CHAPTER 13

NOVA

Y ou never know how powerful you are until you’re face to face with some primordial gods who are angry with you and you still feel confident in your ability to keep the room secured and temporarily keep their power in check.

Seriously, this was a major confidence boost and made the very stark reality clear that I, the sheltered witch from Washington , had become the person to fear in so many of their eyes. I took far too much pleasure in that, especially because of who I was scaring and the mixture of actual evil individuals in the room…as well as, admittedly, some really annoying assholes.

Now, I wasn’t naive. I knew many of the gods weren’t actively fighting against my magic, curious to what I had to say or otherwise—but the fact that I could eclipse all three hundred plus of their magics at once? That shit was really fucking cool.

My previous statement left a steely, tense air to the room, specifically emanating from the ground-level section where at least twenty-five extremely old high-powered gods were gathered. Still, I didn’t worry about taking my eyes off them when I heard Set speak again.

“What do you know? Nothing, Nova. You know nothing.” Set tried to retaliate against my magic with his own, causing a crash of thunder over everyone’s head.

I bristled at his tone, and my magic whipped out, wrapping around him in an electric purple bolt before tugging him down at least ten feet onto the main floor. A groan left him as I watched in amusement, my magic receding as he tried to preserve some of his pride by struggling to sit up.

“Who is this girl, Set?” a female god asked, her tone filled with curiosity despite the apathetic expression fixed to her face. Her magic was tucked away nicely, and something about that was both worrisome and really cool. Obviously, she was a bit of a badass.

“That,” Set said, thrusting a pointed finger in my direction, “is my heir—the one that Isis had me create, the one that is a monstrosity!” At his roar of the last word, the senate began to whisper and talk like a bunch of freakin’ gossips. It was ridiculous.

“A monstrosity,” I hummed as August’s magic shimmered around us defensively. My men were pissed, but I let his words roll off of me since it was so damn clear that he was scared. “So weird since you wanted me to take my place as your heir last time we were here.”

“That’s before I realized what you were,” he spit out.

“I see.” The woman drew my attention back. I kept Set in the corner of my eye though. “You are who everyone is talking about. It’s curious to meet you, Nova. I’m Nyx.”

Nyx—the Greek goddess of night. I could totally see it. Her umber skin was freckled with specks of moonlight, and her black hair was braided on one side of her head, leaving the other side completely free and loose down to her waist. Her eyes were completely black with no distinction between iris and pupil, and a faint glow of black shadows vibrated off her. Yet despite being the personification of darkness, she seemed friendly and relaxed.

Our list said she was part of the problem, but right now I was second-guessing our analysis.

“I think it’s good to meet you. I’m not sure,” I said bluntly before turning my attention back to Set. “If my father is done with his outburst, I would like to tell all of you why I’m here.”

“This is unprecedented!” Titania screamed, her wings blasting out to the side and her eyes filled with anger. “You need to leave. You are not a god worthy of the senate.”

“Oh!” I chimed, flashing a smile. “How right you are, because I now have magic superseding the senate, Titania. Now be a good girl and sit.” My magic forced her to her knees, and I looked past her, pretending she didn’t exist. I wasn’t going to let Set, nor Titania, ruin this very important meeting.

“Anyone else have issues they feel the need to share?”

Nyx smirked, shaking her head, as a notable man from the back of the group stood. I met his gaze and my magic recognized him, having locked onto his power signature upon arrival. I knew who he was without asking: Ra.

Although, I had to admit—the sun god did not seem very sunny, right now.

“You’re from the Egyptian sector,” he stated factually. “Born of Isis and Set.”

“And Venus’s line, technically,” I added, keeping my tone casual.

“Neither of them is here. They probably don’t support this either!” Set snarled. I nearly rolled my eyes. They and all of our other allies had stayed away for a reason—they were with the Titans. They wouldn’t stay gone for long, though.

“Of course they aren’t,” Nyx said, annoyed. “They probably already knew about Nova’s plans. You seem like the only parent not in the ‘know,’ as they say.”

I really hoped Nyx wasn’t a ‘bad guy’ in all of this—I was starting to seriously love her vibes.

