Page 70 of Vengeance of the Gods

Bridger needed her to save him. Their relationship was complicated, but Vega realized one thing—she didn’t want Bridger to die.

Vega reminded herself over and over of this as she steadily walked towards Bridger and the man still clutching the piece of portal sticking through his chest. “Not him. You don’t get him.” She didn’t say it as a request. Vega commanded it.

“Vega, no.” Blood gargled up Bridger’s throat, dripping down his lips and chin.

“He won’t live without you anyway. If anything, I’m doing him a favor. Now he won’t endure the pain of the bond breaking when death comes for you and the others are forced to follow.” Romulus took a disgusted step back, letting go of the piece of portal he held him up by when more blood splattered from Bridger’s mouth.

Vega raced forward and dropped to her knees, catching Bridger under his arms before he collapsed. Her eyes met his as she held him up. Life was still there, twinkling like a star threatening to burn out. “You don’t get to go anywhere, do you hear me? I’m not fucking finished with you.” Vega gently rested her hand on the end of the portal sticking out of Bridger’s chest. “You need to heal. I need to get you home.”

“I can’t leave you.” Bridger gritted his teeth, the words almost too garbled to understand, but he fought to keep himself upright without Vega’s help.

She rose from her kneeling position and acted on a whim, knowing this was going to do damage. She drove her foot into the large part sticking from Bridger’s chest, snapping it in two.

Bridger bellowed, but his body quickly succumbed to the shock, slumping down as he fell into oblivion.

“After all he’s done, you’re willing to save him?” Romulus asked from a safe distance away, his black eyes darting to the jagged portal sliver in Vega’s hand.

Vega stepped behind Bridger and bent to grab him by the collar of his shirt. “I’m a god. I will not explain my actions to a useless man.”

He lunged for Vega, but she was done playing the victim, done being hurt. It was over. This is over.

“A useless man?” He barked a laugh, returning to the dead version of Chase. “He was a useless man.” Romulus switched again, to a brunette who loved to pretend Vega was a punching bag. “He was a useless man.” He returned back to his natural image. “I am not a useless man. I’m the son of Mars, god of war. A direct descendant of the original bloodline.” His words must have given him an ego boost, because he stopped retreating and took an overly confident step towards Vega.

She squeezed tight around the shard of portal, getting her blood to flow thick down it again. “You’re a half-blood demigod. I’m a descendant of two bloodlines and bonded to three other original bloodlines.” She swirled the makeshift blade at him, smirking when the tip clipped his cheek and blood spilled out.

He hissed, the cut bubbling around the edges of the sensitive skin.

There was something about her blood mixing with the shattered piece of her curse. Her blood acted as a poison when mixed with the power of the portal.

She had to get Romulus inside the portal. But she had to get Bridger there first.

“I should have beat you more in this life.” The dead-like face of Chase stared back at her, his head cocking to the side and bobbing with the open neck wound.

Vega gently let Bridger down and took a note out of her very first book—the one from the first life where she’d been trained by the greatest warrior in Tolevarre’s history.

Strike first.

Vega rushed forward, spearing Romulus through the shoulder. He’d nearly wrapped his hands around the end of the blade as it came back out of his body, but Vega ducked and rolled, taking him out by the knees.

The back of his head hit the ground first, rattling his senses long enough for Vega to drive the piece through his eye socket. It came out the back of his head and sank in the dense forest floor.

Chase stared up at her with one dead eye—it was the blue color they were supposed to be. A chill shot down Vega’s spine.

Romulus would be back.

There was only one way to finish him, and she would, once Bridger was safe.

Vega would drag Romulus to his death—because hers would be waiting for her on the other side of the portal.

It was all making sense now.

By breaking a piece of her death curse, Vega had connected two realms long since left behind.

With one hand keeping hold of the blade, Vega grabbed Bridger by the collar again and pulled him the rest of the way.

He groaned, letting her know he was still alive.

Vega leaned him against the branch holding the remaining piece of portal together, squatting down to place her hands on either side of his face. “Bridger, you better fucking live or I’m going to kill you when I join you in the afterlife.” Without thinking, Vega placed a soft kiss on his blood-splattered lips. Her hands slid to his shoulders, and she shoved Bridger through the portal, watching until he disappeared.