I swung my flaming sword, pushing back the demons.
Jace fought beside me. “You never leveled up. And you didn’t die.”
“Don’t tell anyone.”
He shook his head. “That shouldn’t be possible.”
“Especially don’t tell your father.”
“I won’t say anything to anyone,” Jace agreed. “Because we’re friends. But if I’m going to keep secrets like this for you, Leda, I expect you to tell me what the hell is going on with you.”
I could not agree to that, not entirely. Everything included telling him what I really was.
“We will talk later,” I said.
He nodded, then turned to parry a demon’s blade. Beyond him, I saw that the balcony windows had gone clear again. The milky fog obscuring them had faded. That single quick peek cost me. A demon knocked the sword from my hand. Another demon pushed me down and pinned me to the ground. I struggled, pushing against his grip in an attempt to free myself.
The first demon was reaching for my fallen sword. I hadn’t been able to tap into the immortal weapon’s power, but he was a deity. If he could wield it, none of us would make it off this balcony alive.
Jace realized the threat too. He knocked the demon back with a psychic blast, then grabbed the sword off the ground. He swung it. The demon staggered back, wounded but not dead. It seemed that Jace wasn’t able to wield the power either.
The other demons nearby saw the sword in Jace’s hand, and they recognized it. All at once, they abandoned their battles with Nero and Harker. They charged at Jace, going for the prize. He tried to fend them off, but there were too many of them. And they were coming at him too fast. He was being overrun.
Fear clutched me, fear for my friend’s life. My magic sparked, igniting the sword’s magic. Silver flames burst up across the blade, swallowing the weaker magic fire that had burned there just a moment ago. Jace looked at the blade, his eyes going wide. He swung it at a demon in a dark helmet. The demon fell to the ground, dead.
The other demon soldiers backed up, their frightened eyes locked on the sword of silver flames in Jace’s hand. Right now, their fear of the power that they believed Jace to wield had frozen them, but their shock wouldn’t last long. They would soon regroup, and then they would steal the sword from him. Even with the demon-slaying silver flames burning on his blade, Jace wouldn’t be able to fight off so many demons.
Magic flashed from the windows, then an army of gods flew out of the enchanted glass, Ronan and Faris at the head of them all. The godly warriors grabbed the demons on the balcony and tossed them over the edge. Then they swooped down on the army below. The gods fought with grace and power, every moment a melody of magical notes. Outnumbered, the demons’ army retreated, hundreds of soldiers as beautiful and deadly as the gods themselves.
“There are so many of them,” I commented as we watched the demons disappear before our eyes. They were departing this world.
“There are many more on many other worlds,” Ronan said.
I’d never felt so small in all my life. So insignificant.
Ronan turned as Nyx stepped onto the balcony, the relief apparent in his eyes.
“There were no casualties on our side.” Her eyes fell upon the dead demon on the floor. “And only one on theirs.”
“Uneventful, as far as battles go,” Faris said, looking almost bored. Was he actually disappointed that more blood hadn’t been spilled?
The other five ruling gods stepped through the mirror. This balcony had been crowded before, with seven angels and seven other Legion soldiers on it. And now I felt like I couldn’t even breathe without running into someone’s aura.
“You have wielded an immortal weapon to kill a demon,” Valora praised Jace. “A great accomplishment, worthy of your legacy.”
Though he looked wiped out from the battle, Jace stood a little taller in response to the Queen Goddess’s words.
Valora glanced at me, but there was no praise in her eyes. “You’re wearing something that doesn’t belong to you.”
She didn’t realize it had been my magic that ignited the sword—and killed the demon. The gods thought it was Jace’s doing. It was just as well. I wasn’t from a Legion legacy family. If they knew I’d been the one to power the sword, they would investigate.
As I removed the pieces of silver armor, I tried to piece together how I’d been able to wield the weapons of heaven and hell again. The first time, I’d turned them against Valiant to save Nero and Damiel in the Lost City. And just now, I’d used them to protect Jace from being killed by demons. It seemed that it was my need to protect those I cared about which allowed me to tap into the magic I needed to control the artifacts.
