Of Darkness and Crowns (Goddess Wars 2)

The veins of her face swirl, shifting position as she cackles…and before the thought fully enters my head, I remove one hand and slash my arm against the sharp feathers of her headdress.

My tainted blood spills over her.

Bale releases a violent shriek and drops me. I scramble on my hands and knees toward Caben, where Bax is already lifting him into his arms, Lena and Kaide grabbing his feet. My eardrums feel as if they’re about to burst, but I push through the pain.

Before I reach them, Bax releases Caben and looks past me. I want to yell, force him to hurry and get Caben out…but the black mist curling around us forces me to turn my head. Just look back once.

The dark tendrils twirl around Bale, cocooning her, as she raises her hands and summons the light of the moon. Somehow, through some link, I understand what she’s doing: healing. And fast.

Lilly’s hand is under my arm and dragging it around her neck, pulling me up to stand beside her. “We’re all leaving—” Her words break off as a rumble echoes throughout the temple. The walls begin to shake.

? 31 ?

Kaliope

THE TEMPLE IS COLLAPSING.

Whatever power Bale is calling forth from her moon, it’s bringing the whole damn building dow

n around us. The walls tremble, sending blocks of stone and moonstone crashing and breaking apart the marble floor.

I’ve only just been lifted, Lilly gathering me close, as a blast hits the main support structure. It hurtles toward us. The last thing I see is Bax covering Lilly before we’re thrust into darkness.

A cacophony of noises—shouts, stomping, banging—clashes in my ears as I suck in a smoggy lungful of air and cough. “Find her!” I hear many voices yelling, calling to locate Bale. With somewhat little clarity, I realize the temple has been attacked. Either by the Otherworlders or the armies.

When the rubble starts to clear above us, I glimpse a hand—a human hand—and release a heavy breath. The army. But that relief is short-lived. If they’ve defeated the Otherworlders and are now seeking Bale, they’re not here to help us.

We’re the traitors.

Before I can pull myself from the wreckage, a scream rips through the ruins. My head swings around, my gaze finding its source. Bale hovers above of the demolished sanctuary, black vines of mist and snapping currents of power coiling around her in a gathering vortex of smoke and light.

Then with the clap of her delicate hands, another, more powerful explosion ignites. The blast clears the remaining rubble from the center of the sanctuary, only to pile more on top of us. But in the flash that it happens, I see it all as if in slow motion. A dip in the floor beneath her suspended feet. The floor bending inward, swirling like a whirlpool, then rebounding and sending a wave of debris spewing from all around her. Spiraling out and raining down…

I lift my arms.

And everything stops.

Fragments of gold and copper leafing scatter the air, reflecting the moonlight and erupting fires, sparkling like molten sand. Above Bax’s head, a large cornerstone hovers mid-careen. A storm of moonstone and rubble surrounds us, wisps of smoke caught just as it begins to curl.

Taking a labored breath, I ease myself onto my knees and slowly lower my hands.

“Kal?” Lilly’s questioning tone sounds distant and distorted in our sheltered cocoon. Where, outside of it, the protectors and Bale move so slowly, they’re practically frozen.

“I don’t know…” is my only response. Because I don’t. But I do understand whatever time we’ve been allotted, it’s not enough to shield us for long.

As the others are hauling themselves from the ruins, I quickly account for each person. All are here, all are alive, if only banged up and bruised. Any substantial injuries will have to wait until later, when I might be able to heal—

And with that sudden thought, I’m scouring the wreckage, tearing full-size boulders away from the pile like pillows, searching for Caben. I find him under a section of wall. How long has it been since Bale’s ascent? Since his death? Seconds…minutes? Like this frozen moment of time, the instant I saw him die, all time ceased.

But it doesn’t matter. My hands are clearing away the flecks of silver leafing and debris from his face, away from his mouth and nose. I palm his cheeks, cold, but still giving off a small amount of body heat. The world around me slips away as I stare down at him. Feel his smooth skin, his soft hair. Tears cloud my vision. I don’t stop them from falling.

I use every emotion welling within me. I call forth every memory I have of him—from my most infuriating to my happiest. From the second I first threatened his life, to the instant when I first realized I loved him, when he touched me in a way no other ever has. And when he kissed me, and then my deformity, accepting and loving—I use it all.

And when my hands flare into that bright white light, I don’t fear it. I don’t see my father’s face as he was rendered to madness. I don’t envision the Dark Priest as he was right before I rectified the damage done to him. I refuse to think of all the fear that coursed through me with every patient I healed while trying to understand my powers…I only allow the warmth to spread, the glow to envelope us, and my heart to beat with no barrier blocking the mercury.

“Come back to me,” I whisper, my voice breaking.

As the glow spreads, seeping into his skin and illumining it, filling him with warmth and living essence, his chest bucks. I startle, a wave of hope crashing over me. I don’t hesitate. I send another high level of power into him, and this time, his eyes open and he gasps.