I never thought I’d met the Goddess, let alone meet her more than once. But here she was, her starry form wavering in front of us once again, for what, the third time?
Her form seemed darker somehow, the darkness lingering between her stars appeared black instead of the deep blue from before.
“I’ve been watching what’s been going on,” she said before her form could fully manifest. “What a mess you’ve gotten yourselves into.”
“Is it true?” Lennox wasted no time either. “Did Keziq reverse the spell?”
Astria’s face darkened. “Yes, it’s true.”
“Then how come I’m still alive?” I took a step toward her shimmering form, falling into step next to Lennox.
“I wasn’t entirely honest in my warning. I do think things through, whether you choose to believe that or not. But I would never create a spell that undoing it would eliminate an entire species.”
“You lied to us.” I could feel the anger radiating off Lennox.
“She was clever with her words.” Luciana raised a singledark brow from where she rested, leaning against the dresser with her arms crossed.
Astria ran a hand down her starry form. “I wanted to ensure no one would ever try to reverse the spell—so I lied. I wrote that note as a warning. I never intended the spell to be used—for the journal to be kept so long anyway. I never intended for this all to happen.” She waved a hand dismissively. “It’s not my fault the Galtain’s became so obsessed with me and my history.”
For fucks sake, all the worshiping of her had to have gone to her head. I didn’t care if she was the Goddess, she was self-absorbed and annoying as fuck.
“So only the vampire used to undo the spell dies?” Lennox questioned.
“Yes,” Astria confirmed. “The spell only works on one vampire at a time. It reverses the curse of vampires on that vampire before killing them.
“Well, I guess that’s good news.” I scrubbed a hand over the back of my neck. “But still—Keziq has that ability?—”
“Killing people is one thing, but what she did to that vampire before it died—” My mate shuddered. Lennox turned her gaze to Adreona. “Why didn’t you tell us this before?” I could hear the anger rising in her tone. “All of this—all of this pain and death and—everything. This all could have been avoided if you’d been honest with us! If you’d told us the truth from the start!” Lennox let out a bitter laugh. “Has that always been your intention? To screw us all over? To make us all as miserable for eternity as you are?”
Astria looked as if Lennox had slapped her. I doubted anyone had ever had the nerve to talk to the Goddess the way Lennox did. “Of course not,” she said finally. “I-I just?—”
“I don’t want to hear your excuses. I’ve got more important things to worry about right now. You can fabricate yoursob story and tell it to me once we’ve won this war.” Lennox turned her attention back to the rest of us.
“We have to stop her.” Lennox’s voice left no room for argument. “Her and Adreona will not stop until they’ve killed every vampire on the continent.”
“We need to sever the tie between Luka and Keziq as soon as possible,” Luce interjected.
“Once Keziq is dead that eliminates one of our biggest threats. Taking down Adreona should be easy after that,” I added.
“Well, I wouldn’t say easy. This is still war,” Declan countered.
“But it will help focus our attention instead of having it stretched in different directions,” Lennox argued. “And from what I’ve gathered, she’s kept information from her army; they are unaware of her overall goal—they don’t want to die. They don’t want vampires to cease to exist. If we eliminate Keziq and Adreona and any traces of the spell?—”
Lennox met Astria’s gaze. “That should win us this war…”
The Goddess dipped her chin. “There are a lot of paths that this could end in—this is war after all. But there are paths to the light—there is hope if you can accomplish what needs to be done.”
“But you can’t tell us exactly what needs to be done?”
Astria shook her head, her long, starry hair swaying around her face. “But I can tell you, you are headed in the right direction. Keep on.”
“Okay, we can do this.” Lennox braced her hands on her hips. “Thank you. I know I haven’t exactly been kind to you and I’m still fucking pissed at you, but thank you for what you have been able to give us tonight.”
Astria smirked. “I accept your apology. All thefuck yousare forgotten.”
The side of Lennox’s lip quirked up. “I honestly hope we never have to meet again.”
“Me too, Queen of Stardust.” She dipped her chin in my direction. “Keep that one by your side, and all should be well. I’m glad to see she let go of her stubbornness on something.”
