Slowly the water receded, and the ground sloped upward. Another presence lurked in here, a female presence. The stones began to glow faintly again, casting a dim, blue light over a figure looming above me in a throne made of glinting rock.
A cloak of moss hung over her, and the scent of peaty soil curled off her. I couldn’t quite see her, but for a moment, when the light of the stones flashed a little brighter, I had a sense of thin, wispy skin, like layered spiderwebs.
A voice echoed in my mind. Bringer of Light.
I cleared my throat. “I’m looking for Adonis.”
Archangels should never roam the earth, the voice boomed.
I clutched the stones tightly to my chest.
A wispy huff of laughter. Archangels should never walk the earth, Bringer of Light. His soul will remain here, with the other horsemen. See him if you must. You won’t be leaving here, either. You’re descended from the Old Gods, Ruby.
Long ago, the Old Gods mated with the fae, creating a race of Light Bringers. You belong among us, now.
A wispy substance skimmed over my skin. “I’m part…Old God?”
The goddess pulled off her hood, and white light beamed through her translucent skin. From the shadows, more glowing beings emerged. Their naked bodies blazed with light, skin as thin as shed snakeskin.
You belong with us, Bringer of Light, my child. You may serve me here forever.
She reached for me, and I took a step back. Oh, hell no. Okay, so—this was the sacrifice. And it was one I wasn’t willing to make.
The stones began to heat in my hands, held tight against my heart. Once again, I felt an overwhelming urge to press them against my forehead like a salve on a wound.
The goddess rose from her throne. Thin threads of silver hair curled over her shoulders, and her eyes shone like moonlight glinting off water. A cloak of moss draped over her shoulders, and a wreath of hawthorn encircled her head. Her lips looked parched, skin dry and flaky despite the damp air.
Give the stones to me. Within my mind, her voice had a sharper edge. Desperate, almost. I must drink from them.
Was she out of her ancient, mossy mind? I wasn’t giving over the stones just so she could trap me here.
I clutched them tighter to my chest, unwilling to part with them. At least, not until I regained some control over the situation. “Yeah, I’m not staying here with the army of the glowing, so we’ll need a different plan. How about I give you these stones, and you give me Adonis’s soul, and then I’ll be on my way.”
Rage blazed from the goddess’s eyes, and she took another step closer. I protected you. And now you want to bargain with me, for what’s rightfully mine?
When she stepped closer, I could see indentations in her skull—indentations that perfectly matched the size of the stones. She’d worn them once, a crown of sorts. These stones had once been a part of her, and they’d been stolen. Another step closer, her hands grasping for them—and my own skull ached to feel them pressed against it.
She heaved in a raspy breath. I’ve been trapped here for a thousand years, unable to leave without my powers. Give them back to me.
My utility to her was starting to become clear. She’d needed me to bring them to her. A messenger, working for her.
A lump rose in my throat, and I shook my head. I’d rid the earth of the horsemen. I’d protected it from archangels who wanted to slaughter us all. Was I about to undo that spell—just for one man? Adonis would never approve of it. A small sacrifice to save the larger numbers. But I needed a different kind of morality. I needed good to triumph over evil. I needed the heroes to live.
One last chance. “I want to leave here, and I want to take Adonis with me.’
She snarled, long canines protruding. Claws emerged from the tips of her hands—long and curled, the color of aged tree bark.
The goddess was going a bit feral before me, and I took a step back from her in the icy water. My skull ached for the stones like a parched throat aches for water.
I could do it. I could use the stones’ power for myself…
Snarling, the goddess lunged for me. I darted back, pressing the stones against my forehead, and my skin soaked them up.
My own voice echoed in my skull. Gods don’t run from themselves, Ruby.
All at once, the rock around me seemed to fall away, and I was standing in the park in New York. Blood spattered the ground near my feet. I recognized this scene. This was the day the world ended, the day the Great Nightmare had begun.
I didn’t want to look up. I knew what I’d see there—the dragon ripping Marcus to shreds. An unseen force gripped my chin, forcing me to lift my head.
