Page 73

Not Over Yet

When I was a little girl visiting Cain in the desert, I accidentally got between a pack of wild dogs and the small antelope they’d decided was dinner. I was the same size as the antelope.

That’s what this feels like.

Power vibrates the air like it’s gathering to unleash, and heavens help anyone in its path.

“You have a choice,” Allusian tells her sisters. “Leave here now. If you do, I will assume you wish for peace between us. You may return to ruling your dominion and all is forgiven.”

Tyndra’s mouth curls with disdain. “Do you truly believe any of us will—”

Mariana—easily distinguished by burnished red curls and a dress of bright peacock blue with flowers depicted in pearls and abalone across the hems of the flowing sleeves and skirt—disappears in a blink.

Like it’s punctuating her leaving, there’s a massive boom outside. They’re still fighting, still dying out there.

We’ve already lost Tziah.

I glance at Tabra, then Achlys and Hakan. We should leave the goddesses to their business and go help our friends.

I’m just not quite sure when the right moment for that is, though. It’s not like I can bow my way out and say, “We’ll get out of your way…”

“What about you?” Allusian asks, looking at Aryd.

Aryd glances at the goddess beside her, who stares back. Blond hair intricately pinned up, medium-brown skin that make her striking green eyes stand out, and dressed similarly to Istrella—Wildernyss, I’m guessing. Together, they both disappear.

“Cowards,” Tyndra bites out.

The day is slowly regaining its brightness, so I can see the lines bracketing her mouth as she says this. Beside her, the goddess with glittering dark eyes, a stripe of distinct tattoos down her bronzed arms and legs, and clothing that reminds me of the Rites of Xathena in Tropikis, snorts her own derision. “She’s alone and there are three of us.”

“Are you sure of that?” Allusian asks.

Tyndra’s shoulders stiffen sharply. “Our mother may have given you more than us, but even you aren’t strong enough to take us on. You failed last time, and you will again.”

I glance between the goddesses. Do they see that she’s not entirely whole yet?

Allusian’s smile is taunting. “Are you sure those are the numbers on both sides?”

Tyndra frowns, then looks at Savanah, her twin in every way, but dressed in the fashion of her dominion. “Sister?” Tyndra demands.

Savanah’s chin wobbles. “I’m sorry.”

Then she’s gone.

I don’t know if Tyndra felt it coming or just saw her chance, but fire erupts from her hands, going through the spot where Savanah was standing a moment ago and straight for Allusian. But Allusian disappears, and the flames slam into the heavy throne on the dais, throwing it backward and shattering it against the wall, leaving a crack running nearly to the roof.

Hakan’s cage takes the brunt of the debris that blasts our way, but Tabra and I duck just the same.

Before we have a chance to do so much as peek out from where we’re crouched, Allusian reappears. She holds her palms to the skies and spikes of rock erupt from the floor everywhere outside of our protective bubble.

Wait. Rock and land are within Aryd’s power. Aren’t they?

Like Allusian just did, Tropikis and Tyndra disappear before they can be skewered.

Immediately, Allusian assumes a defensive position, slowly spinning as she looks around her, waiting for their next attack to come.

The goddesses are at war, and we’re in the way.

“We need to get out of here,” I whisper. Achlys and I both slide an arm around my sister, helping her stay upright.

Allusian spins and reaches through thin air, just in time for Tyndra to appear right where her hand is, and she snags her sister by the neck. Tyndra’s pale skin starts to char immediately, as if death itself is creeping out from where Allusian is touching her.

Tyndra claws at the hand at her throat, gasping, eyes bulging.

In the next instant, Tropikis appears, and water blasts from her. Only without releasing Tyndra, Allusian flicks a finger, and the water hits an invisible wall, splitting around her like a wave around a rock outcropping. Half of it comes at us, and with a grunt, Hakan drops his cage. Water and lightning don’t mix. I saw that much in Mt. Ynferno.

Instinct has me putting a shield of sand between us and the water, which cuts off abruptly, falling to the ground with a splash.

Tropikis’s voice sounds from behind my shield. “What in the name of—?”

I drop the sand to the ground only to find a violent swirl of shadow on the other side. It rises then falls, and Eidolon is standing there, his face twisted with hatred.

But he’s not looking at us—he’s looking at the goddesses. Tyndra stares at her son and her lips form his name silently. Then her own expression descends to furious satisfaction. “Kill her.”

With a jerk, Eidolon immediately throws a lasso of darkness around Allusian.

But before he can pull her off his mother, Hakan and I blast sand and lightning at him.

Except a scythe of shadow cuts through both our powers before we can free Allusian. And when it swings out of sight, Reven is standing there.

Between us and Eidolon.

He’s covered in shards of ice that cling to his clothes and hair, rage forming his face into a snarl that is not the man I know. It’s the ghost of Eidolon still inside him.

Refusal blazes through me in a cold that rivals Eidolon’s power as I stare at my bondmate.

I can’t fight him. I won’t.

“Goddess help me,” I whisper.

Because I don’t think that ghost is going to give me a choice.