Page 6 of Evermore (The Never Sky #3)

Thorne

C ountless hourglasses were meticulously arranged throughout the Goddess of Time’s prison; each one a perfect cell containing a captive just like me.

There was a clear difference between the poor souls that’d been trapped in time for eternity and those that were freshly caught or simply waiting for their time to be up.

Those with no end in sight sat in a cage of defeat, lying on the floor of their hourglasses.

Some had legs resting up the walls of glass, twiddling their fingers.

Others paced, screamed for mercy, or cursed the constant sand that rained down on them.

The temple itself was a monument to entrapment, an endless gallery of suspended lives, each one housing a prisoner frozen in their own personal slice of hell.

Vesalia loved the appearance of control.

And this was why making bargains with gods was a foolish game.

I’d done it for Paesha though. I’d willingly given my time to keep her safe and I’d fucking do it again.

And again. As I always had. A thousand lifetimes of trying and failing to keep her out of my brother’s murderous sight.

He didn’t hate the Huntress, but he hated the idea of her, what she could bring to pass. What he’d seen in his visions.

“Hello, poppet.” Vesalia stepped out from behind a grandfather clock across the room.

She sauntered forward, silver hair flowing behind her.

She tapped her nails on the glass walls of my prison and smiled.

“It’s quite admirable to see the things you do, the lengths you will go to continue this game with Ezarius.

One would think, after all these lifetimes, you would grow bored of the Huntress.

” She leaned closer, tapping again. “Do you ever wish for someone more… refined?”

“Not even a little bit.”

She glanced over her shoulder with a wicked smile as Serene stepped into the room, wearing nothing but an equally daring smile. Her eyes locked with mine and she all but floated across the floor, stopping at my neighbor’s hourglass to blow her a kiss before she joined the Goddess of Time’s side.

“I know you remember what I taste like, Keeper. I believe you called it… divine nectar.” She slid her hands over Vesalia’s stomach and her dress vanished, leaving both women standing naked.

I crossed my arms over my chest, leaning my shoulder against the glass as I stood knee deep in red sand. “Which only proves even gods have to learn some lessons the hard way.”

Serene’s golden gaze dragged down my body and her power pulsed through the room. “I do so love it when things are hard. Shall we let him out to play, Vessie?”

Vesalia shook her head. “I think he needs a little reminder first. He is, after all, very distracted with his task at the moment.”

Every lifetime, every sacrifice, every lie I’d told Paesha flashed before me.

The revulsion crawling up my throat wasn’t only for Serene’s display.

It was for the man I’d become. A manipulator.

A liar. A keeper of terrible secrets. The irony of my title wasn’t lost on me.

I’d given up the scraps of my honor, my waning integrity, all to keep her breathing.

And now Paesha looked at me with those eyes, those fierce, beautiful eyes, filled with nothing but contempt.

The thought of her hatred burned worse than any torture Ezarius had ever devised.

Any amount of time locked into one of Vesalia’s many hourglasses.

Still, my skin crawled at Serene’s suggestive words, memories of a mistake made in desperate loneliness centuries ago.

What a fool I’d been to think I could fill the Huntress-shaped void with flesh.

The taste of divinity had been ash in my mouth, every touch a betrayal of the only woman who had ever truly mattered.

I pressed my forehead against the cool glass, welcoming the discomfort as penance.

Let Vesalia and Serene play their little games.

Let them parade naked for their own comfort.

They could offer me eternal bliss, pleasure beyond mortal comprehension, and it would mean nothing.

Nothing. My body wouldn’t respond, and my soul, whatever remained of it after all these cycles, belonged irrevocably to a Huntress who wanted nothing to do with me.

And that was the cruelest prison of all.

“Go find something more fucking productive to do with your time,” I said, spinning around so I didn’t have to look at them.

I knew Vesalia too well, though. The hourglass spun at the base, forcing me to face them as a few of the other prisoners shouted in protest to my words.

It would always be about power. Even if I felt the flicker of hers falter, she needed to feel like she won something by trapping me.

That was the real bargain. The stakes weren’t about glass walls or her having power over me.

Simply time. I was giving her time. And feeding her power with it.

Every second I let her know how much this irritated me was a drop in a bucket for her.

Strengthening her. I needed to be careful. Play the game I’d built myself.

“You will watch, Keeper. Or I will hunt her down myself. You’re lucky I’m not already doing that. You do wish to keep the Huntress for yourself, don’t you?”

I could lie to her, but she knew the truth already. “Get it over with, Vesalia.”

Serene made the first move, snatching Vesalia’s mouth in a kiss, filling the prison with the sounds of a feminine moan as she moved.

She sent a wave of lust rippling through the room until every other prisoner was on their feet, pressed to their glass and watching.

