Page 35 of Goddess of Light

“But not him,” he says simply.

Nowhe’sthe one I want to kill.

I bare my teeth at him, hating how I feel like a caged animal.

“This is part of it, Tuoni,” the Magician says. “You’ll understand it later.”

I groan, trying once more to move, but it’s futile.

And now, I’m painfully aware of everyone watching me. They’ve all seen the God of Death bested by the Magician. Why is he here? What is his purpose in all of this?

Finally, I sigh heavily and concede.

I move to drop my hand, and it falls easily to my side.

Rasmus is still staring at me, breathing hard through his nose, wide-eyed and shell-shocked. He knows how close he came to death, at least. For a second, I think about having anothergo at it, but I decide the Magician probably has a failsafe, some force protecting the ginger fucker.

Never trust a redhead—doesn’t the Magician know that?

I grumble and turn away, giving Torben a hard look.

“He’s your problem now,” I mutter. “Make sure to keep him out of my sight.”

Torben doesn’t look happy about it either, but he nods.

“So your magic can overpower a God?” Lovia says to the Magician, a tremor of hurt in her voice. “How come you didn’t do that earlier?”

The Magician folds his hands in front of him. “Because I only do what I can do when I can do it.”

“That makes no sense.” General Pekka speaks up.

“Never mind him or any of them,” I tell the general before I address the rest of the troops. “You all heard the Magician. No one touches the redhead. No one harms anyone else, for that matter, or you will answer to me, and no one will be there to save you. Now, let’s start making this a fortress and figure out our next steps.”

Even if I can’t have Louhi’s son, I’ll get my revenge somehow.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

TUONEN

“Do you remember the rules?”the giant’s voice comes booming toward me from down the tunnel.

“Frankly, I don’t remember much of anything right now,” I admit. It feels like I’ve been walking through this cave system all day; my bones are weary. I don’t dare complain to Vipunen, though. He’d merely laugh, so utterly unaffected by it all.

Must be nice, I think.

Even Rauta has lost his earlier spark and vigor, padding silently beside me, sniffing the air occasionally.

“The most important rule of all, Tuonen,” Vipunen chides me. “Come now, you didn’t spend your youth training with me to not remember.”

Right. The training. All those years with the blind mask and the sword, and for what? For me to be captured so easily, and by my own damned mother? Though I suppose some of it must have come in handy when I defeated that tentacle thing.

“I can’t look at you,” I affirm. “But I left my blind mask at home. You wouldn’t have a spare, would you?”

Vipunen chuckles, making the crystals on the tunnel walls chime. “I will stay hidden. Your sight will be safe from my trueform, and you and Rauta will be safe under the mountain until you are ready to fight again.”

“Well, am I getting there anytime soon?” I say, wincing at how whiny I sound.

“Patience is a virtue,” he says, “even in such urgent times as these. Perhaps especially so.”

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