***
Karim and Celeste sat on the deep purple sofa, Nyx the other across from the two, shifting uncomfortably under Celeste's steady, unblinking gaze. Nyx cleared her throat and exhaled before explaining the much lauded prophecy of her path to greatness. She'd always know that she was destined to either save the world or destroy them all. She knew of the curse of lust that followed her for her entire life, she knew of her craving for blood to sustain her, but only the blood of the preternatural sustained her life force. What she had not known about was the curse of never finding love, or that these afflictions had been placed on her by her own mother.
Celeste grasped Karim's fingers when Nyx told of the first attempt Nemesis made on her infant daughter's life and her flight to safety in Nyx's arms and protection. A protection that was lost when she had been drugged and tossed into the sea. She remembered feeling weak and ill before being tossed into the darkness of the sea, something heavy tethered to her waist with a thick rope. She'd forgotten about the rope until now.
Nyx spoke of reasons she needed to be protected, to hide her in the human world as she prepared for her rightful place on the throne. She explained that Celeste was important, but not only to her Greek and Egyptian pantheons, was she also important to the Dark Fae. She was of the primordial, the first of the gods created by the one true God and she had a destiny.
She had been hidden among humans, allowed to hone her skills as a warrior with the Amazons, who Nyx hoped would teach her humility and compassion, qualities the gods had never mastered. Though trained by the Amazons, and one of their most skilled warriors, she was never allowed into battle. There was always the fear that her location would be discovered and used to gain power because she could be the savior. She could also be their destruction if given the proper motivation and provocation. The level of power coursing through her had never been fully established, but she was strong and radiating that much energy would surely give her position away. That was why her abilities, her gifts had been muted by Nyx, to hide her for centuries.
When she reached her four hundredth year, the year she reached her physical peak, Celeste was to be brought to her father's temple in Sestus, where she would take her rightful place at his side. But she had been betrayed by those she trusted, those who'd been corrupted by the promise of wealth and eternal beauty; Celeste had been lost to the sea. Nyx had sent her foot soldiers, trusted guards, out in search of her, but after years with no hint of her many had given up. Even Anhur himself had mourned the loss of his one precious child. And for her part in the betrayal, Anhur's bride Menhit had been stripped of her power and banished.
Nyx was the only one, the sole believer that Celeste had not died, that she was alive somewhere. That was when she enlisted The Seven, her most trusted warriors. They spanned the known world in search of clues for the goddess, a goddess no one had ever seen or known even existed. One by one, they returned with no news, one by one they gave up. Except Karim.
"And you made him promise not to ... love me? Why would you do that?" Celeste asked, tears stinging her eyes.
"Tell her," Karim said in a tone that sounded to Celeste as if he was barely able to remain calm. She looked at him to see that his fangs had extended and his soft green eyes were brilliant emerald. He was furious and ready to attack.
"When you never arrived, I knew that something had happened. I sent another party in search of you."
"But not the one person who'd succeed when all others had failed," Celeste prompted, waiting for the rest. Needing to hear the rest from her grandmother's mouth.
"I couldn't track you. I could only feel that you were somewhere. I just did not know where," Nyx said. She was moving to the edge of her seat, his eyes wide. "Even with my blood in your veins, I felt your life force but that was all."
“But you didn’t send him back. The one person who'd succeeded when all others had failed, the one who had the best chance of finding me again,” Celeste repeated, hating the angry quiver in her voice. Nyx averted her gaze, but Celeste held steady, watching her expression.
"When Karim sent word of you being in the care of the merchants, I sent the Seven in search of them, in search of you. When we found them, his wife told my men that you had been sold to a slaver. She didn’t want her husband lusting after you, she thought you were a witch, and she jealously got the better of her," Nyx said in a very quiet voice. "She paid for that dearly, I can assure you of that."
“Except one. You sent back all of the Seven except one. You didn't send him back for me.” Her jaw began to throb and she realized she was clenching her jaw. She was ready to scream, to throttle Nyx.