Before me, a shadow loomed over Marcus, and the reptilian stench of ancient caves and rock dust pooled in the air. I whirled, just in time to see the dragon lunge.
I screamed a warning, but it was too late.
My world tilted as the dragon clamped Marcus in its jaws, teeth piercing his flesh. Blood streamed over the pavement, glistening in the afternoon light. My chest clenched with pure, raw panic.
Screaming, I leapt into the air, trying to get a grip on the dragon, but it was too tall for me, and my fingers slipped off its scales. I can’t protect him. I slammed back down onto the ground, knocking the back of my head on the pavement.
With Marcus’s body clamped in his jaws, the dragon shook his head back and forth, red streaming from his teeth.
Frantic, I hurled my knife at the dragon’s eye. Somehow, I managed to hit it just at the edge of the iris, even as it flailed its head around.
I tried to slam the iron door down on the memory, tried to fight my way out of this hell, but there was no escape.
The dragon tossed Marcus into the air. Blood poured from his chest, his ribs. It’s too late.
I screamed, not hearing my own voice.
I couldn’t look down, couldn’t stare at what the dragon was doing to Marcus. I had to bury those thoughts, lock them up in a mental coffin—but it wasn’t working now. I had to see it, had to look at what had happened. The dragon had ripped through his ribs, his spine. His blood pooled over the pavement…
Until nothing was left of him but a pile of ash.
Ruby. Who do you believe the real monster is?
I started shaking my head, unwilling to make meaning from this. I heaved a sob. “I don’t know what you mean.”
The world around me fell away again. For just a moment, I glimpsed the dragons—a flash of blonde hair and flailing limbs. Teeth ripping at her flesh, her pale arms...
The image faded as soon as it had come, leaving me in the dark. I sucked in a sharp breath. Is that what I’d been imagining all this time? I hadn’t been there when dragons had killed my parents—long before the Great Nightmare had begun. It wasn’t a memory. And yet this image of blood on the pavement kept hammering at my skull, the piercing, red-hot staccato...
From the darkness, light bloomed around me. My mother towered over me. She was gripping my arm, trying to pull me into the house. She looked scared. Why was it so important to her that I stay inside?
Her blonde hair flowed over her shoulders, and I wanted to pull her outside. Spring blossomed in the air around us—the fae spring. February. Eimmal.
My canines lengthened, and a feral growl tore from my throat. Hunt. Kill. Stop the heart.
“Ruby!” my mom screamed, frantically tugging on my arm. “You need to get inside the house!”
Light shone brightly off the house’s metal siding.
Her words began to blur into the red mist in my mind, lost in a haze of moss and peat, until I only knew that she was prey. My teeth sank into her arm, hot blood pulsing in my mouth, flesh tearing...
Blood streaming over the pavement.
It wasn’t until strong arms pulled me off her that I saw what I’d done, that I heard my dad screaming my name. That I saw the horrified look in my parents’ faces, as they realized what I was. A monster. They weren’t as feral as I was.
The image faded,
leaving me again in the dank cave. The stones had disappeared from my fingers, but their light seemed to pulse through my blood. A deep, throbbing rhythm thrummed around me.
Vines slithered from the ground, curling around my feet, my ankles—then penetrating my skin. Sharp pain splintered my body, shooting up my bones. My ribs, my skull fractured with the pain, and a flash of sunlight blinded me—burning away the image of blood staining the pavement. At last, the vines receded again, freeing my body. I gasped with relief.
Ancient, primal power surged in my veins. I opened my eyes again, and pale blue light blazed from within my skin. I wasn’t alone anymore. Around me, shimmering forms moved—just wisps of scintillating outlines—shoulders and hair and fingers that glimmered like phosphorescence in the ocean.
The souls of the underworld—each with their own scent.
I licked my canines, my hunter’s instincts propelling me forward through the dank cave. I’d come here for Adonis, and I was going to find him. Already, the theta on my shoulder tingled, as if summoning me closer.
