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CHAPTER 1

NOVA

“W ake up, sunshine.”

Absolutely not.

“Moonbeam.” Nour’s warm voice had me smiling into my arm from where I was curled up on my side. I absolutely loved their nicknames for me, and I obviously loved them …but it wasn’t enough to make me move from my current position. Especially with how sore every part of my body was—how my head pounded—and the haze surrounding the memory of how I even got here.

Had I fallen asleep? Maybe it was simply the morning after an uneventful night. But my body told a very different story, and unfortunately not in a fun way.

“Nova.” Ram’s voice was far more serious than his brother’s had been, which had my grin growing. Why was it so fun to mess with the man? That was probably terrible, but I couldn’t help it—his reactions were just perfection. Ramsey and River were two peas in a pod when it came to being overly worried and protective—debatably my favorite kind of broody man.

“She doesn’t realize that there’s the potential for donuts,” Nour concluded following his brother’s growly demand. My brows rose in interest. Donuts? Was he serious about that? I wasn’t sure I could trust that he wasn’t just trying to wake me up.

As I said, I had absolutely no idea where we were. But I could feel the sun on my skin, and as I trod further into consciousness, I began to realize that I was lying on a bed of sand—was it to much too hope for a tropical vacation? No, my best bet was somewhere magical. It was always somewhere magical when it came to the group of us.

My magic offered an astute nod as she let out a yawn and curled up on her side between Ramsey and Nour’s powers, one a flashy metallic gold and the other a silver shadow. They were intertwining themselves with my magic, a storm of blizzard-like weather and a slow-burning wildfire surrounding the three of them in perfect harmony.

I sighed happily before realizing that I probably needed to get up if they sounded so concerned. Especially considering I couldn’t sense my other men’s magic.

“Where are we?” I asked, my voice muffled by my arm. “And how did we get here?”

“Osiris’s realm,” Nour answered. “The three of us woke up here after the shit that happened with the Titans.”

“When you say we are in Osiris’s realm, do you mean the dream realm?”

“No, the underworld.”

I flung myself upright, immediately awake, and found myself face to face with Ram. It was nearly enough to distract me from his words. Nearly .

“Are we fucking dead?” I demanded in shock and a bit of disgust. “If that killed me…if after everything we’ve been through, that killed me, I am so done with all of these gods.”

Ram’s golden eyes flashed with amusement, but it wasn’t nearly enough to take away from the anxious expression on his face. One that I didn’t like at all, especially if I wasn’t putting it there myself. I loved every inch of the demi-god, from his insane height and dark waves to his golden skin and bright metallic eyes. I even loved when he offered me that look—the one that told me he was frustrated as all hell and didn’t know what to do with me.

Luckily, he’d eventually figured it out—Ramsey had settled on loving me. He also planned on knocking me up eventually, but we totally didn’t have time for that right now.

“Like I said, you say the word and we can drop all of this,” Ramsey promised, causing me to sigh because damn this man, he was so romantic.

“We did release the actual Titans, so it may be a little late to put that back in the box…or cave, whatever works,” I teased. “Now what’s this about donuts?”

Nour chuckled, drawing my attention to his unfairly brilliant smile. The three of us were all together sitting in sand with both of them surrounding me protectively, so I didn’t have to look far. The man made butterflies explode in my stomach. I wanted to hate him for it, but instead I just felt like a teenager with a major crush. The man was literally dreamy.

Well, maybe not ‘dream’-y since his powers allowed him to see into reality—he saw events in the future, whereas his brother saw events in the past—but saying he was ‘reality’-y didn’t have quite the same ring to it. ‘Oracle’-y? ‘Prophet’-y? My magic gave me some serious side-eye. Dreamy was close enough!

Nour’s silver eyes traced over my features and body, looking for any injuries. The waning light of the day made Nour look like he was glowing silver, and I found myself wondering if being ‘dead’ wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world…

I mean, talk about not facing responsibilities.

“I see a temple in the distance; it may have donuts,” Nour said with a hint of humor, making me scowl. There would be no freakin’ donuts! What a liar. With a sigh, I finally looked around, finding a very familiar scene from the dreamscape that we had visited Osiris in the first time.

