by Sadie Anders
“But you have. We have sought this device for you, knowing that she was also looking for it. The conflict between my duty to my people and my duty to my maker cannot be resolved. So, I wish to remove myself from the equation.”
Alecto looked a bit relieved at this. Her shoulders slumped a bit as the tension left her.
The sisters must have been worried that he would join Tisiphone against them. To be honest, I thought he might have done that, as well.
Raphael would be an unfortunate opponent, especially now.
“How do you plan on removing yourself?” she asked.
“I wish to live in the other realm. I want to become earthbound.”
Megaera looked incensed at this. She turned to me, eyeing my messy look.
“You’re going there for her.” It wasn’t a question, and she clearly didn’t approve.
“I am going for several reasons, but she is an important one, yes.”
“You plan on relinquishing your position? Your estate in Asphodel? Your privileges here?”
He had to do all that to live in my realm?
Raphael was giving up a lot to come with me, that much was clear, but I could also tell that he was taking a stand. He refused to be a witness to their oppression and cruelty anymore. He had no desire to see the Phos Eos used or his old maker rounded up and defeated.
And I couldn’t help but think that maybe we should be doing more, not just running away to go back to my home. Maybe we should be fighting them, too.
Indecision and anger raged in my chest. Still, my feelings of powerlessness won out. There wasn’t much that we could do here and now, in their fortress, outnumbered and overpowered.
Except there was one thing.
I had the Phos Eos.
My leverage.
“I don’t see why we should grant your request, guardian,” Megaera said. “You are a useful ally and an important part of the realm. In fact, you probably shouldn’t be allowed to return to her realm at all. We need you here, and the restriction on travel has not been lifted.”
“A restriction you imposed,” he said.
“For good reason.” She raised one eyebrow at him, challenging him to say anything else.
Megaera clearly wanted to keep tabs on him, not just because of his potential to work against their interests, but because she desired him.
I pulled out the device from my bag and held it in my hand. Alecto’s eyes locked onto the device, her greed for it clear.
“If you want this, then we deserve to have our terms met.”
Megaera’s aura flared with anger. She stood up, her fists balled at her sides. “You’re trying to dictate terms to us like a terrorist? You, a mongrel whore? A nobody.”
Raphael growled at her. “Be very careful, Megaera.”
“Or what? You don’t have the power to raise a hand against us, Raphael, and you know it.”
After finding out what we did about Raphael’s past, I wasn’t so sure about that anymore. Still, the Furies didn’t know what we had discovered.
And all they understood was a display of power.
So, I would have to give them one.
Even if I didn’t know how to operate the device, they didn’t have to know that.
I focused my essence, thinking of pure light, the purest energy that we had witnessed in the Empyrean. I imagined my fingers as prisms, dispersing the beams, and channeling them through the device as it lay in my outstretched palms.
A spectrum of colors erupted from the object in my hand, and the guards jumped behind the benches in the room, seeking cover. Megaera dove behind her throne, her hands on her head, as if that would do anything. Alecto moved like lightning, snatching a thick tapestry off of the wall, throwing it over herself and her sister.
“Turn it off. We will continue our negotiation. But turn it off now,” Megaera said.
Continue our negotiation?
It seemed it had just begun.
Before, it was one-sided coercion. That was the only game the Furies knew. Now, things were more even.
Megaera’s voice shook slightly when she spoke. She thought that I knew how to use the Phos Eos and that I wouldn’t hesitate to use it on her. Well, she was half right.
My ruse was working.
She had no idea the power had come from me and not from the Phos Eos. It seemed that even ancient beings were afraid of death and oblivion.
I closed my hands around the device and snuffed out the light coming from my fingertips.
“Okay,” I said. “It’s off. You can come out.”
The Furies emerged from behind their thrones, taking their places once again. Megaera straightened out the wrinkles in her dress, her back even more rigid than before.
“What are your terms?” Alecto asked.
“We want to leave Asphodel,” I said. “All of us. I want to be free from obligation here, from expectations. I want to live my life without interference.”
Alecto turned to her sister, a questioning look on her face.
Megaera continued. “And if we allow this, you promise to refrain from getting involved in the affairs of Asphodel from now on?”
“Of course.”
“Specifically, I mean any involvement with Tisiphone or her rebels. You will not take up arms against the guardians and protectors of Asphodel?”
“I want to return to my normal life. Asphodel is too dangerous for me.” I hadn’t explicitly said that I wouldn’t fight them. You never knew what the future held, but the truth was that I had no desire to ever get involved in such things. I wasn’t cut out for it.
Alecto nodded at Megaera. She seemed satisfied by my answer, at least.
“We need to hear an answer from Raphael, too,” Megaera said.
He was the one they cared about. Raphael was powerful, well connected, indebted to Tisiphone. He was the opponent they were hoping to push out of the picture.
“I have already said as much.”
“Swear it.” Megaera’s voice was almost like a hiss, severe and intense.