"Because of the prophecy, Celeste..." Nyx mumbled. 'She will be the greatest love of kings and gods and drive some men to insanity with her guile and beauty. Her true love will find her once he remembers, once she shows him the way. He will be the destroyer of the gods for her.’ Nyx repeated the words that Atropos had spoken. "Your mate, your true mate is an all-powerful being, a god. Don't you see, only he could be your true match? You deserve to be loved by a god. You deserve to rule the heavens and earth and all in between."
"You didn't send him back because you didn't think he was worthy?" Celeste stared at her for a moment then shook her head as tears stung her eyes. "You let me die because of some fucked up prophecy made by a group of tweens a million years ago? What kind of fucked up logic is that?"
"Celeste, my sweet child, Karim wasn't a proper match for you. He isn't a god or..." Nyx knelt before her, holding Celeste's hands in her own. Celeste hadn't even noticed her move, hadn't tracked the movement as she let the realization sink in. She stared at Nyx through tears, her face becoming a distorted jumble of colors.
"But for me he could have been. I am a goddess, I could have made him a god. I could have done that for him. You didn't send him back because he wasn't who you wanted. You. Not me. This is about you not having control anymore. I would no longer need your guidance or protection, isn't that it?" she asked, somewhat stunned by the ridiculousness of it all when she realized a greater truth. Her chest burned and the tears flowed freely.
"You knew." She stared at her grandmother. "Oh my god, you knew!"
Celeste felt her blood pressure skyrocket. The tops of her ears burned and her chest stung from the pain of realizing that Nyx had left her in that nightmare for years. She had abandoned her when she needed her most, over a prophecy that was just a bunch of random thoughts pieced together by three children, insane and powerful deities but children nonetheless. She stared without seeing, her stomach twisting into knots. She was trying to keep her last meal down, but it was becoming harder and harder to do.
"You knew what was happening to me even before I died, you knew...You didn't even tell him I was missing? You never said a word to him? The one person in the entire world who could find me, who knew where to begin the search and you let him leave me. You knew that something was wrong but you would rather protect your own selfish needs than help me!"
"He was falling in love with you. I couldn't risk it."
"He wasn't falling in love with me, Nyx. He was already in love with me and you knew it. You knew that if you sent him back there would be no turning back for either of us. You were supposed to protect me." Celeste could hear the hysteria in her voice but she couldn't stop, couldn't calm herself. She hummed with anger, her body feverish in her rage.
"You let them rape me, do unthinkable things to me...murder me and send me to … you knew I was in Tartarus and you left me there … you left me … to do what they did … the pain." She reached out, grasping Nyx's face in her hands.
Flashes of memory ricocheted through Nyx's head, images of men, and some women, their sinister, smiling faces close as they did what they wanted to her. They touched her in the most intimate places, using her as they saw fit, marveling at her beauty, all wanting to leave a mark on her, all wanting a piece of her. She could feel the pain and embarrassment, she could feel the metal bangles cut into her wrists and ankles a
nd hear the ting of bells with each thrust. The palace servants, who'd once felt sympathy for the girl had taken to spitting and putting shards of glass and animal dung in her food and speaking of her in hushed tones, as their king fell deeper into his depravity and obsession for her. She felt a brief ray of hope when the king was killed, only to be used and tortured by another before her own sweet release into death. A death that was plagued with more of the unending nightmare of existence.
Nyx's own eyes filled with tears, her body ached and her heart felt as if someone had it in a vice, tightening it with each beat. She whimpered, her body going limp, and she began to fall, but Celeste held steady, wanting her to see and feel everything she'd endured, not knowing how she was doing it, but she was, she was sharing her burden.
"They broke me, Nyx. They fucking broke me and you let them," she snarled, before finally releasing Nyx's face. Celeste moved away from Karim, not wanting anyone to touch or look at her.
She turned her back to them, going to open the curtains to feel the moonlight on her face. She could feel their eyes on her and hear Nyx as she choked on her sobs. Karim remained silent and still, watching her.
