Page 56 of The Chosen Son

I swapped punches for blasts of fire, tossing the fireballs hand over fist, leaving scorch marks everywhere they landed, and I could smell the stench of burning polyester as one projectile came too close and the sleeve of his jacket began to melt. He cursed, trying to shrug off his jacket at the same time as dodging back and forth, but with his attention divided as it was, I managed to land a punch to his gut. Even though I was holding back, he doubled over, wheezing.

We’d been here before, but this time, Phobos stood against me alone without his sidekick. And this time, I still had plenty of energy at my disposal, but I could see my brother was tiring.

“Had enough?” I asked, sneering down at him.

He coughed, and blood speckled his lips. “Hardly.”

Phobos was mad now, and he flew at me, going on the offensive. I let him hit me, a fist clean across the jaw, but it might as well have been a slap with how little I felt it. I wasn’t myself anymore; the power had taken over my body entirely, insulating me, but also trapping me at the same time. I felt apart from this battle, and as blow after blow rained down, it did nothing but exhaust him. His knuckles split, blood dripping to the stone below, splattering like some grotesque version of a Jackson Pollock painting.

Panting, Phobos dropped his hands to his sides. “Why?” he asked when he saw I wasn’t even fighting back. “You took Cameron fromme, made him yours, and then abandoned him. Why couldn’t you just be happy with him?”

I felt a ripple of doubt. Didn’t he know? “Because he could never be happy with me,” I admitted, my voice nearly a whisper. He was sunshine and light and optimism, and I was poison.

Phobos looked anguished as he stepped in, grabbing my lapels and giving me a little shake. “That’s not true, Deimos. You’re a good man, and you love him, I know you do. Why can’t you believe that’s enough?”

“Because it’s never been enough for our father,” I snapped, shrugging him loose, and he stepped back with a struck expression. “Because no matter what I do, everyone in my life will learn to fear me!” It wasn’t just a threat, but a promise. I let it off the leash, that awful power inside me, and the glow coming off me reflected off him, like standing next to the sun.

Phobos had one advantage that I would never be able to match—he could fly—but just as he knew all my moves, I also knew his. I was simply waiting for him to launch. When he pushed off and his feet left the ground, I snatched his ankle and yanked—hard. It was amazing how easy it was to overpower him. Cam’s power had magnified my strength a hundred-fold. This was more power than any god had a right to possess.

And the only thing it was good for was cutting down another god.

Phobos’s shocked yelp was cut off when I slammed him into the ground with the flick of a wrist, like snapping a whip. The smooth stone cracked under him, but I didn’t give him a chance to recover. I needed him to stay down. So I whipped him back the other way, slamming him into the side of city hall. The lamp overhead shattered, glass raining down on my brother’s prone form with amusical tinkle.

With one foot, I nudged him onto his back and stared down at his bloody face, bruises already blooming. “Now are you done?” I asked, crouching at his side.

“I can’t let you destroy yourself,” he whispered, blinking slowly. “You’re my brother, and I love you. You deserve to be happy.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Phobos. You’re the hero, and I’m the villain. You get the happily ever after, and all I get is the end.”

I tried to step past him, but he grabbed my ankle, stubborn to the very end. “Always the fucking boy scout.” Sighing, I reached down and grabbed him around the neck, hauling him up and off his feet.

“Don’t make me do this, Brother,” I snarled, feeling the bones of his neck crack beneath my fingers. Darkness sang in my veins, the bloodlust telling me how easy it would be to add a little more pressure, to snuff out his worthless life. Would that finally make my father proud? To show him just how heartless I could be? But I couldn’t do it. Not Phobos, not my twin, my other half. Mybetterhalf. “Just stand aside and let me kill him!” Why did he show Loki of all people such loyalty?

From somewhere behind me I heard Cameron yell, “Deimos, stop!” He ran across the street, heedless of the threat. He no longer had his power to keep him safe—from me.

My gaze snapped toward him, panic rearing up inside me. He wasn’t supposed to be here! My power lashed out, as if reaching for him, recognizing their source, and the ground split with a quaking roar, a deep crevice tearing the ground in two. He jolted to a stop, his path blocked. “Go home, Cameron. You shouldn’t be here,” I shouted.

“No, this isexactlywhere I should be,” he said, eyes flashing in fury; good, he should be mad at me, I deserved it. It would make it easier todo what needed to be done. “You have to stop. Put Phobos down and come home with me.Please!”

“Home…” That one word nearly destroyed me.Hewas my home, not some underground lair or a mansion on the lake. But he couldn’t know that… I lowered Phobos. “What are you—?”

“I remember,” he said, clasping his hands over his heart. “I remembereverything. You and me… us? You can’t just erase what we have with a wave of your hand. What I feel is stronger than that!”

No. No one had ever been able to resist my compulsion! But was I really surprised? If anyone could break through it, it was Cameron. He was so fucking strong, even without his power.

It felt like a knife to my chest as my heart broke all over again. I’d already said my goodbyes, made peace with my mistakes, and I’d done what I could to protect him. Now I would have to break his heart right along with mine.

I released my brother, and he collapsed on the ground, barely moving. “There is no us, Cam. It doesn’t matter that you remember, it doesn’t make a difference. I was trying to make it easier on you, so this is regrettable, but you’ll just have to get over it.”

“Get over it?!” he spat indignantly, and he looked ready to stomp over here to kick my ass, but when he took a step forward, my panic drove the cleft to split wider, forcing him to stumble back. His eyes flashed dangerously. “Would you pull your head out of your ass? I am sorry that your lover left you, but you have to think about the future now, Deimos.”

I wanted to listen to him, I did, but my father’s words were somehow louder, ringing in my ears.You’re weak, worthless… there is no love in war…I turned my back on Cameron and set my course for revenge.

“Deimos!” he shouted behind me, desperation pitching his voice higher, frantic. “I’m pregnant!”

I nearly missed a step as I halted. Pregnant? He couldn’t be. Me? A father? He had to be lying, trying to manipulate me into stopping. I turned to look at him over my shoulder. “You’re—”

My words cut off as I felt a deep vibration traveling up through my legs. In dawning horror, I watched as Cameron fell to his stomach as the earth caved inward. He scrambled for something to hold onto, skidding downward. For a single moment, he paused on the slope, and I choked on my hope. Then he looked right at me, his eyes conveying all the love he impossibly still felt for me, before the earth seemed to open up and swallow him whole.

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