Page 10 of Vengeance of the Gods

Once she found out how to curse her sister, how to curse a god to die, then Marlena would find a way to break Bridger’s bond before killing the other three.

“Do you think you’ll be able to handle that? She seems to be quite crafty herself if she outsmarted and escaped you twice.”

Remind him of his failures—of why he needs you still.

Bridger smiled sarcastically. “She knows my moves, which just goes to show her mind is as clear as it's ever been. Whatever she’s gone through in these lives created a new Vega. One who isn’t afraid of you, Marlena. One who might be successfully on Earth with her memories right now… on the hunt for the end of a curse you can’t afford to let her break yet.” If she broke it before Marlena had her next move planned, she would no longer be on top.

“This might be the only opportunity you get to find out everything she knows, everything she’s learned about the curse you don’t understand, and I’m offering to deliver it to you on a silver platter… But for whatever reason, you’re still questioning my allegiance. When will it end?”

He’d never done her wrong since joining her regime. He’d made mistakes, of course, but they all had in their growth to where they stood now.

Marlena was sick of mistakes.

“What’s in it for you?” she mused, flipping her hair over her shoulder with a small gust of perfectly placed wind.

Bridger’s eyes didn’t wander down her exposed neck. “We find a way to remove my bond. I live. They die.”

Marlena searched Bridger’s face for any sign of deceit. When she found none, she asked, “How do I know you’re serious?”

Bridger pulled the collar of his shirt down, revealing a scar over his heart. “Because Vega tried to kill me the day she escaped at Lake Vehemens as a way to test if you were telling the truth about being gods, and I want to return the favor one last time.”

A bubble of laughter escaped through Marlena’s lips, the sound giddy with excitement. “There he is. The god of wrath. I’ve been waiting for you to emerge.”

5

Marlena’s reflection stared back at her in the room of mirrors. Her image multiplied, filling the space with the powerful woman she’d become.

A room that had once been used to torture her was now a room full of tiny curses. Living, breathing memories—pieces of a sister she could barely remember loving.

A crack split the largest mirror in two, held together by only its frame. Marlena had found it broken before they discovered the portal’s damage.

“She got it right.”

Marlena knew the voice was right. As its creator, she could feel the curse wavering. It was hard not to wonder what fallout Marlena would face if the curse was to be broken.

How much of herself was connected to her sister by a death curse with their shared blood? A curse this big could usually only be broken by the creator… Marlena hadn’t been ready to make something this large with brand new abilities she had yet to fully understand.

“We warned you.” Multiple gods rattled inside her mind like a chorus.

They’d told her not to use the power in her blood—had warned her she wasn’t ready. To no one’s surprise, Marlena hadn’t listened.

It was the only thing she’d go back and do differently. She’d give herself more time to understand the gods and how the powers worked. Marlena hadn’t mastered them all at once. It had taken years to control them at the level she could now.

“She has her memories, but that doesn’t mean we’ve—I’ve lost,” she said out loud. “I still have time to fix this.”

Marlena took a step forward and placed a hand over the crack in the reflective glass. She closed her eyes and inhaled until there was no room left inside her lungs. Fireflies danced across the darkness of her vision, filling her mind with a memory that wasn’t hers.

Vega’s head fell back in laughter as Bridger wiped his face with the palm of his hand, smearing the glow of a squished lightning bug across his cheek. “Vega, don’t laugh!” he scolded, trying to be stern while fighting against a laugh of his own. “I killed the poor thing.”

The bugs flickered across the night sky. Some fluttered by, others landed on the two, interrupting their midnight frolic among the Aeris mountainside.

“Bridger Dimico, future commander of Tolevarre, afraid of fireflies.” She couldn’t get more than a few words out at a time without laughing.

“I don’t like the feel of them crawling on me.” Bridger shuddered, still trying to clean the murder remnants off his face.

When Vega finally stopped laughing, she closed the distance between them. “Here.” She reached her hand up to his cheek and wiped the glowing guts off with the sleeve of her sweater. She didn’t pull away, allowing the tips of her fingers to gently graze against Bridger’s skin.

The air around them stilled, Bridger’s hand darting up to wrap around Vega’s wrist. He held her touch in place, his eyes boring into hers with a look Marlena knew too well.