I handed the weapons of heaven and hell back to Faris.
“None of this ever would have happened if you’d not left your castle undefended,” Valora criticized Faris as he placed the artifacts in his closet.
“If I’d not sent my soldiers to Samaran, our forces would not have been victorious there against the demons,” Faris countered. “We never would have pushed the demons off another world. So it was worth it.”
“It was a terrible risk to take, Faris.” But from the look on Ronan’s face, he would have taken the risk too.
“If we are to finally win this war, risks must be taken,” Faris said.
Valora’s gaze panned over the collection of artifacts in the closet. “How did the famed weapons of heaven and hell come to be here in your castle?”
“Simple. I took them from Ronan and Nyx.” Faris smiled coolly at them.
Nero glowered at Ronan and Nyx.
“Who it appears took them from Nero Windstriker,” Faris continued.
So there were two secrets Faris had wanted to expose in this challenge. Firstly, that Ronan and Nyx had stolen the weapons from Nero. And, secondly, that Nero had possessed them to begin with. Faris wasn’t just targeting the gods’ alliances with one another. He was trying to break their bonds with angels. He wanted to turn Nero against Ronan and Nyx.
We couldn’t fall into Faris’s trap. United we were all stronger, a force to threaten him. Divided, fractured, with the right army and weapons, he could just pick us off one by one. Was that his plan to follow up this discord? Did he have more soldiers than we knew about? Did he possess powerful secret weapons?
I refused to allow Faris to manipulate us to break our alliances. On the other hand, could we really trust Nyx and Ronan after they’d stolen something precious right out from under our noses? Unity was born from trust, a trust that had now evaporated.
I glanced at Faris. The look on his face told me he’d gotten exactly what he wanted out of this challenge.
And he wasn’t done yet. He had more in store for all of us—more alliances to break, more secrets to expose, mine included.
25
The Warrior's Pendant
“What are we to make of this challenge?” Maya said when we were all back in the gods’ audience chamber.
“The challenge is over. My team defended my treasure,” Faris declared, taking his throne. “It’s time to move on.”
“It is not over,” a voice echoed through the hall.
The words had come from Aleris. He stood in front of his throne.
“Our Everlasting guest has told me that the weapons of heaven and hell are not Faris’s most prized possession,” Aleris said. “That possession lies on Faris’s person. It is the pendant he wears around his neck.”
Surprise flashed in Faris’s eyes, followed very quickly by anger. “What are you doing, Aleris?” he growled.
“You thought you could escape judgment?” Aleris’s brows arched as he shot Faris a pitiless look. “You who have sinned greater than those you plotted to expose?”
The other gods jumped off their thrones, furious accusations flying out of their mouths. So much for Faris plotting from the shadows to expose the gods’ most-guarded secrets, all the while escaping their wrath.
Aleris looked on
as the other gods all turned on Faris. So Aleris had double-crossed him. Faris certainly hadn’t seen that coming. I would have applauded the move, but it meant that Aleris was far more dangerous than I’d realized. He was devious enough to outmaneuver Faris, the king of machinations.
“Calm down,” Faris said to the angry gods. “You are getting entirely too carried away.”
“Calm down?” Meda repeated in disgust. “Those words fall easily from the mouth of someone who’s not had his secrets ripped open and laid out for all to see, like a carcass hanging at a meat market on a scorching hot day, the rotting flesh growing more rancid by the hour, poisoning those most dear to you, turning them against you.” Meda glanced at her sister.
Maya huffed and turned away in anger.
“And all this discord and unrest to momentarily satiate the ambition of the God of Heaven’s Army,” Meda continued. “A moment of satisfaction at the expanse of millennia of love.”
Meda was still looking at her sister, but Maya adamantly refused to meet her gaze.
