Divine Destiny- the Divine Chronicles Book 2

by JoAnna Grace

  “What is the meaning of this?” Salina sauntered out of the bedroom, her Shadow Lady pulling her baggage behind her. Her snake-like grin spread across her face, “Ryse, darling, you should be with your mother at a time—”

  “Do you realize what you have done, Salina?”

  “Pardon me! I know you are terribly distraught over King Troy’s death, but really, accusing me?” She touched her chest, innocent and insulted.

  Brenden, who was like a wall in front of Avery, took a good whiff of the room. “Master, she reeks of lies.”

  “Shut your snout, mutt,” Salina hissed. “How dare you even address me, you abomination!”

  “Silence!” Ryse shouted, his voice full of Ares’ power, shaking the walls. “Salina, you will come with me, and you will be questioned along with all your men and ladies. By the gods, I swear if you have had a hand in this, your blood will stain my blade.”

  “Sorry, Ryse, I can’t do that,” Salina took a small remote from her pocket. Her face hardened as she looked over at Avery. “You’ve pissed off some very important people, bitch. Your death certificate has been signed.”

  Avery gritted her teeth and stepped forward; she was no coward. “Don’t think I’m afraid of you.”

  “Whatever helps you sleep, farm girl. Time for me to go.” Salina held up the remote and pressed the button.

  “Restrain her!” Ryse commanded just as the Teleporter appeared beside Salina. Avery knew him immediately. He looked around, took in the company, and his face burned in anger. The Elites were fighting Salina’s guards to get to her.

  “You brought me into the lion’s den!” The Teleporter said before trying to step away from her.

  “You will not leave me here!” she screamed, lunging for him. Before she could make contact, Avery tackled her.

  “Don’t let him get away,” Avery commanded. As she fought with Salina, Dante wrapped his arms around the Teleporter’s neck and blocked off his abilities. As long as Dante touched him, he wasn’t going anywhere.

  “You little whore.” Salina slammed her fist into Avery’s face, taking her by surprise. “Enough of you.” From under her belt, Salina took a six-inch blade and raised it above her head. “See you in Hades.”

  Avery remembered how Jerry’s blade went through her body when she was on fire. She tried to call up the power. But she didn’t know how to activate the flames. By the time she felt the lava bubbling up in her veins, it was too late.

  Her world stopped as Salina plunged the knife into her chest repeatedly. Even with the Helioan power flowing through her veins, it was too late. The first strike hit her heart, and she could feel it rupture. The pain exploded across her chest like the burst of a balloon. The fierce pang, the agony seized her, spreading out to consume her entire being. These were her last moments on this earth and all she wanted was Ryse. Brenden made a flying leap, his body already shifted into the beast. He knocked Salina off and had her by the throat. Avery hoped to hell he killed her.

  “Avery!” Ryse was by her side, towels in his hands, pressing them in her wounds as she coughed up her life’s blood. “No! No, no, no! Find a healer!” He called out, “Philippe, use the water in her blood. Stop the flow.” Ryse met her eyes, desperation and frantic terror in his. “Fight it, hold on. I’m going to heal you. You’ll be okay. I swear. I promise you, Avery. I won’t let you die.”

  The last thing Avery felt as Philippe tried to freeze her body was a deep regret that she didn’t get enough time with Ryse. By the gods, how she loved him. And now that she had finally found the missing piece of her soul, she was dying. With the last bit of strength she had, she reached up and touched his face. “Love…you…forever.”

  “Avery!” Ryse’s cries were muffled in a haze of white noise. She felt her spirit rise and float away. Seeing those below her made her ache. The room was littered with Thracian soldiers, good men who were caught in Salina’s spell. Yankee stood guard over the ones still living even as he stared down at Avery’s dead body. She would miss him and prayed this didn’t make him even colder than he was. Hammon and Philippe worked over her body with Ryse. Those two men would keep Ryse going. She knew their love and devotion to their Master would never cease.

  But it was too late for their magic. She was gone. Avery thought about Cutter, her silent but smiling friend, who was guarding Nikki far off in the Palace. How she would miss them both. Whatever part Nikki had played in this day Avery knew there had to be a reason. Nikki was too kind to kill.

