Page 116 of Beasts of Briar
She was bluffing. She couldn’t hurt me. Especially not right now, trapped by Kairoth’s shadow magic. He needed to get her out of here.
She tsked. “You care for her. I can see it in your eyes.” Khalasa laughed again. “Of course you’d fall for a mortal.”
“Didn’t you?” he asked. “You loved Bathalous. You still do.”
“Oh, please. He entertained me.”
“He threw you away,” Kairoth said. “And you couldn’t stand that. That someone didn’t want you.”
“What I couldn’t stand was that a mortal thought he was better than me. That he thought he could just end things with me. A goddess. He should’ve been worshipping the ground I walked on. Thankful just to get to be with me.”
Kairoth scoffed. “You’re unbelievable.”
“I’m going to get free,” Khalasa said. “And when I do, I’m going to find Bellamy and I’m going to turn her against you.”
I stiffened at her words. I would never let her do that. Kairoth had to know that. He had to understand I was strong enough to withstand whatever she threw my way.
But Kairoth reached out a hand, wrapping it around Khalasa’s neck. She smiled, choking as his hand tightened. This was what she wanted. A reaction. It was working.
All of a sudden, starlight blasted from her hands. I hadn’t even realized that they’d regrown, and neither had Kairoth. His shadows shattered and split, the force throwing them back against the cave wall, along with Kairoth.
His head hit a rock, and he fell unconscious. He’d wake soon enough. He’d be okay. But it would be too late.
“Are you watching, daughter?” Khalasa said as she stood. “It’s going to be a good show.”
Ice filled my veins, the cold prickling down my spine, making the hairs on my arms raise.
Khalasa reached out toward the weapons, twirling her finger as the starlight chains broke. She then slashed a hand through the air. Strands of starlight reached down, forming hands that grabbed the weapons and threw them through the air and straight toward the stones.
Each weapon embedded itself into a different stone. Cracks formed in the rocks like webs, stretching out until the stone broke into pieces.
It fell in chunks to the ground, dust rising up in thick swaths. I watched it all in horror, unable to do anything to stop this.
The ground rumbled, chunks of rock falling and smashing all around. Khalasa stood there, waiting while Kairoth still lay unconscious.
All of a sudden, a slash of frosty blue shot from one of the nooks. Then a fiery red. Then green. Then sapphire. And finally, white.
Khalasa raised her arms and commanded the starlight once again. It formed cage bars over the opening of the crypt, trapping the wild magic that flew around the cave.
“Brothers, sisters,” Khalasa called. “You’ve been trapped for a very, very long time. Your magic is unpredictable right now. It’s out of control.”
The magic swelled, the colors filling the cave and crisscrossing everywhere.
“It will calm down, and then you will be at full power again.”
Her voice appeared in my mind, and I jumped.“And then we’ll be coming for you, daughter.”
My eyes popped open,and I gasped.
“What?” Driscoll frowned over me. “What’s wrong?”
“The gods are free,”I signed as Driscoll, Leoni, and Aron crowded around me.“They’re free, and they’re coming for us.”
Part Four
“... the strain, the anguish, and the suffering had been too much for her to bear, and she fell into her brothers' arms as if all life had gone out of her.”
Chapter Sixty-Five
