Page 90 of A Clash of Embers

If I stared at her long enough, I knew she’d say something else. I remembered what my mother had told me about when you want to find out the truth, you stay silent. It always comes out.

Bethany was uncomfortable with my lingering stare. She couldn’t look me in the eye. I decided to slide off the horse and start walking in front with the horse trailing behind me.

Quickly she did the same and jogged up to me.

“I just don’t want you to get hurt,” she said softly with her white feathered wings cascading behind her. When I looked past her, I saw Luke with blue flames flickering in his eyes. He was on guard but so was every other person in the group. I didn’t see Eros. I didn’t see him. What was he doing?

“Clara. Do you understand why I couldn’t tell you? I didn’t want you worrying.”

I smiled, “I’m not the one who should be worrying.”

I heard the group behind me before I saw them. I sensed him. Somehow. A chill sent down my spine as I knew Eros was walking up towards me, but he wasn’t alone. He had Griffin and about five hundred troops behind him.

We’re ready.

When my head whipped back around to face Bethany, she had a smile on her face. Awickedsmile.

“Why should I worry, Clara?”

I took a step towards her, “You should worry becauseyouhave betrayed me. You were supposed to be my friend. You were supposed to bemy person.You were the friend I poured my heart out to under the curse, yet you aren’t who I thought you were.”

Her eyes flickered with a flare of embers, a fire burning within her. Something I knew well. A white flame that was ethereal. Just like mine.

“How long have you known?” she asked me.

I smiled, “I’ve known since you walked out of that tree line with Lettie and Leo.”

She pulled her shoulders back, fluttering her wings slightly.

“No hard feelings?” she smiled cruelly.

I cracked my neck to the side and said, “Why don’t you let us see who you truly are?”

The flames flickered once again and she said, “Finally, I was tired of this form anyway.”

With a flicker of her hand, she became the person I knew she was deep down. She became the woman from my visions. She became the goddess that I hated. She was pure evil. She was deceit wrapped in a beautiful bow. The Queen of betrayal.

“Oh, Clara. It’s lovely to be back in this body. Wouldn’t you agree?”

I sighed, quickly glancing around at the people around me. They saw her. They knew exactly who she was. She wasn’t Bethany. She was the reason we were here, to begin with.

“Athiana.” I smiled, pausing slightly to study her. The same woman who enchanted my dreams and visions under the curse. I bit out a lasting comment, “Nothing about you is lovely.”

Chapter 44

“Ifind that hard to believe, Clara Morgan Artesia.”

It was terrifying when someone who looked like her could have that much influence and power over everyone. She was the reason we were all suffering. Because she suffered first, we all had to suffer alongside her. There was no stopping it. It was inevitable.

“You would have done the same thing. If something were to happen to Eros, you’d do the exact same. You would rip apart an entire world for him, just as I have for Myrick.”

I laughed, “You are delusional. Myrick wasn’t meant for you. You had no divine right to be with him. I have every right to be with Eros. He is my inamorato. He is my divine mate.”

Athiana started to walk around me, like I was her prey. Trying to intimidate me as she chuckled. “Oh, sweet Clara. You have no clue. I was destined to be with Myrick. The others didn’t want me here because I was a threat to Hathor’s world. I would change too much and she couldn’t handle it. She couldn’t handle my power being here—that’s why they fought against me."

I squinted my eyes at her and she paused her prowl. I took a step toward her so she understood that I wasn’t scared of her and I never would be. “That’s where you’re wrong. I know why they rejected your relationship,Ishtar.”

Her eyes widened at the mention of her true form. Of her true name. Of her goddess name. “I know a lot more than you think I do. And I won’t allow you to torment this world anymore.”

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