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“I haven’t touched her. Get out of my house until you can cool off. If she wants to see you, she’ll come to you.”

“I guess our brotherly bond means nothing when it comes to a goddess, huh? And you can tell her not to bother coming home. I don’t want her if she can be so easily fooled.”

Then he was gone. But that wasn’t the end of his attempts to speak to her. His voice entered her mind, asking her to talk to him but she wouldn’t. He kept telling her how much he loved her, but she never responded. What she saw could not be unseen nor was it something she could ever look past. He promised he wasn’t like the others. He promised she was his one and only and he lied. He promised he wouldn’t use her for power, and he lied. There was no reason to speak to him, to let him convince her it wasn’t true. He’d fooled her for long enough.

Until one day there was nothing but silence and instead of a call to her mind, there was an invasion of an army. For a god who let another steal his wife was weak and so he would have to fight to get her back. He might have the council on his side, but Valeen had the one thing they wanted most.

Valeen shot to her feet,her bedroom darkening with storm clouds of fury. Layala was gone, the girl who would have mercy, the girl who would forgive. The goddess turned to shadow and dropped through the floor into the center of the main room. Presco closed his book and stood from his chair, concern lining his eyes. “Is something wrong?”

“Where is he?” she snapped, voice harsh and full of shadows.

“You remember.”

“Everything.” Not only did she remember the betrayal with Varlett, his betrayal of their sham of a marriage, and his lies trying to cover it all, but she knew everything that she ever was, the thousands of years old goddess born of darkness in the remnants of a fallen star at the birth of Runevale. The goddess who ruled House of Night, who became the greatest weapon in all the realms to avenge her sister. The goddess who foolishly fell in love and then fought against her powerful husband, and the brutal council of Runevale and nearly won.

“I think he went outside.”

She didn’t have to take a step before Hel appeared at the end of the room with a table, chairs, and multiple sets of furniture between them. With his hands in his pockets, he stood there, with a line formed between his brows and his careful, garnet eyes watched for any sudden movements.

When you remember you’ll hate me even more,he’d once said.He had the fucking balls to ask for forgiveness for this?Maybe he felt guilty for what he’d done but in this case time did not heal wounds.

“Let’s get this over with, love. Let me have it.”

“Don’t you ‘love’me!” She picked up a vase and threw it. It crashed into the wall just beside his head. “You selfish, lying, manipulative fucking bastard!” She was shadow and moved faster than light. Her fist crashed into his jaw and knocked him through the wall, opening up a Hel-size hole to the outside.

This was a long time coming. She had two thousand years to process her grief and let the wound fester. She jumped through to the outside and stalked toward him. He was already on his feet, shoulders tense, defensive. “How dare you try to turn this all around on me and War. You act like you’re the one who got burned. Then you have the fucking nerve to come into this life and threatenme, and try to convince me that I am just a whore who left you for his cousin?” Soulender was in her trembling hand. “If I could kill you with this I would. Who knows, maybe I can.” She slashed at him, but he vanished as it sliced through the air.

“That’s what you’re angry about? That I called you a whore?” He chuckled darkly, shaking his head. “And here I thought it would be because we destroyed everything we loved in a bloody war. That even after you allowed War to wrongfully convince you I only used you for power over a fucking bet, so he could snake his way into your heart, I still came to fight for you. I started a war with mybrotherto get you back.”

“Ugh!” she screamed. “It’s the hypocrisy,” she snarled. “The lies. You made me look like a complete fool. You ruined my life. You and Varlett are the reason I left, and why our marriage ended, not me and War. He didn’t trick me into falling in love with him behind your back. You tried to turn it around on me with your mind games.”

His eyes narrowed and he slowly stepped to the side. They began to circle one another, waiting for a strike. “You’re going to have to explain that one, Valeen.”

“You can’t talk your way out of this. I saw it myself. I heard every word of betrayal from your very lips. You are a serpent. More than I ever thought you were as the Black Mage.”

His brows furrowed. “What betrayal? My immature stupid ass saying I only wanted you for bragging rights before I ever married you? Varlett had nothing to do with anything.”

“Don’t act like you conveniently forgot that but remember everything else. And here I was falling for your poor, pitiful, ‘no one cares for me’ act yet again. The sad orphan who was abandoned by his mother and doesn’t even know who his father is. With your deceit, I’m more than certain you’re half demon. You are my greatest mistake. I gave you my whole heart and you deceived me.” Tears of fury and anguish slid down her cheeks. “I was ashamed I ever trusted you. So much so that I couldn’t even face you.”

His eyes darkened. “Valeen, tell me right now what you’re talking about.”

“I saw you with Varlett in our bed. I heard what you said. I heard from your own mouth that you only wanted me for a child, just like Synick, but it’s her you love. And it’s more than obvious all these years later. You’re still fucking that bitch. She’s still with you.”

His eyes grew wider with every word. “That’s impossible.”

“I said, I saw it!” she screamed, eyes burning with tears. She swung at him, and the blade sliced across his shoulder, cutting open his flesh, revealing a thin red line. She threw her fist and cracked him in the jaw. His leg swept her feet out from under her, and he took her to the ground. They flipped and rolled fighting for control, until she ended up on top, pinning him down by the shoulders. “Stop with your lies, your manipulation. You got caught, god of mischief.”

He bared his teeth. “I’m not lying. I never touched Varlett until I was the Black Mage. I didn’t even know her well until she decided to join the war on my side.”

“Why would she join your side if you didn’t know her?”

“Because you took her place, Valeen! She was supposed to marry War and he was in love with you.” His knee knocked her in the side, dropping her to the ground onto her back, and his legs cinched around her thighs, his hands wrapped around her wrists above her head.

“No.” She shook her head, breathing heavily under the weight of him. She didn’t fight him anymore but stared into his garnet eyes. “No, I saw you together. But the worst part is you only wanted to use me to get a powerful child. Just like Synick wanted. You wanted to be the one to break the goddess of night. Well congratulations, Hel, you did. You utterly destroyed me. Let’s all give him a round of applause.”

He released her arms and rested his palms flat in the grass on either side of her head, hovering above her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I loved you. You’re my wife, and my mate. If we never had a child, it didn’t matter to me. I just wantedyou. That’s all I ever wanted. And I may have said some stupid comments to War about bragging rights and I might have even had a wager with Synick, but it was all just bullshit from when I first saw you, but it meant nothing after I knew you, I swear it. I am sorry I ever said those things. I fell in love with you. It was real.”

“Stop it,” Valeen snapped, but a sob caught in her throat at his words.It was real…“Stop lying. Drop the act. It’s been long enough. War wasn’t the one who told me about what you said or your deal with Synick. It was you that said it to Varlett.”