“I swear that I will return to Alexis’ realm, shall not seek out a conflict with my people, shall not take up arms in an unjust rebellion against legitimate authority.”
Raphael had been extremely careful with his words, too. I wondered if the Furies had also noticed. They remained silent for a second.
Megaera stood and walked toward us, trailed by Alecto.
“Return to your realm, and we shall seek your help no more,” Megaera said. “Raphael has permission to go with you, but he must be granted our permission ever to return, whether he has broken ties with us or not. This place remains ours, and our authority shall hold.”
I nodded. “And Uncle Julian?”
“The wizard may go, too.” Her lip curled slightly as she looked at Uncle Julian.
“Thank you,” I said, relieved that they seemed to be accepting the plan.
She continued, her voice formal and full of power. “If this is your wish, we grant it. Alexis Guignol of Portland, our business together is concluded.”
Megaera raised her scepter, the ghastly scourge that she used to whip people into submission. A portal opened in the middle of the hall, the blue light swirling and opening up to reveal the inside of the Old Standard Hotel. She looked at me, holding her scourge up higher, and said an incantation.
“Lueh.”
It was as if invisible bonds loosened around me, like I had been tied to her but wasn’t anymore.
What the hell had she done to me?
Was I connected to her before somehow?
I chose to take the free feeling as a good sign. It was time to go.
I placed the Phos Eos on the ground in front of where I stood and turned to leave. The three of us walked towards the portal without a word. Before stepping inside, I turned to the Furies once more, an overwhelming feeling that I couldn’t resist compelling me to speak.
“I’m glad our business is finished, but one more thing. Call me Alya. Of Asphodel.�
�
20
When we had returned to Portland, the dawn was beginning to break over the peak of Mt. Hood in the distance. I was grateful to see my home, and even more grateful to see the normal comings and goings of the dark and of the sun. The cycles were comforting to me. I wasn’t sure that I belonged in a place of perpetual twilight or a place of endless light. Give me the rising and setting of the plain old sun any day.
As we walked out of the Old Standard Hotel, Uncle Julian turned to me.
“I guess I should go open the shop.”
I shook my head. How he felt like going right back to business, I had no clue.
“No way. You’re going home to get some rest. Raphael and I can handle the first shift.”
Uncle Julian simply wanted the shop to be open, so he seemed satisfied by this.
“As long as the customers are pleased. I’m not sure how long we’ve been closed, and surely there are people in need of our services. The Hyperion has a reputation to uphold, you know. We live to serve.”
I laughed, leaving him with a hug, and turned with Raphael to go to the magic shop.
On our short walk, we stopped to grab my typical breakfast to go. Bagels and coffee from Pippa’s. She was so surprised to see me that she threw in some donuts for free. Score. I would have to take a vacation more often. At least, that was what I had told her I had been doing. Nobody wanted to hear that you spent your time away from home in mortal danger.
When we opened the doors to our family’s magic shop, Hyperion Occult Oddities and Antiquities, a faint, musty smell came over me. I crossed over to the counter, placing my breakfast on it, and booted up the old computer. Looking at the date, I was astonished. A month. We had been gone a month.
Damn Asphodel and its wonky sense of time.
But there was nothing to be done about it. What was done was done. I grabbed a hot donut out of the bag and ripped into it, the sugary goodness melting on my tongue. I had missed a good, old Portland donut. It was the little things that mattered sometimes.
When I was finished eating, Raphael and I gave the old shop a top to bottom dusting and cleaning. Even after we had flipped the door’s sign to OPEN, we were not disturbed by a single patron. Uncle Julian would be disappointed. He liked feeling connected to his customers, and he would be sad to know that we didn’t have any.
I’d make some posts on social media, letting the locals know we were open for business again. They would return, just like our world. Our lives would return. Maybe not immediately, but someday.
I looked at Raphael, at this gorgeous man who had chosen to be with me, here, in this land.
Things may not be the same as they used to, but that didn’t mean they were bad. Change could be rejuvenating. Change could lead you one step closer to the life you were meant to have, the life you didn’t even know that you wanted.
Raphael caught me looking at him and crossed over to me. He pressed me against the counter, his face close, staring deeply into my eyes. His strong hands gently brushed a strand of hair out of my face, tucking it behind my ear.
“Finally,” he said. “A moment alone with you.”
I knew how he felt. I leaned my head into his chest, taking in his scent, the feel of his muscular torso underneath his soft shirt. Everything about him was inviting to me, not scary. He had thought that I would never want to be with a vampire, a predator, something inhuman.
No, more than human.
With Raphael though, my body and my spirit drew me closer to him rather than telling me to run away. What we had not only felt right, I believed that it was right.
He was it for me.
“It’s been so long, but now we have all the time in the world to be together.”
For a moment, I thought I saw a hint of sorrow cross his face, but he quickly hid it.
“Yes,” he said. “Right now, it’s time for us.”
