Page 65 of Hers to Keep

Rio came over and slung an arm around her.“What is it we’re plotting?”

“Expanding the house so Mariana can keep offering homes to anyone who looks the slightest bit melancholy,” Dohal said with amusement.

Rio chuckled and leaned to kiss her cheek.“That sounds like the best plan I’ve heard all week.I’ll start talking it over with Clovis.He’s around here somewhere.”

“Don’t you dare.”Mari elbowed him in the ribs.“No work talk today.”

“Fine, it can wait until—”

A tremor shook the ground under their feet, starting as the slightest shiver and then quickly intensifying until cups started falling from tables and chairs tipped.

Someone screamed, but Mari couldn’t figure out who it was or if they were hurt because Dohal had wrapped her and Rio up in his arms.His wings formed a dome over them to block out anything that might fall from above.

Ashdei materialized in front of them in a gout of blue flame.“He’s coming.”

“Get her out of here,” Dohal barked.He moved to hand her across to the demon, and she was about to protest at being handed off like a burden of laundry when she realized it was too late.

Behind Ashdei, the Old One rose from the ground, dirt and rock falling from him in clumps.People ran away in every direction as he towered above them, taller and broader than Mari had ever seen him.“This ends today,” the giant intoned.“I will wipe all of you from this realm like the vermin you are.”

The monster reached out a clawed hand, the green glow of his magic launching from his fingers to engulf all of them.Ashdei’s shield sprang up into place between them, absorbing what would surely have been a killing blow, but the shield cracked under the force, driving Ashdei to his knees.

“I can’t hold this for long,” Ashdei said between clenched teeth.

Panic grabbed Mari by the throat.The moment of truth had arrived, and she still had no idea what to do to defeat the creature that was determined to destroy them.All she knew was that she couldn’t do nothing.

With no idea what caused the instinct, she said, “Put me down, Dohal.I need to touch the ground.”

He hesitated only for an instant, bless him, and then he complied with her orders, dropping her to her feet.She slipped out of her sandals, her toes digging into the soil under them.She pulled from the nexus as hard as she could, absorbing the magic until she was full to bursting.

Dohal rested one hand on her shoulder, and Ashdei grabbed her wrist.Both of them poured all of their magic into her in a torrent that made her want to sing with the beauty of the righteous perfection that coursed through her.She reached for Ashdei’s nexus through him as well, willing the magic of the Hells to do her bidding and protect them.No resistance barred her path.It was as if she’d always been meant for this.

The shield winked out of existence when Ashdei channeled his power away from it, but her own burgeoning magic turned away the beam that was still aimed at them, driving it back toward the monster that wanted to kill them all.

The Old One screamed in pain as it struck him, howling his agony into the sky.The beam of searing magic fizzled out.A burn as thick around as his arm marred his chest, his gnarled bark skin scorched.

“How can that be?”the Forest Lord asked.He was as big as a house and more powerful than anything that had ever been, and somehow, he seemed uncertain as he gazed at her.

“I’m your child,” Mariana said, not unkindly.“The spark of a deity to make a deity.”

The Old One tilted his head down to regard her.“Yes.I see it now.”He paused for the space of a long breath.“They tricked me.”

“I know, but I tricked them too.”Her lips turned up at the corners.“I already had the spark.”

He leaned to examine her more closely.His laugh was a joyful sound that reverberated around them.“My daughter is a clever, vicious thing.Though I have every reason to hate you, I find myself charmed.”He shook his many-branched head slowly.“Such arrogance.They never could have controlled you for long.”

Mari smiled, thinking of when Dohal had said similar words to her.She knew what he meant now.She was more than Basilio and the other incubi could have ever dreamed—a twice invested deity.Something that had never been in all the eons.All because her mother had been host to the shard that was all that remained of a goddess long forgotten.“So I’ve been told.”

“It is fitting that we have come to this, then.”He passed his gaze over her men who were arrayed around her as if he could see into them and then over the others who peered fearfully from behind cover all around them.“You offer shelter and succor to those who need it.”He seemed surprised by his own conclusion.

“I try to, yes.”She drew a breath.“The man who raised me was cruel, and I’ve sought ways to make amends for that my whole life.That’s one of the ways.”

The Forest Lord stepped closer, his heavy tread shaking the ground.When Ashdei tried to intercede, she pulled him back.Mari moved to stand in front of the towering figure without a stitch of fear.Since the first volley, he hadn’t made any move to attack them.He seemed almost fond.

The Old One stooped over her, his clawed hands passing over her head before settling to touch her.After a moment, he murmured with understanding.“You are more deserving of this realm than I ever was.”

His power poured into her, filled with the energy of things that grow and change.She cried out, not because it hurt, but because she knew at once what he meant to do.In a panic, she tried to dislodge his grip.

She sobbed as his resolve filled her chest.“No, stay.Please.”

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