Reign of the Goddess

by Clara Hartley

  Aphrodite cleared her throat. “I have a proposition for you. I’m impressed by your armies—”

  “My father’s, you mean.”

  She nodded. “Your line is filled with great soldiers and command over the animals. With the loss of his son, the centaur king is less inclined to join our side, even if we did give them the Talisman of Nakada.”

  “You want me to betray the goddesses.”

  Aphrodite’s eyes narrowed. “They betrayed your kind first. They don’t see you as human, dear Liam.” She used his own name as a weapon against him. “Why fight for a side that doesn’t care for you?”

  “It’s the side that Cara belongs to. At least there, she can experience a whiff of acceptance. Here, her own mother doesn’t love her.”

  Aphrodite snorted. An unseemly gesture for someone as elegant as her. “Cara is old news. She doesn’t matter anymore. Once we find her, we will destroy her, and she will be forgotten, insignificant. What is she but a child who doesn’t know where she is going? After we deal with her, all that’ll matter is the vassal war and who wins.” Aphrodite leaned toward Liam. “Pick the winning side.”

  Aphrodite’s words filled Liam with disgust. “I refuse to give her up.”

  “Foolish.”

  “My allegiance is with her.”

  “Allegiances can be switched.” Aphrodite leaned back, pushing her chest out, as if trying to seduce Liam with her breasts.

  Liam peeled his lips back in revulsion. “This conversation is going nowhere.” He turned his face away. “I’ve heard enough.”

  “Come now,” Aphrodite replied. Her voice had suddenly taken on a singsong quality. Aphrodite waved her finger at him, coaxing him closer.

  Bright red flared in Liam’s vision. An awful feeling rippled through him as he realized what Aphrodite was doing to him. She was trying to make him fall for her! The hypocrisy infuriated him. This was happening right after she’d preached about love having to be real. But then those feelings of anger quickly disappeared and turned into lust. He needed, wanted, desired Aphrodite. Outrage burst through him, coupled with strange longing. Liam attempted to shut his emotions down. He couldn’t have this.

  “There, there,” Aphrodite cooed. She pushed herself off her seat and rounded the desk. With slow, measured steps, she neared Liam. “Don’t you want to just give in, dear Liam?”

  “D-don’t… don’t call me… that,” Liam said through gritted teeth. “I’m not anything to you.”

  “But I can be your everything.” She ran a tempting touch down the side of his forearm.

  Liam swallowed. She was merely manipulating him. He knew that the real him felt no attraction to the goddess. He saw Cara and wanted only her, but when his mind was fogged from magic, lust took over, and Aphrodite’s lips began to look increasingly supple. He sucked in a sharp breath and wrapped a quivering arm around Aphrodite’s waist. She was the embodiment of womanhood. A sight to behold.

  “Don’t you want to please me? Make me happy? If you give me your father’s armies, win the centaurs back to my side… that would help me greatly. I will give myself to you if—”

  Her sensual promises spiked into a screechy yelp. Liam snapped out of his desire at once. He shoved Aphrodite away and took a step back. His breathing had turned hot and heavy, his chest rising and falling sporadically. Liam sneered. He needed a shower after that loathsome denigration of his loyalties.

  Fenrir was biting Aphrodite’s leg, pulling her away from Liam. His wolfdog had gotten his back.

  A sinful thought raced past Liam’s mind as he unsheathed his dagger.

  Should he kill Aphrodite now?

  Perhaps that would be better for Cara. She didn’t deserve a mother who treated her this poorly, after all. And this act would tip the vassal war to the goddesses’ favor. Maybe he’d be able to use Aphrodite’s head as a bargaining chip.

  Goddesses were difficult to kill, but not impossible. If he stabbed her enough times with his magicked dagger, she wouldn’t survive, and maybe with Fenrir distracting her, he stood a chance.

  “My goddess!” someone shouted.

  An explosion accompanied the frantic cry.

  A messenger darted into the tent, his attire covered in blood. A deep gash marred the side of the left cheek, the skin surrounding the wound wrinkled and puckered.

