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She’s dewed with sweat in the aftermath, smiling dreamily up at me. The mark on her skin is faint but there. She’s still unsure of me, which is only fair. I plan to show her just how loyal I am to her in the coming years if we survive the trip into Lycaon’s prison dimension. She examines the mark, still smiling.
“Well, isn’t that interesting? I didn’t think that was possible.”
“It’s not,” I say, nuzzling her throat. “But with you, I’m beginning to think that nothing is impossible.”
I certainly hope so, anyway. We need her to do the impossible. And I believe she just might.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
BLAZE
Evidence of Vita’s presence is immediately apparent when we enter Lycaon’s prison.
According to Maddox, the place is supposed to mirror his home world, with a red-orange sky overhead and vast swaths of darkness where the light never touches. It’s supposed to be blistering, the heat so intense, it should blister our skin. He and Ransom packed ointment for our skin to protect it, but when we step through Lady Death’s doorway and into another world, it isn’t what we expect.
The place is freezing. Every hair on my body prickles to attention and the wind seems to sheer through the shift dress that Lady Death loaned me like it’s not there. The air cuts at my lungs like straight razors, and I swear I taste blood in my mouth. The sky isn’t orange, it’s mustard-seed yellow as if the entire place has caught a chill and is slowly dying. Which is precisely what’s happening, if Vita is here. The goddess of life never gives, only takes. In a way, she’s a reflection of Lady Death, a being that only consumes. At least Lady Death is honest about what she does, not parading around like some goddess pretending to bestow vitality.
“Well, fuck,” Draven mutters under his breath. “This mission just got a hell of a lot more complicated.”
“That’s an understatement,” Ransom says. “I was hoping this would be simple. Just the three barriers to contend with, not a fucking goddess to defeat as well.”
He’s standing close, hovering just behind me like a protective hound, even in his human form. I expected him to be angry with me or Maddox when he spotted the new mark on my shoulder, but he hasn’t reacted—at least, he hasn’t said anything. And when he noticed it, his expression didn’t change. It seems as if he just strangely accepted it without question. Or maybe I’m completely wrong and he’s just saving his anger. Maybe the fallout is coming later, when we’ve managed to free his people. One thing I can say for the three of them was that they are (or were, in Axion’s case) practical, not letting petty things get in their way for long.
I wince. Two now, not three. Axion is dead, or the next best thing to it. I swore I heard him pacing the halls of Lady Death’s palace before we left, but I couldn’t summon enough courage to investigate. If I saw him prowling as an undead guard dog, I would have marched into her throne room and turned her into a smoldering pile, destroying the whole mission. Maddox is right—I have to keep control of my temper—otherwise Axion’s sacrifice would be for nothing. And it can’t be for nothing. Certainly, the two of us had our differences but I never would have wanted this for him.
“Defeating Vita is my job,” Carmine interjects. “That’s the part I’m supposed to play in the prophecy. I keep her from poisoning the world tree with her magic. If I’m not mistaken, I might be able to reverse this.”
She waves her hands in a complicated little gesture, and the withered ground turns a rich red-brown, like freshly turned earth. She paces forward and, as I watch, plants begin to sprout in her wake. The vivid colors I associate with autumn: golds, browns, reds, oranges. Sorrel vines and saplings begin to shoot up, transforming the barren landscape into something vibrant. Maddox lets out a satisfied sigh as he watches her work, breathing the spicy scent of the blooms and trees as though he hasn’t tasted anything quite so fine in years. Ransom looks similarly enraptured, his eyes fluttering closed as he savors the moment.
I envy Carmine her control. My power only destroys, and I’m not even that skilled at using it. I don’t need to be controlled against Vita, though. An inferno will consume a goddess as readily as a forest, and I’m counting on that. Carmine’s eyes roll skyward and she frowns.
“That might take more time than the ground,” she says, more to herself than us. Her gaze flicks to Maddox questioningly. “I think Vita might mean to off your goddess and stab Lycaon in the back as a part of her deal with Kronos. If we can stop her here, we could avoid the poisoning of Fantasia entirely. I’d have to stay here to revitalize this place though—to bring it back to what it used to be. Would you come back to get me when I’m through?”
“Of course,” Maddox says immediately.
“And me,” Draven says, rubbing one of Carmine’s shoulders fondly. “I’m not leaving you here alone, Princess.”
Carmine flashes him a brief, dazzling smile and I’m struck again by a pang of envy. I have two mates, and I’m still not as close to either as I’d like.
Save Fantasia first,I think.Bond with your mates later, Blaze. Priorities, remember?
I hate it when I’m right. It would be a lot more pleasant to get to know my mates better than to face what’s coming. I can hear the first barriers scuttling in the distance. Wuria. Giant spiders. I shudder at just the thought of them. I hated even the spindle-legged ones that make webs in the corners of the kitchens. Now I’m expected to face off against their massive cousins.
Fantastic.
And for my next trick, I will wrestle with a giant serpent. Nothing like facing down my fears, is there?
###
Vita has killed most of the spiders, but the ones left alive are pissed. They charge at us, almost too quick to track and my instinct is to run screaming in the opposite direction like a frightened little girl. The mandibles look large enough to snap me in two and drip with something oozing and green. If it touches my skin, it will probably burn a hole straight through to the other side of my body. Worse, they can spit it.
“Ahh!” I scream, juking to one side as the nearest hairy beast opens its jaws wide, poison slewing in a wide arc toward me. The ground where I’d just stood sizzles like grease in a pan and dissolves, leaving a crater the size of a boulder in its place. I raise my hand defensively, transforming the screaming panic into something warmer, something I can feed into my flames. And... I overdo it, a bit.
Instead of a stream, awallof flame bursts from me and I have to scream a warning at my allies to stay clear of it. Draven pulls Carmine out of the way in time, but Maddox and Ransom can’t outrun it. To my shock, it passes over them and does... nothing. They yip in surprise and turn to me, their wide, hound-like eyes filled with something like irritation, but I haven’t managed to hurt them. It does hurt the spiders they’re facing though. A lot. The giant beasts scuttle backward, and only the luckiest escape. The ones directly in the path of the flames curl like pill bugs under the onslaught, turning onto their backs, legs curling in agony before they die.
The mate marks on my shoulders throb in time with my pulse, and I realize with a start that that was what made the difference. Their link to me. The mate bond essentially links our lives—our energy—our power. So it only stands to reason that just as they’ve shared their power with me, I’ve done the same with them. They’re immune to my flames, even though nothing else in nature seems to be. A wide grin stretches my face and I rush forward, slinging an arm around my hellhounds before I can stop myself.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” I whisper to them, relief suffusing my voice. “Even if I’m the one who put you in danger. Sorry about that.”
