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CHAPTER 7

NOVA

“T o braid or not to braid, that is the question,” I murmured, looking at myself in the mirror. For not having any of our personal belongings with us—I mean, I had to assume most of them had been left in the van outside of the garden and that those within were destroyed during the release of the Titans—I was doing pretty good at still looking like a badass. Which was appreciated since we were leaving for the Horde.

Didn’t want Gray or Vegas to think I wasn’t as cool as them or something.

I was almost positive these new clothes had appeared courtesy of Hecate, and maybe Danu. I would have said Venus or Isis, but what I’d found waiting for me in my room was as different from their personal styles as possible, so that was highly doubtful.

I suppose it could have been Anubis as well though…

Either way, the two-piece outfit featuring a long skirt in a deep purple with silk stars and a tight corset top in purple with silver laces was an absolutely perfect fit for me. Especially with combat boots.

“I love your hair down,” Volkan rumbled, leaning against the doorway. I offered him a soft smile. When I’d left the throne room, done with my breakfast, I hadn’t been surprised he’d followed. Once alone, I’d wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug.

He hadn’t said so, but I could tell that his father being there had affected him. Greatly. I mean, I hardly blamed him. Just because he was an ally didn’t mean I couldn’t notice that the guy seemed like an asshole.

“You do?” I asked, twisting it over my shoulder as I looked at the multi-colored strands. Obviously, I knew Volkan liked me…but it did something different to hear him compliment me so easily, as if it was a no-brainer. I also wouldn’t lie, the hurt from having the ‘wrong’ hair according to Earnest was still an insecurity of mine.

A teeny tiny one now, but still there.

Volkan frowned at my reaction, approaching and running his fingers through my hair before locking an arm around my waist. I felt my cheeks heat in surprise as I leaned back into him, looking at the demi-titan in the mirror. I could still feel tension running through his frame, but he seemed to be channeling his frustration toward being touchy-feely, and I would never complain about that.

“Of course I do,” he rumbled. “You’re fucking stunning, αγαπο?λα μου , and your hair is as unique as you are.”

“Thanks,” I whispered. “Did you know I used to have to cut it every few weeks so that it only appeared the darker top color?”

His eyes narrowed, realization filling his gaze. “Because of Earnest.”

I sighed. “ Yeah. Because of Earnest. Dads are the worst, aren’t they?”

“Yes,” he answered immediately. “They tend to be extremely problematic.”

“Well, good for us we can ignore both of them for now, and maybe kill mine…both of mine. And hey, yours also! I’m always down for some patricide.”

Volkan barked out a laugh before turning my body sharply toward him and dipping his lips to brush against my own. “It’s a date. Now, are you ready to go? Everyone is waiting for us in the throne room, but we can stay here if you need more time.”

Yes, because unlike myself, they weren’t trying to delay leaving. I may have spent way more time than necessary fussing and adjusting my clothes and hair.

“Yeah…” I looked around for another distraction.

“Don’t want to go?” he wagered.

“Actually, I’m worried about portalling,” I admitted. “I know you believe I can do it…but I’m just not sure. My magic feels more, but I’m not sure it’s enough to portal all ten of us to the Horde from the freakin’ Underworld.”

“You are more than capable, αγαπο?λα μου ,” Volkan assured me for the ten millionth time, cupping my jaw. “But you also have my magic to pull on, and I’ve got a fair amount of experience portalling between realms. I promise I won’t let anything happen to our group. You provide the power, and I’ll give direction. I’ll keep everyone safe.”

And man did I love the confidence he had .

My magic offered me a wink from where she was sitting in a school uniform watching Professor Volkan teach us about portalling…it was so much more embarrassing because these were actual sections of our magic. With my luck, he could probably see exactly what my magic had cooked up.

Good to know she could be on her best behavior when needed though.

“I trust you,” I assured him. I could tell my words meant a lot to him, his eyes darkening on my lips before he pressed another kiss to my lips, harder and deeper this time.

“And when we have a moment, there are a few other things I want to show you with your god magic, since your magic is so similar to mine.”

I nodded eagerly. There was nothing I would love more considering he was a fucking demi-titan of destruction. Although you would seriously never guess it with how cool, calm, and collected Volkan presented himself.

“Alright. I can’t put this off anymore—let’s do it.” I sighed, finally accepting my fate, and pulled his hand toward the door of our suite.

The walk was comfortable and relaxed between us as I focused on feeling out the power within me. I was well aware that I wasn’t going to feel this settled in my power once we arrived on Earth and we merged with our physical bodies. In fact, Ramsey had warned me it would be pretty much the exact opposite.

I wished there was a way to warn Gray about the shitstorm I was inevitably bringing down on the Horde with our explosive arrival…but it was somewhat unavoidable. It was going to happen wherever we landed, and the Horde not only had a decent amount of open space, but a ruler that could shield those around her if something went wrong. If we landed on Earth and we went nuclear, that could be very, very bad.

