Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75457 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75457 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
I sense the changes before seeing them as I keep my eyes closed. His lips soften, become warm, and fill out. His bony chest and ribs disappear as muscle bulks out his form.
And the most beautiful thing I feel… his heartbeat under my hand.
Maddox jolts, a clear awakening from death, and I push back to see him blinking. His eyes are clear again, ferny green and sparkling with vitality. His face is flushed, skin warm, and his hair…
“Oh,” I breathe out in awe and a little worry. “Did I do that?”
Maddox’s hair is silver-white. Not the dull, brittle stuff that was as dry as winter grass, but as long and luxurious as before, though no longer golden.
It’s an otherworldly color… much like my own.
I glance up at Carrick, and he shrugs.
Maddox sits up, drawing my attention back to him. I keep my hands on his chest, relishing too much in the thick muscles that still can’t hide the beating of his heart.
His eyes come to mine, bore into me not with gratitude but… with nothing.
They’re blank.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“Fine,” he replies tersely, rolling to his side and pushing off the ground, which effectively breaks contact with me.
I scramble up, watch him warily as he takes in the scene. Rune dead, Ariman torn to pieces, and piles of sooty ash where Finley and Carrick eradicated all the demons.
Maddox turns to his brother. “All good?”
Carrick frowns. “Yeah.”
He doesn’t spare me a glance. Merely nods back, then Maddox disappears, bending distance to who knows where.
Finley’s arm comes around my shoulders, and it startles me. I hadn’t realized she’d moved in so close. I look at her. “Is he mad at me?”
“I think he feels the same as he did before all this happened,” she replies gently, giving me a squeeze.
My shoulders sag in defeat. It’s not that I expected him to forgive my callous treatment in exchange for bringing him back to life, but I think a thank-you was in order.
Or at least he could’ve looked at me and not through me.
“Come on,” Finley says, her hand slipping down to take hold of mine. “Come home with me and Carrick. We can sit out on the deck and drink mimosas.”
I shake my head. “Not right now.”
Finley wants to argue. I can see it written all over her face, but it’s her husband who has my back. He takes Finley’s other hand and tugs her away from me. “Let’s go. Zora can visit when she wants.”
She’s unsure, my sister. We’ve only known each other a year, but we’ve been through a lot together. I silently beseech her to give me time, and finally, she offers an accepting smile. “Visit soon,” she demands.
“I will.”
Carrick and Finley bend distance, presumably to their home in California, and my regard shifts to Rune’s corpse. I have no satisfaction seeing him dead, only delight that it was Carrick who landed the final strike.
“What are you going to do with them?” Amell asks.
I hadn’t forgotten he was still here, merely waiting for him to talk. I’m low on words but I know he won’t leave my side until he makes sure I’m okay.
Or as well as can be expected.
I follow his gaze to Onyx at the cages, working to wake up and release the other gods. How dare she tell me not to save Maddox.
How dare she or the others try to make me feel less than an equal fifth of the Council, simply because I’m new.
I learned today as I crushed the Blood Stone, I’m as powerful as they are. I had thought myself weaker because of my lingering humanity, but it’s what makes me stronger than the other four.
“There’s nothing to be done,” I say to Amell, turning my back on the gods to face him. “I am who I am and I do what I want. Circe can take that and shove it in her book of fates.”
Amell chuckles, pure pride emanating from his expression. “You were magnificent today. You are finally everything you’re supposed to be.”
“Maybe,” I hedge. Maddox’s rebuke still stings.
“Want me to kill him?” Amell asks, clearly referencing his new frenemy.
“And undo all that work I did to bring him back?” I say with a mirthless laugh. “No way.”
Amell smiles in understanding. “This would ordinarily be the part where I tell you he’ll come around, but immortals aren’t like humans. A mortal life is but a second to us. Love can last an eternity, and grudges can last even longer. If you had the capacity to hurt a demigod you can be sure it’s of significant force to be infinite.”
“So you’re saying… I don’t have a chance with him?”
Amell shrugs. “I’m saying he won’t get over it easily. But I also just watched you flex some serious determination muscles, so what do I know? If you want him it’s going to take work.”