“Your deeds, the reasons you have all turned against one another, were of your own making,” Faris said calmly. “I did not force your hand. I did not make you err, betray, and lie.”
“You simply ripped open all our old scars,” Zarion snarled. “Well, Faris, immortality is a long time to accumulate sins. And you are far from blameless. What will we find when we poke at your scars, I wonder?”
Zarion reached for the pendant around Faris’s neck. For the first time, I watched something akin to panic flash across his face. Faris tried to get away, but the gods grabbed him, vengeance burning hot in their eyes. For this one moment, they were united in their pursuit of a common enemy, just as I’d known would happen if they found out what he’d done to them.
Valora snatched the pendant from around Faris’s neck. Magic rippled across my body, and the glasses I’d tucked inside my jacket were suddenly gone. Ronan held them inside his clenched fist. He’d used his telekinetic powers to steal them from me.
Then, before anyone could blink, Ronan punched his magic through the glasses. He angled the glittering stream at the pendant, exposing the memories hidden within.
Strands of sparkling magic curled around the room, forming shapes. The disjointed picture slowly coalesced.
Faris stood in a room with weapons hanging on the walls, much like his castle on Gravite. There was a certain hardness to the martial decor, devoid of trinkets and baubles. Like this world too sat at the far edge of the gods’ territory, a place where there were still battles to be fought and won against the demons’ armies.
Faris wore a sharply-angled tunic and pants made of midnight-blue silk. Despite the soft fabric, it looked like a suit made for battle. He’d accented his battlefield-in-the-ballroom outfit with a gold pendant.
It was the very same pendant Aleris had declared to be Faris’s most prized possession.
Constellations of glowing dots, drawn and projected with magic, swirled in the air around Faris. Each pulsing point was either blue or silver. Faris waved his hand through the projection, unveiling new layers. New maps. Some of the blue dots turned silver, some of the silver ones turned blue. Back and forth, the colors cycled as the history of the immortal cosmic war between gods and demons played back at many times normal speed.
Faris watched the battles play out, his eyes constantly flickering from one map to the next, like he was searching for something. Perhaps he sought a strategy to beat the demons. As the God of Heaven’s Army, it was his job to lead the gods to victory in battle.
He watched for only a few seconds before he growled in annoyance and waved his hand, dismissing the maps. They dissolved into wisps of smoke.
“Temper, temper.”
Faris pivoted around to find a woman leaning against his desk. Tall and slender with long pale hair, she wore a blue gauzy dress of soft chiffon that billowed in the hot breeze whispering in from the open balcony door. Gold bands adorned her upper arms, and bracelets jingled from her wrists. On her forehead, she wore a gold headband set with a single tiny blue stone. The gem had a familiar gleam to it.
“Grace,” Faris said.
The woman pushed off the desk, extending her arms into the air in a very graceful pose. “In the flesh.”
“What are you doing here, demon?”
The gem on her headband…it was the exact same color as the blue dots that represented the demons’ forces on Faris’s maps.
Grace stepped up to a miniature apple tree made of gold and plucked an apple off a branch. She glanced at the fruit in her hand, then at Faris. “I’ve come to parley.”
“Parley,” Faris repeated, his eyes narrowing. “This isn’t the first time you’ve come with that word on your lips. As I recall, it never ends well.”
Grace smiled. “That depends entirely on whom you ask.”
“The first time you came to parley, I ended up impaled on a spear,” Faris said drily.
“Only for a few days.” Her smile widened.
“And it only went downhill from there,” Faris added.
Grace’s sigh was as soft as rose petals falling over a serene pond. “Really, Faris. You’re such a spoilsport.”
“I’m too busy for your games today, Grace.”
“Ava giving you trouble again, is she?”
He glowered at her. “The Demon of Hell’s Army is almost as much trouble as you are.”
Grace sat down behind his desk. “And yet only half as much trouble as you are.” She leaned her elbows on the tabletop, balancing her chin on her hands. “Let’s talk about your little secret project.”
