by JA Wren
Oh.
That was…unexpected.
“The star,” she repeated, not exactly a question but close.
Nyx nodded. “I’d hoped it would help you rediscover who you are and how to control your powers.”
She didn’t want to control them. She wanted to get rid of them. Toss them into a raging fire and be free of the future she’d seen inside Nyx’s globe. Free of those who hunted her and the coming war.
But apparently that wasn’t possible.
Asher growled, flames curling around his clenched fists. “And again I ask, what the hell happened to easing her into it?”
“Rayna wasn’t supposed to open the box. Not yet.” Nyx drew in a long, deep breath. “She was only meant to open it when she was ready. Exactly as I told her.”
Whoops. “More of a heads-up would’ve been nice.”
Nyx didn’t respond, instead drifting to stand at the open window, the moonlight pouring into the room and illuminating her skin. Rayna squinted as a sphere flanked by two crescent shapes glinted silver on her forehead. The triple moon she kept seeing everywhere. The symbol embossed on the invitation she’d used to attend the trials.
“You need your powers, Rayna,” she said softly.
Was that what had happened when that bolt hit her after she touched the star? Had it released more power inside her that had been locked away?
Nyx’s voice turned grave. “And you need to learn to control them, before the gods take advantage and use you.”
So everyone kept saying, but Rayna didn’t see how controlling her powers was going to help. Surely that would simply make it easier for someone to use her. If she remained powerless—a dud—she could avoid all this weapon nonsense.
But so far, Nyx had said that was impossible. At least not without ending Rayna’s life. For real this time. They just needed to find another option. One that would solve all their problems. There had to be a solution.
Right?
Nyx turned cold eyes on Rayna. “Understand that I will not allow anyone to use you as a weapon. No matter the consequences, no matter what is required of me, I will never allow that to happen.”
A shiver swept through Rayna at her mother’s earnest words. But it was the underlying meaning that freaked her out the most.
Would her own mother kill her to save millions?
Her lips parted, about to give life to the potentially devastating question, but it was Asher who stepped closer to the goddess.
“What are you getting at?” he asked, low and grating.
Nyx straightened her spine and reached to draw her hood over her head. “If Rayna cannot learn to control her powers, in one week, I will return her to the night sky where she will be safe and protected. Where no god or goddess will be able to wield her for their own goals. Where she will be unable to harm a living soul.”
A vicious sound left Asher, but he was already too late. Nyx disappeared. There one second, then gone, leaving only a few shimmering specks dancing in the moonlight.
“Fuck!” Asher yelled as he spun around to face Rayna. “Don’t listen to her. I won’t let that happen.”
“You should,” she whispered, unable to give her voice more depth.
“What?” Asher returned to her side, clutching her hands tightly between his. “Don’t say that. I refuse to lose you—”
“But she’s right. If I can’t control my own damn powers, then I’m a threat.” She swallowed. Hard. “One life to save millions.”
Asher was already shaking his head. “No. I won’t let her.”
She extracted her hand to cup his warm cheek, running her thumb against the short, prickly hairs dusting his skin. “You might have to.”
“No.”
“Ash—”
“You can’t ask me to let you go. Not again.” His eyes swam with moisture. “Ask me anything, and I’ll gladly give it to you. I’d lay the world at your feet if you wanted it, but not this. Never this.”
She gasped in a harsh breath. “You may not have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice.” He leaned into her hand and kissed her inner wrist, sending sparks of awareness and want through her. But thankfully no red electricity. “Always another way.”
He was so resolute it caused an ache in her heart. A flash memory of the night she’d died assaulted her, flickering behind her eyes with such clarity it was as though she was still living it.
Asher on the ground, held back while Apollo slit her throat.
He’d thought he’d lost her that night. And in a way he had, but not through death. She couldn’t ask him to relive that torment for a second time. Fuck, she didn’t want to relive it either, but there was no way she could let someone use her to destroy the world.
To bring death to every corner.
To literally slaughter everyone she cared about.
Always another way.
Maybe…if she learned to control her powers, mastered them completely, she might prevent being used by some other creep. She’d control her own fate simply by being strong enough to stand against any threat that came at her.
Someone could only use her as a weapon if she let them.
Which meant she needed to get her shit together and stop acting like a scared little girl. She was a fucking Primordial goddess. And she was done being used as a pawn in someone else’s game. Done sitting back and letting the gods crap all over her life.
It was time to take it back.
But she couldn’t do it alone.
“Train me, then.”
Asher frowned, lips stilling where he’d been kissing her hand. “Train you?”
She nodded. “Like you did earlier. With Xander.”
“That pissed you off, remember?”
“Because you tricked me,” she ground out.
“It’s not going to have the same affect if you know I’m not really in danger.”
“Then we find another way. You just said it. There’s always another way.”
He sighed and brushed the hair from her face. “Tomorrow. We can talk about it tomorrow, but right now you need rest. I don’t know what the fuck is with that star, but you were seizing when I found you, and clutching it so tight I could barely pry it from your fingers.”