Plus, it wasn’t like we had a ton of time, and I needed to give Queen Gray and her allies the power they needed to fight the upcoming war. “Let’s get this show on the road!” I called out. “Everyone ready?”

“To go back to the Horde?” Fox yawned, stretching his hands above his head, the epitome of relaxed. “Not really.”

“Don’t need to stay for long, just need to talk to the Queen and all.” I shrugged as Cassian smirked at my nonchalant statement. What? She was literally my friend!

“I would aim for where we landed the first time, butterfly,” River said as he laced up his boots. “The portal area is usually kept clear.”

“Although the Horde is pretty tough; I doubt we’ll break it,” August offered supportively.

“I would feel like shit,” I admitted.

“Don’t,” Everett said. “If anything, I would be mad at them for having such a breakable realm.”

“Wait, wouldn’t ‘them’ be you guys?” I teased.

“I’ve decided I’m putting my official relocation address for: wherever Nova is .” Rowan flashed me a smile that was far too charming.

“That was pretty cute, Row-baby.” My eyes darted to the side where Nour was trying to talk to Ramsey quietly. My brow furrowed. “Ram you’ve got to stop pacing.”

Freezing mid-step, he offered me a serious look before nodding sharply…and continuing to pace.

Turning to Osiris and Anubis, I realized everyone else had departed from our allies. Apparently we didn’t do goodbyes? “Do we need to talk about anything else, or are we good to go?”

“Just make sure you keep yourself shielded while traveling and know we are on call and ready,” Anubis said.

“I’m handling the shielding,” Volkan called out. My chest warmed with how protective he was over our group—always focused on ensuring our safety, especially with portalling.

“Deal.” I nodded and looked at Osiris. “Thanks for letting us heal here; I seriously appreciate it.” The man flashed a big smile, his white teeth glittering against his green skin. He had transformed into his massive god form from the first time I’d met him, and he made quite the image in his throne.

“No problem, Daughter of Chaos, Magic, Love, and even Death.”

Obviously I wasn’t really Osiris’s daughter, but I still appreciated being included. Out of all the big gods we’d met so far, he was one of my favorites.

Wait. My eyes widened as I thought back to all the different ‘Daughter of’ titles that everyone from Anubis to Isis and every other god we’d met along the way had called me. Did each pick whatever they associated me with? Did that mean Khonsu in the museum in Cairo was aware of my heritage all along? And Anubis had obviously totally known since he had called me Daughter of Magic which referenced Isis’ line.

Holy shit. Well, now I just felt like I was out of the loop.

“Finally caught on?” Anubis asked brightly. I flipped him off and turned sharply toward my men, not willing to admit that was the case.

“Alright! Let’s make a cute little circle again.”

As we gathered together, a sense of nervousness invaded my chest. Luckily, Volkan’s hand on mine grounded me. His power served as a reminder that he would be able to guide us, and I very much trusted him to do that.

Closing my eyes, I tried to channel the confidence I had when unleashing the titans. Why did this feel different? Maybe because I wasn’t sure what I was capable of now? Or maybe because I really, really didn’t want anyone getting stuck in the limbo of portalling, especially not one of the men that I loved.

“Focus, Nova.” Volkan’s voice was soothing as I inhaled and exhaled slowly. I could feel his pride and trust in me surging through our bond, and it gave me the boost of confidence I needed. He truly believed I could do this.

“Pull on your bonds, charge up the energy between all of us,” he suggested as I tightened my bonds with the nine of them, pulling them taut and towards me. “Now, just like before, imagine a bubble wrapping around the group?—”

I could practically feel it being created in real time, and I savored the sensation of holding all of them within my magic. It was a possessive feeling and one I absolutely didn’t shy away from.

“Imagine where in the Horde you want to land.”

I imagined the field that looked out onto the vast mountain range and castle. I could feel the wind against my face and the grass beneath my fingers. I could do this.

“Now portal.”

I instantly obeyed, my magic collapsing down on all of us at once. Darkness cradled our bubble, and for just a moment I wondered if something had gone wrong. It felt as though we were suspended in limbo.

Until I realized it was something so much more than that.

Searing heat blasted our skin, winds whipping against it, and screams echoed in our ears. Magic overwhelmed our bonds and threatened to drown us. Metal on metal caused my ears to bleed as tears leaked down my face. Every inch of me felt like it was being both destroyed and reborn in a repetitive cycle. My body couldn’t hold all of this new magic, so instead of trying to squeeze it all in there…it was morphing. Changing. It was altering each of us into completely new entities.

Waves of unrelenting magic created a tsunami inside of me, inside of our bonds, and I felt as though I was going to never see the surface again. I didn’t know what to do with this level of raw power. I didn’t know how to control something like this.

