“Get it together,” he mumbled. “You have conquered worlds. Slain royals. Tortured answers out of the most formidable of challengers. There’s nothing you cannot do.”
And now he gave himself a pep talk? Grinning, she flicked the tip of her tongue against an incisor. He should look and sound like this more often. Made her feel less stabby. For a second or two, at least. Just long enough to inventory the sense of familiarity that had only strengthened. Something that made her feelmorestabby.
Should she reveal herself or wait a bit longer?
“Hello, daughter.” Her father’s greeting ended the mental debate.
A beaming Erebus approached her side. And oh, how the Astra would have thundered if he’d known his most despised foe stood within murdering distance, tucked safely inside a hidden realm.
As usual, the god wore a long robe the color of pitch. The preferred apparel of the ancients, and exactly like the garment Laban had worn in her first and only hallucination. But she wasn’t going to think about that. White corkscrew curls lay in total disarray around a face with heavily lashed black eyes and a large, hooked nose. Thick dark brows proved stark against Erebus’s fair skin. A constant smirk ruined any hint of attractiveness.
“Unless you come with news, leave,” she commanded. “You can torment the other Astra as much as you wish, but Roux is mine.” Especially in here. His bedroom, her territory. A harpy did not cede territory.
“I do come with news.”
Excitement glimmered to life. “Has the time come?”
He offered a slow nod, as if he savored the action. “It has.”
Well, well. The next blessing task was now set in stone, putting Roux up to bat. Soon, the Astra would journey to a prison world known as Ation to cut out the queen’s heart. A task designed by Erebus and one Blythe approved.
How better to separate the golden giant from his brethren and Taliyah, with no one able to come to his rescue? “I’ll be joining him.”
“Of course you will. That was always the plan.”
Once, female-centric species had shipped vile criminals incapable of rehabilitation to the prison realm. Easy to enter but impossible to escape, even if you possessed the ability to flash. Unless your father was a god, and you were a phantom. At least, Blythe expected one of her unique abilities to provide a way home. If she failed to return, well, it was a risk she must take. For Laban. For vengeance.
For Isla.
Finally, her daughter could begin to heal. Eventually, she would understand and even praise Blythe’s efforts.
“When is he to leave?” she asked, a mental to-do list forming. Pack. Hug and kiss Isla goodbye. Warn her sister. Blythe adored Taliyah, despite the General’s annoying defense of the Astra army, and she wanted the beloved woman prepared for the worst—the loss of the blessing and the beginning of the curse.
“Tomorrow,” Erebus replied. “Butyouwill go now, or you won’t go at all.” He delivered the threat without masking his giddiness.
“Wrong.” Her fingers curled into fists. “I’ll go in an hour.”
Silent, he slinked about Roux’s bedroom, examining the warrior’s things, and Blythe followed, huffing with irritation. First her father looked over a stack of folded leathers resting atop the dresser next to a bowl of fruit. On the desk was a piece of parchment with the same three sentences scrawled over every inch of it.She isn’t mine. But she is. But she isn’t.
Interesting. She who? His concubine? And should Blythe kill the woman just for giggles?
“Youareready for this, are you not?” Erebus asked. “I haven’t pinned my hopes on a mistake, have I?”
“I’m ready,” she grated. He sought to manipulate her. But. She hadn’t lied. Shewasready. She’d fed on soul again this morning. She wore the harpy soldier uniform and had two short swords crisscrossed over her back. Daggers hung at her sides and waited inside her combat boots.
“Why delay then?”
“Why move so quickly?” she countered. “You want me at my best, do you not?” Two could play the god’s mind game. If Roux succeeded, completing his task, the entire Astra army would be one step closer to obtaining the blessing. If all triumphed, Erebus earned the curse. An eternal curse this time. No more getting another chance every five hundred years. The outcome of this war forever settled the issue.
“I know what will happen if you leave this room. You’ll visit your brat. She’ll say something disgustingly sweet, and you’ll convince yourself to stay and strike at Roux another way. You’ll lose.”
Dang him. An argument she couldn’t refute. Except for the brat part. Her father possessed the Blade of Destiny, an ancient weapon able to transport him far into the future while remaining entrenched in the present. At any given time, he viewed hundreds of fates at once.
“I’ve already ensured you’ll have everything required for today’s departure and total victory.” He slid an odd-looking purple blade from a pocket of his robe, and a plain black pouch from another pocket. “This weapon is made of firstone. The only substance able to slay an Astra.”
Blythe gaped.Knew it!
“When sheathed in this pouch,” he added, anchoring the weapon inside the material, “Roux will not detect the blade. Better to surprise him...”