“Leave here and never return,” she commanded him. Some instinct within her said he wouldn’t. But Sparrow’s voice came, quick and light, inside her mind.
Even if he can’t have you, Sparrow said sadly, he will find another woman to bear a child for him to sacrifice. That’ll be enough to make him a full demon.
Chloe couldn’t allow Norman to destroy another woman’s life—to kill her child. The idea that he’d only been upset at her miscarriage because he wanted to kill the baby turned her stomach. Yet after everything he’d done to her, everything he would have done, Chloe found it difficult to kill him now.
She had to. But it wasn’t easy.
Sparrow put a hand on her shoulder. “I can do this for you. Allow me.” He raised a hand to finish Norman off, but Chloe clutched it. Why? Why did she want to show Norman any kind of mercy after everything he’d done?
Sparrow smiled gently, though his eyes shone with tears as he spoke as if he’d heard her thought. “Because you’re a goddess, Gaia. Because you command creation, not destruction.”
Norman, still writhing in pain on the ground, laughed. “Creation? Everything she’s ever touched has been destroyed.”
“Hold your tongue,” Sparrow ground out. But Norman continued.
“Your mother died young because of problems that arose while she was pregnant with you,” he spat at her. “You managed to kill our child before I could with your faulty womb. I ended up in prison because you thought to run from me. And your father died because of what you are. You destroy everything you love, Chloe. Don’t let him trick you into thinking otherwise.”
Sparrow’s eyes on her were like a touch while he waited for her to react. Chloe managed to swallow, her spine straightening as the implications of what he’d said sank in.
“What do you mean my father died because of what—”
“Your father hated us,” Norman said, his voice ending in a whine of pain. “He did his job for a paycheck, but he never liked any of my family, least of all me. When my father discovered that he knew we were demons…let’s just say my father gets things done. If your father had stayed alive, you could never have been mine.”
He laughed, blood bubbling over his lips. “All these years and you never put it together, how convenient it was for you to move in with us after he died. I would have thought…a reincarnated goddess…might be a little smarter.” He wiped the back of his hand over his mouth, smearing blood over his cheek. “Guess you got your intelligence from his side of the family.”
The hole in his chest closed with a crackling sound that Chloe barely heard over the rush of blood in her own ears. The tears that streaked down her face were hot, and they left the taste of salt on her lips. Sparrow’s hand raised—she knew he was going to kill Norman for her after that confession, because he loved her and wanted only to protect her.
Sparrow was right. There could be no mercy for one such as Norman. Only justice for her ruined life—and her father’s murder—and a baby’s life spared in the future.
“My father was twice the man you could ever be,” she hissed. Every ounce of hatred pooled inside her into a molten core that came out on her enraged scream with a push, and as the bolts of fire flew from her, lightning sparked from Sparrow’s hand, and with an ear-splitting scream of anguish, Norman was gone.
On Earth, Senator Allen Greyson felt his son die seconds before the searing heat drilled into him and left only a black scorch mark and some ash on the desk and chair in his den.
Chloe rocked on her feet, the force of her fury nearly toppling her. Sparrow’s hand steadied her. Together, they watched the small pile of ash scatter on the wind as it swirled around them, then died down to a breeze as the light came back to the sky, blue again, once more filled with chirping birds and butterflies.
“Sparrow,” she whispered, and she didn’t have to say anymore. He pulled her into his arms, holding her tight while she mourned her father all over again with her face pressed against his neck.
Her tears finally stopped as she realized the nightmare was truly over. Norman was gone, his father was gone, and they were never coming back.
Epilogue
“Once again, as we have eternally, we vow loyalty and allegiance to you, Gaia, and your consort, Jagar Anereroth. We will flourish under your gentle rule, serving you and…”
Sparrow only heard bits and pieces of the speech. Chloe stood in front of a glass and golden throne, a delicate filigree crown on her head and flowing robes decorated in white, purple, and gold. Her eyes were the blue of the perfect sky above them. Thousands of spirits and animals gathered around to witness her official coronation as the new Gaia, taking her rightful place in her palace, with Sparrow by her side.
After they’d killed Norman together, Sparrow thought it was time to leave the Twilight, at least for a while. Chloe had been reluctant, but once she realized they could go back anytime they wanted, she was willing. Her palace and its grounds were even more beautiful than his home, and far more befitting a goddess than his simple cottage. But she’d loved it there and made it clear they would go there often.
Sparrow was dressed in palace finery, a silk tunic and tights beneath it, white edged with gold, and a small crown sat atop his hair. Several bluebirds swooped down behind Chloe to lift the train of her robe as she reached out to take Sparrow’s hand to descend the steps of her throne as the crowd cheered and applauded her crowning and their joining made official.
Pride swelled in Sparrow’s chest to watch her take to her new role with patience and kindness, greeting those who wanted to speak to or touch their new goddess. She did so well, even though she’d admitted to him she felt like a fraud in many ways still. Her powers were real enough, but it felt like it belonged to someone else and she was only borrowing it.
He promised her that would come in time, and it would. Until then, she acted as if she were royalty for their sake, and that would be enough.
The feast that had been prepared in the courtyard to honor her and feed the guests was enormous. Sparrow sat by Chloe’s side and ate heartily, thrilled when she offered him a piece of orange from her fingers, like the orange he’d first peeled for her when she was on her way home from the motel. It seemed they’d come full circle.
Chloe had healed quickly from her battle with Norman, her skin perfectly whole and healthy by the time she’d cried herself out in Sparrow’s arms. She’d accepted her destiny, embraced it, and now their lives together could begin.
Sparrow looked forward to a lifetime of making her happy. To think he’d only joined the palace guard to get revenge against a father he rarely ever spared a thought for these days. Such nonsense.