  “What is it?” Aphrodite said, her face a mask of rage. She turned toward the messenger with half her hair covering her face. She’d already kicked Fenrir off her ankle and subdued the dog with her magic.

  “She’s here!”

  “Who?” Aphrodite growled.

  “Your daughter, my goddess.”

  “Cara?” Liam asked. He abandoned his thoughts of Aphrodite and focused entirely on Cara. “Lead me to her.”

  The messenger quivered. He looked like he’d just seen death itself. “She was here. Not anymore. She left the encampment in a state of disarray. We lost… lost many men, sir.”

  Liam tried to remain levelheaded, but Cara always had a way of driving him crazy. “Where is she?”

  “I… I don’t know.”

  Liam strode toward the messenger and grabbed his collar. He lifted the messenger where he stood and said, “Tell me where she is, or I’ll break your fucking arms.”

  “I can’t!”

  “And why not?”

  “She flew off. She came in so fast that nobody had time to subdue her. Not even Deimos. Took out a third of the camp and then escaped with what we have of the chiasma.”

  Liam ran out of the tent, his eyes darting across the expanse. Wreckage surrounded him. Rubble and corpses and dying men. Liam tried to see past the carnage, searching for the love of his life.

  The messenger stopped beside him.

  Liam whipped toward the messenger. “Where is she?”

  The messenger’s upper lip quivered. “I-I don’t…”

  “Where is Cara?”

  “She came and left like the wind, sir,” the messenger said, covering his face with his hands. “I’m so sorry, but I really have no idea.”

  Liam pushed the messenger away, seeing no point in being close to him now that he was useless. He brushed his hand through his hair, willing himself to calm.

  I’ll find you, he thought. Where are you?

  He began a search around the perimeter, needing terribly to find Cara, but she was far too elusive, and he was met with disappointment.

  Three

  Cara

  My head pounded. I pushed myself up into a seating position and drew my knees to my chest. I sat next to the crystalline lake of the chiasma, trying to remember how I’d gotten here in the first place.

  And then it all hit me like a storm.

  I shuddered. I’d gone on another killing spree. It wasn’t as bad as what happened when the angry entity had first taken over my body. But I’d caused more terrible deaths, nevertheless. Now, just like before, I was forced to face the horror of what I’d done. When the entity had control of my body, she enjoyed watching beheadings and disembowelments far too much, all while enjoying a good pot of stew. I’d tried to stop her when trapped inside her, but it was no use.

  What did I do to deserve this? If the entire meaning of my existence was to destroy and kill, then I’d rather not exist at all.

  I missed Pop-Tarts.

  Red velvet cake.

  Damn it, Cara, why do you always think about sugar when you’re upset?

  I’d hated my apartment back on earth, but at least it was free of fucking genocide. I’d had enough of that shit. Couldn’t I go back to Earth, where most of the time my biggest problem was rent or what to eat for breakfast?

  I wrapped my hand around my ankle. I was barely wearing anything. Just a simple frock. Despite my new, goddess-like body, the cold still chilled me. Or perhaps it was the fear that made me shiver. I needed to stop shaking. My teeth were chattering, and I thought I might bite my own tongue. My vision was still enhanced; my body still felt nimble. Trauma was, perhaps, the main thi
ng that made me weak.

  I blinked. I had full control over my body again. I reached around the edges of my mind. “Hello?” I called. My voice bounced off the cavern walls.

  The entity had gone from my mind. I was myself again. Whole.

  She hadn’t even said goodbye.

  Good riddance.

  I wasn’t going to miss that crazy thing one bit. It was great that she was gone.

  But was she really gone?

  I couldn’t believe it. I’d lived with her for so long, always so briefly aware of her presence that her absence made me feel like something was missing.

  A hollow sensation flowed through me. It was the first time feeling this empty was a good thing.

  Closing my eyes, I tipped my head toward the ceiling. Gradually, I embraced the sensation of being free. I didn’t have to live while being afraid of the entity anymore. I could be myself.

