Caged Lightning

by Marina Finlayson

  A golden chariot nearly identical to the one that Jake had once brought to life in the Plaza of the Sun pulled up outside. I squeezed Jake’s hand and he smiled at me.

  “You look nervous. It’ll be fine.”

  “Easy for you to say,” he muttered. “You’re not the one becoming a god today.”

  “It only hurts for the first year or so.”

  He shot me a startled glance. “Really?”

  “I’m kidding. Relax.”

  Outside, Winston waved shyly to the crowd, who roared in appreciation as he got down from the chariot. He wore a white tunic identical to the one that Jake had worn for his investiture, with red embroidery around the neck and hem. His head was bare, but his hair looked thicker than normal. Darker, too.

  I turned to Apollo, seated on my other side. “Did you slip Winston a little something extra? He looks younger.”

  “This is the second investiture I’ve been to in as many weeks—I’m not doing this again for a good long time. Had to make sure my new Ruby Adept wasn’t going to die of old age on me.”

  “He wasn’t that old, surely.”

  “Well, now he’s younger.” Apollo didn’t seem at all repentant, though technically we weren’t supposed to fiddle with such things. “I had to boost his power, anyway, to make him fit for the job. Thought I might as well throw in a little rejuvenation.”

  “Does Zeus know?”

  Zeus was seated on a golden throne on the other side of the dais, sufficiently elevated above ours to make him feel superior. He probably could have heard our conversation if he’d cared to listen in, but he was too busy flirting with the pretty young fireshaper standing beside his throne, who was supposedly there to assist him.

  Apollo grinned. “As they say in the classics, Zeus can bite me.”

  I grinned back. No one would care, anyway. We were all giddy with the relief of having the whole shadow shaper debacle behind us. Anything felt possible now.

  I held Jake’s hand a little tighter. Anything at all. “Nice shirt, by the way,” I said to my brother.

  Today, Apollo was wearing a shirt the blue of a summer sky. It accentuated the colour of his eyes and made him look a million dollars.

  Amusement danced in those eyes. “I decided to take your sisterly fashion advice.”

  The little knot of red-robed priests in front of the dais moved forward as Winston entered, alone and barefoot. The high priest, whose octopus hat I was sure was bigger than last time—what was he compensating for?—ordered in his deep voice: “Let the candidate come forward.”

  As soon as Winston had cleared the doorway, the great doors boomed shut behind him, shutting out the raucous crowd, who would be watching this on the big screens set up outside the temple and in the Plaza of the Sun.

  The ceremony proceeded much as the previous one had done, with the candidate being presented to Apollo—and Zeus, this time—then the vows, the symbolic crowning and the long, long prayer praising Apollo. Zeus shifted restlessly as that droned on, but it eventually ended, and we were on to the part where Winston walked straight into the sacred fire. The assembled dignitaries, who included many non-fireshapers, murmured in awe at that.

  I leaned closer to Jake. “I nearly had kittens when you did that.”

  “It wasn’t so bad,” he whispered back. “Just a gentle warmth. The bad part was when that dick Adani started blowing a gale around the place.”

  “Fun times,” I agreed. “Life is going to be awfully quiet now without the shadow shapers jumping out of the bushes at every turn.”

  His blue gaze held mine. “We’ll just have to find another way to entertain ourselves.”

  I swallowed, sudden heat flaring deep inside me. The temple melted away, and there were only the two of us in the whole world. “Sounds appealing. Tell me more.”

  “I swear,” Syl said behind me, in a fierce whisper, “if you two start making out again, I’m going to puke down your backs. Can you at least wait until they stop roasting poor Winston?”

  I returned my attention to the ceremony, holding in a laugh. I’d laughed more in the last week than I had in a long time. The priests were draping Winston in the red velvet cape again now he was out of the flames, and that part of the ceremony appeared to be over.

  “You’re up next, Jake,” Hades said. He was seated on Jake’s other side. “Last chance to change your mind.”

  “No one’s changing their mind about anything,” I said, giving Hades a warning glance. I knew he was joking, but I had trouble seeing the humour in it after all we’d been through.

  “Relax.” Jake’s eyes shone with love and purpose as they met mine. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

  Zeus stood, drawing all eyes like a magnet, and cleared his throat. “I’m not much for speeches or ceremony, so I’ll make this quick. Jake, come over here.”

  Jake rose and crossed the dais to stand in front of Zeus. Tall as Jake was, Zeus still towered over him. Zeus hoisted his lightning bolt aloft, and blinding white light filled the temple. The crowd rippled as the front rows tried to step back, but there was no room to move.

  “Today, we welcome a new god to our ranks,” Zeus shouted over the gasps and murmurs of the gathered throng. “I give you Jacob, Lord of Metalshaping!”

  For the second time in his life, Jake was zapped by Zeus’s lightning bolt, though in the hands of its master, the effects were quite different than when I’d done it. Jake began to glow, as if filling up with light. His head fell back, and he held his arms out to the sides as power filled him. I squinted into the light, not wanting to miss a moment. Something was growing in Jake’s hand, too bright to make out what it was. His hair stood on end, streaming out from his head in a non-existent wind, and blue sparks leapt from the lightning bolt to play in its dark strands.

  Finally, Zeus lowered the lightning bolt and the dazzling light faded, though Jake himself still glowed softly. In his hand, he held a hammer—a solid smith’s tool.

