“You’re outside of every law of physics and magic. There are no rules for you, Belle Marigold Celeste,” she said softly, musically, and lethally. “Be who you want to be.”
“You talk like Septum, full of riddles,” I said.
“Loki won’t tell you this,” she said. “The leyline to the Void is in the Seventh Hell, and it’s a one-way trip. That’s why I couldn’t come with you when I sent my only child to worlds I wasn’t in, leaving me no way to protect you. You’re outside any rulebook and can unmake the gods and the worlds. You can roam and rule in any world if you know how. Do not limit yourself. You’re beyond any mortal, immortal, or god’s limitations. Yet coming to the Void should be your last resort since the realm has craved your return and won’t let you go easily again.”
Her image started shimmering, and I knew we didn’t have much time.
“Mom, I’ll find a way to come to the Void and get you out,” I said eagerly.
“I want you to live to your fullest potential, daughter. You don’t need to worry about me. Vanquish our enemies and make me proud.”
“But Mom—”
She lowered her head, her horns thrusting against my temples, and they turned from silver to crimson.
“What the fuck?” I yelled, trying to shrug her off.
She pinned me against an unseen wall, and pain blossomed in my chest.
Was my own mother deceiving me so she could feed from me?
Feed,she commanded.I’ll see you again, my child.
My mother vanished with her silver flame.
I stumbled, finding myself standing in the core of an inferno that twirled like a firestorm.
Feed,Mom had said.
My arms flew open, and I roared and drank the purest hellfire from Hell’s core.
I was part of Hell, and my mother was its founder and original queen. I’d come home. I was royalty.
Fire and storm and darkness coursed in my veins, reviving me, rebuilding me, and transforming me.
I was full and strong.
I woke up remembering my true name—Belle Marigold Celeste—and my demigods’ faces emerged from the shadows. They were no longer obscure outlines. Everything about them was etched in my mind and my heart and would never be lost again.
Time could no longer damage me in the realm of the inferno.
Walking down memory lane, I gazed into the bright eyes of my demigod mates, and each gaze held the wonders of the galaxies.
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