“Seizing?”
He flinched. “Yeah. Or at least that’s what it looked like.” He took her face between both of his hands, locking their gazes together as he leaned in closer. “You have to promise me you won’t go touching that thing again.”
“Don’t worry, I have zero intentions of doing that anytime soon.” It was true. But she didn’t add how much she wanted to touch it. How it called to her even now, like the star wanted to bond with her again.
One week. Nyx was giving her one week to get her powers under control.
She’d work her butt off, make sure that didn’t happen.
Asher leaned closer, sealing their lips together in a searing, blazing kiss until she was breathless. Until she forgot about wars and stars. Forgot about everything except the feel of him pressed against her, his heat seeping all the way into her bones.
But as much as she wanted him—all of him—he was right. She was beyond exhausted and needed rest.
Just as she was drifting off, pulled by the tug of sleep as she lay in Asher’s arms, Rayna realized she hadn’t told him about her memory. About the creepy Grim Reaper who may or may not be her father. Grim said he’d never met her phoenix, so did that mean Asher didn’t even know about him?
She hadn’t questioned Nyx, either. Hadn’t uttered a word about him.
She couldn’t say why, but she suspected it was because of what he’d said. How he’d wanted her to join him. To conquer the world with him.
Father and daughter.
Darkness and death.
She shivered and Asher held her tighter, melding them together until there was no space between their bodies. Only the hot, hard feel of him she never wanted to lose.
She couldn’t tell him about Grim. H
e’d only worry she was in more danger, and right then she needed him clear headed so he could train her. So she could learn to control her powers and protect herself from being used in a war she had no interest in joining.
Ten
They kept her in the damn infirmary over night—for observations, they said. Overkill, if you asked her, for someone who’d seized thanks to a shard of star rock. Asher hadn’t left her side for a second, the sweet pain in the butt, but she finally sent him for coffee the next morning.
Well, decent coffee. The stuff they served in the infirmary tasted like fish soup and wasn’t even half as satisfying as the coffee from the campus café. Even with its overly acidic aftertaste.
The infirmary was run almost like a regular hospital. Nurses and wards of sick people, though much smaller. At least she was lucky enough to have her own, private room, one of three as far as she knew. She guessed that was because Hale deemed her too risky to put with other patients.
Who knew when she might lose her shit and go full dark harbinger of death and kill all the patients?
Not that she even knew how to do the murderess thing, but better to segregate her just in case. She could understand that. It wasn’t fun, but she understood they all needed to take precautions. She’d never forgive herself if she accidentally hurt someone.
While Asher was on the coffee run, a commotion came from down the hall. Rayna had been pacing the short line of space between her bed and the hole-in-the-wall bathroom—trying desperately to distract herself so she didn’t open the damn star box again. It still called to her, whispering her name on an endless loop she was struggling to ignore.
A crash echoed through the old building, followed by a guttural roar.
Hesitantly, she stuck her head out of the doorway just as two nurses dressed in crisp white rushed by and slipped into the room next door. Yelling came from inside and she swore she recognized the voice.
She eased out of her room and tip-toed to the next doorway so she could peek inside. Two familiar nurses stood over the bed, hands raised above the man thrashing about like he was being rocked on a boat in the middle of a raging storm.
Hazy blue light flowed from the nurses’ fingers, clouding over him. He jerked away from it and Rayna caught sight of his face.
Professor Balthazar.
She hadn’t seen him in almost two months. Not since Asher was released from the infirmary after the attack, wounded by the Winterhounds. Balthazar had been injured by Apollo himself and ended up in some sort of stasis or coma or the magical equivalent.
She’d assumed he’d been released. Or sent elsewhere for better care.
Okay, truthfully she hadn’t given him much thought after everything that happened. He’d creeped her out too much when they first met and then she felt guilty when he inadvertently got hurt because of her.
Maybe she’d secretly hoped he’d gotten better and quietly left campus.
Instead, he was still at the academy, stuck in whatever condition he’d been in. Only now, he was flailing on the bed like a psych patient.
With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, she glanced at his wrists. Sure enough, there were bonds around them. No brown leather with buckles and straps in this place, but a thin, silvery string tied around his wrist and circling the bars of the bed beneath him.
Moon Thread.
It had to be. The string looked exactly the same and was probably just as indestructible. She’d been tied to Asher with Moon Thread when they’d been reunited two months ago. Rayna had tried cutting it with anything sharp she could get her hands on, then resorted to burning it.
No success there.
Asher said only a daughter of the night could remove it, meaning no one except Nyx’s daughters had the ability to untie the fragile-looking thread.
Had the Primordial goddess placed those bonds on Balthazar?
Or did the academy have access to someone else who could work the thread?
That would’ve been handy two months ago.
Balthazar bellowed louder as the blue light from the nurses coiled around him and disappeared into his torso. Symbols lit up on his chest, fiery red against the powder blue coming from the nurses, filling the room with a purple glow.
Rayna squinted, but she couldn’t see the symbols clearly, only the swashes of red and blue light fighting each other.
