Page 9 of Vengeance of the Gods

The gods inside warned to keep her mouth shut, but whatever was left of Marlena’s original voice whispered of all she stood to lose if Bridger disappeared.

Reluctantly, she answered. “It started as a cursed mirror and the blood of two sisters.”

Bridger didn’t hesitate or pause. “You think you could build another one straight to her?”

Marlena opened her mouth, readying to tell him there wasn’t anything she couldn’t do, when a more important question arose. “Why would you be interested in a portal straight to Vega?”

“It took Arlet years to figure out how to navigate Earth comfortably and efficiently. We don’t have years. I think it’s better I get the job done quickly and come back to continue preparing for your war.” Bridger’s words were sharp enough to draw blood.

How Arlet had found Vega all those times before had been a mystery to Marlena until the responsibility fell to Bridger. It came in the shape of a dream in the exact location they would find Vega—nothing else. The rest had been on Arlet to figure out.

She found herself wondering how the earlier versions of Arlet even figured out how to survive in a new world. Mousy Arlet Videri, spending all her time alone in a different world, haunted by the memories she’d never escape like her best friend could.

“Speak,” the loudest of the gods reminded her.

Marlena shrugged like Bridger made a point. “I suppose I could try, but I’m curious.” Marlena took a step closer, watching him for any movement. A flinch, a twitch, anything. Bridger didn’t budge. “Why are you so insistent on finding my sister again? After losing her twice in her last life…”

The sister who’d done nothing while their parents beat her. The sister who’d chosen her friends and boyfriend over her own blood. The sister who’d once been the only person Marlena cared to save, to now become the one Marlena couldn’t wait to end.

Bridger’s eyes darkened, but he still didn’t move. He was a statue of indifference. “Why did the portal linked to the world Vega’s bound to crack if this life went all the same as the rest? We all know the curse isn’t going to run out, but it can be broken, and I’d say it’s looking more broken than it ever has… Wouldn’t you?”

One of the voices in the back of Marlena’s mind waved a red flag. Could she trust Bridger anymore? He wasn’t the same person he’d been at the start of this, or the same person he was a year ago, six months ago. But he also wasn’t wrong. The portal had split down the middle, unlike any time before.

Bridger didn’t let Marlena sit with the thoughts in her head for long. “She won’t save me, and she certainly won’t save you when this is all over.” His words seemed to echo in her head, being repeated by the gods she’d let slither up from the depths. “But you will. You’ll save me.” Bridger’s crooked smile slid across his lips. “If I’m gone, you won’t be able to keep the order I’ve allowed you to have. Without me, your perfect empire crumbles.”

“I don’t ne⁠—”

The raise of Bridger’s eyebrow stopped her from speaking.

Heat flared at the tips of Marlena’s fingers. Down, girl. She stopped herself from exploding.

Bridger wasn’t a friend. Bridger was and would always be an asset.

One she couldn’t lose.

The gods slithered around in her head, hissing in protest. The emerald fire went out. “What’s your plan? I know you’re not delusional enough to think Vega will come with you willingly if she remembers.”

The darkness in Bridger’s eyes had returned—the dead-like stare he’d subjected himself to when he used his enhanced powers from the bonded’s summoning against his own mind. Shielding one's memories was a power Marlena wished to possess. Bridger had no idea how lucky he was to have it.

When Bridger started dreaming of Vega, something changed within him. Marlena noticed it the night he’d told her about them in Ardor—the night she’d come to tell him about a meeting he was to be a part of. The meeting where Bridger found out he’d be sent to Earth to retrieve the very woman who haunted his every dream.

Marlena thought it would be good for him if he was given a reminder of the girl Vega had become, only to be reminded who she’d once been while asleep. It should have been the final nail in his coffin, the one that killed the old Bridger forever, but his emotions had come back, sparks returning to the blank expression he’d worn for over three decades. The hotheaded reactions young Bridger had been known for returned, his actions becoming less calculated and more anger fueled.

Since Vega escaped the last time, the dark energy Bridger wore like a perfectly pressed suit returned.

He and the darkness are one. He likes the power, the control.

Marlena’s stomach rolled with hesitancy at the twinkle in Bridger’s eyes, the piece of life still left inside a god Marlena knew could do more damage than even he knew possible.

“I think I can sway her feelings towards me this time. Give her a taste of the man she once knew. Getting inside her head would be very easy if she trusted me again.” Bridger’s confidence was contagious. “If the dreams I’m having are anything other than a complete nuisance, at least they’ve been a good reminder as to who I was before this started.” He paused for only a moment. “Weak.”

Bridger’s words echoed through her head like he’d spoken them into an empty room. “You’re saying you want to make her fall in love with you again?” she asked with evident apprehension.

Bridger raised one shoulder, his black hair shimmering under the room's soft lighting. “It’s the only option we haven’t tried.”

Over the last forty years, Marlena had done a lot to her sister. In the earliest years, her deaths were quick. A gentle reminder of what was waiting for her when she crossed back over. Eventually, Marlena’s patience ran dry. The longer the curse kept her alive, the clearer it was that something wasn’t right. It wasn’t until a few years ago she realized just how much Remus had interfered with her original curse. She’d spent decades thinking Vega and the rest of her bonded bunch would wither away for good one day.

At one point she’d even considered Bridger expendable—an unfortunate loss of the curse her sister unknowingly changed. Bridger was no longer someone Marlena was willing to lose.