  She saw Dante backing away from the smoking body of the Teleporter. A syringe of poison protruded from his chest, his own hand wrapped around it. Dante turned to kneel by Avery, tears freely flowing from his eyes. Brenden had rendered Salina unconscious and was lifting his head in a sorrowful howl. Even in beast form he mourned.

  Avery knew her life on earth was no more. The last image she saw was of Ryse bending over her body and stroking her hair, sobbing, begging her to hold on. She didn’t want to leave him. But she was already gone. Everything went black.

  RYSE KNELT IN front of the shroud of his beloved Avery. How was it that she was dead? He’d gone over the situation a million times in his head. How had he missed her slipping past him, tackling Salina? How had Brenden missed it, too? In his mind, he replayed Salina stab Avery. He could recall every slice, every deep gash in her chest. The crazed look in Salina’s eyes and the way she screamed in victory with each blow was burned into his brain. Such anger, such malicious evil unleased. Six times Salina had plunged the knife into Avery’s heart. She might as well have been stabbing him. Ryse felt nothing besides the pain of Avery’s death. Each time he closed his eyes he saw the shock on her face, he heard the gurgling as she choked on her own blood.

  She didn’t deserve this. Her short life had been full of heartache and disasters. Now to have found happiness and to have it taken from her seemed unfair. How could this be the will of the gods? How could they dare to assume he would ever live again after taking Avery from him? For two centuries he’d been true to his faith. He prayed, he worshipped, he did their will and acted in their name as their hands. And this is the reward for his service?

  Damn them! Damn the gods and their will! Damn them for letting him taste of love, and then seal his lips forever. His fist came down on the marble coffer that held Avery’s body up. The sound resonated in the empty temple.

  Here he mourned alone for his soul mate while in the next temple room his mother did the same. Two bodies, two souls, two servants of the gods gone from this world. Fucking Salina! He longed for the day he would split her head from her shoulders with his sword. And if the gods thought they would take that revenge away from him, they had another thing coming. He would kill her. He would enjoy it and he would do it where every person in the Haven could see it. Salina would be the example for everyone who dared to strike at his family again.

  “Master?” Hammon came to kneel beside him. His truest friend placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I beseech you to come and eat or allow me to bring you provisions.”

  “No. I cannot eat while she lies here like this. I fast.” Ryse looked up at the cream colored lace that covered Avery’s body. He could see her hair, her closed eyes and lips, hands folded in death over her chest. His ring, the symbol of their new union, on her finger. “How is my mother?” he asked, trying to think of anything else than the scene in front of him.

  “She is in mourning, praying over the King’s tomb as you do now. Her ladies and guards are with her as well as Prince Hayden. Samuel attends to her also.”

  “The others?”

  “Philippe, Brenden, and Dante are in meditation right outside the door. Cutter remains with Nikki. She collapsed upon hearing news of Avery and the healers had to be called in. She gave full testimony to General Falcon. The moment she said Salina’s name, she seized. Her mind had been programmed not to reveal that information. She is currently under healer and Thracian supervision, still unconscious.”

  “Will she live?”
/>
  “Her body functions; her mind is a different matter. We have called in your cousin Evander to look at her. She is our best witness as of yet. Salina’s Shadow Lady hung herself in her cell with her shirt. The gods shall be her judges.”

  “Damn it!” Ryse said in frustration. “And Salina?”

  “We are keeping her sedated in a coma.”

  “Good. I want the pleasure of ending her life myself.”

  Hammon sighed and helped Ryse to his feet. He’d knelt so long his legs were numb. They sat on one of the many pews in the temple.

  Ryse knew the man beside him had witnessed something similar. The two had never spoken about what drove Hammon to the Thracian center so many decades ago. But today, Ryse needed comfort.

  “Was it thus for you Hammon? When your Grace was murdered?”

