by Ophelia Bell
He trailed off, scanning the crowd in search of Neela, realizing for the first time since the battle had stopped that he hadn’t yet received any word on how their trip to the Sanctuary had gone. What had happened to the child?
Dionysus dropped his hands to his sides and lowered his head. “Your other daughter is safe,” he said in a softer tone. “I have seen to her protection myself. Will you hear me out? When I speak of price, it is not what you think.”
Dionysus’ tenderness when speaking of Nikhil’s lost daughter disarmed him. He wanted to ask more questions, to hear all the details of the child and her welfare, but there was no time.
“Tell me your proposal.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Nikhil’s discussion with the god was interrupted by the appearance of a pair of bloody figures popping into existence in the middle of the group.
“Mother needs our help!” Assana yelled, rushing toward him, her wild eyes streaked red with tears and blood. “Meri’s slit their throats … my mates are dying. We have to do stop her!”
“Take us now,” Nikhil said, and within a split-second, he found himself pulled into the drift by the nymph, hoping the others had heard enough to follow.
He arrived to a tableau of carnage that would not normally have shocked him, except for the sight of Nicholas lying still and pale in a pool of red. Aurum’s golden hair was soaked with her mate’s blood where she sprawled like she’d collapsed without a fight.
Belah let out a cry and rushed to her sister, calling out for help. More bodies drifted in, brought by the nymphs and satyrs who survived the fight. A dark-haired young ursa woman crouched by Nicholas before Nikhil could reach him. Green light emanated from her palms as she pressed them to his bleeding throat.
“Don’t you dare fucking die, brother,” she commanded. “Mama would kill me if I let that happen.”
Brother? Nikhil glanced around at the chaos, realizing that the sense of a tight bond among these creatures he had commanded to fight had nothing to do with his skill as a general. They were a family. They were his family. And he had to push on to destroy the monster who had dared deny him this for so long.
A trail of bloody footprints led away from the scene along the river bank. He followed them, perplexed by the erratic direction. If Nyx had passed through here, she had done so under duress. There were signs of struggle every few yards, with more blood trailing along the leaves and red handprints left behind on the trunks of trees.
“Calder, you and your sister find your father. If Nyx is compromised, we will need his help,” he called back to the others. His mate and her siblings were busy seeing to the wounded that had been left behind. A wash of utter relief flooded through him at the sight of Nicholas rousing from his sister’s strong magic.
No more would die today, save one. The crunch of underbrush at his side distracted him from the singular focus on tracking her, and the big horned god fell into step beside him.
He tensed and gritted his teeth. “I have no wish to end your daughter’s life, but we can’t allow that creature who has her to retain control of this power.”
“Nyx is fighting that control,” Dionysus said. “But if she fails, let me have a chance to reason with the spirit of the nymph who has her before we take more drastic measures.”
Nikhil chuckled. “Meri cannot be reasoned with. I spent three thousand years as her mental puppet. She is finally within reach of the one thing she sought. She will not give it up at this stage.”
“What more could she want beyond the power? She could leave this place and still keep the connection she acquired. Not that Nyx would leave her in peace …”
“She has always been obsessed with creating an immortal vessel for herself. To what end, I never knew. The child stole from me and Neela was meant to serve that purpose. Since losing it, I imagine she would try again, if she couldn’t hold onto Nyx’s body.”
The god’s brows drew together. “Immortality is overrated. The true power in life is love and family. Evil is the thing that seeks to tear us apart, to subvert that connection. Are you saying that all this time, she’s worked on creating a child? That is odd…”
“Not out of any maternal urge, I promise you,” Nikhil said.
“That’s the thing about mortals,” Dionysus said. “They don’t always understand their true desires.”
The sounds of mad ranting reached them over the deafening crash of the surf, and Nikhil looked up from the bloody trail. At the water’s edge was a majestic nymph more breathtaking than Assana or any of the others he’d seen fight. She also appeared in the throes of utter insanity, a blade held in one hand, jerkily slicing cut after cut into her own torso as she paced up and down the wet sand. The surf at her feet was tinged red, the blood so plentiful it covered her feet with each wave that crashed.
“I will kill them all and leave the Haven as barren as your womb will be, if you don’t cease tormenting me!” she snarled. As she turned, her eyes lit on Nikhil and his companion. The wild swirling in those orbs made him dizzy and he stumbled back. A big hand on his arm shook him out of the stupor.
“Christ, she’s never done that before.”
“She’s never had the full power of the Source or the body of an immortal nymph as long as you’ve known her,” Dionysus said.
“Tell her!” Meri yelled. “Tell her I fucking mean it!” The tendons in her arms strained, as though she were trying to shove the blade straight through herself but encountered some unseen barrier.
“I believe you,” Dionysus said. “And I believe I have been too long removed from the idea of family. Is my daughter in there, Meri? I would like to speak to her.”
Meri’s face twisted into a sneer. “Your daughter doesn’t believe me. I will destroy her and find another way if she doesn’t let this baby live.”
Nikhil lifted an eyebrow and crossed his arms. “And I see that’s going well for you.”