Snapping, I covered Set’s mouth with magic, annoyed by his constant shit. Titania too, for that matter. May as well take care of her bullshit excuse for words as well. It wouldn’t last forever, but at this rate I would never get to my point.

“I like her, and I like her even better because she shut the fairy up,” said someone on the opposite side of the group of gods sitting on the ground floor. An older man, who sat with his arms crossed and an impressive amount of muscles on display, offered me a bright and friendly smile. His dark and silver hair was cut short on top, but his beard came all the way down to his waist, decorated with golden beads. Outside of that he was just wearing jeans and some sandals. Very casual.

“To be fair, I wouldn’t have if she didn’t try to get me to leave.” I shrugged, ignoring Titania’s growl from behind her magic.

“I was talking to her, Brahma. Not you,” Ra snapped. The man chuckled but sighed, not saying anything else or bothering to argue with him.

“Listen, I’ve got a ton to say,” I leveled, then glanced at the crowd. “And I’m positive that they want to hear it.”

“Please go on,” a woman shouted from above. The warmth in her eyes encouraged me, reminding me there were others here who weren’t set on hurting everyone around them.

“Right, thank you.” I flashed her a friendly smile and raised my voice. “I actually didn’t want this to be a violent or angry situation—at all.” I narrowed my eyes at Set and Titania. “It appears some of us can’t control ourselves. But now that we’re all comfortable…I’ll be quick.”

Feeling a very familiar magic pressing on the other side of the doors, I kept my eyes on the room as a whole, feeling out the receptiveness of everyone gathered. There were so many people that I couldn’t sort through them individually, but I was able to get a taste of the air around them, their auras painfully bright as I gauged friend or foe.

“As mentioned, I reign from Set, Isis, and Venus—two within a direct line, and one as a further descendant.” I kept my voice clear and my words precise, not wanting to be misheard at all. “More importantly, my existence is intertwined with a prophecy, one that places the fate of this universe in two sets of hands—mine and another.”

Whispers grew quietly above, but I continued. “You may have felt the disturbance, or maybe not, but as of a few days ago the Titans’ as well as the Earth’s magic has been released. All of it.”

The room exploded in noise and gasps—except for the old gods. They sat frozen at my admission, and in perfect—literally perfect— timing, the Titans phased in through my magic and appeared in a semi-circle of fifteen around our group, their magic reinforcing the wards that were protecting us and keeping anyone from leaving the room. The Titans were quiet, but I could practically feel their giddiness.

There were six I hadn’t met yet, and I found myself eager to do so after this. Despite my interactions with them, the Titans were feared by the gods. Greatly. Even the gods on the main floor shifted uncomfortably, exchanging looks with one another.

“Shit,” a woman groaned from a row behind Brahma. She was beautiful in the way that you couldn’t not notice her.

Her dark eyes were narrowed on the Titans with distaste as she tugged on the braid that hung over her shoulder, strands of gold interlaid with the onyx shade. She was wearing a pure gold dress, and her fingers were covered in expensive jewelry. I had a feeling that she could kill pretty much anyone on the spot without batting a lash.

“Inanna. Don’t.” Ra’s voice was a hard snap that caused her to sneer before going back to play with her braid. Interesting.

Strengthening my voice, I continued, “This part of the prophecy, now fulfilled, was one single element of what is to come. The Titans were not locked away because of egregious sins, they were locked away to protect the magic that others ”—my gaze moved to the Greek sector—“Wanted to steal. Namely their children.”

Yeah, they really didn’t like me saying that.

My hand went up to stop a man with blonde hair and a thick beard from talking, his golden skin shimmering under the lights obnoxiously. I didn’t let his sneer stop me, though. “They are here to help me in my efforts to save everyone. Literally everyone, including all of you. So it would be in your best interest to really listen to what I am about to say. Carefully and with your full attention.”

The room was absolutely silent for once.

“The dark ones—the world eaters, cosmic entities who target systems like ours to devour their power—are coming. Soon. They will consume the Earth and all the realms attached to it unless we can stop them. There’s a siren who can do exactly that, but she can’t do it alone. All of the realms are needed in this war. Which is why I released the magic from the Earth’s core—so I could give the power to allies who plan to aid us. Maybe even to those of you who’ve felt as though you’ve lost magic recently.”