  Hammon blew out a deep breath. “Yes, my friend. When my Grace was taken from this world, I thought my life would end.” He looked at Ryse with eyes of obsidian. “It seemed unfair that I drew breath and such a pure spirit didn’t. My heart breaks all over again for you, Ryse. No Deity should have to bury their Grace like I have. I was lucky to have an heir to take over my station.” After the death of his mate, Hammon had passed his crown to his son and taken a position as a teacher at the Thracian center. When Ryse came of age and gathered the team of Elites, Hammon had been his second choice as a member. The ex-Deity swore his life to Ryse and had been by his side since.

  Ryse thought about the fact he and Avery would never have a child together. Tears rolled down his cheeks.

  Hammon scrubbed a hand over his face. “You should eat, sire. You will need your strength to lead your people.”

  Ryse narrowed his eyes and looked at the altar. “You think I would lead anyone anymore? My very reason for living has been taken from me and I feel nothing but hatred to the gods.”

  “You do not mean that, Ryse,” Hammon whispered. “You are the blooded son of Ares and Zeus. You do not mean those words.”

  “Didn’t you? Didn’t you curse the gods when they allowed your Grace to die?”

  “I was not the man you are, Ryse. You have a destiny greater than all of us.”

  “I am clearly not as necessary to their plans as I thought. Two hundred years I searched for her!” He rose and pointed at Avery, his voice bellowing in the temple. “Two hundred years of waiting, hoping, praying! I’ve done everything they commanded! And why? What was the purpose? I’ve had her for less than a month! My soul has never had peace until she gave it to me. And now they take her? They allow Salina, a treacherous evil snake to poison my father and defile the body of my soul mate. What was the point of it all? Why do they punish me?” He was screaming now. Hammon lowered his head. Ryse knew the man had no answers.

  He turned his body to face the marble statue of Zeus. The god stood tall, arms open as if to receive the soul of the person on the altar below. Ryse shouted to the statue, “Hear me, oh gods of the heavens! Damn you all! Curse you for this!” Ryse knew the moment the air stirred that Hammon had retreated out of the temple. He was not one to stay and bear the god’s wrath. Ryse didn’t blame him. Hammon had had his fair share of confrontation with the gods. Ryse, on the other hand, awaited it. Welcomed it. The air in the temple turned into a torrent of wind, whipping his mourning robes around his body. “I don’t fear you! Every gift you have given me has been for naught! I could not save her. I could not save my father. What good are your divine gifts,” he sneered the words, “if I am unable to save those I love? Take it back, you fools! Take it all back. I don’t want this life if I cannot live it with her.”

  “You have the temerity to throw away the gifts of the gods?”

  Ryse stumbled back when he realized the voice of Zeus was not in his head, but coming from the lips of the man standing before him. Zeus and Ares, gods clad in power and washed in light, stood proud on the other side of Avery’s body. Zeus was a golden god, his face beautiful in its fierceness. Ares was draped in silver, looking as though he was made of steel. Their auras were overbearing in their anger, but Ryse stood tall. He would not back down, not even to the ones who created him.

  “Answer me, my son,” Zeus commanded calmly. “If you have the audacity to call upon us, then at least answer when we speak.”

  Ryse stared at them for a moment more before he said the words that might damn his eternal soul. “You bastards.”

  Taken aback, the gods exchanged a look, then focused their eyes on him. Ares only held up a hand, but it was enough to push Ryse to his knees. Magic attacked his body. “You have forgotten your place.”

  “And you have forgotten your promise!” Ryse spoke even as his vocal cords felt cinched. “You—you promised me a mate, an heir. You promised that I would have the power to defeat my enemies and fight for the things of light in this world. You lied!” He coughed and wretched until Zeus put a calming hand on Ares.

  “We did not foresee the depth of Salina Avondale’s depravity. These events are just as much of a shock to us as they are to you. Such is the consequence of free will.” Zeus remained contained and spoke with an even tone. “I am distraught of the passing of your father and your mate. But it changes nothing of your destiny. You have a mission, a predestined—”

  “No!” Ryse rose to his feet. “No longer. You can ask nothing else of me. I’ve devoted two and a half centuries on this earth to pleasing the both of you and all I have ever received in return is death. I’ve had to take the lives of people close to me. I’ve had to watch one of my closest friends and Elites die in my arms. I’ve searched for Avery most of my life only to find her life, too, has been hell. Now she lie cold before me and my mother weeps in the next room for my father. You can take your destiny and predestined bullshit and give it to someone else.”