I almost felt bad for the damn mortals. So vulnerable to Serene’s vast power, they likely couldn’t help the ache to touch themselves.

But that wasn’t what intrigued me. It was the reckless use of her power in such a time.

That she’d willingly used it for the chance of an orgasm.

There was a time when I would have demanded this show.

Before the Huntress. Before my ruin. I would have brought these goddesses before me for pure entertainment, letting Serene’s magic melt over me until I couldn’t resist any longer and I’d join them, taking my pleasure from them, turn after turn, until all three of us, and any others that wanted to join, were well and truly spent.

But those days were long gone. Many, many centuries had passed since I’d touched another woman. Even when I’d tried, my dick refused and that was that. Which made me a challenge for the Goddess of Lust.

Vesalia dragged her tongue down Serene’s abdomen, stopping at her navel before plunging lower. Serene spread her legs, grabbing Vesalia’s head and guiding her forward as she made eye contact with me and slid her tongue over her bottom lip.

I clenched my jaw, fighting the urge to look away as Vesalia’s head bobbed between Serene’s thighs. The sounds echoed off the prison walls, mingling with Serene’s breathy moans. Her fingers tangled in Vesalia’s hair, pulling her closer, deeper.

“That’s it, pet,” Serene purred, her eyes still locked on mine.

I remained still, unaffected by their games, aside from the longing for the only woman whose touch I'd ever truly craved. Honestly, I’d expected something different from them at this point.

Something more tempting to bargain with than an ancient hole.

At least this little display of theirs was harmless.

Serene’s back arched as she neared her peak, her breasts heaving with each ragged breath.

Such a dramatic display for a few minutes of teasing.

I didn’t sigh, didn’t look away, and I sure as hell kept my eyeroll to myself.

They could entertain the mortals all they wanted to, but for fuck’s sake I hoped they did it quickly.

“Don’t stop,” she gasped, grinding against Vesalia’s face. “I’m so close.”

With a final flick of Vesalia’s tongue, Serene came undone, her moan of ecstasy reverberating through the prison. Her body shuddered and convulsed, riding out the waves of pleasure. As the aftershocks subsided, Serene pushed Vesalia away with a satisfied smirk. “Enjoy the show, Keeper?”

I met her gaze, my expression impassive. “So sorry. Did you want applause?”

“You could have a turn,” she purred, reaching out to trail a finger down the glass. “Or you could have the night. You remember how fun we are, don’t you? Or have you truly forgotten how to please a woman?”

“Yes. Let’s go with that.”

The look of pleasure vanished from her face as her true, vicious self showed through. Finally. “You’re such a dick, Reverius.”

“Aw, come on, Serene. I thought we were just discussing how much you loved that feature of mine.”

She glared. “I’d rather ride it.”

“And I’d rather be trampled by a horde of Hellhounds. You can see the disconnect here, I’m sure.”

“I wish you would have bargained more time, Vessie. How long do you think you can hold him once the final three days have passed? Can he break things as well as his Huntress?”

Vesalia jerked upright, spinning toward Serene. “Stop,” she said, grabbing Serene’s arm. “Now is not the time.”

Serene locked eyes with mine as she spoke. “But isn’t it more fun if he knows?”

Vesalia spun her around. “Unless you’re the one holding him with expansive magic, the answer is no.”

Serene rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

When the two naked goddesses left the room minutes later, I sank into the slowly trickling sand, replaying their words.

What the fuck had Paesha broken? The only conclusion was impossible.

Sure, Alastor was using her like his own weapon as of late, but she held none of Irri’s power.

Only his. The ability to find. Not the ability to break.

I’d seen that damn look in Serene’s eyes though.

One of truth and fucking triumph. Which could only mean one thing.

She had broken something. There was no way she’d known about the veil though.

She hadn’t come close to figuring it out the entire time she’d been in Stirling.

Besides, even if she was powerful enough to do it, I would have fucking felt it. My power created it.

Except our power was failing. And each move on the board came with a steep cost. But she was angry and if she wanted revenge badly enough, I had plenty of enemies that would tell her anything for a cost. And if so, maybe that was why Alastor was so enamored with Paesha.

Not because she was his soul descendant.

Not because she could find things like he could.

But because she had Irri’s power sitting dormant in her for all this time.

The walls of the hourglass closed in around me as I focused on the implications.

On the words Serene had said. It didn’t matter how I tried to spin it, there were no other conclusions to be drawn.

She hadn’t broken a bargain or bond. She’d figured it all out.

And somehow she’d broken the fucking veil to get back to the Fera.

In all these lifetimes. All these hundreds of years, she’d never once come close to figuring it out without being told. But my luck had run out and the only thing left was a woman scorned.