Page 72 of Vengeance of the Gods

The curse.

“Death,” something hisses from within my mind, slipping through a door I didn’t know was there. It slithers up my arm like a snake set to strike, a heat that burns like frostbite following behind in the same path… ready to take whatever is left of me.

I babble, unsure if what I’m saying or hearing is real. “I broke my curse. It’s over.”

A different voice, one I’ve heard before, speaks. “You’ve had enough time. Your destiny awaits.”

A girl destined to die.

Cursed to forget, but destined to die.

Die.

Death.

“Death is my destiny.” The words calm me, the same frosted heat extending to the edges of my mind.

“Death belongs to me,” he purrs like a sated kitten by a warm fire.

The same hiss from before growls inside my head. I feel the urge to defend it. “We belong to no one.”

We?

The presence in my brain vibrates gently in agreement.

“Your soul was mine before you begged for the power to kill her.”

I become more aware the longer I fall through the endless portal, clinging to whatever life I have left. I’m bound to the others… If I die… “Let me save them…”

I won’t let them die because of me. “I can’t let them die because of me,” I sob.

Orange embers spark to life, illuminating the shadows they swirl in. It’s the only thing I’ve seen since the fall began.

The embers fall to ash, and the temperature grows cold. “And if I let you save them, what do I get in return?”

“What do you want?” I hear myself ask.

The voice echoes. “The dead gods inside your sister.”

The gods are inside Marlena… Of course…

The hiss inside my head is louder this time, angrier. If it had teeth, if it existed outside my mind, it would have torn through skin in response.

What will you sacrifice to save the people you love? How far are you willing to go to kill your sister?

I feel myself nod, and the embers come back in time for me to watch the shadows peel Romulus from my grip. His body disappears inside them, and then I realize I’m no longer floating. I’m standing at the bottom of a stone well.

“If you give me the power to save Tolevarre from Marlena and keep the bonded alive, I’ll personally deliver the gods along with my sister’s soul as a bonus.” The embers swirl around me, catching in a torrent of air.

A screech pulsates the vessels in my brain, blurring my vision. The well fades away, and the floor falls out from underneath my feet.

I’m falling again.

“Death suits you.” The voice—his voice—circles my head. “I think I’ll let you have her.”

Venom lights my veins on fire. I scream, or at least I think I do, but I’m cracking into pieces.

There was before the curse.