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“Octavia,” I say her name sweetly, and she narrows her eyes. “I need you to fix the veil, and I need you to fix it now.”
I place the vial of blood from Esmaray in front of Octavia. Just remembering my conversation with the Goddess of the Moon…no…the Titan…has my blood pressure rising and I need to keep it under control.
“You have the blood of…Ti-tus, just lying around?” From her tone, I can tell she knows it’s not Titus’s blood.
“This blood should be able to accomplish what you need. Now, I suggest you get to it. We want this to be handled as soon as possible, do we not?”
Zara has her focus of the book in front of her, but her ear turned toward Octavia and me.
The Goddess Supreme lifts her head and looks at me. I don’t like the way she seems to be peering into my mind, and I have to wonder what else is not covered in these books about the God and Goddess Supreme.
“Go get my son, your husband, and we will do it now. The less you need from me, the better.”
I nod and walk out of the room to go hunt for Essos. I know he’s angry with Helene right now, but my hope is that he’s mellowed out some. I check for him the first place I expect him to be.
When I push open the door to his office, calling out his name, the world shifts to black, and I’m falling again. I try to hold on to the doorknob, but it’s no use. Posey’s magical pull drags me to where she wants me.
I land hard on my feet again, unhappy with the feel of my hip popping. Thankfully there is no resulting pain like last time. My ability to hold back my hurl is totally shot, and I might add a little more force than necessary when I throw up directly in front of me.
It’s too bad Posey isn’t right there. Instead, she’s watching me from a small dais. Her upper lip curls at the mess I’ve made, and she wipes the floor clean with a magical flick of her wrist. The white gown she wears makes me wish even more so that I had gotten some on her. She actually looks…awful, and the thought isn’t from somewhere petty. Her skin looks sallow and there are black lines along her face and arms where her veins would be.
I look around at the garden I’m in, surrounded by other minor gods, goddesses, and nymphs. The sycophants look like they’re out for blood, namely, mine. One face among the many that surprises me is Cassius. The sight of him nearly sends me reeling. I didn’t mourn him particularly hard, but I had still thought that he was dead, and I felt guilt and sorrow that his life had been lost.
And here he is, probably has been since he was beheaded, well, fake beheaded. I doubt he would have been willing to actually cut his head off, which means the head that Posey showed me at our first face-off was also a fake. Fucking bitch.
Cassius has two women nearly dripping off him, but his face is blank. He glances down at my pregnant stomach, then away. Our very own Judas. I’m glad we only had the one meeting with him there. I wonder how long he’s been here, and it’s fortunate that his beheading happened early on in this game of chess we’re caught playing between two queens.
It’s then that I notice one of the women dripping off him is Lucky, a sick glee on her face. The hedges are tall with white and red roses blooming, nearly dripping with blood. I bite my tongue, waiting for Posey to speak first.
“You insolent bitch,” she snaps. She doesn’t rise from her chair, but her cheeks are pink with fury.
“Do you want to itemize the things I’ve done to wrong you this time, or shall I guess?” I shouldn’t antagonize her, but sometimes she makes it too fucking easy. I’m glad I just gave the Titan blood to Octavia. Zara will ensure nothing happens to it.
Posey makes her second mistake by trying to attack me with the wooden staff beside her. She lifts it, ready to propel it at me like a javelin thrower at the Olympics. The bushes behind her swell in size, reaching out to snatch the staff from her grip. I have half a mind to skewer her on it like a Posey-kabob, but I keep my temper in check, letting the wood be reabsorbed.
“Where is she?!” Her voice is shrill as she jumps to her feet, advancing on me with renewed vigor. I refuse to take a step back, even when I notice the God Killer dagger in her hand. I’m not naive enough to think she won’t use it on me. Visions of Finn’s freshly carved face swim in my mind. Posey is toe-to-toe with me, and yeah, I’m a bitch for it, but I grin down at her.
“You’re going to have to be more specific.” I hope my voice affects a calm that isn’t currently in my repertoire. There is very little I can do if she decides to use that weapon on me, but damn it if I won’t do every last thing. I try to transport myself home but can’t.
“Where is Ellie?!” Posey hisses, giving whole new meaning to the term spitting mad. With grace and a touch of attitude, I wipe some of the spittle from my face.
I take the leap when I lean forward, pressing my mouth next to her ear. “You mean yourdaughter?”
Posey doesn’t hesitate to thrust the dagger at my face, but I’m fast enough to dodge her. Maybe egging on the lunatic with a weapon wasn’t my smartest move, but it was certainly a decision.
The blade slides over the exact spot that Essos cut me days ago with a fake dagger. The training with Essos and Kai kicks in, and I react, grabbing the hand holding the blade and twisting her arm far enough that I can feel the tendons on the verge of snapping, urging her to let it go. Posey grits her teeth, straining not to, but the move works and she releases the dagger. I catch it.
It feels like a lucky break that I can end this all, even if I don’t kill her with it now. Having Ellie and having the weapon means that we’re ahead of the curve for once.
The blade practically thrums with energy in my hand, and I can’t help but turn my face to glare at Posey triumphantly. I have the weapon and I need to get out now. Quick as I can, I release Posey, but she’s already realized that I have the upper hand, and she won’t let me go that easily. Her hand twists into the loose fabric of my shirt, and I can feel the air being dragged from my lungs. It’s not enough to feel so breathless, but I can feel the pressure on my windpipe as she squeezes.
No matter what I do, I can’t get a breath. The pressure on my chest feels too much for me to compensate for. My vision is starting to go splotchy, black creeping in to suffocate the light.
“Let me show you how it was for your friend when he came trying to steal from me.”
I have no choice as Posey pushes her memory into my mind.
She’s sittingand waiting in her office like some sort of assassin lying in wait for her mark, but I suppose that’s exactly what she is.
