Page 162 of Vengeance of the Gods

Marlena couldn’t tell the difference between the voices in her head and her own, not when Vega sucked one of Marlena’s original abilities from her like it didn’t even affect her.

Marlena stood frozen, unable to move until Vega stumbled back, fighting to keep standing.

It does affect her.

Their eyes met, both breathing sharp and labored. “I promised to send you to the underworld where you belonged… Who knew I’d be your escort too?” Vega’s body disappeared like Marlena’s once had.

Marlena’s anger caused delirium, her vision turning red, nothing but the sound of her own scream echoing in her mind.

Vega thought she’d won, but she hadn’t… She won’t.

No one took from Marlena fucking Caelum and got away with it.

She took a step through time, folding Tolevarre into a clean, crisp piece of paper, and stepped out on the other side. Right where she wanted to be.

Bridger helped Meyer down the stairs of the home he’d grown up in, the color finally coming back to his face.

She took one last step, crossing the hundreds of feet that had been between them in less than a second.

By the time they noticed Marlena, it was too late.

One moment she was leaning into Bridger’s ear, whispering the words she knew would haunt him forever. “I hope Vega was worth it.” The next, she stood behind Meyer, blood dripping down her arm. His still beating heart clutched in the palm of her hand. “She did this.”

50

Bridger caught Meyer’s lifeless body before it hit the ground.

I’m holding Meyer’s dead body. I’m crouched on the steps of my best friend’s childhood home, holding his lifeless body. My best friend is dead. My brother is dead. Meyer is dead.

One second he was there.

And now he’s not.

Blood from the hand-sized hole in Meyer’s chest leaked all over Bridger, pooling around his knees. His jaw hung open, his golden eyes fixed on the hot Ardor sun high in the sky. That should hurt his eyes, but it didn’t because… Meyer is dead.

Bridger couldn’t block out the pain he felt with a shield if he tried. He looked up from his position on the ground, expecting to see Marlena hovering over with a sinister smile, but instead he watched Vega appear at the top of the steps out of thin air.

She’d taken another.

Her jaw hung open… like Meyer’s. Tears welled in her eyes… but not Meyer’s. He’s dead. He’d never feel anything ever again.

“No.”

The whisper of her voice inside his head brought his senses back. The iron smell of Meyer’s blood, the warmth of it soaking his suit, the moisture of his cheeks from the tears he hadn’t felt falling.

He hadn’t even noticed his vision was blurry.

Vega sprinted down the stairs and skidded to a stop on her knees.

“The blood.” Bridger babbled his first words, worried about Vega staining her skin with the ichor of his best friend on the steps of his childhood home.

“My best friend is dead.”

“I know, baby, I know. I’m so sorry.” Vega grabbed both sides of Bridger’s cheeks, forcing him to meet her eyes.

Bridger hadn’t meant to say that to her. He’d meant to say it to himself, but it was so fuzzy—the pathway to his own mind and hers. He couldn’t tell which way to go.

With his senses waning in and out, Bridger barely felt the brush of cold empathy against the open door of his mind.