I broke into a sprint, running through the shallow waters as they rose around me. I followed the alluring scent of myrrh. Light blazed from the gleaming crown around my head.
Gods rule the realms of the dead.
In the far recesses of the cave, I found them—the four horsemen, lurking together—each one distinct by his smell, his aura. Four horsemen, their forms translucent. Adonis’s blue eyes shone in the darkness. His eyes widened in surprise.
I homed in on Adonis, grabbing him by the hand, and pulled him closer to me—and his hand felt like pure warmth within mine. Light flowed from my body around his soul, wrapping us closer. “You’re coming with me.”
Those deep, blue eyes burned into me, shock written all over them.
Water rushed higher and higher around me, covering my body and surging over my skin. I lost my grip on Adonis, completely submerged in the icy waters--until at last, my head breached the surface. The water receded around me, and I pushed myself to my feet, frantically looking around for Adonis.
And there—at the cave’s mouth—he stood with sunlight silhouetting his body. Alive again.
His back arched. Around his neck, snaked thorny vines—his seal, opening before my eyes.
Instinct kicked in, and I rushed for him and stroked the vines of magic with the tip of my finger, scraping it across the thorns. Blue light glowed from my fingertips. A sharp jolt of ecstasy surged into my body—life and death melding together.
The seal dissipated beneath my fingertips.
Adonis staggered back from me, his hand at his throat. A grimace contorted his features.
Then, he stared at me, his jaw open.
I touched my forehead, feeling the smooth stones that had become a part of my skin.
I cleared my throat. “I, um... I stole the goddess’s magic rocks.”
“You stole them.” He blinked, as if awakening from a dream.
“I had to. It was the only way to get you back. Plus, she wanted me to stay here with a bunch of creepy Light Bringers to serve her or something.”
He grabbed me by the hand. “I want to get you out of here.”
I glanced behind me, relieved to see that no gods or Bringers of Light were following me.
“You’ve stolen the goddess’s power,” he said. “Now you have the power of a goddess. Do you understand that?”
Primal magic—the kind I had when feral—coursed through my veins. But I didn’t feel feral anymore. I simply felt powerful.
“This magic feels native to me.” River water rushed over my ankles. “I guess it is. The goddess said the Bringers of Light descended from the Old Gods.”
Before we crossed out of the cave’s mouth into the beaming sunlight, Adonis turned to me. Gently, he stroked the stones set into my forehead. “You found me in the underworld, and you pulled the curse off me. Why did you do it?”
I knew what he wanted. He was looking for some kind of well-reasoned, rational explanation about morality. Maybe some sort of plan. But I didn’t have that, so I had to go with the truth.
“Because you’re one of the good guys, and I didn’t want you to die.” I wrapped my arms around him, breathing in his smell. His heart pounded against my ear, full of life, and joy sparked in my chest. “You’re not supposed to die yet.”
His hand stroked up my back. “Ruby. You pulled out their souls with mine.”
“Whose?”
“The four other horsemen. I felt their souls depart with me. The other horsemen aren’t going to let this end here.”
My body tensed. Well, shit. “I pulled your curse from you, didn’t I? I’ll free the other horsemen, too.” My thoughts began to race. “And we’ll just have to get them on our side. Five of us against ten celestial angels. They’re not great odds, but...well, we’ve got a dragon.” I could feel the words tumbling off my tongue, nearly nonsensical.
Adonis pulled away from me, his pale eyes beaming intensely in the dim light. “Our four deaths could have ended this all.”
I shook my head. “I’m supposed to let you die to save the world. I know that. A few deaths to spare millions, or however many are left on this earth. But what if those aren’t the only options? What if we change the rules?”
He stroked a fingertip down my cheek. “Do you know what happened when the last magical being tried changing the rules?” He leaned in, whispering into my ear. “He fell.”
My stomach tightened. Lucifer. Azazeyl. It hadn’t turned out well. In fact, it had led to millennia of death and destruction. “Admittedly, it’s not the best precedent. But can we not dwell on the negative right now? I just hauled your ass out of eternal cave hell, and I have some brand new magical powers I need to try out.”
