Page 107 of Revenge of the Forgotten

Bridger kept his mouth against her ear. “I’m going to uncover your mouth. Don’t you dare scream.”

She screamed as soon as his hand pulled away. “Let me go!” Her voice pulsated through the woods. Birds scattered, squawking as they fled.

Bridger slapped his hand over her mouth again and sighed, his breath rustling her matted hair. She continued to thrash, but Bridger’s hold was strong. “Why can’t you be a good girl and do as you’re asked?” He slid his hand down his leg and gripped a dagger at his side. “I let you go. Again. The least you could do is fucking listen to me,” he growled.

She did the exact opposite. His words made her fight harder, but with no powers and as awfully malnourished as she’d become, she was no match to Bridger. “Okay, fine. We’ll do this the hard way then.” He pulled the dagger up for her to see, dangling it in front of her face.

Vega’s eyes grew wide with recognition, and her body went slack.

“Ah, that got your attention. Your dagger. Have you missed your bonded blade?” Vega shouldn't have been able to bond a weapon, but thanks to Remus and the gods he’d turned them into, the laws of their world didn’t seem to apply to the four of them. “I don’t know if this is going to work, but it’s the only choice I have, and I’ll apologize for it in advance because it’s going to hurt. A lot.”

Bridger let go of her waist and switched his hold to her forearm. Vega didn’t have time to move before he drove the dagger through her flesh—through the brand that kept her powers locked away, shattering the bone as it came through the other side of her arm.

Vega’s scream was blood-curdling, even muffled by Bridger’s hand.

Bridger removed the dagger, and blood pumped out of the open wound from a major artery without slowing like it should have if his plan worked—if her powers had been restored.

“Fuck,” he muttered. Bonded weapons held special ties to the person attached to them, and Bridger thought maybe, just maybe, it could break the block since it was her own.

He hadn’t been certain it would work, but that didn’t mean she was totally fucked. Vega could still get to Demuto—she could still get out of this and have her powers returned to her by one of the allies the rebellion had in their arsenal.

Blood continued to pour out, but Vega quieted. Bridger spun her around, dropping his hand from her mouth seconds before she chomped down with a bite that surely would’ve taken his finger off.

The look on Vega’s face was lethal, the snarl on her lips pulling at a smile. She looked so much like Marlena, Bridger found himself stuck in place, blinking to clear his eyes of the image his brain was tricking him with.

No, it wasn’t the shock. It was electricity. His hand was still on Vega’s arm, and she was frying him from the inside out. It worked, he thought, before realizing he needed to save himself. Bridger roared in pain, throwing a physical shield up that freed him of Vega’s hold.

Light blue lightning sparked in Vega’s palms, and wind whispered through the trees. She didn’t say a word as she lunged forward, throwing a lightning bolt directly at Bridger’s shield. It wasn’t as strong as it could be, as it would be when she was fully healed, but it was enough to break his hold. His shield fell.

Is she really trying to kill me right now when I’m saving her life?

Her lightning cracked across the sky as the sprinkling rain from earlier turned into a torrential downpour.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Bridger wailed, still slightly stunned by the shock she’d sent through him.

“Protecting myself! You stabbed me!” Another bolt of lightning flew towards him, narrowly missing his head as he ducked away.

“I stabbed you to try to give you your powers back, you lunatic!” Bridger didn’t pull his weapon, only dodged her blows whenever they came hurtling towards him. “And look, it worked! You can thank me now.”

Vega was weak, but she knew how to use those terrifying powers inside of her. This wasn’t the same Vega he’d captured in the witch’s cottage weeks ago.

She had her memories… And that made her terrifying.

“Vega, listen to me!” Bridger thundered. “You have to trust me!” He dodged another strike.

“Trust you?” Vega cackled. “Why would I ever trust you?” She crouched to grab the dagger Bridger stripped from her.

“Vega, please. I killed one of my own soldiers to free you,” he pleaded, looking over his shoulder at the sound of his other soldiers clamoring in the distance. “Don’t let it be for nothing!”

The footsteps from behind were getting louder, and Bridger watched as Vega’s attention shot to the men coming from behind him.

“This way!” The voice of the leading soldier traveled through the wind.

“Why do you want to help me?” Her voice quieted, and the blood coming from her forearm finally ceased. Her powers were healing her.

“Because Marlena has been lying to all of us. Why would she need to know how Remus cursed the gods to die if your curse is just going to run out eventually?” He cocked his head, asking a question he was sure she already knew the answer to.

Vega’s focus shifted between the men in the distance and Bridger. “My curse isn’t going to run out. She cursed me as a demi, not a god. She doesn’t know how to curse immortal gods. Remus is the only one to have ever done it, and he took the knowledge with him to his grave.” Vega exhaled. “My curse is nothing more than an inconvenience. Marlena meant for it to be a drawn-out execution, a death sentence, but Remus gave me the time he wished he’d had when his own brother cursed him.”

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