  Even then, the weight of the crimes I’d been compelled to commit hung in my chest.

  Best not to think about it. I was a goddess with a new body and less baggage to go with it. I’d come a long way from being the scared child at the orphanage. Maybe with this, I could rectify my mistakes. Find redemption and all that jazz.

  It was a sickeningly positive way of looking forward.

  Was there such a thing as too much positivity?

  Did I really deserve to think like that after all I’d done?

  “How long are you going to sit there like that for?”

  I jolted, stunned by the new company. When I opened my eyes again, my eyes landed on a man I didn’t recognize. He smelled like fire. Even when I sat so far away—at least fifty feet—his presence was so bright and alarming that I couldn’t ignore him. How had I heard him so clearly?

  The man wore no shirt. His only article of clothing was a loose pair of pants. He seemed vaguely familiar, but I failed to remember where I’d seen him before.

  “Hello,” he said, his voice ringing clear. He lifted himself from his crouching position and ambled toward me. The man had bright orange hair. His eyes were like two big moons. He was tall, his body carved with perfection—muscular, tan, and lithe. The lights that reflected off the crystals next to the lake lit him, adding to his larger-than-life image.

  He was the definition of beautiful.

  A god.

  My breathing grew shallower as the man neared. Up close, I noticed a symbol on his forehead. It was the sun and moon. The symbol reminded me of an intricate tattoo. As he knelt before me, I resisted the urge to brush my thumb across his forehead. He paused, his face merely inches from mine.

  “What is your name?” he asked.

  “Cara,” I replied. My answer came as almost a choked whimper. I sensed hidden magic shifting inside this man. He held unimaginable strength. I quaked in his presence, shrinking back. With his moon-like eyes, he stared at me with heated intensity. Tension travelled down my spine as I inched backward.

  “Beautiful name,” he said. “And what is mine?”

  “Yours?” I asked, withholding disbelieving laughter. “Don’t you know your own name?” Had this guy been knocked on the head? I took ten points off his attractiveness for his daftness.

  Then again, he didn’t really feel stupid. What he projected was… absent-minded innocence.

  “No,” the man said.

  “Hm.” I narrowed my eyes at him. Was he playing games with me? Acting all clueless so I’d let my guard down? Maybe he was sent by the goddess council. I wished they’d send me my vassals instead. I missed them so much. I’d do anything just to have my arms around them again, having them take care of me like they usually did. Now, alone with a stranger, I had to toughen up and be more cautious. “I’ll call you, uh, Amber, then. ‘Cause, you know…” I gestured at his hair.

  The man glanced down, picking up the edge of his orange braid as he did so. “Amber. I like it.”

  I thought he needed something more threatening, however. He had the presence of the sun.

  “Are you a vassal?” I asked.

  “What is a vassal?”

  I blinked at him. Where had he been all this time? I thought that everyone in Haven knew about the vassals. Was he from Earth, perhaps? One of the poor, kidnapped souls like me? But that couldn’t be it. He held too much energy and power.

  I offered him a one-shoulder shrug. “Vassals. Hm. They’re protectors of goddesses who are bound to indentured servitude. They have elemental powers. Sometimes they’re nice, sometimes they’re assholes, but they’re pretty awesome for the most part.”

  Amber raised a brow, indicating that he didn’t understand a word I was saying.

  I sighed. “What do I do with you?” What should I do with myself, even? Should I return to the goddesses? I figured that they were still mad after what I’d done the last time I came here. They all probably wanted me dead for killing their comrades.

  I raised a hand. “Here,” I said. “Pull me up.”

  Amber gave me a weird look, but he didn’t argue. He tugged my arm, helping me stand. I hissed when my skin met his. I let go of him and fell right back onto the ground. “What the hell? Why are you burning?”

  I pressed my hands together to abate the stinging sensation. It disappeared quickly enough. My new body healed faster than my semi-human one.

  “Am I?” Amber asked. He glanced at his hand and frowned.

  “Yeah. You’re like a furnace,” I said.

