Persuasion (Curse of the Gods Book 2)

by Jane Washington

  I wasn’t sure they knew how protective he really was, but no one looked concerned—although, with the Abcurses, that could have meant anything.

  “We reached an understanding about that,” Rome finally said. “There’s nothing to worry about.”

  I decided not to push it as we all turned toward Blesswood together. The door had dropped us right before the line of trees alongside the back of the arena, so there was a short distance to walk.

  “So what’s the plan now?” I asked as we walked. “I mean, Rau isn’t going to give up. He’s going to try and break the soul-link again.”

  I didn’t add that I would die before I let that happen, but I was sure they’d get the general idea of how I felt based on my tone of revulsion.

  “He can’t touch you for a while, dweller-baby,” Coen assured me. “We’re at full power now, and Rau has very few friends and alliances.”

  “When he kidnapped me, he used Razi … the Envy Beta to help.”

  None of them seemed surprised to hear that. Coen even added, “Yeah, Envy and her Beta are probably the only two he has any sort of decent connection to. Not to worry though, they’re not Original Gods, and they mostly spend their time looking at what everyone else has, while rarely developing their own powers.”

  We were past the temple now, and a low humming noise in the background finally caught my attention. It had been there for some time, but it was too loud to ignore now.

  “What is that?” I finally breathed out, fearing what the gods might have dropped onto Minatsol. “Is there a battle going on?”

  Our pace picked up and the Abcurses looked grim as we sprinted across the green grass.

  “It can’t be a god-war.” Siret sounded semi-serious as he spoke and ran at the same time. “There would be destruction everywhere, and the energy would be rocking this place.”

  I shook my head, my nose wrinkling up as I thought about his words. “If it’s not a god-war though, then what sort of … holy freaking shit!”

  I gasped, and it wasn’t because the run had left me breathless. Okay, the run had left me a little breathless, but the gasp was still mostly because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

  “Not a god-war.” Siret laughed.

  Nope, not a god-war. We were witnessing a sol-dweller war. Somehow, in the time since I’d been forcibly removed from Minatsol, all manner of chaos had broken out.

  “Is this because of Rau?” I asked, before letting out a low shriek and ducking as a sink flew over my head. A sink? How the hell were the dwellers throwing sinks?

  “Dwellers are physically strong.” Aros answered the question in my head before the one I asked out loud. “Sols underestimate them because they don’t have gifts, but it’s the sols who actually need the dwellers, not the other way around.”

  He made a fair point—dwellers grew the food, cooked the food, kept all the industries running, and mined the stones. Sols took care of some of the energy, and policed the criminals, but that was pretty much just about them controlling all citizens.

  “This is definitely because of Rau,” Yael mused. “This is a little gift he left behind.”

  A flaming fireball shot up into the sky and smashed into the side of the building. Shrieks erupted and dwellers scattered away from the flames. From where we stood, one side of the open space was filled with sols, and the other side were dwellers. They were taunting each other. Throwing objects, using their gifts. Each side was trying to force the other side to break first.

  “Don’t burn the building down, you idiot!” was the shouted command from the sol side, and soon after, a spray of water extinguished the flames. “You’ll make the gods angry!”

  I remained with the Abcurses, off to the side, watching the chaos unravel, until …

  “Emmy!” I half-shouted as I caught sight of my friend. She was front and centre. “Why is Emmy holding a bottle and how is that bottle on fire?” By the end of my question, my voice had reached a high-pitched decibel completely alien to me. Shock was flooring me … until the panic began to kick in. “She’s going to get herself killed! She’s not allowed to do that! She’s supposed to be the responsible one!”

  I took off before any of the guys could stop me, but I knew that they would follow. They always followed. It was something I loved about them—about our team. We had each other’s backs. Something smacked into the side of my head as I ran, but since it didn’t hurt too badly, I figured it wasn’t a sink.

