Page 7

CHAPTER 6

RAMSEY

I watched in concern as Nova looped around the training yard for at least the tenth time since we’d found this private outdoor space. Her pace was even and quiet as she followed the hedge-lined stone walls that surrounded the small paradise of privacy. I could tell this was what my sunshine needed right now.

Nova was deep in thought, spurred from wherever her dreams had taken her last night, and it was one of the reasons my brother wasn’t out here with us. He’d been plagued with visions, and while we hadn’t discussed the nature of them, I’d woken up several times to find him murmuring in his sleep or sitting up in bed, looking dazed. That only tended to happen when the visions hit hard and fast.

I wasn’t sure what that spelled for our upcoming plans, but I guessed we would find out today.

While the underworld didn’t have a sun to mark the time of day, we’d woken up after hours of sleep, so it felt like morning. After the stress of the meeting yesterday, most of the team had knocked out cold. I knew we would need the rest in the upcoming days, so I didn’t blame them—nor had I woken them when Nova insisted on doing morning training before leaving for the Horde.

I just wasn’t sure when I needed to step in and stop her.

“Sunshine.” My voice boomed through the space, sending skeletal birds with glowing red eyes squawking into the air from their perch on top of the wall.

Nova’s bright eyes snapped toward me, blinking quickly as if she hadn’t realized I was still standing there watching her. She came to a stop a few feet away and put her hands on her hips, taking deep breaths to calm her fast pulse, which I could see throbbing in her neck.

“What’s up, Ram?”

“Are you ready to head back inside?” My hand slid around her back as I eyed her neck and the sigil that sat there. It was still glowing slightly from the absolute oddity and somewhat miraculous thing that had occurred the previous evening.

I never could have conceived of a situation where Nova would meet our mother, or that our mother would get to know the woman my brother and I would spend the rest of our lives with. It settled something inside of me, allowing for a closure I wasn’t aware I’d needed.

When I first found out, I felt envious of her ability to communicate with our mother, considering I had so many questions myself. At the same time, I recognized that if there was anyone I wanted to be able to talk to her, it was Nova. I felt thankful that she could put a face to the name of the parent that hadn’t chosen to abandon us.

Nova let out a despondent sigh. “Honestly, no.” She nibbled on her lip before leaning against me, melting into my touch. I savored her closeness as my lips brushed the top of her forehead.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I lifted her up as her arms wrapped around my neck, though she tried to duck her head and avoid the conversation. When she wrapped her legs around me, the apex of her thighs pressing against my hard cock, I let out a pained groan.

“Nope,” she chimed, smiling against my neck. “In fact, there is way more fun stuff I would rather do?—”

“Nova,” I warned softly. “Talk to me.”

As I sat down on a bench and she slid her legs to either side of me, I put my hands on her perfect ass, wishing she hadn’t worn such tight pants. No one else was out here—I wasn’t even sure anyone else could find this place—but I didn’t like the idea of anyone outside of our group seeing her absolute perfection.

“Fine,” she grumbled. “I just know that the minute we leave here, there won’t be a break. Once we leave, it’s all or nothing. As in we either win or lose. Live or die.”

My jaw tightened at the fear that seeped into her voice at the end, but then her tone flooded with anger. “I refuse to lose any of you, Ramsey, but I’m so fucking scared that I won’t be able to do what I need to.”

In that moment, I realized how much I hated that Nova was scared—especially of something I couldn’t fix for her immediately. It also provided me with the push and determination to assure her that she had my ultimate belief. We would support her every step of the way, but this wasn’t something we could do for her. Nova was destined to play a pivotal part in finishing all of this—in ending the threat to our world. I could no longer even try to deny that.

“You’re not alone in this. We will be by your side for every single step,” I reminded her. “You have all nine of us, and more allies—extremely powerful individuals—than I can even count.”

“I know,” she murmured, then smirked, perking up. “They seemed surprised by the Apep thing. I am starting to feel very cool, Ram.”

“Apep hasn’t talked to anyone in centuries; you are cool,” I admitted with a sigh, shaking my head. “Still don’t fucking like it, though—way too many people seeking you out.” Luckily, most of our allies were well aware of their place in my sunshine’s life.

After a long moment, I continued in a more hushed voice, “Even without the allies, you would be able to do this, sunshine. You are one of the most powerful gods I’ve ever met. One of the most powerful beings I’ve ever encountered. I don’t think you, or any of us, have a full grasp on what having this type of power will mean once we’re on Earth. It’s possible that the only threat that will exist for you are the world eaters, that everyone else will be a mere speck comparatively.”

Though admittedly, they were barely a threat for her before.

Her eyes filled with tentative hope. “I hope you’re right. I refuse to lose the future we’ve fought so hard for.”