What were they even doing to him?
She’d expect trying to heal the poor professor, but the sounds ripping from him sounded like pain and agony. Nothing like healing.
“Miss Knox, please return to your room.” A male nurse ushered her back from the doorway, a calm smile on his face despite the chaos around them.
“But what—?”
“Nothing for you to be concerned about.” He gestured to her room and gave her a stern look. “Now, Miss Knox.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m perfectly fine, you know. I don’t even get why I’m still being kept here.”
“You’re scheduled to be released this evening, but until then, you are to stay in your bed and rest.” He hovered nearby until she was back under the covers, then he fussed with pouring a glass of water before handing it to her. “Drink plenty of fluids.”
Yeah, she didn’t really want to drink the water. It tasted odd and she’d seen little glowing specks in it the night before. When she’d questioned a different nurse about it, the older woman smiled and assured her there was nothing to worry about.
“Fine, I’ll drink it if someone will finally tell me what’s in it. And I mean besides the H2O.”
The male nurse frowned. “Miniature Hippokampi, of course.”
“Miniature Hippo-what?” Rayna choked out.
“Hippokampi.” At her confused look, the nurse took pity on her. “You know, microscopic water horses. Once consumed, they pass into your bloodstream where they swim throughout your body and monitor your vitals.”
She gaped at him like he’d sprouted two heads and frankly that wasn’t entirely impossible. Not when she was literally drinking microscopic horses.
He tried to smother his laugh, but it escaped anyway. “How else do you think we evaluate your condition?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Those heart monitor machine things.”
“Heart monitor?” Now it was his turn to squint at her. Then he waved a hand through the air, dismissing the idea. “That’s ridiculous. The Hippokampi study the entire body and report their findings. Far better than simply monitoring your heart.”
Rayna didn’t bother arguing, but she did ask about the Hippokampi things. “So, now I’m stuck with mini-horses in my blood forever?”
“Oh no, each and every Hippokampos will pass through your system in a couple of days. That’s why you have to keep drinking your fluids or we won’t be able to analyze your recovery status.”
With that, he handed her the glass of water, presumably filled with Hippokampi, and left the room.
Rayna lifted the glass to eye level and stared into it, but the water horses weren’t visible during the day. Not even a trace of anything floating in the water.
“Trying to turn it into coffee?” Asher asked as he entered the room.
“Did you know there are tiny horses in this stuff?”
He laughed and took the glass, setting it on the table beside her, next to the star box, and exchanging it for a piping hot cup of coffee. The whiff of black gold was almost enough to distract her from catching his nod. “Of course. Without them, the Warlocks wouldn’t know how your recovery was going.”
“War—you know what, never mind.” She sipped the coffee and sighed in blissful delight. It was perfect. The best coffee she’d ever consumed and she’d had a lot in her lifetime. Even the faint coppery acidity was delicious after the infirmary’s fish soup. “Did you hear I’m getting out later?”
Asher took a seat on the edge of her bed, leaning one arm over her outstretched legs and crowding her in the best way. “Yep. Delilah’s already planning a little welcome back
party or something.”
Rayna’s eyes widened and she almost spat out her sip of coffee. “What?”
“I bumped into her at the café and she begged to know how you were doing. Gushed about celebrating your return.”
Aw, she’d missed her friend. But, “I’ve been here for like a day. Don’t think that really warrants a welcome home party.”
He shrugged as he ran a hand over her leg in a slow caress, heat seeping through the blanket as if there was nothing between them. She should be so lucky. Maybe once she was out of this stupid place they could have some real alone time.
Well, after Delilah’s welcome bash.
Asher leaned down and rested his head on her thighs, wrapping his arms around her and clutching her tight. He closed his eyes and sighed, like he was releasing the world’s problems with a single breath. Dark smudges marred the skin under his eyes in purple bruises.
He didn’t look like a phoenix shifter in that moment, didn’t look like some magical creature, but a regular, tired guy. Was he worried about her? Or was there something more he wasn’t telling her?
She brushed her fingers through his thick hair with her free hand, letting the soft strands tease her skin. He snuggled closer, tightening his arms around her and shifting as he struggled to fit his huge body on the slim infirmary mattress.
Rayna set her empty coffee cup on the side table, then eased down next to him, trying to give him more space. At least there were no tubes and IVs poking into her veins, nothing to get in the way as Asher surrounded her, tugging her right up against his chest.
She didn’t think she’d be grateful for the weird horses swimming in her veins. But it sure made things easier.
His lips were scorching hot when he brought them down on hers, kissing her so softly it might as well have been butterfly wings. He sank his hand into her hair, clutching her close and tilting her head to gain deeper access to her mouth.
She moaned as his hot tongue slid against hers.
Her heart thumped into her ribcage and she worried the horse things would report it to the Warlocks and interrupt this perfect moment. She tried to calm herself, but it was hard to do when his hands trailed down her neck, over her collarbone, and cupped her breast. His thumb teased her nipple through the flimsy gown she wore.