  Still, it stung, and it was getting worse. Something was running down into my ear, but I had no time to stop and figure out what it was. I had to get to Emmy. When I reached the dweller side, the mass of bodies was too tightly-packed for me to keep running, forcing me to start pushing my way through the crowd instead. Lots of cursing and flung elbows followed me, but then the Abcurses must have been right on my tail and somehow the crowds were parting for us. Wide eyes and gasps followed our progression. I ignored all of them, my focus for Emmy alone.

  Her eyes swung to me as I stormed up. When we were only a few feet apart, a familiar face popped out from behind her. Atti.

  “Willa!” Emmy let out a hoarse cry and threw herself into my arms. The flaming bottle had disappeared, which must have meant that she had thrown it. At. A. Sol. “I saw them take you away,” she continued in a rush. “But none of us could move or stop him. I never thought I’d see you again.”

  Realisation hit me then, something about the desperate anger in her tone, and my jaw felt like it was a foot wide as it hung open and I stared at Emmy. “You …” My voice broke and I had to clear my throat to start again. “You started this rebellion?”

  My rule-loving, dweller-proud, sol-worshipping, best friend had started a war. I couldn’t believe it.

  “I went to the sols and asked for their help with you,” she said, hands on hips, her stubborn face showing proudly. “I begged them to help, I told them what had happened and that we shouldn’t just be pawns to the will of the gods.”

  A single tear trailed down her cheek as chaos continued to reign around us. I caught Siret deflecting a few of the gifts being shot in our direction from the corner of my eye: he was protecting us from flame and earth, wind and plant life as it tried to creep across our feet.

  Meanwhile Emmy and I continued to stare at each other, both astonished for different reasons.

  “They laughed at her.” Atti tried to help. “When she begged for assistance, the dweller relations committee laughed right in her face and shoved her out the door.”

  Seemed like Jade and her band of assholes were stepping comfortably into Elowin’s shoes. “We already had the beginning of a rebellion,” Emmy added in a low voice. “All they needed was a little push. A little fan to the embers which were burning below.”

  “To what end though?” I asked, waving my hands to indicate everything around us. “What are you hoping to achieve here?”

  “Change.” That word came from a dweller to my right, and it was soon echoed by another, and then another. Until the entire dweller side was chanting it over and over.

  A figure stepped out then, from the sol side, moving forward so that they were separated from the main group. It was a male: tall and thin, with a full head of slicked-back grey hair, a small thatch of grey beard on his chin, and a set of long silver robes. He looked old. He looked powerful. And he wore no expression on his face, but the moment the sols saw him standing in front of them, they fell silent and stopped using their gifts.

  The chants from the dweller side died off too, and I leaned toward Atti. “Who’s that?” I murmured, not wanting to break this weird silence.

  He swallowed hard, before blinking a few times like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “That’s Chancellor Crown, he’s the head of Blesswood. I half-thought he was a myth, even though they make us bow to his portrait in the main hall every sun-cycle.

  I hadn’t done any bowing.

  “That’s because you’re too busy looking at the ground as though it offends you,�
�� Siret whispered in my ear. “As though it’s purposely tripping you up all the time.”

  I grumbled out a curse but otherwise turned my head to ignore Siret. “Why did you think he was a myth?” I asked Atti.

  Atti shook his head. “He hasn’t been seen for twenty life-cycles.”

  Wow.

  So this was the sol who ruled over the top academy in Minatsol. He must be powerful and wise. And possibly insane. Or horribly deformed. Although he didn’t look horribly deformed … maybe it was a sol-gift. Or maybe his sol-gift was severe introversion.

  Aros chuckled. “I doubt it’s either of those things, sweetheart.”

  Nineteen

  A warm hand glided along the side of my face. I tilted my head back to see Rome, towering over the entire dweller population, staring down at me. I couldn’t read his expression, but that wasn’t unusual. He usually wore the same, bored expression all the time … unless he was pissed.

  “You had some spike-leaf on the side of your face,” he explained, before abruptly dropping his hand and turning away.

