Page 130 of Revenge of the Forgotten

In the same tome pages earlier, Vega had already learned that sometimes there was a way to trick curses. Granted, there was no information about how her specific curse worked, but it was closer than they’d ever gotten to an idea. She understood more about her curse in this life than she had in any other.

“My curse is obviously tied to Earth. Why else would I continuously get sent back there after every death?” Vega stood in front of them, her arms flailing as she continued to explain. “All we have to do is trick the curse into thinking that I’ve died, to stop my heart for less than a minute, right? That’s how long you two said it takes my body to disappear after I’ve died.” They didn’t answer her, and Vega didn’t give them enough time to interrupt. “I get back to Earth, have my memories, and then I can find out what it is that keeps pulling me back there. And if you’re so worried about me, you’ll know how to find me! Just come to me, and we can do it together, but this time, it’s me. Me, with memories and hopefully the knowledge of how to end this thing.”

Arlet shook her head, her curls bouncing freely. “We’re starting a war, Vega. After the new year, Urban is shutting off the food supply to Tolevarre. I don’t have time to come chase you down again. I have to be here. We have to be here.”

Vega felt a pang of sadness tug at her heart. Her hand shot up to knead at the spot on her chest like she could get it to go away if she applied enough pressure. “You need to be here. I need to break this curse.”

Khort pushed himself off the wall. “It’s too dangerous. We don’t even know if it would work.”

Vega slid the tome across the table again. “Read it. It’s there. All the signs are there. All the facts are there. Marlena made this curse with her blood. Blood that she and I share. Blood from gods who used to call Earth their home.” She jabbed her finger at the page. “Earth holds the key to ending this, to keeping me here forever with no chance of having to do this all over again.”

Vega saw a flicker of hope in Arlet’s eyes, but it was gone too quickly.

“Keep reading. There has to be another way.” Arlet wasn’t budging.

“There isn’t another way!” Vega yelled, slamming her hand against the table as her anger bubbled to the surface. Sparks flew from her palm, landing on the floor with no intended target. “I have spent nearly all of my lives trying to figure out how to end this curse, to end this plague on my body, my mind. Now we know we’re gods, and there’s a way for me to stop dying, to feel like I don’t have to worry about someone snapping my neck in the middle of the night and waking up to a life that doesn’t want me! Spending another five, ten, fifteen years away from here while everyone I love, our people, get slaughtered.” Vega drew in a shaky breath. “If I don’t figure this out, if I don’t end this, Marlena will. And if Marlena figures out how Remus cursed the gods to die before we can, this is all over. You can kiss me goodbye forever.”

A lone tear rolled down her cheek.

“Vega.” Khort reached out across the table, grasping at her hand.

“No!” She jerked away, taking a couple steps back. “You heard what Nero said, Arlet.” Her attention dragged to her best friend. “Marlena wants more people researching curses. Why do you think that is? Because if she can curse us like Remus cursed Jupiter, Apollo, Diana”—she used the names of the gods they’d gotten powers from—“all of the dead gods, we’re dead, and she’s the only god left.”

Khort sighed. “It sounds like we need to research how Remus cursed the original gods instead of worrying about how to break your curse.”

It wasn’t Vega’s curse that had a ticking clock attached to it like they originally believed. It was a race to the finish line with her sister on who could kill who first… and Marlena rarely lost.

“Marlena knows I don’t know how to break it now. She spent weeks trying to torture it out of me. She will kill me again—she will send me back to Earth to buy herself more time. And what happens when I’m gone for another fifteen years? Hmm? And she figures out how to kill us?” Vega scoffed, shaking her head frantically. “I’m no good to this revolution if I’m lost on Earth and certainly no good if I’m locked away because a curse weakens me. I’m useless, and so are the both of you if during every battle, you’re worried I’ll be killed and reset again.” Vega snatched the tome up, marching towards the exit. “Remus foiled Marlena’s original plan, but it’s working in her favor. Keeping me alive but without my memories, without my powers, a realm away where I can’t figure it out before her.”

She turned one last time, glancing at them over her shoulder. Khort crossed his arms, closed off from the conversation already. Arlet held her gaze, sadness deflating her face. Vega opened the door, and before she shut it, she took a breath. “I realized how flawed my plan was after I stabbed Bridger. I didn’t just put him in danger. I put the rest of us in danger too. Why do you think Marlena hasn’t tried to kill you two to break me? Because she can’t. You can’t die until I do.” The door slammed on a gust of Vega’s wind.

52

The weather flipped, and the bite in the air wasn’t going away anytime soon. Winter had arrived in Tolevarre, officially bringing cold weather to most of the eastern territories.

A winter storm brought a blizzard to Imber and the mountain ranges throughout the realm. The people of Solum were working overtime to prevent the crops from being damaged by the frost drifting into the rolling hills.

Amora, the coldest territory in the realm, was used to year-round winter weather, but even it was getting buried by the storm.

Vega wrapped her coat around her tighter, burrowing into the warmth of the collar from the blowing wind, wishing she could find the heat of a summer storm right now. Vega could still summon storms in the cold, but they would only increase the windchill to a level no one would be happy with.

The Solum rebels called for backup at midnight, reporting an unruly group of soldiers wreaking havoc on the locals of a small village called Schoenus that bordered the main city.

Arlet and Vega had been looking through books from Littera, attempting to find an alternative solution Vega knew they wouldn’t find when the call came in. They had both jumped up simultaneously, never once second-guessing where they should be during a fight.

At least Arlet and Khort stopped fighting Vega on that front. It’d been nearly a week since she’d realized what it was going to take to break her curse and only an hour less than that for Vega to realize her friends wouldn’t budge on their decision not to help her try.

She’d already decided she would try herself if they didn’t find a backup by the turn of the new year. But at least their impromptu trip to Solum brought another option to the table.

For too long, Vega had spent her time hiding, allowing herself to be locked away like a porcelain doll—no longer would she hide, cursed or not.

What was the point of being found if she wasn’t allowed to live?

Vega left a trail of bodies across the back roads of Schoenus. She didn’t leave a single soldier alive if she came across them. Killing didn’t hurt anymore, dulling over time to a small ache in her chest. She’d never been keen on taking someone’s life, but it had been thrust upon her, and she was sick of being on the other end.

Vega helped the locals move the bodies to a mass burn pit. People died in war, she reminded herself. And war was here…

Vega took a deep breath as she approached Khort and Quinley. Thanks to her and her spying, they knew their rebuttal hadn’t sounded an alarm in Stella. Meyer was too busy wrangling up what soldiers he had left in Solum, and Bridger hadn’t been seen in weeks.

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