Page 23 of The Blood of Gods and Monsters

Long corkscrew curls of amber and copper fall off her shoulder as Maeryn turns and mirrors my pose. She, too, presses her back against the other side of the tub, dragging her legs up to cover her nakedness. Moss green eyes gaze back at me with worry shredding their normal composure. Her lashes, the same copper and normally painted darker with makeup slowly lower as she drifts one hand through the surface of the bath water.

“Kalix came for me three nights ago and said that you had the brimstone removed from your neck by the one who put it there,” she answers. “He said that you weren’t well and the others wanted me to check you out.”

I remain silent, letting her get out the events that have taken place since I fell unconscious. The mention of the brimstone makes me want to reach up and touch the place behind my neck. Strangely, it no longer burns or tingles each time I remember it. Had that truly been the brimstone and not just a pain made up in my head?

“Brimstone is a mystery to many of us, but one thing we do know is that it suppresses Divinity—almost as if it has a natural barrier against our abilities.”

Watching her fingers create figure 8s in the water, I think back to what Caedmon had said about how the Gods came to be in this world. The Brimstone Mountain had cracked open when the world tore open for them to enter ours from theirs. Was it something about the magic that had created that fissure that made the brimstone the natural weapon against their kind, that made it reject Divinity—magic?

“The brimstone suppressed your natural abilities for a long time,” Maeryn continues. “When that brimstone was removed, all of your abilities—the ones you didn’t even know you were missing—came back at once. It overwhelmed your senses and as a result, your body shut down.”

“If I hadn’t woken up, would you have put that stuff on me while I slept?” I ask, curious, even though my original question has yet to be answered.

Her lips twitch at the reminder. She nods. “Yes, I know it’s awful, but it does work. It works with younger Mortal Gods who are either struggling to awaken their abilities or who are afraid of their abilities and unintentionally suppress them mentally. When something happens and their abilities come out, the foul smell of the concoction has the distinct effect of helping them to liberate themselves. After two days of you not waking, I figured it was the only thing that could help.”

I nod slowly. I still don’t like it. That horrible odor is going to haunt my nightmares and I still feel like there are clumps of the stuff glued to my back even though I rinsed and washed it thoroughly.

I wave my hand in her direction. “Alright,” I concede, “but that doesn’t explain why the Gods are asking for me.”

Copper lashes lift and those green eyes of hers meet mine once more. “I don’t know how else to tell you this but to just come right out and say it,” she says, her throat bobbing and her brows pinching down. “They know, Kiera.”

They know.

I don’t have to ask her what they know. Only one thing could lead her to act so concerned and, yes, I’ll admit I see it now, scared. Her composure isn’t just shredded, it’s obliterated. Fear lines her perfect features. My lungs seize as the air in my chest escapes in one long rush. My heartbeat thrums in my ears. Black and white spots dance in front of my vision as horror descends.

The Gods know what I am.

I can’t breathe.

I don’t realize that the room has turned pitch black until a muffled gasp from Maeryn alerts me and I blink open my eyes only to see … nothing. Absolutely nothing. There is not a single spec of light. I reach out, feeling water at my fingertips, and then smack my knuckles into the side of the standing tub. Wincing, my pain causes my panic to ease back slightly and a fluttering of curtains above our heads draws my attention.

No. Not curtains. Shadows.

With a gasp, I hold out my hand and call them back to me. What once felt so difficult, like I wasn’t even controlling them so much as the shadows were following me, has suddenly become as easy as breathing. The shadows encompassing the room fall immediately, cascading in long strings onto the floor and slithering across the floor until they reach the tub.

Then, one by one, they slide up and into the water before melding to my skin and sinking inside, disappearing. Across from me, Maeryn’s face is paler than usual, her eyes wide and her hands are locked over either side of the tub’s rim.

“K-Kiera?” She stutters out my name, confused and horrified.

“I’m sorry,” I say and mean the words. I hadn’t meant to scare the living shit out of her. I hadn’t ever lost control like that. It was more work to use my powers than to keep them under wraps.

The pale rounds of her freckled breasts heave up and down with each sharp inhalation. “Y-you just … the whole room. Those weren’t spiders.”

I grimace and shake my head. “No, they weren’t. I’m sorry. I’ve never done that before.”

My skin feels colder now than before and I realize that the warmth of the water is now drained. I cross my arms over my chest as a shiver moves through me. Maeryn blinks and stands, reaching for a drying sheet. She quickly steps out and wraps herself before nodding to me.

“You need to get out,” she says, unfolding the sheet and holding it up.

I stare at the smooth skin of my palms for the longest time before responding. The shadows are gone, visibly, but I can still feel something under the surface, sizzling beneath my flesh. After a few more beats of no response, I shake my head and lift myself out of the tub. I take the offered sheet from Maeryn, and as I wrap myself, I return my attention to the words she’d said before.

“You said the Gods know about me.” She tenses but nods her confirmation. “Why haven’t they come to take me away for lying and betraying them?”

“Caedmon is the one who revealed your heritage,” Maeryn answers, and somehow, it doesn’t shock me. He said he would figure out a way to make sure that things would be fine. I don’t exactly know how this helps, but with the brimstone removed, my abilities were bound to resurface anyway. The Gods would have found out eventually.

“He said that you were unaware and as an orphan had no knowledge of your parentage. He told the Gods that you never exhibited signs of any abilities, but perhaps being around others with Divinity somehow … unleashed your own. They wish to see you and determine who your God parent is.”

I frown, feeling the skin above my brows puckering at the revelation. “They can do that?”

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