Miles of sand stretched in all directions, the golden peaks cast in a lavender glow, the sky above us a mixture of navy lightening to the softest lavender. A mirrored moon stood proudly in the sky, and the warm wind had my arms prickling with awareness of the magic here. Looking down at my body, I briefly recognized that I hadn’t been magically changed into a dress or anything—I was still wearing the makeshift outfit, an oversized shirt with a ripped cloth belt around my waist, that I’d worn into the Garden of the Beginning, torn and shredded in some places, crusted with blood on the hem. Wonderful.

Not my blood, either. Nour’s blood, to be specific…which immediately brought worry to my mind that my other men could be injured right now.

“We need to find the others,” I said, drawing my magic’s attention from her cuddle fest. “I can feel them. They’re in the realm, just not with us.”

The moment that my magic was actively looking for them, I could feel all seven of my other bonds. Some of their magic was dormant, like they were unconscious, while others were active and irritated. Groaning, I stood up and brushed the sand off me.

“Moonbeam.” Nour jumped to his feet and caught my hand. “Take it slow. You just went through some extreme shit.”

Blinking up at him, I considered his words before closing my eyes and taking a steadying breath. I had just gone through something fairly insane. Not only had we traveled all the way to Turkey and the Enchanted Willow Woods to release the Titans, but I’d also accepted the core of the Earth’s magic into myself. I had taken on the responsibility of imparting it to those who would help us defeat the dark ones.

I had done all of that in a span of what felt like hours…so why didn’t I feel different?

Well, that wasn’t completely true. I could feel the new magic under my skin, lodged deep within my soul. It felt wildly powerful, like nothing I’d ever experienced before. I couldn’t relate it to a hurricane or a volcano, because it was so much more than that. It was in a league of its own, and it was trapped inside of me.

I hadn’t realized there had been any more space in there for more magic, but it was as if the magic had carved out space in my very bone marrow, turning me into something far more magic than human.

Yet despite all of this, and maybe because I’d so willingly agreed to carry the burden, my tolerance and body had grown to welcome it. It felt like a nuclear reactor under my skin—which albeit sounds more than a bit violent—but I had the control code and I knew instinctively how to use it. My magic offered me a salute from where she stood in her official nuclear power plant uniform, complete with an ominous radiation symbol. Cute.

Opening my eyes, I looked at both of my demi-god twins. “I know this is going to sound wild, but I actually feel good. My body hurts a ton”—hopefully River could help a girl out when we found him—“but overall I feel good. I can feel the new influx of power, but it’s not overwhelming.”

“We feel similar,” Ram admitted. “The power you received has been distributed through our bonds, so I think we’re all experiencing it to an extent.”

Nour agreed, adding, “Although I’m not sure I could actually use it if I wanted. I feel like we’re just holding it.”

That worried me a bit—the last thing I wanted was to overwhelm our bonds or hurt my men unintentionally. I had to trust them if they said they were okay, but I needed to see the other seven before I could truly feel at ease.

As if summoning them from conversation alone, my other bonds flared, pulling my attention to the left of us. I heard a distant explosion as my brows shot up.

“Fuck,” Ram muttered, but I was already off, sprinting through the sand toward the source of the two very frustrated bonds surging with magic. As we crested the top of a hill, I came to a sudden stop, my eyes widening in surprise.

A few seconds later Ram and Nour came running up behind me, the force of their footfalls causing the sand underneath me to shift and break. I fell forward down the dune, letting out a groan as I rolled onto my shoulder.

“Shit, gorgeous,” Fox called out, reaching me in a second flat. I laid dramatically on the sand staring up at him, his arms wrapping around me with care.

“My prince charming,” I sighed happily. I could see warmth grow in his dark eyes…and a bit of amusement. He knew the fall hadn’t been that bad, but I could never say no to Fox holding me.

“I’m going to help Cassian,” Nour said, crouching down and offering me an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, moonbeam.”

“It’s okay.” I offered a sweet smile as he disappeared, my body going limp again.

“Nova,” Fox chuckled as Ram’s shadow came over us.

“Shit, sunshine?—”

“I’m dying,” I groaned, my voice tinged with a flare of despondent grief. “You grievously injured me, and I am now dying . In the underworld, where we’re possibly already dead—I’m actively dying, Ramsey.”

