law I discovered three years ago while sorting records," Darius explained. "It states that any man who completes all seven marriages with the Calamities gains the legal right to challenge the Pantheon of the First Order for dominance over the entire continent. It was written so long ago that everyone forgot about it. Never been relevant until today."

Mara leaned in slightly. The air around her made the steam from the stew behave strangely. "You are already thinking of the remaining six?"

"I'm not celebrating," Darius replied, taking a spoonful of stew. "I don't celebrate. I plan. Surviving you means the empires will panic. They will want me dead before I reach the second wife. The Pantheon will see me as a threat to their control."

Mira hovered nearby. "The whole Threshold is already whispering. By tonight every empire will know. The balance they rely on is breaking."

"Exactly," Darius said. He looked at Mara. "You know them better. How fast will the Pantheon react to this?"

Mara's golden eyes met his. "They created us as tools for control. If one of their weapons bonds to an unexpected man, they will see it as rebellion. They may send divine agents or force the emperors to act together."

Darius nodded. "That's what I thought. One marriage complete. Six left. The law gives me a path, but only if I live long enough to walk it."

Mara watched him eat for a moment. "Where do you intend to go next?"

He set his spoon down. "Veth first. The War Incarnate rules over the great battlefields. But I won't force you to follow this path with me."

"I am not leaving," Mara said, her voice quiet but certain. "The bond is made. After last night, after the tea and the questions no one has asked me in centuries, I choose to follow and see what kind of man you are."

Darius allowed himself a small, tired smile. "Having you with me changes things. But we need supplies and a clear route before the hunters come."

Suddenly the front window exploded inward. A black arrow streaked straight toward Darius's chest.

He reacted without thinking, drawing on Mara's power as if it had always belonged to him. A thin, perfectly controlled thread of plague shot from his fingers. The arrow dissolved into harmless black dust before it reached him.

"Assassin on the roof!" Mira cried out.

A second arrow followed immediately. Darius stood and extended his hand again. The bowstring in the hidden assassin's grip rotted away in seconds. The man screamed as the edges of his gloves began to blacken and decay.

"Stop," Mara said softly.

Darius pulled the power back cleanly. The effect ended instantly, leaving the assassin with only minor damage. The man dropped from the roof and tried to flee.

Darius stepped to the broken window. "Tell your masters the sacrifice failed! The weakest prince is still here, and he's not alone anymore."

The wounded assassin shouted back from the trees. "Every empire will pay for your head! You should be dead!"

"Should be doesn't matter much today," Darius called. "Run back and deliver the message properly."

He turned back to the room. Mira was pressed against the far wall, eyes wide. "You used her power. Controlled it perfectly. Like it was your own all along."

"It came naturally," Darius admitted. He examined his hand. "That shouldn't be possible according to every story ever told."

Mara moved to stand beside him. "No human has ever wielded any part of my power without destroying themselves. You filtered it. Directed it. Stopped it cleanly. This breaks every rule of our existence."

Darius closed the old ledger with a soft thud. "The world has noticed what happened here. Now the real game begins. We need to prepare fast. More assassins will come. The empires are already moving."

Mara nodded once. "Then we prepare together. I will not let them take this unexpected husband so easily."

Darius looked out toward the horizon where dust clouds from galloping messengers still lingered. Seven marriages. One ancient law. The Pantheon and the empires would not sit quietly. He started making mental notes, calm and focused as ever.