Maybe I wasn’t meant to control it. Maybe that was the point.

The moment that thought occurred to me, everything snapped dark again. The magic didn’t settle but instead sank into my veins, moving through me rather than being stored away. It embedded itself in every piece of bone marrow, blood cell, and nerve ending. I became the magic, and the magic became me.

I could feel everything around me heating once more, but it was a slow burn. When I opened my eyes, all I could see was gold. All of us were painted in gold, and my veins pulsed with the magic that we’d released from the Earth’s core. It was the moment when I realized that the ten of us were no longer human.

We hadn’t really been before, but we could no longer pretend to be anything but what we were. Gods . The word sounded drums in my head. My eyes snapped shut and my teeth rattled as something burst from the center of my chest, an anchor that would hold all of us together as we arrived on Earth. When it latched onto something solid and jerked us forward, I knew what would come next.

We were crash landing in the Horde, and it wasn’t going to be pretty.

* * *

“I ’m more impressed than anything,” a familiar voice chimed. “I mean the wards over the realm, let alone the castle, are intense. And they just blew through them! Luckily only in one spot—but she just blew through them like nothing! Look at the hole in the ceiling!”

“Lil brawler, you are far too impressed by this,” a male voice sighed.

“They’re fucking with our castle now, and I don’t like that,” a second one agreed.

I winced, putting together what had happened while feeling out several strong presences in the room. Namely, Queen Gray and most of her mates. There was another signature as well, but it was a softer, younger one.

“Oh come on!” Gray mused. “It’s fixable. Plus, if I’m not mistaken, Nova portalled all of them here on their own—no orbs or extra help needed. I told you I felt something shift, and Vegas definitely felt something. She totally unlocked the magic she was after.”

“They look a bit…crispy,” a younger voice said. “I mean not bad, just like they need a shower or something.”

Wonderful .

“Luna, what if they can hear you,” Gray chided.

“Oh come on,” Luna groaned. “Mom, I’ve literally heard you say way worse than that.”

“It’s true,” another male voice said as Gray grumbled under her breath.

That was my cue to at least attempt to communicate what happened.

Outside of feeling like I had actual fucking lava moving through my veins and like I’d pounded my skull into a stone floor repeatedly for hours…I felt decent. This new magic thing would take some time to get used to, but I’d already accepted that.

“We merged back with our physical bodies,” I coughed out, keeping my eyes closed. “We died physically, went to the Underworld, portalled here and got our bodies back.” My eyes finally opened as I looked up at the massive hole above us. “And somehow blasted through your ceiling.”

“Nova, you’re up!” Gray appeared by my side, her navy eyes glancing over me with concern and interest. “The healers already came to look at all of you and determined you were fine, but I didn’t want to move you. Just in case.”

“Oh, we’re something,” I mumbled, closing my eyes again. “Are they all still unconscious?”

“Waking up,” Fox groaned.

“So glad we didn’t die!” I shouted. “Thanks for that, Volkan.”

“Don’t thank me, we landed the opposite of a ‘clearing’ or ‘field,’” he muttered, sounding disappointed in himself.

“Still did great,” I assured him, not wanting him to feel guilty. I had a feeling something had gone haywire. “Sorry about the castle,” I said to Gray.

“Don’t even worry about it,” she chided, helping me sit up by offering a hand.

My head spun as I looked down at myself. I wasn’t sure what I expected…maybe to be covered in injuries? Or even to be pulsating with magic and gold? Instead, I looked completely normal but covered with a fine layer of dust from blasting through the ceiling and dropping from the sky.

“Besides, I actually think it may be my fault. You tried to portal in at a different location but hit my wards and then blasted through them, so you landed here instead of where you’d been planning—something I have in place to deal directly with threats.”

I offered her a small smile, feeling relieved that I hadn’t somehow messed the portalling up. “Well thanks for making me feel better about our screw-up.”

Gray chuckled as she helped me to my feet. I turned to look around at my men, all of them beginning to sit up and move—a few grunts and groans leaving them. I was relieved to see everyone was alive if a little beaten up.

“So, what can I do for all of you? Or were you getting away from some assholes?”

Unlike us, Gray looked like the epitome of perfection. Her dark hair was pulled into a high ponytail, and she was wearing silver armor that glinted in the sunlight. She looked ready for battle, which was sort of perfect.

“Not this time,” I assured her, stretching my wrist which was sore from how I landed. “I am officially here to give you some of the magic that I released from the Earth…and to warn you that war is coming. Like world-ending cosmic beings destroying our planet type of war.”

The room was dead silent until one of her men swore, and Gray offered me a surprised expression before sobering. “Let me call Vegas, Maize, and their mates. It sounds like we have a lot to talk about.”

That was the understatement of the century.