  “Do you think we cannot do so?” Ares boomed.

  “I welcome it! I would happily die right here, right now to be with her again.” Ryse pulled back the lace and touched Avery’s hair. “I’ve known so little of her love. It’s not enough.” He shook his head and looked back up at the gods. “It’s not enough. You alone have the power to bring her back to me. And if you want me to continue my work here on earth, you will do it.”

  “Resurrecting the dead requires sacrifice of an equal life.”

  “You have my father! Is he not of equal value to you?”

  Zeus tilted his head slightly, narrowed his eyes, “You would keep your father in the grave to bring back your Grace?”

  Ryse swallowed hard. Was he so selfish? Could he sacrifice his own happiness to bring back his father? What would his mother think if she knew he was willing to keep his father in the physical grave in order to have Avery back?

  “Yes, he would!” Dynasty ran down the aisle of the temple, black robes flowing around her. Her face was covered in tears and deep hollows under her eyes. Dyna fell to her knees and bowed her face to the floor. “My lords, my masters, I weep at your altar and pray to you as your humble servant. I know my husband would give his life for his child the same as I would. At least his death would not have been in vain. Do this. I beg of you, do this for my son!”

  “Mother.” Ryse took her into his arms, kissed her wet cheek. He looked up at Zeus and Ares. “Make your choice. You either bring back Avery or you can find some other man to do your dirty work.”

  Zeus and Ares studied him for a long moment before Zeus answered, “We do not appreciate ultimatums.”

  “And I will not bow down to gods who do not honor the promises they make to their believers. Either you are benevolent and honor your word, or you are unworthy of my devotion. Now make your choice!” Ryse stood there, one hand on Avery’s head, his other arm around his mother, awaiting the decision that would determine the rest of his existence.

  Zeus and Ares exchanged a long look. Ryse knew they were communicating. Finally, Zeus approached Ryse and Dyna. “The sacrifice of your father, though his work was not completed, shall balance this scale.” He looked at Dynasty, who fell to her knees and bo
wed her head. “Know your mate rests in the arms of the gods. He has done well in this life and shall take his place among us in the Heavens. You, my beloved follower, shall remain here with your sons until it is your time to join him.”

  Zeus twitched and Ryse watched as his eyes began to glow. “We have been summoned. We must go.” The god cast a quick glance at Ares, who swallowed deeply. Why the gods were suddenly very stiff and still?

  “And Avery?” He queried before they dissipated into mist.

  “You will have your Grace. First you must prove your faith. Make a pyre in this temple for the flesh of my son, Troy. Then prepare one to my daughter, Avery. Set her body on fire. Let the flesh go and have faith in the gods. She will rise from the flames—a goddess among immortals.”

  “You shall have your Grace, my son.” Ares said in a voice like breaking glass. “Then you shall fulfill your destiny.”

  AVERY HAD FOUND the afterlife. She wandered around in the mist and fog until she heard a female voice singing. Standing in a garden of flowers was the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen. Her long black hair touched the ground behind her, cascading like a waterfall. Her porcelain face was content as she sang to the iris blooms. Avery’s presence made the music stop. She looked up and two baby blue eyes framed in thick black lashes captivated Avery, stopping her movement.

  “Hello, child,” she said, her speech as captivating as her singing. “Are you lost?”

  “I don’t know,” Avery admitted. “Am I dead?”

  “Oh, yes. If you are conversing with me, it is certain. You are in the spirit realm of the gods.” The woman put down the flowers she had picked and looked long and hard at her guest. “Avery? Why, whatever are you doing in the afterlife?” Concern took over her face and her soft features turned angry. “You are not supposed to be here.”

  “I don’t want to be,” Avery said desperately. “I want to go home. I want to be with Ryse.”

  The angel pursed her lips. “As it should be. I didn’t create you just to have you return to me so quickly. No, this will not do. This just will not do.” There was only one goddess who had put claim on Avery, one goddess whose brand marked her body, and only one goddess with the power to send her home. Rhea. A sickness bubbled up in Avery’s stomach as the goddess pulsed with frustration.