Page 80 of Vengeance of the Gods

Bridger rolled his head to face Leo. “And who are you? I don’t believe I was talking to you, but⁠—”

Fire blazed through the tip of Leo’s weapon, searing Bridger’s skin like a tiny branding iron. With one sweep of his leg, Bridger took Leo’s feet out from underneath him.

Vega wasn’t the least bit surprised he’d done so with his hands still raised around his shoulder’s height.

Leo jumped up, ready to retaliate, but Vega stepped in between, her eyes fixed on the fire-wielder who looked ready to detonate. “He can’t die, but you can. Stop.” Vega pushed Bridger back with a hand to his chest, his smug-ass grin dying the second her palm touched the skin between his open shirt.

She didn’t have time to think about the way her body begged for more now that they were back in Tolevarre with their powers and a broken curse. Everything was heightened—her senses, her connections to the bonded.

And more importantly, a hunger for something more rumbled in the open pit of her mind… Vega couldn’t stop staring at Bridger, the softness she’d seen coming back on Earth returning now that Marlena was gone.

“Take him to the caves.” Khort ordered.

The caves.

Back to where the rebellion had first begun.

28

Vega squeezed Arlet as hard as she could, shedding a few tears while they continued to hug each other and not let go. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I put you in her path. I never expected her⁠—”

“Stop.” Arlet pulled away from their hug and stared into Vega’s tear-filled eyes. A floodgate had opened when they arrived at the caves and had a moment to themselves. Bridger was locked in a cell alone—officially a prisoner of the rebels. “It’s not your fault. I’m sorry I didn’t trust your plan.”

Khort nodded in agreement. “We should have trusted you. We let the fear of losing you blind us from what needed to happen. You were right. You did it.”

I did it. But at what cost?

There were no regrets trading her life for theirs… But a prickle of sadness spread through her veins like poison. An ache for the life she thought she could have if she fought hard enough.

The peace she’d hoped for would never come.

Vega had given that up the night she begged for her sister’s death and hadn’t even known it.

Soon, Vega would have to face the anger she knew would be waiting for her when she was alone—but not yet. She had plenty of time to be mad about her fate, now wasn’t the time to wallow in self pity.

“How?” Arlet asked, searching her best friend’s face like the answer was hidden under the smeared blood covering Vega’s skin.

Vega wiped at her tears, pulling her hands back to see the evidence of Romulus's death… and then she told them everything she could, skipping over anything hinting to what Vega had done, what she’d given up, or who might be the cause of it all.

“I got wrapped up in breaking the curse, in realizing how close I was to saving us. I got wrapped up in him, unable to fight the bond of our souls.” Vega took a breath, wiping at her nose. “Gods, it happened so fast. It was like neither of us could tell our bodies no, and it didn’t matter how many times my brain reminded my heart what he’d done to me. And now, fuck, now I can feel everything. I can feel his breathing again. I can see where he is if I close my eyes. He can talk to me… inside.” She stopped, watching them try to school their shock at her confession. “I hate what he did to us, but I know there’s a side to his story we might never understand.”

Khort made a noise sounding a lot like a strained laugh. “Vega, he left us to run the army of, let’s just call her what she is, our mortal enemy.”

Vega stayed calm. “Enemy or not, we know what Marlena is capable of—the abuse she’s capable of. Two years is a long time to be subjected to any kind of torture. Two years with Marlena?” She fought away the shudder creeping up her spine. “You were let go after seventeen days. Imagine what over seven hundred more would have done to you.”

Khort narrowed his eyes. “Seventeen days, and then she killed my mom, only two years before the curse she put on my land would take my sister’s life.”

“She’s killed everyone, Khort. Every single person we love that can die is dead, and if they aren’t, they probably will be. She’s left us with no one except each other. I’m not looking to fight. I don’t want to fight with you two anymore. We’re finally one step ahead of her. Finally. After fifty-five years we get to say we’re ahead of her.” Vega ran a hand through her battle worn hair, thankful for the wet cloth someone had brought her earlier to wipe her face clean.

“What did you do to her?” Arlet asked softly, keeping her voice low so no one else would hear.

Vega froze for a split second too long. Khort raised his brow, and Arlet crossed her arms.

Her friends knew her too well.

She couldn’t talk about it all yet, not when she didn’t understand the first thing about what she’d done. Part of her was still trying to convince herself it was all a lucid dream. But whenever she did, the darkness within surfaced, waiting to crawl its way up the pit the second Vega summoned it.

“I took Diana.” Vega couldn’t get around hiding everything, so she told them what she could.