Ravens perched on every available surface, their incessant cawing keeping me up each night. Even the air smelled different. Stale. Thin. Sometimes it felt as if I couldn't breathe. Sometimes, when I looked into the mirror each morning, it wasn't my face that stared back at me but a different face. The face from my nightmares.
But it was worth it. As I gazed up at him on his dark throne, I knew without a doubt that it was worth it.
He was worth it.
And it was really him. The voice that had spoken inside my head since I was a little girl, telling me ancient tales and whispering forgotten secrets. Coaching me and my Gift, making me stronger. My parents had called me crazy. My peers had gossiped about me behind my back. Cerise, the girl who heard voices in her head. The girl who thought she was special. I wanted to scream at them, to shout that it was only one voice and that his voice was real. His voice made me special.
I never knew his name, not until I was an adult and I had demanded it from him. Told him I was ready to stop listening, stop helping, if I didn't get the information I craved. So, he told me his name. Crooned it into my ear and over my skin like a lover's caress.
Agares.
The god of Death and Fear.
His vibrant blue eyes peered down at me and he beckoned me closer with an elegant hand. He was more beautiful than I had imagined. Everything that Azmodeous had tried to achieve and had always fallen short of. He was power.
I smiled as I neared him, my lips pulling up in a way that had ensnared so many men in the past.
But he only frowned. "You look horrible. Pity my granddaughter had to ruin your pretty face."
My hand twitched, wanting to reach up and touch the bandage over my broken nose. The stab wound on my shoulder throbbed and my lips twisted at the thought of that smug little bitch.
Sunny, they called her. A ridiculous name for a ridiculous girl. It had been hard enough to keep from vomiting as I watched Azmodeous fawn over her for all those months, dressing her up like a doll. And her sister. If anything, she was worse. At least Sunny had teeth, was willing to strike back at full strength. At least she understood her power. But Josephine. Josephine held back. She was afraid, afraid of herself and what she was capable of. Reluctant to use her Gift, her birthright, to do what she was made to do. Control others. Instead, she looked down her nose at her father and me, pretending she was so superior. It was pathetic. As if whispering death and fear didn't come to her as easily as breathing. As if it wasn't a release.
"The Healer says it'll be completely healed by tomorrow." I paused and peered up at him, sprawled over his throne with casual grace. He looked like them. Those girls. His granddaughters, he'd called them. I needed to know. "Are they really your granddaughters?"
He arched a brow at me. "Feeling inquisitive today, are we, Cerise?" He waved me off when I started to reply. "Yes, they are my granddaughters. I took human form, centuries ago, and had two sons. Your king, Azmodeous, and the Viannese king, Silvius."
"But why?" I couldn't stop the words from spilling forth. "If you needed the blood of your heirs to come back as you are, at full strength, then why wait? Why not do it when Silvius was alive, before he and Azmodeous had a child?"
A look of irritation crossed his face at my questions and, though I'm sure I imagined it, I could have sworn that his form seemed to flicker, replaced by the silhouette of a young girl. But before I could blink, it was gone. And then he was speaking, and my mind was quickly distracted.
"I had planned on that, but then she came along.
Eleyna." He frowned at the name before flipping his hand dismissively, as if batting her away. "I had never planned on having Azmodeous, you know. He was the result of a night with the Ettrian queen one evening when she'd had too much to drink and my body was far too mortal to resist. I had only planned on Silvius. I married that witch Asteria so I could have him and he could return me to my true power. But then Azmodeous came along and, later, Eleyna, and they were both obsessed with her. And then my mortal body became too frail to hold my power and withered away and I had to wait. Wait to be reborn into the form of a child. At least that body was strong enough to contain me." He rolled his eyes, "And of course they both had to impregnate her, and she had to run to Earth, where I couldn't reach, and give birth to those two disasters and give life to that ridiculous prophecy. 'Only they can hold back the blight.' Oh, please. As if they can stop me."
I perked up at that, "So you plan to kill them?
Before they can fulfill the prophecy?"
His head cocked to the side, "No, I plan to make them join me. With their power, I would be unstoppable."
Join him? They would never. Then I thought about Josephine, and that incredible ruthlessness she pretended not to have. I thought about Sunny, smashing my face against the stone floor of that tomb. Perhaps they would.
Steps echoed across the floor and I turned to find Renier entering the throne room, two guards trailing behind him with a large chest.
Agares' eyes gleamed as he approached. "You've found it?"
Renier's eyes looked everywhere but at the god before him and he wiped the sweat from his forehead with his dead black fingers. Coward.
"Yes, my lord, it was exactly where you said it would be."
The members of Azmodeous' court had been shocked when Agares had shown up, announcing that their old king was dead, and the throne belonged to him now.
They had changed their tune when he'd slaughtered half the court without even a twitch.
"Excellent," Agares smiled, the dimple on his cheek at odds with the menace in his eyes. "Bring it here."
I watched the guard's approach. The chest shook suddenly, roughly, and it took all of my will not to jump. Renier apparently had far less will, because he flinched sharply.
The guards sat the chest down at the foot of the throne and Agares smiled down at it with an almost adoring expression as it shook again. I inched closer and Renier and the guards backed away, wondering what it could hold.
Agares touched the lock and, with a flare of black light, it snapped it open. Then he lifted the lid.
The chest rattled again as I peered into it. "What is it?" I asked.
Agares grinned and it was as horrible as it was beautiful. "That, my child, is the secret to accomplishing our goal."
"That’s the secret?"
He looked at me as if he found my naivete charming. "Come now, Cerise, you didn't expect us to remake the world all by ourselves, did you?"
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First, we'd like to thank our parents and siblings for always believing in us. For pushing us forward when all we want to do is give up, and for loving us unconditionally.
Taylor's husband who has been super supportive, and probably super annoyed at having to listen to us hash out story ideas, fix plot holes, and jump with joy over all the craziness that is writing a book.
Our huge family and close friends (you know who you are) who have supported us and read through our first draft even though it was horrible.
And everyone who ever showed any excitement for this series. It's made our hearts so happy and we thank you all so much for giving us that happiness. We'll never forget it.
About the authors
Taylor Bivens was born and raised in a small town in Ohio where she currently resides with her husband, children, and all of the characters living inside her head.
Payton Salmons is a hybrid product of small-town Ohio and West Virginia. She's a fan of chocolate, space cowboys, and creatures both fluffy and scaly.
: @Payton_Taylor_Author
Copyright © 2019 by Payton Taylor
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permi
ssion requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.
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