I let my words hang in the air as some of the gods shifted awkwardly, proving my hunch correct.

“I suspect many of you may have had an idea that something was approaching, something bad, and some of you may have even taken part in draining other supernatural beings in hopes of surviving what will come next,” I said in my least judgmental voice—despite totally judging them for their actions. “You may have gotten this idea from a more powerful god that you look up to, an idea that felt appealing as your own power weakened day by day. Do you know why your power has felt weak? It shouldn’t take much to connect the dots.”

I could feel fury emanating off quite a few of the gods gathered on the main floor, so I moved my gaze to them and spoke with words that were sharp and filled with malice. “The gods in front of you, the ones who’ve surpassed all of you in time and placement within the universe, have watched as you gathered magic—quietly waiting for an opportunity.”

My gaze moved to Titania as I removed my magic from her. She stumbled to standing, furiously brushing off her dress. “Titania, would you like to explain why ?”

“Fuck you.”

“Don’t.” Ra’s voice was hard. Another man stood near him now, tall and imposing, and his long white hair and Viking-esque clothes made me assume he was from the Nordic sector. The battle ax on his back totally helped with the imagery.

“Don’t what?” I asked, amused.

Ra’s magic expanded past mine then, pushing it off him, as sunlight began to glow from within him. It was impressive, but it meant we were running out of time. He was totally going to try to stop me.

My voice boomed through the room, amplified by my magic. “I highly suggest preparing your sectors for war because those that you trust to protect you? To lead you? These assholes? They’re planning to drain your magic. To kill all of you. To sacrifice you in the name of what is to come—to try to bargain with the dark ones. They may have even been planning to do it today.”

What happened next occurred so fast and with so much power that it nearly blew me back. A myriad of events took place in less than a second, pure chaos erupting around us.

Blazing, blinding sunlight and ice blasted toward me. I was thrown back into August’s shadows as the Titans were pushed to the outskirts of the room, the doors slamming open.

In another flash of light, ten bodies disappeared from the floor, including Ra, phasing through my magic as it weakened and released the hold on everyone in a snap. All three hundred senators began to move and talk, their voices rapid and panicked. If it wasn’t for the Titans’ magic that held the room hostage, everyone would have left. I had absolutely no doubt about it.

As it was, only a few that had enough power had managed to escape. I groaned, pushing my magic out once again as I stumbled to standing. The old gods who remained, including Brahma and Nyx, were looking around in concern. In a way, the ten or so old gods making a run for it made my life easier—making it clear that the ones left hadn’t been part of their power draining plot.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t until a surge of pink magic was zipping towards me that I realized I’d left myself vulnerable to personal attack. Sweeping left, I ducked as the magic flew past me and hit Set, who’d tried to come up behind me, the force sending him back into the wall. Gods began to flood onto the floor, separating me from my men enough that they couldn’t stop the next blast of pink magic from hitting me full force.

Before I knew it, Titania had me pinned to the wall.

The Titans were stopping people from leaving, and my men were keeping the other senators from crowding the floor. The only individuals who could move freely were the gods who’d originally been seated on the floor, but all of them were watching Titania and myself, no doubt wanting to see how it played out before they chose sides. I didn’t blame them.

Her hand clutched my throat as a savage growl broke from her chest, her teeth extending to points as the green of her eyes bled out to cover the whites. “You stupid, stupid girl. All you had to do was keep your mouth shut?—”

My leg came up, and I kicked her hard enough that she flew back. My magic swarmed around her, but she shoved it off violently, our magics beginning a dangerous battle. Thunder cracked above, and lightning hit the ground between us.

“You won’t win this,” I warned her. Sickly sweet magic and flowery vines broke out of the floor around her, moving across the space like a lethal predator. But I wasn’t afraid. In fact, I had been wanting an excuse to handle Titania, not only because of her motives, but also because of everything she’d done to Volkan. How she’d hurt him.

“I will, and I will make sure that you are the first sacrifice we offer,” she snarled. I couldn’t help but smile, knowing everyone had heard that. It also didn’t escape my notice that Ra and the others had left her. Abandoned her.

“You want a fight, Titania? We can absolutely fight.”

And once I won, I would demand that she kneel before me while admitting her and the others’ sins to everyone gathered here… before ridding the world of her.