Her feral gaze turned to him and her eyes went wide with recognition. The spinning tumult in her irises nearly threw him off balance again.
“You! This is all your fault!”
Nikhil jerked his head back in surprise. “My fault? I was your goddamn slave!” His eyes tracked the blade that she no longer aimed at her own flesh. She flipped it in her hand and came at him with the dagger raised high.
“You’re the one who turned my Elites against me.”
“They were never yours.”
“They were the only fucking breeders worth anything,” she snarled. “But you were all dragon whores, weren’t you? I should gut you for that betrayal!”
Nikhil shot his arm up to grab her wrist as she toppled him over into the sand. Her huge antlers surged down toward his eyes, and her knee came up as they struggled, narrowly missing his groin and grazing off his thigh. She was nearly twice his size in her true form and stronger than him by half, but he managed to focus enough of his own innate power into the hand that held her wrist and seared her skin with fire.
She shrieked and the blade fell from her grip. At the same time, an enormous pair of hands grabbed her shoulders and hauled her back. Nikhil spun in the sand and snatched the blade by the hilt.
The second his hand closed around the grip, memories surged forth like a dam had burst. His hand tightened and he looked down at the dagger in utter disbelief.
The weight and balance were exactly how he remembered from his wedding night, the draconic emblem and inlaid blue stone as perfectly formed, though now they were caked in blood. He had taken better care of this blade when he’d used it, its purpose one of love, not malice.
Rage gripped him in a cold vise. He hefted the blade, and with a swift fling born of ages imagining this moment, he let loose and watched the dagger sail straight toward the heart of the creature who had been his torturer for an eternity.
He had already pictured the knife piercing the target,
slamming into the ribcage of the nymph who still taunted him. Instead, a big hand shot out in a blur, snatching the thing out of the air just as the tip grazed her skin.
Dionysus scowled at him. “We had a deal. I protected your daughter. You still owe me.”
“She was mine!” Meri howled. “That child was mine, and you stole her! I would have laid waste to this place with the powers she gained once ignited by my soul. She will be nothing without me. A soulless shell, worthless and unlovable. This is what you’ve condemned her to by taking her from me, you fools!”
Dionysus turned her in his arms, gripping her by the shoulders and gazing down into her eyes. His own eyes flashed with power, his horns shimmering as though infused by some light from the heavens and the glow passed down their smooth arcs and continued into his body, leaving him awash in a golden glow. Nikhil found himself admiring the man, resplendent in his naked, blood-soaked glory.
Dionysus gestured behind her back with the blade.
Nikhil stepped forward and took it, frowning up at the big man.
“You will have your moment, I give you my word,” Dionysus said, then shifted his attention back to the shell of his daughter and the creature that held her hostage.
“Meri, tell me your desires, your deepest yearning. You wish to create life, don’t you?”
She responded with a whining growl. “I ... wish for this crazy bitch to leave me in peace!”
“Nyx will never relent as long as you share her body. The power you only just acquired is a power she has owned for her entire life. She’s far more practiced at using it than you are. It’s a matter of time before she prevails. Why don’t you let me help? I can promise you a vessel more powerful than the one you could create yourself.”
“A vessel powered by the Source?” she asked, her avid curiosity calming her finally. Nikhil narrowed his eyes, wondering what the god was up to.
“Even better,” Dionysus said. “A vessel powered by the gods. I will sacrifice my own blood to create it, just for you.”
“Please, yes. Anything to free me of Nyx’s torture.”
“You will leave my daughter’s body and her spirit in peace. You will not return to the Haven, either.”
Nikhil sheathed the blade as nonchalantly as possible and moved so he could see her face. He caught sight of the others appearing through the trees and lifted a hand to stall and quiet them.
He met Belah’s worried gaze, felt her distress through their bond, as well as the hatred of Iszak and Lukas for the creature Dionysus spoke to. No doubt the pair would as easily have skewered Nyx as Nikhil had nearly done before the god intervened.
More faces appeared, throngs of dragons, ursa, turul, and nymphs all intent on the unfolding promises and warnings Dionysus spoke.
Nikhil returned his attention to Meri, who was nodding in acquiescence to Dionysus’ demands. A familiar, telltale twitch of her mouth told Nikhil she was lying. He itched to draw the blade again, but held himself in check. At least half the god’s intention was to save his daughter, and Nikhil owed him that chance at the very least.
Finally, Dionysus nodded and stood up straighter. He held his hand out to the side, palm open and fingers spread wide. A deep, bloody cut stretched across the center of his palm—the same hand that had grabbed the dagger by the blade when Nikhil had flung it in his cold rage. His hand went to the pommel of the knife again. Had this blade been able to cut a god?
There was no other explanation for it, for the god was bleeding. As his lifeblood spilled onto the sand, he tilted his head back. In a booming voice, he called, “Gaia, it is my prayer to you to take my blood and grant this spirit an eternal body so that she may vacate the one she has possessed.”
Nothing happened for a moment, then everything went still. The breezes died, and the crashing surf seemed to freeze. The trees, however, still moved, their leaves rustling in a slow rhythm that mimicked a heartbeat, and then disembodied footprints appeared in the sand leading across the beach, stopping at Meri’s side.
