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Created as One

NYX

T he next time I was unfortunate enough to wake up, I was in a bed.

A warm bed. Sheets of silk, a thick duvet filled with down tucked over me. A fire crackled somewhere in the dark room. I smelt pine and smoke, and something else, something unique and earthy. Pleasant, comforting. I didn’t trust it.

I dared to open my eyes. Orange light flickered on the far wall, making all the shadows of the little trinkets of woodland creatures on the mantle dance. I noticed after a minute that the walls were stacks of logs, as if I were in a cabin.

Strange .

This place was…dare I say, cozy. I steeled myself for the trick. Once I allowed myself to get comfortable, the landscape of my Hell would change into something out of my worst nightmares.

The fire continued to crackle, those little bunnies and squirrels and foxes above the flames performing shadow tricks on the wall. I watched them, waiting for them to morph into monsters that came for me.

“Sleep well?”

The smooth voice made me jump out of my skin. I shot up straight, my head spinning as I searched the dark room.

He sat in an armchair beside the bed, just on the other side of the night table.

My body drained of warmth. His eyes were two silver lamps in the dark. Giant wings loomed behind him, slightly wilted like unwatered roses. My heart turned to a distressed bird desperately trying to break through the cage of my ribs. This truly was Hell after all.

“You must tell me what you are thinking,” Solaris murmured. “That look on your face, you’ve had it this whole time.”

“Just adjusting,” I replied quietly, unable to look away from him. He was too mythic, too striking.

He leaned forward slightly, his wings rustling. His gaze teemed with curiosity. “What do you think you are adjusting to?”

I scoffed. “Death, obviously. Being in Hell.”

The curiosity turned to astonishment. “You believe you are dead.”

“Of course. I killed you. And now I am with you.”

He leaned back again. I couldn’t quite read the look on his face. Fire reflected in his eyes as they remained on me. “Yes, you did kill me. Being devoured by your flames was the single most glorious moment of my life.”

The breath skated rapidly through my lips. I could feel my pulse in every inch of my body. For a dead girl, I sure did feel alive.

I remembered the feeling that daggered my chest as I’d looked down and found Solaris nothing but a pile of ash at my feet. A moment I thought would bring me joy and triumph had single-handedly ripped me apart. Slashed my soul to ribbons. I remembered the scream that tore from my throat and the way my knees gave out.

I didn’t remember anything after that. Perhaps that was how I died. The death of my nemesis had hurt enough to kill me.

How fucking pathetic. I deserved this fate.

“Death is nothing to us, Firefly.” His voice was low, sensual. It sent a shiver down my spine. “You and I, we are eternal.”

I was shaking my head.

He continued, unwavering. “You did not join me in death. I rejoined you in life. From your fire, I was reborn. Transformed. Ascended . Don’t you see? It wasn’t the end. It was just the beginning.”

“No.” The word left my lips instinctively. “No. That’s impossible.”

He stood up, sending my stomach into freefall with the way him and his wings towered over me. I couldn’t remember another moment where I’d ever felt this small. His piercing gaze kept me snared as he moved closer and sat on the side of the bed. So close to me, his wings shrouding us, creating our own private world. His scent drove me wild. It was that familiar metallic smell with the citrus undertones. But now there was something else, too. Something smoky that hadn’t been there before.

He wore nothing but black pants. I tried not to examine him too closely in the glow of firelight. His bare chest was pale and lithe. The ginormous wings at his back. I tried not to focus on any of that, but all that left me with was his eyes. Silver and endless. No matter what, I was doomed.

“Don’t you remember what else you did?” he asked me quietly. There was a strange hint of passion in his voice that I didn’t understand.

I swallowed. My mind tumbled like clothes in a malfunctioning, out-of-control dryer.

“Are you serious?” I whispered. “We’re not dead? Not in Hell—or Purgatory?”

He smiled slightly, amused. “No, Firefly. Not in Hell. We’re in Canada.”

“ Canada ?” I gasped, my brows narrowing. “What—why?”

He just stared at me.

“Goddess,” I breathed.

So, the flight had been real. The fall had been real. The drowning, the water, the beach. All real.

