Page 248 of The War and Deceit Series omnibus

When I meet the queen’s smug smile, I start to speak. “You realise he’s using you, right?” I don’t know what she expected me to say, but it obviously wasn’t this. Her face twists in anger, but I’m not done yet. “You will never be a goddess. He’s using you as a vessel to destroy the Mother’s land and her people.” I always thought I’d enjoy saying this, but I don’t. All I see is a sad, bitter woman who’s grasping at any power she can.

When her features shift into something monstrous, I have to fight the urge to step back. “You’re wrong.”

“You know I’m not.” Shaking my head, I gesture towards her, raising my eyebrows as I implore her to acknowledge the truth. “You’ve felt it, haven’t you? The loss of control?” The tic in her jaw gives her away, and a slight flicker of doubt flashes in her eyes. Perhaps I can get through to her after all. “He’s using you!”

A ripple of power seems to roll over the queen, her eyes suddenly going entirely black, and I know I’ve lost her. Jos is in control now.

“That’s enough.” Her voice is calmer, but there’s power behind it and a bite that says it’s used to being obeyed. Her ladies-in-waiting flinch at the change in her tone, obviously recognising the difference in personality. “Submit to me, or I’ll track down your mates and turn them in front of you.”

Fear like nothing I’ve ever felt before surges through me as I step across the gap she’s created. I know realistically if she’s not stopped, then everyone will be at risk, including my mates, but the rational part of my brain isn’t working right now. Besides, for what I have in mind, I need to get close enough to touch her.

I’m stopped just before I reach her as two bolts of darkness appear from nowhere, roughly pulling me to the ground and forcing me to kneel before her. Laughing maniacally, the queen strides up to me with a sneer.

“Time to accept your fate, Clarissa.” The queen slams her hands onto my shoulders with an evil gleam in her eyes.

Her power surges into me, the black, evil, wrongness of the magic flooding my veins. At the same time, I open myself to the Great Mother, allowing her to enter my body. Light so bright it blinds me shines from my goddess mark, and the queen shouts in surprise as she closes her eyes against the beam. I clamp my hands around the queen’s wrists, and her eyes snap open as she stares sharply down at where I’m now gripping her. The goddess unleashes her power, forcing it through me and into the queen, fighting against that of her brother’s—death versus love, our bodies the battlefields.

Around me, I’m vaguely aware of the ground shaking as the forest comes alive. My chest warms, and someone calls my name. The sounds of battle fill the air, but I can’t look away. I want to, but I can’t, my whole body locked in position.

Dark power floods through me, and although I’ve never felt the goddess stronger than this, death is winning. The Mother is powerful, but she already warned me that while she would handle her siblings, I would have to deal with the queen. She’s still got centuries of experience and power over me. The scar on my back throbs, the pain seeming to spread through my body with each heartbeat. The agony makes me cry out, and I hear someone call my name again, but I can’t move, still frozen in place.

“You will never beat me.” She leans over me and bares her teeth, feeling my energy falter. “There is nothing more powerful than death.”

I think about everything the goddess has told me and everything I’ve learned since becoming free. I may only have had a short time as a liberated woman, but I’ve discovered such happiness with my mates and found family I didn’t know existed. Overall, I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Smiling gently up at the queen, I grip her arms tighter. “You’re right, I can’t beat death.”

She frowns, not understanding my soft voice and smile, but her expression soon turns to horror as she realises what I’m doing. Closing my eyes, I stop fighting the darkness, and instead, I welcome it. Drawing it in, I pull it from her and into me, except I don’t stop despite her screams of pain. With the help of the Mother, I draw it all.

Everything fades to black as agony consumes me.

Hold on, beloved,a warm, familiar voice whispers in my mind, pulling me from the pain as my eyes flutter open. The queen is kneeling in front of me now, looking just as weak as I feel, her head thrown back in misery.

It shouldn’t be possible for me to hold so much power, it should have consumed my soul, I expected it to. Except I feel a connection to this world keeping me here. No, not just one, but four, my chest throbbing as they weave a golden cage of love around my heart, protecting it from the darkness threatening to consume me.

The queen lets out a shriek of frustration. “Give it back!” With an almighty metaphysical yank, she starts to pull on the darkness. Even with the goddess on my side, I’m exhausted, and the evil begins to flow back to the queen, knowing she’s a far better host.

No, we’re going to lose—

The queen jerks in my arms, her expression morphing into one of shock as we both look down at the growing patch of blood spreading across her abdomen. Suddenly, the spell is broken, and I can move. I release her wrists, and she falls onto the ground, a puddle of blood rapidly forming around her. Her mouth opens and closes as she tries to say something, but her eyes dim and I know she’s dead. Looking up, I see one of her ladies-in-waiting looking stunned, holding a bloodied dagger inboth hands. It’s obvious she didn’t think it would work from the look on her face. She steps away, appearing terrified as I fall backwards, my strength failing.

You did well, beloved, the Mother coos, her voice warm, and I can almost imagine her stroking my hair.Now release the darkness and rest, I shall protect you.

Somehow, I’ve ended up lying on the ground, and there are people moving around me, calling my name, but I’m focused on the goddess. “I have a question before you go,” I speak out loud, my voice weak, but the Mother hears me anyway.

Yes, beloved?

“You once said that you knew my true name, but I wasn’t ready to hear it. I’m ready now.”

She whispers it to me in my mind, and I laugh weakly. “Tor was right. Liv…” I murmur the name, trying to get a feel for it, but I find it strange, like trying on someone else’s clothes. I’m glad I asked, but that’s who I was. Clarissa is who I am now, and who I choose to be going forward.

I release the darkness, and my body shudders painfully several times before I fall into blissful unconsciousness.

“How did you do it?” Tor passes me a steaming mug of soup, glaring at me when I try to wave it away. I’m really not hungry, and this is the third cup he and the elves have tried to force me to take, but considering they thought they had lost me, I have to expect some cossetting.

So, sitting in one of the quickly erected tents, cradling the warm mug between my hands, I snuggle deeper into the lap I’m currently sitting on. Grayson hasn’t let me out of his sight. The euisahad taken it out of him pretty hard. From what the otherstold me, when he first lost control, the initial blast of killing magic took out twenty forsaken. It completely obliterated them, they didn’t even have bodies to burn. We’re just lucky his magic didn’t attack Eldrin or Vaeril… Grayson has barely said a word to anyone since then, and I know he’s feeling guilty.

“I pulled the power from her body into mine. It should have killed me, but the bonds protected me. They were wrapped around my heart,” I explain, looking at each of my mates. “Then the queen’s lady-in-waiting stabbed her in the back while she was weak and I held her magic.”

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