Green tendrils like moss appeared out of the air, growing into a female shape until barely a moment later, a divinely beautiful creature stood there with sleek black hair twisting like vines around her head in some nonexistent breeze. She was as naked as Dionysus with abundant, fertile curves, luscious breasts, and a round, pregnant belly. The vine-like tendrils of her hair twisted around her, seeming to clothe her in leaves and flowers.
She cocked her head at the god, then looked at the puddle of blood that had grown in the sand beneath his bleeding hand.
“You would give your blood for this creation? Why not simply seduce me, Dion? You know I would happily share in creation with you again. The binding of our fertile magic makes lovely creatures.”
“This is my sacrifice to prove I am in earnest,” he said.
Gaia regarded him with her hand sliding in a slow circle over her stomach. “You understand what it means to create a life from your own blood? The creature will be—”
“She’ll be immortal, yes, I am aware,” he snapped, cutting her off.
Gaia’s lips twitched, her eyes narrowing. “Immortal … of course any creature crafted from the blood of a god will be immortal. But there is a cost to any prayer. One you must pay.”
“I am prepared to pay the price,” he said solemnly.
“What love we have for our creations. You surprised me today, Dion. First you submit to a dragon, then you agree to share her with four other mates. I knew you craved true love, but had no idea the sacrifices you were willing to make. I do hope this satisfies your need for … balance … once and for all.”
Nikhil sensed a subtext to their exchange that was beyond his understanding, then Gaia’s final words sent a cold chill down his spine.
“Fate preserve you, Dion. Because this will not go unnoticed.”
“I never expected it to,” he said. “But I will bear whatever consequences Fate sees fit to burden me with.”
Gaia lifted her hands, and a sparkling web of greenish vines rose out of the pool of blood at Dion’s feet. “It is never as simple as that with Fate, as you are well aware,” she said. “I hope you are prepared. All of you.” She glanced around at the crowd once more before returning her focus to her task.
Before their eyes, the blood coalesced into a sphere within Gaia’s glowing tendrils of power, and within that sphere a shape appeared, then grew. It reminded Nikhil eerily of the tiny embryo that Meri had created in her lab and kept sustained within a tank fed by satyr blood. But this one didn’t remain small for long. It grew swiftly, each stage of life passing by until a fully formed woman’s shape stood before them.
“Your turn, my dear,” Gaia said. Threads of golden power linked her fingers to her new creation and she gently touched Meri’s shoulder. The nymph’s eager gaze shifted between the goddess and her new body. Then she let out a sharp breath and arched as Gaia’s threads linked the new creation with the nymph.
A moment later, Nyx’s body went limp, Dionysus bending swiftly to catch her in his arms. The newly created female lurched on her feet, her head snapping up, then shaking slightly. Her eyes brightened as the glow of power gradually faded. Then she closed her eyes and went still for a moment.
Nikhil stood waiting, his hand still gripped around the hilt of the blade. There had been some hidden message in the exchange between the two divine beings, and he wished like hell for some clarity before attacking. He at least wanted to be certain the exchange had happened.
The woman before them still glowed with inner power, and as she opened her eyes, her body transformed, her skin shimmering with subtle textures that finally settled into dark, form-fitting gauzy clothing like the shadows had gravitated toward her and clung to her curves, wrapping around every limb. A sleek black mane fell down her back and rippled like flowing, water and Nikhil realized she’d assumed the appearance of a nymph not unlike Nyx or Assana,
though very different in appearance. Shining black antlers rose from her head, razor-tipped and glimmering like they were coated in oil.
The entire crowd gasped and collectively went on guard.
Meri laughed. “You are all fools. I can’t fucking believe a god actually gave me life again. I think that’s a sign, don’t you, sister?” she sneered at Nyx, who had roused enough in Dionysus’ arms to scowl back.
“I told you to leave this place,” Dionysus said.
“Let’s see you make me,” Meri shot back at him, then glared around at the crowd. “All of you, I dare you!”
She straightened her stance, hands spread down at her sides, and turned, surveying the crowd. She raised her arms as she rotated, and with a triumphant yell, launched a blast of power outward. It crashed through the crowd of onlookers in a wave, toppling them all instantly. When they fell, a throng of figures crashed through the trees, blood-soaked men with blank stares who wielded blades. They began to attack the prone figures, who barely had time to stand again to defend themselves. Dragons appeared as Nikhil’s army began to shift, and once more bloody conflict broke out, the sounds of combat punctuated by the cries of falcons and the roars of dragons.
They had killed these men already—the ones who fallen before Nikhil and his army had arrived. He should have had their bodies burned.
“No!” Dionysus yelled from behind Meri. Nyx slipped from his arms, barely steadying herself on her feet and still looking weak.
Nikhil snatched the blade from its sheath and drifted to land in front of Meri, ready to stab her. Her head snapped up and she flicked her wrist, sending an invisible bolt of power at him. It hit him hard in the chest and flung him backward into the surf.
Gaia was nowhere to be seen. Everyone who had come to witness, believing the true battle ended, was locked again in a brutal conflict.