Slowly, reality sank in.

I started shaking my head again. I looked under the covers, horror slicing through me as I noted the clothes on my body. Tight black slacks. A matching tank top with lacy straps. “Did you…did you dress me?”

“Yes.”

My jaw dropped. My brainfog finally cleared. For the first time, I felt truly awake.

“What the FUCK!” I sprung out of bed, my flesh erupting with white-gold fire. It licked up and down my arms, brightening the room. “You brought me to Canada ? Dressed me and tucked me into bed? You fucking psychopath!”

He stood up, his arms raised in what seemed like surrender. I noticed the silver manacles on his wrists. The ones with teeth that bit viciously into his skin. Black blood crusted around them, drips of it dried down his hands.

“I didn’t mean to bring us this far,” he admitted. “And I will take us back. I just wanted you to heal first.”

My chest rose and fell. “Where are we? Exactly?”

“Exactly? Who knows, who cares. A small beach town. On an island. No mortals saw us, save for the ones that had been occupying this cabin. Not to worry; I dealt with them.”

“What about my sister!” I cried. “Or Jedidiah?! All of my friends—they were there! I can’t be this far away! I need to see them! I need to know they’re okay!”

“They’re fine ,” he snapped, irritated by my concern, as if it were below me. “In fact, your sister and your lover both bore witness to our majesty.”

My heart dropped. My fire nearly faltered. “What?”

“They were there,” he snarled. A cruel grin slid across his lips as he moved closer to me. The blaze emitting from my flesh lit up his eyes, making them even brighter. “They saw us. Right before our first flight.”

“So, they know I’m with you.”

“Yes.”

“They’ll come for me,” I promised, spitting the words at him. “They’ll do a spell to locate me, and Jedidiah will come for me. He has the means. I’m not going anywhere else with you! I am staying right here.” I banished my fire and sat down stubbornly on the edge of the bed, crossing my legs and arms.

“I don’t think so, Firefly,” he growled, fury laced within the sound. “You are mine now. As promised. Anyone who tries to take you from me will meet a fate worse than death.”

I stared at him for a moment before I laughed. “I killed you, Solaris! I won. You are now destined to disappear into the faraway land of Fuck Offityville. Never to use your magic against anyone or anything again. Not that you could if you wanted to, anyway.” I sneered, glaring pointedly at the manacles gnawing on his wrists. Karma in her most divine form.

A malicious flavor of amusement shone across his face. The fire behind him danced wildly. “You think you won? I stand here reborn from your flames.” He flexed his wings. “I bear a Divine Trait this realm hasn’t seen in millennia. You did not triumph against me, Nyx Morningstar. Your fire was my Ascension, my destiny. I am the victorious one, just like I promised. And my prize is you .”

Dread so potent I could taste it rose up the back of my throat. I stared up at him, gobsmacked. Denial coursed violently through my blood like a seven-nation army. “No. No fucking way. Our battle was to the death. I killed you. I won.”

A pregnant silence took over the room. We stared at each other, neither one backing down.

He folded his arms behind his back. The expression that settled over his features had my stomach tumbling.

“Come here, Firefly.”

A magnetic tug in my heart made me gasp

Every cell in my body sprung to high alert. The innate, knee-weakening urge to do as he said rose from depths I didn’t even know I had.

No.

I fought it. Teeth grit, fists clenched, body trembling. It didn’t matter, though. Because I rose to my feet all the same.

He grinned. “Don’t you see? You are mine. I could make you dance for me. I could make you burn cities for me. I could make you do anything . Turn entire nations to rubble and ash just for fun. Perhaps I will if you push me.”

“No.” One syllable, backfiring at me like a bullet.

I tore my eyes from his gaze and backed away. I shook my head. “No, you’re lying. You’re lying.”

“You know I’m not,” he whispered. He put his hand on my shoulder, sending a bolt of electricity through me as he whirled me around and pulled my back into his chest. Then he forced me to walk forward until we were standing in front of a full-length mirror.

I squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn’t look. I couldn’t.

“Let that pretty gold fire free,” he murmured.

What?