When we stepped out of the cave into the beaming sunlight, Adonis gaped at the river in front of us. Kur and Hazel were already rushing toward us, but Adonis seemed lost in his own world. He bent down and plucked a red flower from the ground, studying it, the expression on his face one of remorse.
The flower’s crimson color perfectly matched the red pendant around his neck. So that’s what he’d been wearing…
It was only then I realized Hazel was clutching my arm and screaming into my face.
“Ruby! What is going on with your head?” she shrieked.
“I stole the Stones of Zahar. They seem to have formed a crown on my head.”
Her jaw dropped. “So what does it mean?”
I bit my lip. “I don’t really know yet, Hazel.” I stared at my hands, at the glowing light that tinged my fingertips. “I think we’re going to find out.”
Chapter 38
I lay back against the trunk of the myrrh tree in Adonis’s garden, listening to the burbling of the spring. Sunlight washed over me, warming my skin.
A small, barren patch of earth stretched out from the tree to the stream, and I leaned over it, breathing in the scent of the rich soil. What could I do with this little patch of dirt?
I closed my eyes, summoning the warm power that pooled in my skull, then tingled down my spine. It settled between my ribs before streaming on through my arms, my fingertips… It smelled of moss, of damp leaves and wildflowers, and I felt as if I’d always had it within me.
When I opened my eyes again, light streamed from my fingertips over the damp earth. As I stared at the ground, tiny green shoots sprouted, curled like miniature ferns. I loosed a long breath, staring as they grew under the rays of blue light. As I gaped at them, the buds began to unfurl into crimson blossoms that trembled in the light.
When they’d opened fully, I let my light fade. I brushed my fingertips over the petals, smiling at what I’d created. I’d been toying with my powers for a few days, and this was the best result so far. Some kind of magical photosynthesis, I guessed. An antidote to the vast wastelands created by the Great Nightmare.
Gentle footfalls sounded behind me, and I turned to see Drakon padding over to me, his tail swishing behind him. When he reached
me, he rubbed against my skin, his scales slick and slightly oily. I stroked his head. His eyes closed, and he nestled his head against me. Then, he crawled into my lap, crushing my legs with his weight, claws piercing my clothes.
“Ooof, Drakon.”
He attempted to curl up in a ball on my lap, prodding at me with his claws. Apparently, Drakon hadn’t figured out yet that there would be no way he’d fit on me, or that his scaly, clawed body on my lap felt extremely uncomfortable.
I nudged him off onto the grass, and he reluctantly prowled off me, then curled up into a ball by my side.
I smiled at him. Once, he’d disturbed me—a demonic reptilian beast from hell. Now, I was starting to like the guy. In fact—maybe I felt a strange kinship with him. We both had our bestial sides.
“My two favorite creatures.” Adonis’s smooth voice wrapped around me.
The sunlight washed over his deep, golden skin, and my eyes roamed over the finely cut clothes that hugged his masculine form.
Just the sight of him made my heart race. “Want to join us?”
“Sitting in the dirt?”
“It’s more fun than you’d think.”
A smile ghosted over his lips, and he sat by my side, his arm brushing mine as we looked out over the stream. “What have you been doing out here?”
I shrugged. “Nothing amazing. Just creating new life from my fingertips.”
He cocked his head. “Testing your new goddess powers?”
“If a desperate need to garden arises, I’m your guy.” I glanced at the sky, at the shimmering blue shield above us. “Any news on the other horsemen?”
Adonis squinted in the bright sunlight. “We’ve received a message from Kratos. He wants to come speak to us.”
My shoulders tensed. “About what?”
“He wants to form an alliance. He wants his curse removed.”
“What’s going on with Johnny and Aereus?”
“Drakon located them. They’re both in Sadeckrav Castle. If I had to guess, they’re forming an alliance of their own, and they plan to kill us.”
I swallowed hard. “They still want to rule the earth as gods.”
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