Page 65 of To Ashes and Dust
Darkness held me in its clutches, imprisoning me in the black depths of an endless abyss. A dark, primal power licked at my skin, coiling around my arms and legs. I searched for something, anything, anyone who might be there for me to reach out to.
Nothing. Pure nothingness surrounded me. Like an ocean, it stretched for miles, farther than I could see. Despite the pitch emptiness around me, despite the fact there was no one to be seen, I could feel it.
A tingling sensation crawled over my skin, the hairs stood up on my arms, and my eyes grew sharp as I searched. I was being watched, though I couldn’t see who it was.
“Who’s there?” My words didn’t so much as echo, the void swallowing my voice as it left my lips. “Show yourself.”
Silence.
A grayish hand appeared in the darkness before me and caressed my cheek. I tried to pull back, but my body wouldn’t move, muscles unresponsive to my commands.
“Easy child.” A woman’s voice slithered into my ears, sharp and low. “I don’t bite." She laughed under her breath “Much.”
“Who are you?”
The hand slid down along my jaw until her finger lifted my chin. “You don’t know?”
Her face faded into view. Narrow onyx eyes stared into mine, silver power simmering within them like ripples of water. A smile curved on her dark lips, but it didn’t feel friendly. No, this smile was sinister, manipulative. Cruel.
Her smile widened when I didn’t answer. “I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet.”
She circled me, a gown a mass of black mist and shadow encircling her. The enchanting fabric barely covered her sultry frame, splitting down the front to expose the swell of her breasts before it met below her navel and stretched down to her feet, where the misty gown danced with movement. I watched her, wary of any sign she might attack me. I didn’t know why I bothered; I couldn’t move, let alone defend myself.
The power lingering under her gray skin was enough to make me shake. It danced in her veins, stretching out to every edge of her being, so unbridled that with a single snap of her fingers she could end my existence. This wasn’t my first time experiencing it. I’d felt this intense power before, when I met Selene.
This was a goddess—an Elythian, one more powerful than Selene. I could feel it, feel every ounce of power that might destroy me if I said the wrong thing. Damien had warned me how the Elythians, the powerful beings of the Godsrealm, had killed for less.
“I guess you wouldn’t recognize my voice,” she said, her tone casual as she inspected her long, sharp black nails.
A twisted smile stretched across her perfect face, her voice changing as she spoke again. It became my own, laced with a malice that made my skin crawl. “You’ll have to forgive me. I mean, you needed a little nudge to do what was necessary, and it was so easy.”
My throat tightened.That voice. The dark voice spoke into my mind once more, rippling like a memory that burned me with each nightmare that forced me to relive it.
He deserved what he got.
“It was you...”
She laughed, arms wrapping around her waist as she reveled in my shock, her inky black hair dancing in weightless silken waves around her.
“You blocked Salwa from entering my mind.”
Her laughter faded, eyes darkening, as if she were annoyed by the memory. “I should have fried that brain of hers. So rude to trespass like that, but I didn’t. You’re welcome.”
“Who—who are you?”
The wicked grin returned. “He shouted my name, child. Shouted it so loud I feared you might discover me before I wanted you to. Oh, Marcus was so furious that I kept your secret from him, but it wasn’t the right time for him to know.”
As if it’d happened yesterday, I remembered it, remembered feeling the bindings on my wrists in the metal shop—Marcus yelling to an empty room, cursing the goddess for withholding information about me.
“Eris...”
She shot toward me, and I sucked in a breath, her face inches from my own, eyes wild with excitement. “I’m so thrilled to finally meet you, Cassie, demigoddess of the immortals.” Her voice dropped to a whisper in my mind, laced with venom.
Selene’s precious little project.
The way she said Selene’s name, like the name tasted sour on her tongue... did she hate her? I opened my mouth to speak, but I clamped my lips shut. Damien had warned me of how dangerous she was, the Goddess of Strife and Discord. She delighted in conflict, in despair.
I had to tread carefully, choose my words with caution. “What do you want?”