“A future that is absolutely ours,” I agreed. “In a few months, I can promise you we will be in Bora Bora, married and relaxing.” Her eyes softened as she nodded, a small smile playing at her lips—until it turned teasing and she leaned forward to nip my lip.

“Guess that would be a good time to knock me up.”

I had her flat against the bench in seconds, making her squeak in surprise at the fast movement. Grasping her jaw, I brushed my lips against hers gently before letting out a deep rumble. “Don’t tease me, sunshine. You know how much I would fucking love that.”

“I wasn’t teasing,” she admitted breathlessly. “Not really.”

My hand tightened in her hair as I examined her expression. She was fucking serious. Letting out a frustrated sound, I kissed her hard and then retreated, pulling myself off the bench.

Nova scowled. “I was enjoying that.”

A rough chuckle left my lips. “Believe me, sunshine, the only reason I moved is because you said you wanted to wait until after all this. Now I’m more determined than ever to get this shit over with.”

Nova tugged me down for a kiss, her hand on the collar of my shirt. “Well see, that is a perfect reward then.”

Fuck. A reward for both myself and our future.

I groaned, shaking myself as I tried to focus on the now and what we had to do to get all of this started—and to get the hell out of the underworld. “We should get something to eat. I know you feel like you have unlimited energy, but I worry about you, especially considering the power you’ve taken in.”

“Honestly, I really do feel okay,” she assured me before shrugging. “But we can go eat. By the way, have you felt any major change in your magic? Outside of feeling like you can’t use the excess?”

“To an extent,” I admitted. “I used to have to touch someone to travel into their past, but I almost traveled into yours when you told me about meeting our mom. That could be just because of our bond, though.” It seemed that the magic within our bond, between the ten of us, worked more ‘normally’ down here than other magic.

“Oh, that’s a perfect way for you to see her!” she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. “Unless you wouldn’t be able to see her somehow because it was death magic…”

“Maybe I’ll do that, but not today. I’m just glad you were able to meet her,” I said sincerely. Now was not the time to dive into that—especially not without my brother. When a noise sounded on the other side of the door, I sighed in resignation, knowing our time was over. “Come on, sunshine, let’s find the others. I can practically hear them looking for you.”

As we stepped into the building, I could hear the voices of the other men moving down the hall toward the throne room where, according to a note that the steward had left under our door, we would be eating breakfast.

We’d found this yard when a random doorway appeared as we roamed the halls, hoping to find a place to train. Come to think of it, I had a feeling it was one of those places that had appeared only for one exact purpose—to give Nova a space that she needed. It was interesting how the underworld responded to her, almost as if she belonged in it. While that didn’t surprise me—most things didn’t when it came to Nova—it was still pretty unusual.

More surprising was when Venus appeared out of fucking nowhere, causing Nova to step back into me with a hand held to her chest.

There was absolutely no way I would ever get used to any of this shit, but I was trying my best to not overreact to the appearance of all these higher gods. Nova seemed barely fazed, and while I knew my reactions amused her, it probably didn’t show a very strong front to constantly be surprised.

“Good morning,” Venus greeted.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Unfortunately, I need to leave.” The goddess frowned, unhappy with that fact. “With that being said, when you call for forces to gather, I will be there.”

I usually didn’t trust gods, but even I had to admit that Venus appeared rather sincere in how she communicated with Nova. My sunshine didn’t exactly trust easily, but I could tell that she believed in Venus.

Nova nodded in understanding. “Thank you, really, and thank you for explaining more about your family line and how your powers work. I don’t know if I’ll use them as much as my re-enactment of Twister…but it’s still pretty cool.”

“It’s a softer magic,” Venus said before her eyes filled with intrigue. “If you’re ever in a bind, just consider manipulating the emotions of those around you. People do a wonderful job of distracting themselves with petty bullshit.”

Nova laughed, and I rubbed my hand up her back. I had no doubt that my sunshine would find use of that particular trick.

“When all of this is done,” Venus continued, “I would love to offer you your inheritance. Each of my children and their descendants are entitled to family heirlooms—your mother probably has yours — but there are a few gifts I would like to give you personally. If that’s alright with you.”

“I did say we would visit the god realm on our honeymoon,” Nova teased, looking up at me. “I would love to visit the Roman sector.”

“Fantastic.” Venus looked relieved. “Good luck with everything to come, at least until I see you again. And remember, if you need me before then, just call on me—the two of us are tied together now.”

And then she was gone.

“Fascinating,” Nova murmured before looking up at me. “I swear, if Venus is the one who gives me all the cool inheritance stuff, I’m going to feel a bit let down by Isis and Set.”

I smirked. “I mean, she is known for being a bit…”

“Old money vibes? I agree.”