  Ah, that must have been what hit me earlier. Spike-leaf sounded like the sort of weapon I’d like to use, even though I had absolutely no idea what it was. It had to have been a sol-related thing, because there hadn’t been any spike-leaves back in the seventh ring.

  My attention was back on the Chancellor now—he was moving forward again, both of his hands tucked into the seemingly deep pockets on the sides of his simple silver robes. When he paused again, he lifted his hands free, and waved them out in a circle shape, keeping them wide and welcoming.

  “Send your dweller representative across.” His words were deep and powerful. He didn’t shout or look angry, but I had no problem hearing everything he said. “It seems we have important matters to discuss.”

  Emmy and Atti straightened, and I felt everything inside my body tighten. I did not want her going over there to talk to him, no matter how calm and silvery he was. I didn’t trust any sol. Especially not one powerful enough to run Blesswood, and mysterious enough to not be seen for many life-cycles.

  “I’ll come too,” I said firmly, halting my best friend.

  I could spot Evie, the bushy-haired dweller with the light-blue eyes; she was already approaching the Chancellor. Emmy turned back to me and I recognised the look on her face, so I wasn’t at all surprised when she briefly gripped my hand before gently refusing me.

  “It’s better if we go alone,” she said. “Too many ‘representatives’ is confusing, and well, you’re probably not the best representative either way.” She jerked her head up as she eyed off the Abcurses, who were standing behind me. “It’s already a bit much, with those guys and you, and everything that goes on with you six. It might just be a little less confusing if we keep you out of it for now.”

  I understood her point, I really did. The unheard-of relationship I had with the Abcurses; my natural clumsiness; the chaos that seemed to shadow my every step—it was possible that I wouldn’t exactly be helpful in this sort of situation.

  “Okay, but be careful,” I warned, stepping back and letting her cross with Atti.

  The dweller stood close to her side, angling himself so he was between her and the Chancellor. They stopped right before him, and the silver sol let a small smile actually grace his lips.

  “I’m glad you have met me halfway in this matter,” he began. “I know none of us would like to see this sort of senseless violence and divisiveness continue at Blesswood.”

  There was a subtle dig there, like the dwellers were misbehaving little children who didn’t know how lucky they were to live in such a place. That attitude made me uneasy and I found myself drifting closer to him, only stopping when Siret wrapped an arm around my shoulder, keeping me from moving forward.

  Emmy was speaking now, and I strained to hear her. She didn’t have that awesome voice projection power going on. “We do not want divisiveness. There was already too much of that in Blesswood. What we want are some fundamental rights for dwellers. We deserve to be heard. We serve dutifully, and we would like some appreciation for that.”

  Evie added her own piece, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying at all. The Chancellor listened to it all with the same neutral-looking expression, but the slight narrowing of his eyes worried me. He didn’t seem very happy.

  “We clothe and feed you, keep a safe and comfortable roof over your heads,” he replied, his voice still projected. The sols all shouted out their agreement. “We only ask in return for you to keep our academy running.”

  Emmy lifted her head, her chin jutting proudly, and this time I had no problem hearing her. “My sister, another dweller here, was kidnapped by a god. I asked for help to get her back and was laughed out of the building. That does not sound like a safe roof to me.”

  His eyes narrowed fully now, and even though his hands were back in his pockets, I sensed that they were probably clenched into fists. “We all serve the gods. It is not our place to interfere in their personal matters. Without them, we would have nothing.”

  Atti spoke up for the first time. “The gods care no more for sols than they do dwellers. We should all be banding together to try and fight them. We should be demanding rights from them, or ask that they stay in Topia. We don’t need them in Minatsol.”

  A darkness crossed the Chancellor’s face then, and it had every hair on my entire body standing on end. Run! I mentally urged them, my feet already moving toward Emmy and Atti again, forcing Siret to move with me since he didn’t seem to want to release me.

