Page 2 of Until the End of Ever (To the Cruel Gods #2)

“That potent energy can be attracted to a new vessel. In that case, one of two things can occur. The new vessel wins the battle of wits, and you have a brand-new god. Or the spirit of the deceased deity is the victor, and you get an old god wrapped in new flesh. Like me.” Apollo gestured to himself, a wave encompassing everything from head to toes.

“That’s a form of entropy. What was will always be, even if it changes a little. ”

“You died ?” Silver whispered.

“Thrice,” the god replied cheerfully. “Zero stars, do not recommend. Each time, my vessels attempted to exert their dominance. Each time, I prevailed—my will is simply stronger. They’re gone, though I still feel the echoes of their memories.”

“So, a goddess could be…taking over my body?”

Adding that to the long list of the things I hadn’t realize I should worry about, I was horrified by just how logical this seemed.

I remembered the words spilling out of my mouth without my volition, in a language I somehow understood despite never having learned it.

It hadn’t been me. The thing inside me had wanted the same thing, yes—to protect Silver, Gideon, and everyone else. But she’d been someone else, something else.

Apollo’s eyes switched to fire once again.

I could almost feel him searching my soul.

“Yes. No. Maybe? No clue, to be perfectly honest. It has been at least three ages since an immortal was made, rather than born. You’re breaking all the rules.

And there are plenty of beings rather fond of those rules. ”

My stomach churned.

“You make it sound like, whoever’s behind all this—” Lucian waved in my general direction. “Like it’s one of you , not us.”

Those fiery eyes turned back to sky blue as they settled on Lucian, but Apollo said nothing.

“But most gods can’t act directly, can they?

” Lucian continued, taking the silence as confirmation.

“As part of the truce written when Highvale was founded, gods cannot enter the vale. Other than a few minor divinities, invited past the wards a long time ago, like Pan, you guys are limited to your temples. There’s someone actually doing the bidding of a major god in the city. ”

Again, we received no answer beyond, “Seven minutes.”

I gleaned Apollo was covering his backside. If asked whether he’d told us anything, he could, without lying, say no. But when we’d been wrong, he’d corrected us. So, this was a yes.

I was starting to panic. So many questions came to mind, all of them important. “But I bleed. I suffer. I’m not very strong physically, and a stupid lust spell got to me. How could I be a goddess ?”

Apollo smiled, seeming glad to finally get a question he could answer.

“Well, cupcake, there are two answers. You’re, what, twenty-three?

The immortal majority’s twenty-five. You’re still evolving.

And you were forged, then discarded. No one trained you up, or made sure you took your godly vitamins and all. You’re weak.”

Weak .

Something else I’d never been called. Something inside me bared its teeth, protesting the word, though ultimately, I agreed.

“But full of potential. And secondly?” He took the bow next to him, pulling at its string.

We all recoiled almost imperceptibly, except maybe Silver. Luckily, Apollo didn’t seem to mind that we were terrified of him. In fact, he seemed to like it.

A golden arrow appeared between his fingers, and the divinity turned it in his hand with an agility bordering on grace. To my shock, he pressed the tip against the back of his own hand.

Only then did I notice the leather bracelet on his wrist. My bracelet, the one I’d chucked in the pit as an offering.

He also wore Silver’s charm dangling from one of his ears.

“See? I bleed too.”

Except the golden droplet sliding along his skin wasn’t blood. It was ichor . The divine essence.

“My blood’s black,” I insisted, pointing out yet another difference.

“Yes. You haven’t ascended. The fact remains: whatever you are, it’s closer to me than to any of your little friends.” His eyes travelled from face to face. “Most of them, in any case.”

I glanced at Lucian. He was the great-grandson of Hypnos, and there was more divine blood inside him than most people. “But surely, people like Lucian are more godly than I could ever be?”

“You’d think, wouldn’t you?” Apollo said.

“If two gods breed, their spawn inherits half the power of both. That means power diminishes fast. I was the son of Leto, and well, Mama’s pretty.

She has that going for her, and not much else.

I certainly inherited that trait, which carries into any flesh I wear. ”

He absolutely did, so I nodded, noting he wasn’t concerned about calling his mother’s name.

“But she was a minor goddess. That limits what I can achieve.”

“Your mother’s power diminished your father’s?” I concluded.

He nodded. “Half of his, half of hers. To say it plainly, he’s a one hundred, and she’s a one. That makes me a fifty-and-a-half, at most. Not you. Someone forged is built by one creature, not two. They can become just as great as the one who built them.”

This brought me back to one question I’d asked myself many times over the years. “Who saved me, then?”

Apollo’s eyes didn’t leave me. I could read it in his steady gaze: he wasn’t going to speak that name.

“Could we have a prophecy about it?” Silver asked.

I grunted in exasperation. “Silver, no .”

In the light of everything else that had happened today, this felt unwise. We were no longer talking about maybes and what-ifs. If we received a prophecy, it was going to be real . And it could drive us insane. Not to mention, Apollo himself had said it could be dangerous to the one who spoke it.

My best friend was not to be deterred. “We have like, two minutes left with him, and excuse me, but fascinating as all of that was, we still don’t know who cursed you or how to stop them. I say, let’s hear the future.”

I groaned. Gideon chuckled. Ronan bobbed his head enthusiastically.

Lucian, for his part, seemed to consider it carefully before finally settling on, “We need answers.”

He agreed with Silver ?

“All right,” I made myself say, grimacing. “That’s what we came for anyway.”

Apollo smirked.

And then he was gone in a flash of golden light.