She stared into the sky wondering how different her life could have been if only...if only, she sighed. "Now," Karim said in an even voice, reclaiming his seat. "Tell her about the mark."
***
Karim was going to go to Celeste, but she looked as if she would rip off the arm of anyone who came near her at the moment. She was a ball of vibrating energy, her eyes a pale silver, her nails digging into her palms, leaving little crescent shaped cuts. He knew this because he could smell her blood; the scent of heated sugar and vanilla may have gone unnoticed to Nyx, but he could smell it. In the last few hours, her every scent, every mood, every hair on her body burned into his memory. He knew that tonight had been an emotional tsunami for her and this little moment was only the eye before the inevitable storm. He would be here to make sure the wreckage was minimal.
"When you … when you died," Nyx was saying in a hoarse voice, "The Moirai came to me to let me know that your life force had faded and that you were locked in Tartarus. I couldn't go directly and Uriel summoned The Fallen One at God's behest. He was summoned by using his true name and he came, but at a price. He was taken with you almost immediately. Something about you … it was like electricity filled the room. When he saw you, he breathed life into you, giving you a piece of him and I suppose that's where this telepathy and some of the other things come from. He shared a part of himself, connected the two of you and marked you. He said that when you readily accepted your fate, when you called his name and only then, he would come to claim you. He insisted that you were his that you always had been and always would be. I knew that I had done the right thing. "
"What is his name?" Celeste asked.
"That was wiped from my memory. Only you have the name of The Fallen One. It's locked somewhere within you. When the time comes, you will know and you will take your true place. You will become the greatest savior the world has known,” Nyx said.
Celeste stared at her, her fingers running along the mark on her neck.
"Or the destruction of us all," she whispered, her eyes on Nyx.
***
Celeste stared at Nyx and fat, heavy tears stung her raw, red eyes before slowly rolling down her cheeks. She couldn't remember the last time she'd cried so long and so hard, but her heart was breaking with each new revelation.
"You promised he could...have me? You are no better than the Persian or Nemesis."
"Agapi̱té kardiá, I only wanted to protect you,” Nyx started.
"I am not your dear heart. I'm not your anything! Your protection has done nothing but ruin me. If you hadn't protected me so much maybe I would have had a fighting chance. Maybe I wouldn't have been raped and murdered again and again and again. If you hadn't tried so hard to keep me safe, I would have been able to fight back. Instead you took my power and you ... sold me. You allowed every nightmare of my life to happen. You could have stopped it at any point, but you didn't because you had a plan. You sold me."
"I didn't sell you," Nyx said, rising to her feet.
"You did! You promised him he could have me! You gave me to someone I can't even fucking remember, but Karim, who you know and trust, had to keep his hands to himself. Someone who I actually care about and you ruined that. Because, just like everyone else, you wanted to use me."
"I just wanted-”
"I swear on all that is holy, Nyx if you say you were just trying to protect me one more fucking time, I'm going to lose my shit. There is no excuse for what you did. He branded me like motherfucking cattle! How many others have this mark? How many others?"
"He could only leave his mark on one, a chosen one. That's you. He gave you part of himself, do you realize how special you are? I was ri-" Nyx smiled, a tight strained thing that she was forcing.
"If you say you were right in doing this, I am going to punch you in the fucking throat." Celeste raked her fingers through her hair in frustration. Karim couldn't help the smirk that teased the corners of his mouth, even when Nyx shot him a stare that would turn a weaker man to stone. "You are the worst betrayer of all," Celeste said.
"The prophecy," Nyx began.
"Fuck the prophecy! I never had a fucking chance. At least Nemesis was honest in her hatred of me, but what you did was so much worse. I can tell you for a motherfucking fact that your good intentions and protection are exactly what led me to hell. Centuries, Nyx. I spent fucking centuries in the dark, being raped and gutted until there was nothing left in me to hurt! Nothing left to break because it was already broken! I am broken and no matter what you say or do I will always be broken."
