heartgear

His Rightful Claim

Added 2025-05-14 19:03:54 +0000 UTC

"Checkmate." Helios hisses, and bites her cheek, hard enough to hurt. L's blood turns to ice.

"That's - y-you can't - " Her ribs feel too tight, crushing the breath from her. "You can't!"

Her voice is too high.
The room is too bright.

"Fili...!" Astraea yells desperately. Filandra’s staring in shock and disgust at Hephaestus.

"I'm going to love breaking you." Helios says. Stands. Drags her inexorably towards the canal.

Another Keeping.
No escape.
No answers.
No saving Neith.
No saving Ian.

Nothing nothing nothing nothing nothing

She lunges for his arm, her teeth sinking into his flesh. Helios howls in pain, but there’s a vicious, triumphant delight in the sound. He grabs her by the neck, slamming her against the tiles, knocking the breath from her lungs. Somewhere, someone is screaming. Other people are applauding.

"I can’t wait to pull the Wilds out of you, needle by needle. You hateful little animal."

+++

Excerpt from Imago Ch18: The Gleaning

We will be posting patron exclusive Imago art for Ch17 up till the end of the story, one illustration per chapter, every Monday Wednesday and Friday at 12p EST! So be sure to check in on those times, we've got some killer illustrations ahead.

Helios is the wooooooooorst TT^TT