“I have many secret projects, none of them little, and all of them none of your damn business.”
“Oh, really, Faris. Let’s not be petty.” Grace plopped her feet up on the tabletop. The demon wore gold sandals studded with diamonds.
He blasted her with a psychic spell that knocked her pretty feet off his desk. “I don’t engage in smalltalk about my projects with demons.”
“Or with the other gods, apparently.”
“Nor do you tell the other demons everything you’re up to,” he shot back.
“Of course not,” Grace laughed silkily.
She sat there in silence, matching his stare.
“Why are you here?” he finally said.
“You really are dense sometimes, Faris. It’s no wonder that my sister’s forces are kicking your ass. I already told you why I’m here. I’m here to parley.”
“To what end?”
“I’m bored, the moons are full, and I just came fresh from a fight.” She rose slowly from the chair, tugging on the closure of her dress. The layers of chiffon came tumbling down, leaving her naked. “Unless you can’t spare a moment from your busy schedule of glaring at battle maps.” She arched her glitter-dusted brows.
“If only you wouldn’t talk, that would make this parleying all a little more tolerable,” he growled.
Grace smirked at him. “I promise to shut up if you will.”
Faris grabbed her wrist, pulling her through an arched doorway into the bedroom. The curtains of the canopy bed whisked shut around them.
The memory froze, then faded into the next.
Faris stood in the room of martial decor, flipping through the cosmic maps. Outside his window, winter had covered the lands in a thick blanket of snow.
Grace popped up beside Faris. “Sonja knows.”
Faris brushed the battle maps away, then turned to her. Bundled up in a fur-trimmed red velvet cloak, white fur hat, and elbow-high gloves, she looked like a winter wonderland princess.
“What does Sonja know?” Faris asked her.
Grace flicked her hand, and her cloak flew off, carried away on a gust of magic wind. A round belly stretched out her red gown.
Faris’s gaze dropped to her baby bump. “When did this happen?”
“Don’t play coy, Faris. You were there.”
“Six months ago. You sure waited a long time to tell me,” he said.
“Besides your sister, who else knows?”
“No one. I have been in solitude for the past several months, engaged in the Magic of the Faith rituals. Sonja showed up unannounced at the temple and barged into the Room of Solitude. She saw the fruit of our labor.” Grace’s hand slid over her belly. “Some of the priests were close enough to see inside the room. Sonja killed them so they couldn’t spread the word.”
“How kind of her to protect your secret,” Faris said drily.
“Sonja wants the child for herself,” Grace snapped. “There has never been a child conceived with demon and god magic. Sonja wants to weaponize the child.”
“Sonja cannot be allowed to wield such a weapon, to groom it, train it, control it.”
“Agreed. But I’m not giving you such a weapon either, Faris.”
A twisted smile curled his lips. “You already have.”
He grabbed for her, but Grace was quicker. She vanished in a cloud of black smoke.
The final memory faded from the gods’ hall, leaving me with a single terrifying realization. I’d thought Zarion was my father, but he wasn’t. No, it was Faris. It had been Faris all along.
26
Subterfuge
The gods’ eyes were watching Faris, disgust marring their immortally beautiful faces. More than any of the other exposed secrets, this revelation had rattled them.
“Demon.” Valora bit out the word. “You had an affair with a demon.”
“You procreated with a demon,” Zarion added in a low hiss.
“What became of the child?” Maya asked.
“Grace hid it away from me. From Sonja. From everyone.” Faris appeared surprisingly calm and collected considering that all his plans for cosmic domination had just gone down the drain.
“A weapon is out there, a weapon that threatens us. One that you created, Faris.” Valora poked her finger against his chest. “And you don’t even know where it is!”
“Believe me, losing it wasn’t part of the plan.”
Valora’s jaw dropped. “You actually planned to create this weapon?”
Fairy’s Touch: Legion of Angels: Book 7 Page 23