“Wealthy,” I finished before tilting my head in thought. “Possibly that as well though.” I had no idea what ‘old-money-vibes’ meant to Nova, but I would have to take her word for it.

As we entered the throne room, I felt Nova still next to me in surprise. Not because of the many familiar faces there, but because of one in particular that I knew at least one member of our group was not happy to see.

“Perses!” Nova called out, the Titan turning to face us. He’d been talking to Hecate and Volkan, both of whom looked annoyed. The majority of our group and the rest of our allies were present, eating breakfast and watching the conflict unfold.

“Nova,” he greeted, frustrated by her interruption.

“It’s so interesting to see you. I had no idea you were stopping by.” As we strode toward the group, I noticed the hurt on Volkan’s face. He was doing a damn good job of hiding it, but the bond we shared made it obvious.

I wasn’t one to get into the emotions of those around me, but my brother and I, more than anyone, understood the hurt of being abandoned by your father. And spending most of your life thinking he couldn’t visit only to find out that was bullshit? I felt sympathy for the demi-titan.

“I need to inform you that the other Titans—all of us—are awaiting your direction in the God realm,” he explained simply before motioning to his children. “Of course, I also wanted an opportunity to talk to Volkan and Hecate.”

I found it fascinating that he felt the need to answer to Nova. I mean, he absolutely fucking should, but usually Titans—or any powerful gods, for that matter—were known for being entitled assholes.

“See,” Nova sighed, breaking away from my arms and moving toward Volkan, “I figured it was something like that. I’m just not sure they want to talk to you. Did you even ask?”

“I didn’t think it was necessary to ask about my own damn kids?—”

“It is.” Nova stood between Hecate and Volkan with her chin tilted up. “I’m so over these narcissistic egotistical parents who think they’re entitled to the kids they ditched. If they want to talk to you, that’s different, but I’m not sure why they would want to.”

Perses looked pissed, and I immediately let my magic out to surround Nova, knowing the others were growing more tense at the possibility of conflict. I could see Perses consider his next move before finally deflating.

“Right.” Perses shook his head but stepped back from the three of them. “The reasons for my choices are more complicated than you know, but fine.” Holding the gaze of both Hecate and then Volkan, he spoke directly to them. “You’ve heard my piece; I’m not going to start a war with Nova over this. When you’re ready to talk, I would like to.”

“Unlikely,” Hecate sang.

Volkan frowned, taking a moment before saying, “Maybe, but not now.”

Perses nodded sharply and looked back at Nova. “Like I said, we await direction in the God realm.”

In a vortex of black liquid that appeared out of nowhere, he disappeared from existence.

My sunshine let out a disappointed sigh, looking at where Perses departed before glancing back at Volkan and Hecate. “Sorry if you didn’t want me to be part of that—I just hate that he thought he was entitled to your time. Especially with everything that’s going on.”

“Thank you for that,” Hecate said seriously, giving Nova a small arm squeeze. “Now time to get back to breakfast.”

“You good?” I asked Volkan.

He nodded. “Just didn’t expect that over coffee,” he admitted after a long moment.

“Coffee?” Nova snapped her head up. “Well that is some serious good news. I don’t think I can possibly portal travel without coffee.”

I swear, somehow Nova always managed to lighten up the mood.

As we sat down to eat, I noticed my brother looked particularly tired as he examined the plate in front of him with disinterest. No one was listening, so I didn’t hesitate to ask, “What’s going on? Visions?”

“Yes. Bad ones. I want to say it’s just my fear feeding into it, but I can tell it’s more than that. There are so many ways where this could go so damn wrong.”

I spoke quietly. “Maybe don’t tell Nova. She’s already doubting herself.”

“I don’t think Nova will be the downfall of this,” Nour countered. “There’s something we aren’t seeing. Something big we’re missing.”

And if we weren’t careful, that ‘big’ thing could be the one to get us killed.

After twenty minutes of quiet conversation, Nova stood with a stretch. “Alright boys, we gotta head out. Let’s meet back here in fifteen.”

She disappeared down the hall, and Volkan immediately stood to join her, but my attention was on Isis and Osiris, who were watching Nova with concern.

“What?” I asked. Normally I would have never thought about addressing them so casually, but they were clearly comfortable enough with Nova to view us as equals.

“As we mentioned, when you get to a realm outside of here, your physical bodies will most likely reunite with your spirit and magic. You’ll be reborn, in a sense,” Isis explained. “Expect it to be a violent affair. I would suggest portalling somewhere in the Horde with lots of room. For sure not directly into any towns or castles.”

“How bad are we talking?”

“Depends,” Osiris said, shrugging. “It may not be a problem…or it could destroy everything around you.”