Page 11 of Vengeance of the Gods

It was the same look he’d worn the night he met her.

Love. He loved her from the moment he laid eyes on her.

Marlena snatched her hand away from the mirror, ripping the vision from her mind.

They had been so young.

Marlena could tell by the outfit Vega wore how old she was. It was a memory from before—a memory from a life Vega never got the chance to live.

The original.

It wasn’t often Marlena allowed herself to watch the memories stored inside the haunted mirrors, but when she did, they always left her feeling the same.

Hollow.

Marlena unwound the thread of invisible power inside her blood from Mercury, the god of Fraus—god of travel and trickery and the messenger of the gods.

Marlena had two abilities from him: the power to travel through their realm’s invisible channels, jumping from place to place, and the power living inside her blood.

It felt like none of the others, snaking through her veins like poison. It bubbled like boiling water at the tips of her fingers, but no one would be able to tell. This was a power hidden inside her blood.

Benders, who were also coined Tolevarre’s witches, were gifted Mercury's power but couldn’t use it to travel. Instead, they were able to bend the power inside their blood and use it however they could. Some would help heal others with potions and tinctures, then use that same potion to kill their victim. Others could use their blood to curse another living object. Not all could, but a curse wasn’t the worst thing a strong bender could do to someone.

Only a few had ever been known to use their power to create the way Marlena could. Mercury himself, a few of his earliest descendants, and an unnamed woman no one had heard from in over three centuries.

It was Marlena’s least favorite power of the dead gods inside her. The one she didn’t like to use and avoided like a sickness.

How ironic it might be the strongest and deadliest power she possessed.

Marlena drew her dagger and sliced down the center of her palm, doing the same to the other. She should have felt pain, but the flow of Mercury’s ichor spilling out of her open wounds numbed her.

The sensation of raw power flooding out of Marlena was euphoric.

Stronger than love. Stronger than sex.

Not letting it take over yet, Marlena focused on what she wanted, the purpose of this creation. She reached out and smeared her crimson blood down the crack in the mirror.

Her blood bubbled against the glass, fixing the crack in less than a breath. “To Vega,” she whispered in Latin, waking the voice of Mercury inside her brain.

“To your sister.”

It took everything inside Marlena not to lose her control over the longing in his voice. “To the place our world started. A portal for the new gods.”

The wave of power in her blood made Marlena lose her breath, her lungs tender from the sudden loss of air. Pain quickly turned into a pleasure so overwhelming, Marlena was finally able to inhale a shaky breath.

Closing her eyes, Marlena let her head fall back, concentrating only on the purpose of the power making her head go fuzzy. Her lips parted, and she heard herself whimper, feeling like an unwanted guest in her own body.

The buzz in her head drowned out the Latin chants she babbled, drawing her into the broken mirror.

Power poured from Marlena, lighting her body ablaze as she lost control of her legs and sank to the floor. Her head swam with desire, and she panted through the newest wave taking over.

Her hand stayed glued to the mirror, but Marlena had lost the ability to focus, everything around her a blur.

All she knew was how badly her blood sang with need.

“Fuck,” Marlena moaned, fighting to keep focus on what she’d intended to wake this power for. It made the impossible possible in most situations, but it made her lose herself to her body and mind.

It ruled her, dragging her into the undertow, where all she could do was hope to be spit out when it was done with her.