Page 88 of A Reign of Storm and Madness

I can’t even be upset that they’d followed me, not when the moment Ruen had seen the body beneath me, he’d taken charge and ordered everyone into action. Kalix had hefted the dead guard’s fallen frame over his shoulder as if he was used to disposing of bodies while Maeryn had caught a fallen Niall and lowered him to the ground.

Ruen had ordered Theos to bring the three of us—Niall, Maeryn, and me—back to the Darkhaven chambers while he cleaned up the mess left behind and got rid of any traces that we’d been there.

Theos moves away from the bar cart and drops a glass into Maeryn’s hand as he passes her. She takes it and looks into the amber liquid for a moment before tipping it back and draining every last drop. Once done, she slumps into a nearby chair and shakes her head.

“I can’t fucking believe this,” she mutters before gesturing to me. “I mean, I knew you were different—you don’t act like any Terra I’ve ever known, but … a Mortal God?” She sits forward, setting her now empty glass on the table as she stares at me. “Your Divinity should be noticeable,” she murmurs, eyes roving over my face and down my skin as if she can delve deep and peel the layers of my flesh back to reveal my Divine blood underneath.

“Now that you mention it,” Theos takes a seat with a glass of his own. “After what you told us—if you don’t know who your God parent is, is it possible they weren’t actually a God, but a Mortal God? Perhaps you're more removed from the bloodline than we originally thought. They only started forcing contraceptive herbs on us in the last few decades. Older Mortal Gods were free to procreate a while back.”

I shake my head. “She was a Goddess,” I answer them. “My memories are faded but my father knew her well.”

“Then how—”

“It probably has something to do with the brimstone.” I scrub a hand over my face, feeling far more exhausted by the day than I have by anything else in a long damn time.

“Brimstone?” Both Maeryn and Theos sit up and say the word at the same time as the door to the chambers opens and Kalix and Ruen appear.

Ruen frowns at the three of us as he strides past, stripping off his strangely wet shirt. I glance out the window, but there’s no rain. How had he gotten wet?

My eyes move back to him just as the tunic is peeled off his back and my lips part in shock as the lines on his back come into view. In training, Ruen is one of the few Mortal Gods who always keeps his shirt on. Now, I can see why.

Horrific white lines up and down his back, wrapping around his sides and speckling his shoulders mar his flesh. Scars. Dozens upon dozens of them crisscross over his flesh, some longer than others and some barely perceptible even with a clear sight of them. He disappears into his room before I can say anything, but I can’t speak even if I wanted to. My throat closes.

It takes a lot to scar one with Divine Blood or brimstone. Ruen hadn’t just had one, but so many that they’d practically taken up his entire back. How many times had he been wounded—punished? I wonder distantly—for all those injuries to close over and leave their mark upon him.

“What’s this about brimstone?” Kalix asks, pleasantly as if he’s just returned from a quick walk that invigorated him.

Maeryn sends him a repulsed glance but returns her gaze to my face as if expecting an answer.

Shaking off the image of the absolute devastation of Ruen’s back, I bend forward and gather the long rope of my braid, sliding it away from my neck. “There’s a shard of brimstone embedded in my flesh,” I answer, tapping over the spot that sometimes heats and hurts when I try to overuse my abilities.

Silence meets my admission and when I let my hair drop and sit back up, there’s not just one pair of eyes that are staring at me in horror—there are four pairs, including a freshly dressed Ruen. Kalix doesn’t necessarily look horrified so much as his brow is furrowed in confusion and irritation.

“You have a shard of brimstone in your neck?” Ruen’s voice is low and dangerous.

I look at him. “Uh, yes?”

“How long have you had it?” Maeryn asks.

My attention returns to her as she continues to stare at me as if I’ve sprouted a second head. I’ve read books of creatures with such an ability, but I’ve never been one of them. Still, I cup the back of my neck as heat echoes down my spine as if the brimstone is aware of my words.

“About ten years or so,” I answer.

“Ten years?” Theos’ whisper is a shaky question.

I turn to him. “It doesn’t hurt,” I say. “Not really.”

“Brimstone repels Divine blood,” Ruen states, moving around the lounges until he’s standing in front of me. I sit up and away, but he captures the back of my head in one wide palm. “Bend down.” His order is so abrupt and he’s already exerting pressure against my skull. I’m too tired to argue so I cant my head, facing the floor as his warm fingers touch the back of my neck.

A shiver chases down my spine and I curl my hands into fists as he prods at the place between my skull and shoulders while he wraps a hand around my hair and holds it out of his way. I inhale and the cold scent of salt and ocean breeze enters my nose. It’s so different from his usual parchment and mint scent that I spend the next several seconds trying to figure out why his smell has changed. Could they perhaps have gone down to the cliffside and dumped the Mortal God guard’s body into the ocean?

A sharp lance of pain slices through my head and I yank back. “Fuck!” Tears prick at the back of my eyes as they slam shut. Fire crawls over my flesh and the urge to vomit presses up my throat.

In and out, I heave and slowly, with trembling endurance, the pain fades until it’s little more than a dull throb that I know will leave me with a lasting ache. When I finally have the energy to look at the others standing around the room, Ruen’s face is a mask of fury and Kalix has moved closer as he stares at me, his green eyes replaced with pure crimson.

“We have to cut it out,” Kalix says.

“I can’t.” I shake my head and stop when the throb echoes up into my skull once more. “It’s part of my contract with—” I swallow the rest of my words as a knock sounds upon the Darkhavens’ chamber door.

---