Karim rose, slowly moving away as the temperature in the room rose. Celeste's hair lifted as if she were trapped in a field of electricity. Streaks of silver shot through the jet black waves, her eyes blazed pure swirling silver. Her fangs elongated and her body hummed, lifting off of the ground as her anger poured through her.
They stood stunned, unable to speak as the truth of her power made itself evident.
"I relinquish your dominion over me,” she said.
Nyx gasped, her fingers going to her throat.
Karim paled at the proclamation. Celeste relinquishing their dominion was the same as disowning her family. She was removing any influence they had over her, which gave her all of the powers and gifts she was given at birth. A pulse of air moved through the room, the sheer force of it blowing their clothes and hair as if they were the center of a gale. When it settled, the silence in the room grew, making them both uncomfortable. She was fuming, her lips pursed and her brows furrowed in pure, unabashed fury.
"No, you can't." Nyx sobbed.
Celeste let out a shriek that was pure anguish, it was like a sonic boom, rattling the windows and shaking the walls. They covered their ears, trying to keep the shrill siren of her yell from splitting their heads open. The floorboards began to lift, clattering in soft applause as they struggled to pull free.
Celeste lifted higher into the air, and everything in the room lifted with her: furniture, dishes and even a few small appliances rose a foot into the air.
Karim felt his own feet losing contact with the ground and his heart raced. Nyx looked terrified, but impressed by the power that energized the room. Time seemed to be frozen, but by looking at the clock, Karim could see that it hadn't really stopped. It had slowed. The sweeping second hand on a clock that managed to stay bolted to the wall, moved achingly slow as it ticked the seconds away. They were in a sort of Celeste-induced limbo.
"I have lost everything because of you. You ruined me. Leave. Now!" Her voice was amplified, like she was speaking through a megaphone.
"I do love you," Nyx said, her eyes turned to Karim. "And you will pay for what you've done." She bellowed.
"Go before I destroy you," Celeste said in a voice so cold that it set a chill in the room.
Nyx disappeared in a whirl of sil
ver mist, leaving the scent of lavender and jasmine in her wake.
Slowly, the room settled, and Celeste along with it. But not completely she was still furious, her body still a live wire of energy, the full force of her power coursing through her. For the first time, she felt alive.
***
Remy lay across his bed, his bare legs dangling over one side, his head the other. He wasn't asleep though he'd had to listen to Nicky go on and on for the better part of an hour about Celeste screwing Karim. It hadn't bothered Nicky as much as it had devastated him. Remy had to try to let him vent without adding his opinion or throwing an "I told you so," into the mix. Nicky didn't need him being an asshole, he needed him to be a friend, a brother.
"She used her cuffs on him, Remy,” Nicky’d said in a rough whisper. "Her slave shackles. He was all cut and bruised; is that healthy, Remy? Is that something she should be doing?"
"I don't know, Nick." Remy had known of her heavy gold bracelets, he'd been the one who'd pried them from her wrists and ankles. She'd worn them so long and they'd been used so often they'd cut into her skin, caking them with blood and leaving deep wounds that had oozed and refused to heal for weeks. She had given up then, begging them to leave her in her misery. She had been just a whisper of a thing, starved to the point of emaciation, her hair falling out in great brittle clumps. Her skin, now a rich, silken caramel, had been ashen, the color of dried mud, crackled and bleeding. The vibrant blue eyes were pale and watery, her teeth yellowed and rotting from neglect. She’d stank of blood, sex and sickness, a ghost of what she had been, yet she had stayed, much too strong to die. Or too stubborn, as Remy had deduced when she'd refused to feed once they'd brought her from hell. He remembered those days with vivid clarity, even all these years later he could pinpoint the exact moment he'd fallen in love with her.
Of course he knew that she would never love him the way he loved her, and over the years he'd learned to live with that. It had taken time, but he understood that now. Nicky hadn't had the years Remy did to come to terms with that. Everything was new to him; he was emotionally raw but hopefully this trip would help him. Nicky just needed a cooling off period.
Mark of the Fallen: A Fallen Novel Page 17