Ram didn’t seem impressed, so I really went for it and let my body slump, even putting my hand on my forehead for effect.

“Ridiculous,” Ram muttered. “Fox, I’m going to go help your brother. You’ve got?—”

“Yes I can take care of our girl that you hurt,” Fox quipped as Ramsey growled, causing me to let out a peal of laughter.

“It’s okay, Ram. I forgive you!” I called to his retreating back before rolling onto the sand and sitting up to look over Fox. “Hey handsome.”

Fox’s emerald green-tipped hair was pushed back, and while his olive skin was painted in blood, it didn’t stop me from wanting to straddle him. Mind you, he was shirtless and his tattoos were on full display, so the urge to get close was almost untamable. His dark, fathomless eyes, speckled with silver stars, lit up with heat as he moved fast, tackling me back onto the sand and kissing the hell out of me.

Sighing into the kiss, I smiled happily against his lips. I swear, the man was so intense and it swept toward you without warning—just like a flood. I had come to thoroughly love that extreme.

Another explosion sounded as I pulled back from the kiss and smiled. “We should probably go help your brother.”

“I suppose,” Fox sighed. “Although if we are really dead, it doesn’t matter.”

“I feel like we aren’t,” I lamented, “so that means we still have responsibilities.”

“Well, if we did die, at least it was all together,” Fox said as he helped me sit up.

“That’s the spirit .” I chuckled at my own joke as Fox groaned, rolling his eyes before grabbing my hand as we strolled towards the battle. I examined the creatures that Cassian, Ram, and Nour were demolishing.

“Thanks for the help, Fox!” Cassian growled, looking annoyed before I flashed him a smile and a little wave. “Baby girl!” Cassian used his magic to crush one of the snake-like creatures before using a sword to slice the neck of another. “How are you feeling?”

“Pretty good.” I let out a yawn before looking skyward. “Sort of wondering where you got the sword from though.”

“From a skeleton nearby.” Cassian thrust the sword deep into the chest cavity of the creature as Ram narrowly avoided getting hit. I sort of wondered why Cass wasn’t using his own magic like my demi-god twins, until I saw his metal sword flash with black electricity. He was totally using his magic, just channeling it through a weapon. Neat. I was seeing the benefits of being a metal mage, and he was doing a really good job…but I didn’t like being so far away from the man.

With a blink, I imagined lightning coming down and striking five creatures out of the twenty left. They must have come from some type of nest?—

“Sweet,” I exclaimed as lightning tore from the sky, precise hits leaving each of the snake-like creatures—beings that featured four heads, mind you, and bodies the size of a truck—fried like crispy pieces of…chicken? Sure.

“Good job, moonbeam!” Nour called out.

“That was awesome.” Fox chuckled appreciatively, kissing the side of my head. I sent him a warm look before turning to the others approaching us, Cassian reaching us first and sweeping me up into a hug. I sighed into the kiss he gave me before pulling back and running my hands through his dark hair.

Much like his brother, his olive complexion was covered in blood, and his black fathomless eyes were glinting silver in reflection of his magic as I felt the cold, hard power roll over me. I shivered happily as he dipped me into another kiss, tugging on his bottom lip teasingly.

Where Fox was a charming sweetheart that could also be super sarcastic, Cassian was intense. His intensity came in so many forms, explosive in nature, like a volcano that could erupt at any moment. I loved it so damn much.

Which is why it was absolutely no surprise that these men seemed to always find a way to get me naked.

“Where did you guys land?” I asked curiously, looking around the mostly barren wasteland. A few creatures scuttled around, and there was that temple in the distance…

“About a ten-minute walk from here.” Cassian pointed in the direction opposite of the temple. “Somehow we walked right into a nest of…whatever the hell those were.”

“Creepy multi-head snakes,” I filled in before sighing. “Well, I’m glad they’re dead and not trying to kill us.” I looked at the four of them. “Unfortunately, that doesn’t solve our problem of where the other five are?—”

A huge bubble of black shadows suddenly appeared to the west, and August’s magic surged toward me in greeting. I didn’t sense they were in any danger—or at least he wasn’t in any danger. Without a word, we all started jogging in that direction—a difficult feat in sand.

I completely agreed with Fox’s statement that if we were dead, I was glad we were together. Even the underworld was bearable with my men by my side.