Page 98 of A Haven of Brimstone and Darkness

“If you kill her, you will regret it,” Caedmon says, his eyes locked on the God King.

“Her power will sustain me for centuries to come!” Tryphone’s eyes are wild and the blade in his palm trembles as if he’s attempting to force himself to move, but Caedmon’s words halt him.

“Killing her will end your reign,” Caedmon warns him. “It will set into motion your demise. Listen to me, old friend. You do not want to do this.”

Glancing up between the two of them, I see the tightening of Tryphone’s eyes. What he wants isn’t in question here, I realize. The shakes and trembles. The darting eyes. The ease with which I managed to wound the God King of all people—no matter that I hadn’t succeeded. The evidence is all there. I’ve seen it before—in the eyes of addicts in back alleys.

Tryphone is addicted to the power of Mortal Gods—physically and beyond. Even if it means he might die, he has to have more of it. As if sensing that I’m awake, both men turn their gazes downward.

The end happens so fast, Tryphone’s shout and the drawing back of his arm, the flash of the blade, my own power shoving forward. Then as I jerk up into a sitting position, capturing the wrist that means to come down and slice through my chest in what will be the final killing blow, a flying spider slaps Tryphone in the cheek.

Ara’s mind seeks mine out with a silent war cry as she sinks her fangs into his flesh and pumps him full of her venom. With a grunted curse, Tryphone rips my Spider Queen away from his face and crushes her in his palm.

“No!” The pain of her life being snuffed out so easily rips through me and then everything else is ripping apart too.

Chapter 48

Kiera

The mountain quakes as Tryphone stumbles off the platform. I roll, sliding off the platform with shocking ease and when I’m standing, I glance down to find that my wound is gone. No sign of the open, gaping, blood-gushing lesion from before remains and in its place is smooth, perfectly healed skin.

My bones vibrate within my body, full of the power that had previously been stolen from me. Unwilling to let a second more pass without taking action against Tryphone and his horrors, I hold my hands out, letting the shadows within explode from me. They surround us all as the tips of the mountain that encircles the island break with loud cracking sounds. Boulders roll, crashing into the outside of the Academy. The ground shifts beneath our feet.

“Kiera!” Ruen’s shout is full of strength, giving me some relief. At least he’s not hurt. Then his call is quickly followed by Theos’ own call.

“Dea!”

Here!I want to call out.I’m here!I can’t. My voice is gone and all that’s left is the power as it reaches into my soul and carves out a place for itself. With a gasp, I arch up onto my toesas the shadows swirl around me, clinging to me and form a gown of darkness.

A large tear opens up in the sky above, lightning crackling through the cloudless atmosphere. It’s not just Theos, this time. It’s me.

I lift my hands and point as the fissure grows wider and wider, separating the dark purple of the midnight vault over our heads.

“No!” Tryphone's shout is ignored as the sight of what lies beyond the tear in the seam of the world is revealed. Oceans of the purest blue. Snowcapped mountains far prettier than our own on Anatol. Vast green fields and a … strange structure of black and silver stone juts out from a cliffside.

“No!”

I hold the fissure open, sweat collecting on my brow as I gasp for breath.

“You have it,” a familiar voice says.

I nearly collapse at the shock of Ariadne’s voice as she hobbles past me, obviously wounded from her own fight as blood slips over one leg that drags against the ground. I gape at her. Had she really stabbed me for a plan to make me do this?

The opening in the world draws nearer.

Tryphone crawls over the still sleeping Mortal Gods as he tries to escape it. A gurgling noise draws my attention backwards and I watch as Theos sinks a dagger into Azai’s throat and tears it out. The God of Strength falls to his knees in an ironic parody of prostration as he cups his open throat.

Like a series of connected events, Azai’s collapse is followed by the release of snakes from Danai and Makeda and … Kalix.

Kalix erupts from his position, flinging himself towards me with all the rage of a wounded bear.

“Don’t!” Ariadne’s voice barks sharply, cutting off his ascension to the platform and Kalix comes to an abrupt halt. “She must finish it.”

“Finish what?” I ask. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Ariadne looks at me. “You’re doing what you were born for, daughter mine,” she tells me. “You’re sending us home.”

Home? Back to Atlantis? I frown. “But I thought Atlantis fell?”

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