Page 110 of Revenge of the Forgotten

The general’s jaw dropped. “She what?”

“She jumped… and I…” he lied. Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen. The clock on her life tick, tick, ticked. “I can’t let her get away.”

“If she jumped into the water, she’s already dead, brother. We’ll try again next time, or maybe the curse will run out and we won’t have to worry about a next time.” He gripped Bridger’s shoulder, yanking him away from the ledge.

Bridger thrust his hands into Meyer’s chest, pushing him off. “You don’t understand! The curse isn’t going to run out!” he screamed. “We are bonded. I’m—fuck.” Bridger yanked at his hair, the smell of smoke clinging to his body. “Meyer, we’re…” Bridger inhaled, unable to keep this truth from him. “Remus bonded the four of us that night in a way I never—no one ever thought possible. We weren’t supposed to live. Marlena shouldn’t have lived. No one had ever lived when trying to summon any of the dead gods. But we did…” Bridger rambled, trying to process all he’d learned tonight out loud for the first time.

“Remus didn’t just bond us.” Bridger glanced over his shoulder quickly before finding Meyer’s eyes again. “He turned us into gods. I’m a god. Vega is a god. Arlet, Khort. Marlena.” Bridger swallowed the knot in his throat. “Her curse can’t kill her, but Marlena can if she finds out how Remus cursed the gods.”

Meyer’s fire still raged on behind them, but he didn’t dare make a move, stunned by Bridger’s words. “That’s what we want, what you want. For her to die forever.”

Thirty-nine, forty, forty-one.

“I asked you what you thought would happen if one bonded soul died. I think I know now. Remus did to us what he did to the original gods. He joined our souls, but not to kill us. To make us stronger.” Bridger retreated a step, both heels dangling from the ledge. “There’s so much you don’t know, Meyer. I wish I had the time to explain it, but I can’t let Marlena find a way to kill her. If she dies, I die. We all die. Everyone but Marlena.”

Meyer exhaled. “You don’t know that.”

“It’s not a risk I’m willing to take.”

Meyer nodded behind him to the crashing waves of Lake Vehemens. “You’ve made your choice?”

“No, but I’ll save her to save me.”

Sixty. Bridger took one large step back and plummeted into the water below.

44

I’m free-falling to my death. The icy cold water is going to lap me up and spit me out as a lifeless corpse before my body disappears altogether. And all of this, every revelation I’ve had in this life, will have been for nothing.

Vega sank, sank, sank, kept sinking until her feet touched the bottom. Stones rattled around her water-logged boots, and the current slammed Vega’s already ravaged body against the rough rocks of the cliff. Maybe if she weren’t already so weak, she’d have the strength to swim, to continue to fight for her life.

I’m going to die. This is what I deserve for putting my faith in Bridger.

Never again.

Vega wasn’t worried about the shifters-turned-monsters—she was worried about the person she’d become in her next life. What kind of person would follow this one? Would she have it in her to keep fighting?

Her lungs burned, filling with water when the current slammed her against the cliff again.

Vega saw Arlet’s face, the smile that spread across her lips when they sang their favorite song. She saw Khort soaring in the night, fire ripping through the sky. I’ll never be able to apologize for always letting them down.

At least she got to see her friends one last time…

When her vision started to blacken around the corners, Vega accepted her fate. I’ll try again next time. I’ll get it right next time.

Before she faded completely, arms wrapped around her waist, hoisting her out of the darkness.

Her head popped out of the water, and she devoured that first breath of air before hacking water out of her lungs.

“Kick your legs!” Bridger screamed over the rushing waves.

She didn’t argue, couldn’t argue, so Vega did as she was told and used whatever strength she could find in her to kick. Bridger turned their backs to the brunt of the waves, blanketing them with a shield. The waves crashed into the barrier.

Vega was beaten and exhausted, but she wasn’t dead. She would heal, and she would live.

All she had to do was keep swimming and try not to think of the beasts that lurked in the waters below.

She summoned her wind, battling against the rough waters. Vega pushed when the water pulled. After what felt like hours of swimming, Bridger’s feet touched the shore, and he pulled Vega until hers did too.

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