Page 79 of The Endless One

He gestured around them as though to point out the very obvious.

There were no other gods here. Not that Ajax could see, at least. There was only his throne and Elric’s easily visible. Jessamine’s own throne was slightly behind a pillar, and even if it wasn’t, his brother had never been all that observant. He would be shocked if Ajax noticed anything beyond his own fat head.

Ajax hadn’t even looked around once summoned. He’d only had eyes for Elric, the need to punish far stronger than the need to be safe. But arrogance had always been Ajax’s downfall.

“I am going to rebuild what your little rats broke,” Ajax snarled. “Your coven is in shambles. You were supposed to be dead, along with that ridiculous excuse for a gravesinger. Do I need to send people to Inverholm to take care of the rest? That coven of yours always meddles where it is not supposed to.”

But then he could see Ajax really looking at him. His brother started at Elric’s feet, his gaze taking in every detail of the body before him.

Ajax might not usually be good at details, but he wasn’t a fool. And in this case, he was seeing a very important thing for this god to notice.

“You don’t have a new body,” Ajax muttered. “Why is that?”

Elric rolled his eyes. “I get to choose my body, don’t you remember? The coven that summons me gives me the choice of form. I don’t need to possess a creature like you.”

“Yes, you do. That is how you were given your godly powers. Through possession, Elric.”

“In the beginning. But now I have no need for a form. I’ve grown stronger in all the years since our collective death.” Elric lifted his arms, waving up and down his body. “And I quite like this choice. It’s dashing, and the ladies seem to like it far more than my old one.”

Ajax’s head cracked to the side, his neck making a popping sound before he looked at Elric once more. Yes, this was all going to work almost too well. His brother fell into the usual rhythm with the two of them. Hatred, anger, annoyance—all of those feelings had been there for hundreds of years. There was no shaking it. Elric knew exactly what buttons to push. Just like Ajax knew how to make Elric feel less than he actually was.

“You’ve been dead just as long as I have,” Ajax snarled. “Don’t think that because you were raised before me means that you have an edge over me, little brother. You are the weaker of the two of us. You always have been.”

“Yes, I know. You deal in pain, I deal in death. Theoretically, we could have worked together to become even stronger.” Elric shrugged. “But you got too greedy. As you usually do. And now you are so weak that you cannot even feel when other gods have returned.”

At the words, his brother stilled. It was like Ajax froze entirely to his throne, and then sudden movement.

He stood, all that massive height unfurling from his chair and looming over Elric. And then Ajax stepped down, the entire world seeming to shake with the force of his weight as he stalked off his throne and down the hall toward his brother.

“Elric.” Ajax’s voice pulsed with rage. “What do you mean, ‘gods’?”

Elric remembered that rage. It always came just before pain that was so blinding it was hard to think through. Ajax would do it over and over again. He wouldn’t stop until the god or goddess was writhing on the floor, or curled in a ball so tight they had to wait for hours until their muscles unlocked. It was a fate worse than death.

He swallowed hard and stuck to the plan. Stepping backward, he led his brother in the direction of his own throne. “Ah, Ajax. You know how I misspeak sometimes. It’s not all that surprising that I would.”

“You didn’t misspeak. You said exactly what you meant to say.” Ajax thundered even closer, the sound of his footsteps making every muscle in Elric’s body quake. “What did you mean by ‘gods,’ little brother?”

Elric meant that he wasn’t alone anymore. He meant that Ajax was so blinded by his own need for sovereignty that he hadn’t thought to stay aware of whether anyone else could rival him. There was something humorous about a god who was so bloated in his own arrogance that he genuinely thought no one else could surpass him.

But Elric just stepped up onto his own throne and slowly sat down. “I mean, brother, you aren’t the only one who thought about creating a pantheon. But you were the only one to do it the hardest way possible. Really, trying to shove the Huntress into an unwilling body? You should have known she wasn’t smart enough to trick a queen.”

“You are purposefully not answering my questions, little brother.” Ajax braced his hand against the back of Elric’s throne, looming over him. “Now say what you have to say.”

“I think you should be more aware of your surroundings,” Elric replied. “And perhaps, if you were smarter, you would turn around.”

It was so satisfying to see Ajax’s eyebrows rise in surprise as he turned around in horror to see that there was a new throne in their hallowed halls. A throne that was now so overgrown with ivy, it was almost impossible to see that there was even a seat there.

Elric could appreciate the drama, even if it was perhaps a little overdone on Jessamine’s part. The overgrowth made it nearly impossible to see that there was even a goddess there, other than toes of her bare feet.

He hadn’t known when she was going to show up or where she was going to put herself. But seated on her throne, where he had just worshipped her as only a lover could, seemed fitting. Especially with his brother, unaware of how all that ivy had grown. It was the bursts of her pleasure that had bid them to have a new life. The feeling of her magic growing with every lick and stroke of his tongue.

Ajax let out a little huff of laughter. “You want me to believe that you brought a goddess to life? You, of all people?”

“You can believe what you want. The proof is right in front of you, though, Ajax. I would think it was rather obvious.” Elric tried to keep his voice from shaking in fear. “But you never were all that observant. I suppose it makes sense that even presented with a truth not of your own making, you would rather pretend it did not happen at all.”

He was rambling, but he also knew that Ajax wasn’t listening to him. Oh, no. His brother was looking at that newly alive throne as though he had seen a ghost. He hadn’t, of course. There were no life goddesses when they had both been alive last time, but maybe that was by design.

Ajax likely hadn’t wanted anyone like her to challenge him. Because while he could give pain, she could take it away.