  Amber concentrated on his hand. He pursed his lips before offering me his palm again. “Try this.”

  “I’m not touching you again.”

  “It won’t burn. I promise.”

  I wanted to decline, but Amber looked at me with puppy-dog eyes. Despite the power that simmered beneath his surface, he gave off an adorable vibe.

  “Damn you,” I said. I reached out, accepting his hand. His temperature had dipped, and the handshake we shared was just like a normal one. This time, he helped pull me to standing. Now that we stood side to side, I noticed that Amber was three heads taller than me. He was taller than most of my vassals, even. His size was intimidating, but his cluelessness gave me second thoughts about whether I should be afraid of him.

  Amber pulled my hand closer to his before brushing his lips across the back of it in a princely gesture. His action caught me off guard. I tried prying myself away, but his grip was as tight as iron. “I’ve always wondered what it’d be like to talk to you.”

  “Have we met before?”

  He shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

  “Do you know anything?”

  He shook his head and gave a dimpled smile. “Just that you’re with me.”

  My insides coiled. I couldn’t decide whether his admission was strange or charming. I glanced to my side, temporarily avoiding his gaze, and blew out a weary breath.

  Amber turned my head so that I faced him. He stared into my eyes, studying me with a curiosity that sent uneasiness zipping down my spine. He inspected me like I was something new to discover. He gently traced across my forehead, down my cheek. He stroked the side of my neck, and that was when I’d had enough. I moved backward and distanced myself from him. Amber continued staring at me with wonder. There was nothing wondrous about me, except for maybe a tongue that couldn’t control itself and an unexplained penchant for loving to lick things. The entity inside me had disappeared, which made me just another boring goddess.

  “Don’t you want to go back to Earth?” he asked. “Do you miss the place? Don’t you want to continue singing? Making music? Goddess duties might be too much for a simple girl like you.”

  I stilled. “How do you know so much about me?”

  Amber cocked his head, his gaze unwavering. “It simply feels like I’ve known you for a long time.”

  Amber creeped me out. I moved forward, heading toward the exit. I kept my wings hidden inside my back. They were heavy, and keeping them away made my walking easier. “Let’s go and find the goddesses. Maybe they’ll know what to do with you.” They’d probab
ly make him a vassal. Or maybe, because of the goddesses’ powerful magic, they’d be able to give this guy his memory back. Maybe then he’d be able to answer some of my questions and stop freaking me out.

  Amber followed me in silence as I trekked over the rocky surface. When we meandered through the passageway, he came a little too close. His temperature might have risen again. I sensed the prickling of his heat close to my back. I bit my inner cheek as I suffered his presence. It wasn’t that I hated him. I was just… too attracted to him. And that attraction made me feel like I was betraying my vassals. They were supposed to own my heart—every inch of it.

  Amber was hot.

  He looked like he was carved from marble.

  That was all.

  He didn’t even remember his own name. How could I like a guy who didn’t even know who he was? He could be hiding all sorts of red flags for all I knew.

  We left the caverns and reached outside. I dreaded stepping back into the battlefield. I’d wondered if there’d be any more dead bodies there. A reminder of my crimes.

  But there were none. Instead, I was greeted with a lush field of white, fresh flowers. The landscape looked like it’d been resurrected and had new life breathed into it. I blinked at the gorgeous sight. This truly reminded me of heaven. Maybe I’d died and gone someplace else.

  Amber held my hand again, ensuring that he kept his temperature level so he didn’t burn me. He tugged at my arm, and once he captured my attention, he pointed to his right. The chiasma was supposed to be there.

  I readied myself to peer upon the offensive, large orb.

  I stilled from shock.

  “Amber?” I said.

  “Hm?”

  I pointed at the sky. “You know that there was something here previously, right?”

  He shook his head. “Like I said, I don’t know anything at all.”

  I rubbed my thumb over my nose. “So, you can’t understand.”

  I placed my hands on my hips, completely miffed. Nothing made sense. Not Amber. Not myself. Not anything.