  I was too slow, of course. I was always too damn slow. The Chancellor whipped his right hand from that deep pocket, and a glint of steel was all I saw before the blade sliced across Atti’s throat. Emmy let out a choked cry of shock, before hysterical screams began to rip from her body. They rang through the clearing and my heart ached at the pure agony lacing each sound. The Chancellor lifted his arm to cut into Atti again, but Emmy dived into his side, knocking him down before he could swing again. This time it was me who let out a yell. My panic had colours flashing across my vision as I sprinted for her. Pressure encased me from all sides, and with some sort of pop of energy, I was no longer with Siret. Instead, I was somehow just about to crash between the Chancellor and my best friend.

  Blood was everywhere, splattering across me as he lifted the blade to strike again. The man was absolutely insane! Was that really how the sols dealt with people who threatened the hierarchy of the gods? By stabbing them?

  “No the hell you don’t!” I shouted, wrenching my left arm up to take the force of his attack. It bit deep into my skin, but I barely felt it as I used my right hand to scratch several deep gouges across his face.

  With a howl, he threw me off him, and I caught the stunned faces of so many dwellers and sols watching us. They seemed too shocked, or too terrified to intervene. They apparently didn’t know about the stabbing rule when it came to people who bad-mouthed their deities. There was a scuffle behind us, and I knew that the Abcurses were making their way to me. Emmy tumbled across the lawn behind me, and I turned to crawl to her. My arm was aching as I put weight on it, and I was praying under my breath.

  Please let her be okay.

  Please let her be okay.

  Please let her be okay.

  I had no idea if he had stabbed her before I got there. They had been wrestling and the blade was flashing, and there was so much blood. It seemed foolish to think that she had escaped unharmed. Just as I was about to reach her side, a burning pain sliced across my calf, and I flipped over to find the Chancellor there, his trusty knife held aloft.

  “Your friends deserved to die,” he spat at me. “Blasphemy like that, speaking of the gods in such a manner.” He waved the blade around, and when my eyes went toward it, he grinned and stilled the movement. “You like my weapon? It’s a gift from the gods: a blade from Crowe. I serve them well, and they reward me for it.”

  I tried to look passive, but I must have failed. The Chancellor
looked intrigued when he added, “I see you know what that means. That this blade can kill even a god. The wounds inflicted will heal slower and slice deeper. It is a blade of Death.”

  Literally, since Crowe was the Death god.

  He opened his mouth to say something else, but instead of speaking, his eyes widened in surprise and with a small squeak, his head jerked to the side, and he flopped down on the ground in a crumbled heap.

  I was gasping as Coen stepped over the sol that he had just killed without a second thought. He marched to me, and with more tenderness than I had come to expect from this particular god, he gently lifted me up, setting me down on my uninjured leg.

  I hopped around so that I could see Emmy, but she was gone, and everything was chaos again. “Where is Emmy?” I cried, frustration and fear pulsing through me in heavy, sickening thumps.

  “Siret took her to the healer—she has a few flesh wounds, nothing they can’t handle. He’s going to use Trickery so that they think she’s a sol.”

  That would ensure the healers did everything in their power to heal her. “She’s going to be okay, right? I need to see her.”

  Coen hugged me, taking most of my weight, which helped with the pain thrashing through my body. “She’s going to be fine, but you can’t see her yet. She needs to go into the healing wing. She’ll need to stay in there for a few sun-cycles.” My face must not have looked convinced, so he added, “Siret won’t let her die; you really don’t need to worry. If at any point it looks like she’s not healing, the healers will inform him and we’ll take her to Topia.”

  I sagged into him, a relief spreading through me that was so profound it left me light headed. “What about Atti? Is there anything we can do for him?”

  Coen’s hard body seemed to grow even harder beneath me, and there was half-a-click of silence before he finally spoke. “I’m so sorry, Willa. There’s nothing we can do. Atti is beyond our power.”

  I had known—from the moment I saw the blade slice his throat—that there was no hope for him. At the time I could do nothing but try and save my sister. Now, though, the tears poured hot and heavy from beneath my tightly closed lids.