Page 59 of Redemption

Everything is gone, the house, the garden and gazebo out back, everything in the house, the memories we made with our mate—it’s all gone. My eyes narrow on the god responsible for it all as I swoop down, about to dissipate us right back to that cave so we can force him to tell us how to get Maximus out. I come eye to eye with him, my hand outstretched, seconds from clasping his arm again, but … he’s gone.

I sail through thin air, his maniacal grin still ingrained in my memory as I turn to find nothing but the carnage he left in his wake. Desperate, I sail upwards, needing to get a better view of the scene, needing to see if there’s anything left to salvage.

How the hell did Romulus do this? He’s never had the power level of destruction as Maximus and yet, he was able to level the manor in one blast. He had to have used another power but what other power could have done this?

That thought, along with all the air in my lungs is sucked away as the weight of wreckage barrels down on me.

The earth has nearly consumed the house and everything inside, not an item or a trinket left to save. The blast left a crater at least ten feet deep, and a mountain of wood and boards sticking out from the massive pile of dirt. It would take an army or an immense amount of power to fish anything out from there.

Gone.

I suck in a deep breath, reminding myself that it’s better than the alternative. If I hadn’t followed him here, countless demigods, guardians, and students could’ve died if he tried this on the school.

I shake my head, trying to dispel that image from my mind. Our first home may be gone, but our mate is still with us. Maximus is locked away, but he’s still alive.

Which is more than I can say for Romulus when I get my hands on him next.

“Mateo,” Nyssa shouts, her voice carried on the wind as she shoots towards me, but she’s already too late—we’re already too late. “What happened? Is the school—”

“No,” I answer, cutting off her question. “But we need to repair the wards now.”

“Who did this?” she asks, her eyes wide in shock as she surveys the utter destruction below us.

We hover above the crater, neither of us able to take our eyes off of it. “Romulus. He said it was his backup plan. If I hadn’t followed him, he would’ve tried to do this to the school.”

“I have to tell Orrin. Where are the others?” Nyssa says, already jumping into action.

I shake my head and snap myself out of it. There’ll be time to process this, and that time isn’t right now. “They’re still back at the cave. It was a trap, all of it. Max is stuck there, and now we have no idea how we’re supposed to get him out.”

Nyssa curses under her breath and shakes her head, realizing just how much trouble we’re in.

“You go back to them,” Nyssa commands, stepping into that leader role. “I’ll get Orrin, and we’ll place more wards until you and Osias can get back.”

I nod but don’t dare speak the words on the tip of my tongue. It’s useless. With the way Romulus ripped through them without a second thought, if he wants back in, he’ll get in. The clock is running out, and we just have to be prepared for when shit finally hits the fan.

“Go,” Nyssa insists, breaking me from my thoughts. I don’t waste another second as I dissipate from the place I never thought would feel so much like home.

Chapter Seventeen

Olivia

“It’sgone.It’sallgone,” Mateo says as he appears. I scan over him, making sure he isn’t injured. There are some rips in his white linen shirt but other than that, he’s unharmed. I shift about to go to him but … Maximus.

I place my hand back over the barrier and turn to Mateo, wishing I could be in two places at once right now. My stomach turns at the stricken look on Mateo’s face, my joy at seeing him eclipsed by whatever catastrophe must’ve happened.

“What’s gone?” Kyros asks. He shifts to stand in front of Mateo, placing his hand on his shoulder. Mateo doesn’t even seem to notice until he registers the touch and is immediately jerked from his thoughts. His eyes refocus on us, on me specifically, and he presses his lips into a thin line as though he doesn’t want to tell me.

“What happened, Mateo?” I ask, needing to know no matter how hard it is to hear.

“I followed Romulus back to the school, but he changed his course when he realized I was with him,” Mateo says. A leaden weight sinks in the pit of my stomach when he says the school.

My lips part, and I’m about to ask the question I both need and dread to hear when he continues.

“He went to the manor. He leveled the house completely. There’s nothing left.”

Kyros turns to face me, and I share a look with each of my guys. I nod stiffly, needing him to finish telling us, holding on to the fact that at least no one was there.

“He meant to go to the school, but he knew, with me and all the other gods and demigods there, he wouldn’t have the time necessary to inflict the damage needed to level the entire building,” Mateo explains.

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