Time for us. After our long journey, I was starting to think that we would never have that. I was so grateful to be here with him, somewhere familiar, somewhere all alone.
I reached onto my tiptoes, kissing him gently. As my lips touched his, a fire ignited inside me, and what was a simple kiss grew into a passionate one. I ran my hands across his body, my fingertips running against his muscled back. He pulled away, looking at me, raising one eyebrow.
Without saying a thing, he walked to the front door of the magic shop. He turned the little sign against the glass to CLOSED and rapidly locked the door. I fixed my gaze on him from across the room, my eyes hungry, like I was the predator now.
I licked my lips, ready for more.
This seemed to entice him, and he moved towards me rapidly, pressing my body against the countertop. He hoisted me up, placing me on the edge of the counter, nestling himself against me. I wrapped my legs around him and grabbed his shirt, pulling him closer to me. I couldn’t hide the desire in my eyes.
A low groan escaped him. He thrust his hands in my hair, pulling me into a fierce kiss. I could feel the heat from my body surging into his.
A knock sounded on the front door.
“Ignore it,” Raphael said. “We’re on a break.”
I laughed and returned to kissing him.
Another knock, then a series of urgent ones.
I sighed.
“Someday, my love,” Raphael said, pulling himself away from me. He whispered in my ear. “And most definitely tonight.”
A flush rose in my cheeks again as he walked to the front door. Looking through the glass, he saw who it was and began quickly unlatching the door locks. He flung open the door.
I was not expecting to see the person standing on the other side.
The priest from Delphi. Apollo’s priest.
Raphael rushed him in, looking outside to see if there was anyone else around.
“Have you been followed?” Raphael asked him.
He shook his head. “I don’t believe so. I took preventative measures. Invisibility charms. Anti-tracking spells. I hope that I am safe, but I thought it best not to linger outside.”
“I’m glad you came quickly,” Raphael said. “Waiting might be prudent, but there is more room for something to happen that way.”
“You were expecting him?” I asked, completely confused about why the Delphic priest was here, in Portland, dripping rainwater onto the rug of my magic shop.
Raphael escorted us both to Uncle Julian’s office and pulled out a chair for the priest. “He won’t mind if we meet here, right? We need some privacy, and there are too many windows in the front of the shop.”
“It’s fine,” I said.
He turned to the old man. “Would you like some tea?”
I was glad that Raphael was already making himself at home, but this was all a bit much. I needed an explanation, because now, I was completely baffled.
“What’s going on, Raphael?”
I could tell that he was trying to stay calm as he put the kettle on to boil.
“Were you successful? Is it here?” he asked the priest a few moments later.
“Oh, yes,” he said, a proud gleam in his eyes.
A wide smile spread across Raphael’s face as he measured out the tea leaves into the teapot.
The priest reached into his bag and pulled something out. It was about the size of a fist, wrapped in purple velvet. He slowly pulled back the fabric, revealing what was inside.
The Phos Eos.
“What? But how?” Beyond that, I was at a loss for words.
“A duplication spell. When I went to the back of the temple, I performed the spell and asked Theodosios to hide the device for me, to bring it to me later. Here. I knew that we could trust him. Apollo already had.”
“And after the Empyrean, you knew that you’d be coming to Portland. With me.”
“Never a doubt in my mind, my love.”
A thrill of victory washed over me, both for the Phos Eos and for Raphael’s certainty in us.
Theodosios placed the device in my hands and
took a cup of tea from Raphael. I felt the Phos Eos’ power surge through me, and I knew that it was truly the device. I hadn’t felt that thrum of energy when I had held the false one in the hall of the Furies. No wonder.
“You are the rightful guardians of the device. The ancients have verified it. Apollo, too.”
Acknowledging this gave me a certain strength, however surreal the idea of being a chosen guardian might be.
“But you know what this means, right?” Raphael asked.
I nodded. “At some point, the Furies will realize.”
“Yes.”
“And when they do, not only will I have Heliodor and Ember after me, I’ll have the wrath of the Furies to face, too.”
All the thoughts of a happy, quiet life in Portland with Raphael evaporated, and I saw them for what they were. Wishes. Dreams.
Raphael took me in his arms, embracing me tightly.
“Not only you. Not alone. We will face them together. And we will win.”
I looked up into his gorgeous face. He leaned down, kissing me sweetly. I supposed we would simply have to find some new dreams to chase with one another.
About the Author
Thank you for reading. Stay tuned for more adventures in Asphodel. Book 3 in the Portals of Asphodel series is coming soon.
If you’re looking for some spicy reverse harem paranormal romance, check on the new Queen of Time and Thunder series. Book 1, The Shadow Council, is available for pre-order now.
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Sadie Anders is an author of paranormal romance and urban fantasy. She loves reading, running, napping, strong tea, spicy foods, watching sci-fi and fantasy shows with her husband, and playing with her dogs.
