Page 31 of Bonds of Blood
“And neither would I have expected him to,” I added very loudly, giving Sylvain an apologetic nod. “The point is, Baylor — this trinket came from the same source as the medallion you stole from me. And you’re not getting a chance to steal it away this time.”
He bared his teeth, reaching out and clenching his fingers around thin air. The greedy bastard, making a play for the gemstone now that he knew it had value. The surge of panic was clearly written in his eyes. But the target of his spell was fast asleep, which meant he couldn’t command Satchel to take this new jewel from me, too.
I wagged my finger and tutted. “You’re going to hate me for this one, Baylor, because it’s incontrovertible proof that my way is better. The strongest summoning doesn’t come from inspiring fear or forcing loyalty. It comes from love.”
“A fool,” he spat, stepping backward. “You’ve always been a sentimental fool.”
“Sure. A sentimental fool favored by a goddess of love.” I held the jewel aloft so that it caught the light, brandishing it like a talisman. “Lady Aphrodite. Come forth.”
A warm breeze tousled my hair, the world around me turning a plush, rosy pink. The wind rushed by in a sigh, a moan, a whisper. From out of nowhere came a spray of pink petals, velvety, dewy, almost obscenely wet. And then the most beautiful woman in all of recorded history, different in the eye of every beholder, materialized in the air before me.
The goddess kept her legs crossed as she sat on a perfect pink cloud. The chains and jewels dripping from her throat jingled as she flipped her hair, sending the scent of something perfect and yet utterly indescribable drifting past my nostrils. Goosebumps rose all over my body. I blushed. Aphrodite glanced over her shoulder and winked. I melted.
And Baylor’s jaw dropped at the sight of the goddess. I would never forget the perfect blend of terror and awe I found on his face that day. If only Dr. Fang had been there to capture the moment.
Still sitting on her cotton candy cloud, Aphrodite swiveled toward me, as if spinning on a stool. Her voice reverberated throughout the dimension, sweet and lilting, yet swelling with authority, with power.
“What is your bidding, oh summoner?”
My muscles seized, my legs quaking. This entity was vastly more powerful than I could possibly fathom. More ancient than the Wispwood, perhaps even older than the misty forests that surrounded the castle. Who was the summoner, and who was summoned? Gods above and below — or right in front of me, for that matter. Aphrodite, the eidolon.
But I mustered my will, lifting my hand and pointing at the man who was once my father.
“Restrain him.”
Aphrodite rested her chin in one hand, then snapped the fingers of the other. Golden chains snaked out of the matrix of jewelry that adorned her body, whipping through the air, wrapping tightly around Baylor’s wrists, his throat, his ankles. He strained against the chains, barely budging the goddess that served as their anchor. When he found that he couldn’t move at all, he bellowed in rage.
I loved how I could hear the undercurrent of terror in his voice.
“Release me,” Baylor shouted. “Free me from these chains. I am a grand summoner, and I shall not be treated — ”
“You’ve shamed the art of summoning, not to mention our family name.” I quietly considered the happy irony of Aphrodite clapping him in these prettier, shinier versions of his beloved chains. “You’ll be dealt with in any way the Wispwood sees fit.”
Baylor spat on the ground, all he could really do anymore. “How do you not see that this has always been in pursuit of knowledge, of delving deeper into the great secrets of our art?”
His hand slipped out of the chains. Four fingers and a thumb, all he needed to cast his horrible magic. Baylor gestured, greenish trails of light following the flow of his fingers. The threads of magic merged, coalesced, forming emerald silhouettes of enormous beasts, the greatest of his eidolons. Baylor shouted his command.
“Obey your master!”
The air trembled as his eidolons manifested, monsters of legend appearing en masse. A dragon with scales that gleamed like jewels, a four-armed giant carved out of the smoothest stone, a shrieking black whirlwind that spat bolts of lightning as it raged. More eidolons loomed behind them, too huge and numerous to ponder.
My heart thumped with panic. Before I could issue a command, Aphrodite rose to her full height. She took a single step forward, walking on air, and muttered a single word.
“Pathetic.”
An endless torrent of golden chains erupted from her body, wrapping themselves around the newly arrived eidolons, lassoing the creatures by their limbs and extremities. Even the terrifying creature of elemental air could not resist, this spinning vortex of dark clouds and lightning succumbing to Aphrodite’s chains.
The howl of frustration that came from Baylor’s throat was the stuff of nightmares. The chains clanked as he thrashed and struggled. His eidolons stayed calm, either because Aphrodite’s power suppressed their aggression, or because they somehow knew better, faced with the raw majesty of a goddess.
“Grecian wench!” Baylor screamed. “Divine harlot! Unhand me. My minions shall tear you to shreds.”
I winced. Sylvain flinched. “How very uncouth. We fae have our own misgivings with divinity, but that is no way to speak to a goddess.”
Aphrodite turned to me with a grin.
“Say the word, sapling. I could pull. Give me the word, and I shall wrench him apart. Five neat, clean pieces.”
“You know, I may have a better idea.” I rummaged through my backpack, thinking of how best to spare my father the embarrassment of further making a fool of himself.
