I was distracted for only a nanosecond, worrying about my mates’ feelings and safety, and the gods took advantage of it. An iota of their combined forces bypassed the shield of my Flame and speared my guts.
Pain shot up from my stomach to my chest like a burning iron rammed up to my heart. My vision blurred, and I saw death stars wheeling around me in infinite space.
I thought having the Living Flame in me meant I could take on the original gods. I’d underestimated my enemies. There was a reason they had defeated the Titans, their forefathers.
I clenched my teeth, shoved down the pain, and pushed my power toward the gods with more effort until I realized that they were chipping away at my power while I patched up the tiny hole in my Flame-shield.
These leeches were power thieves, absorbing their enemies’ magic to swell their own. Hades grinned at me while he used the death fire to drain me.
The legend said that I had the power to unmake the gods, but I must make sure to strike them at the right moment. I was no longer the ruthless Marigold who hunted in the Crack. Great power begets greater responsibility.
And I was still learning about the Living Flame—its range, scale, depth, and limit. I’d used part of it to blast open the black dome. If I just blasted the gods with all I had now and passed out without vanquishing them, my mates would be dead.
As I locked my power with the gods’, I was learning their strength, weakness, and essence, endeavoring to find an opening to strike and guarantee a win.
The gods nipped at my Living Flame, and waves of pain throbbed in my head, yet I still held.
The battle raged around me.
While my mates and my father’s team culled our enemies, the opposing army also thinned our numbers. We couldn’t afford to lose any more warriors.
Yet I still had to wait to deliver one fatal strike and incapacitate the gods.
Pain twisted in me, and sweat dampened my armpits.
Then howling rose in the distance. The sound of a great force approaching turned everyone’s head. The battle froze for a second as a spectacular sight loomed into view.
Queen Lilith stood tall on the platform of her majestic carriage driven by hundreds of beasts, a diamond crown sitting between her horns that burned with silver flame. Three dozen Amazon-like armored warriors, some of them having tried and failed to seduce my mates in the Ivory Tower, flanked her.
Lilith raised her angelblade into the air and roared. “To war!”
Angel yowled beside the queen, and her warriors shouted bloodthirsty battle cries.
“Defend the Princess of the Void!” Lilith screamed, and the Amazon warriors echoed.
I grinned. Mom had come. And she brought my hellhound.
“What the hell is that?” Hades shouted.
“That’s Queen Lilith,” Tartarus offered. The warden had been darting his eyes back and forth, watching the battle in fascination. He’d kept his mouth shut until now. “She’s quite famous here, and in Hell and Heaven. No wonder you haven’t met her before. Whenever you came to the Void, you never lingered. You came in, checked on a few Titans, and left as soon as you could. Unlike this time. Isn’t the Queen of the Ivory Tower a sight to watch?”
“The demon queen!” Poseidon spat. “She bred this abomination spawn with a delinquent Titan.”
“She was once the most powerful archangel. She ranked above Lucifer before he stabbed her in the back,” Tartarus said with some sympathy. “She might not take it kindly if you call her daughter a demon spawn or an abomination in front of her. Queen Lilith has a formidable temper. Her warriors are all mean, too, though very sexy.” Over Poseidon’s glare, he stepped back and raised his hands in surrender. “I’m just giving you a heads up.”
The beasts turned in unison and spun the carriage toward the gate.
Lilith leapt off the spinning carriage, as lithe and powerful as a lioness. Her warriors followed suit.
“Battle!” the queen ordered. “Kill everyone in your path!”
“Show no mercy!” The warriors in sexy armor charged through the gate ahead of their queen to clear the path for her. Angel bounded after them.
Half of the prison sentinels peeled away from attacking us and rushed to meet the Amazon warriors’ challenge, and one-third of the remaining guards deflected, walked away, and stood with Tartarus on the sideline.
Lilith stalked toward the gate in her dark glory. As all eyes fell on her, she let herself radiate like the morning star. Her silver eyes shone so seductively that even the original gods sucked in a breath as lust swirled in their eyes.
“My Lilith, my beautiful flower,” Dad murmured, an adoring smile breaking on his savage face, while he still rammed his mace into Cronus’s scythe.