His voice was a siren song, luring the flames sparking my blood to burst free from my skin. Not just from my hands, but up both of my arms, too. I could feel the blazing wind from my magic lifting my hair.

Solaris kept his hands on me. My fire did not burn him.

I fought the urge to crumble and weep. The Goddess I’d always prayed to was a vicious, spiteful being.

“Look at us,” he demanded, bringing his hand up from my shoulder to my chin, tipping it up so my eyes were locked with my own in the reflection.

And damn it all if we weren’t legendary.

Solaris Adder, so tall and dark, with those giant wings at his back. Me, small but sharp, skin aflame, and vibrant with living tattoos. We truly were not of this world, and it showed.

He leaned down and pressed his lips to my temple. “Tell me your Goddess didn’t create us as one.”

“She didn’t,” I ground out.

“I know you don’t believe that. I know you see what I see.”

“I don’t. I don’t!”

“Liar!” he bellowed, grabbing my chin harder, forcing me to look up at him. Silver eyes blazed down at me. He was so close. Too close.

Sand filled my chest. My fire went out. The ground seemed to rise around me.

I stumbled away from him, and to my surprise, he let me go.

I left the room, defeated, and disoriented. Distressed cries flew from my lips as I searched for a way out of this place which was suddenly way too small. The main area of the cabin was dark and cold. It spun around me, the darkness alive and laughing.

A yelp jumped through my lips as I slipped in something wet and slick. I went down on my ass, my tailbone instantly throbbing. I tried to get up but whatever had been spilled here made it damn near impossible. I fumbled around like Bambi on ice for a few seconds, my rage boiling over as I struggled. I reached up and clutched the edge of the counter, pulling myself to my feet.

The red handprints I left behind on the light-colored granite had a fist punching down my throat, tearing the breath from my lungs.

Reluctantly, I looked down at what I’d slipped in.

Blood.

Everywhere.

A horrified whimper was all I could manage. I glanced around the room, searching for the source. My heart was a white-hot iron trapped in my chest. Two mortals sat at the dinner table, their heads both resting on their plates. Completely motionless, eyes open and staring at nothing. Blood from their slit throats drenched the table and the floor, all the way to me.

‘Not to worry; I dealt with them.’

Bile rose up over my tongue and I had to turn away, gagging.

I lost all control.

Within seconds everywhere my eyes touched caught fire.

I tried to rein it in, but it was no use. I felt like I was in one of those dreams where you couldn’t run or punch or do anything substantial.

The only thing I could do was burn.

My legs hardly worked but my fire spread and spread, claiming the furniture and the walls, devouring the log cabin effortlessly.

I trudged through the fire, finally finding a glass door that led outside.

Cold wind hit me in the face. I didn’t even turn back to look at the engulfed cabin. I just started running. Down a set of slippery wet stairs. Through a trail lined with evergreen trees and black jagged rocks. Rain as cold as ice attacked my cheeks as I ran, soon finding myself on a stormy beach. I beelined it for the ferocious waves which rose high and crashed hard like they were being wielded in a battle of the old gods.

A glimmer of moonlight peaked through the dark clouds above as I arched my back and screamed my fury and grief up to it.

I lost .

I was bound to a monster for the rest of my living days .

I’d thought I was in Hell before, but this— this was worse.

I screamed at the sky and the ocean as the fire burned high and ravenous behind me. All this destruction, and yet it didn’t even cover a sliver of the devastation I felt in my being.

“Scream and cry all you want,” a cruel voice taunted behind me. “This was always your fate.”

I didn’t turn to face him. The tears of wrath and betrayal that slid down my cheeks would be far too satisfying for him.

“Somehow,” I rasped, my lips pulled back into a snarl as I glared out at the dark water, “I will find my way out of this. And I swear, to the Goddess and all her creations, I will curse you into the bowels of the Seventh Hell, Solaris Adder.”

“I look forward to watching you try,” he murmured affectionately. He scooped me into his arms without warning and I howled in fervent disdain. He pressed his lips to my ear, coaxing a cry from me.

“ I hate you !” I screamed with all my might, thrashing against him.

“ Sleep well, Firefly .”

Darkness immediately seeped into my consciousness, and I did nothing to fight it.