  “That’s his avatar?” Ophelia muttered to Syl. They were standing beside each other in the line-up behind me. They’d become fast friends already, since they shared a similar sense of humour and a love of taking the piss out of me. “A hammer? Seems a bit old-fashioned. No blowtorch?”

  “Maybe he should change his name to Jakaistos or something, to match,” Syl replied, making me snort in a very ungodlike way. “I don’t know, Lord Jake just doesn’t have that godly ring to it.”

  “Lord Jake sounds absolutely perfect to me,” I said. “He can shape my metal any old time.”

  Syl made gagging noises, but Ophelia laughed. Cheers rose from the crowd as Jake raised his hammer above his head. Outside, the crowds watching on the big screens added their voices to the noise. The creation of a new god was a truly special moment.

  Hades shifted to Jake’s empty seat beside me. “Congratulations. If I’m not mistaken, you got your happy ever after.”

  “I think you may be right.” I couldn’t wipe the grin from my face. Jake looked stunned by the applause—stunned and delighted. Not to mention good enough to eat. “I’m glad some good came out of it all, at least.”

  He sighed. “Yes. I’m sorrier than I can say to lose Athena, in particular. I hope Hestia enjoys the rewards of all her plotting.”

  “Why do you think she did it? Why turn on us after all these centuries?”

  “I think she’s been chewing on her resentment like an old bone ever since she gave up her throne for Dionysus.”

  “But she offered to do that. No one forced her.” To the surprise of absolutely no one, Zeus had become enamoured of his son, the god of wine. They were like two peas in a pod, drinking and sleeping their way around the world. What had surprised us was his desire to make Dionysus one of the great Olympians. None of us had been much in favour of that idea. Hera, in particular, had argued that taking our numbers from an even twelve to an inauspicious thirteen was asking for trouble, so he’d been stymied until the idea of replacing one of the twe
lve began to take shape in his mind.

  “I think it was more of a case that she realised she was on the bottom of the pecking order, so thought it better to retire gracefully and earn Zeus’s gratitude than wait to be kicked out. I watched her for a long time after that, afraid she might turn on us, but she seemed happy with her new status, and as charming as ever.” He shook his head. “She was just playing a longer game than I’d ever imagined. I feel sure she sold it to her human accomplices dressed up as some kind of democratic ‘let’s get rid of the gods and let humans have their day in the sun’, but in reality, I’m sure her goal was nothing more noble than to kill us all and reign supreme.”

  “Such a waste. She was a clever woman; she could have used her intelligence for good.”

  Hades nodded. “Sending you all out hunting for the pieces of the lightning bolt she was missing was an inspired touch. She never would have gotten them otherwise.”

  “Much good they did her in the end. I don’t understand, though, why she left those shadow shapers behind at Athena’s house to attack us. She didn’t actually want to capture us at that point, because we were more valuable to her in the hunt for the lightning bolts. Plenty of time to cut out our hearts after we’d brought her the lightning bolts.”

  “I suppose she wanted to create a sense of mounting danger, to make you feel that bringing the lightning bolts to her was urgent. She didn’t want to attack you while you were in Berkley’s Bay, but once you were on the way, she wanted to hurry you along a little.”

  Apollo rose and held up his hands for silence. When he told everyone gathered, both in the temple and outside, to go home and party, an even louder cheer went up. Red-robed figures crowded around Winston to congratulate him and slowly, the temple began to empty.

  We all rose as Jake came back to us. Apollo and Hades offered handshakes, but I went into his open arms with a glad heart.

  “Welcome to the rest of your life,” I said.

  “It hardly hurts at all,” he said.

  “What?”

  He grinned. “Just kidding.”

  I was forced to kiss him just to shut him up.

  “When you guys finish playing tonsil hockey, maybe we could get out of here and grab a drink,” Syl said. “I hope I never have to endure another one of those endless prayers again. No offence, Apollo.”

  “None taken,” he said mildly. “I often nod off partway through myself. Shall we adjourn to the Ruby Palace? I hear the fireshapers put on a mean feast.”

  “Did someone say feast?” Zeus asked. He had his arm around the pretty fireshaper girl, and looked ready to party.

  “I’ll show you the way,” Hades said, and the three of them left together.

  The wolves gathered around us, and I leaned against Jake with a contented sigh. Even baby Mireille was there, wearing the cutest little green jumpsuit, fast asleep in Holly’s arms.

  “She was so good,” I said, and Holly smiled proudly. “Not a peep out of her the whole time.”

  Apollo laughed. “She was better behaved than Zeus.”

  “Do you think someone should rescue that poor fireshaper?”

  “She’ll be fine. Zeus will be too drunk soon to get up to anything.”

  I shared a look with Jake. We had sumptuous rooms next to each other back at the Ruby Palace. “And speaking of getting up to things …”

  Syl groaned. “No more public displays of affection!”

  “Actually, I was thinking of something more private. I think I need a little alone time, so I can get to know our new god a whole lot better.”

  She sighed. “So if I hear you screaming his name, I should just assume you’re praying?”

  “More worshipping.”

  Jake dragged me into his arms and stopped my mouth with a kiss. “Stop talking, woman. You’ll make me blush, and that seems a little ungodly.”

  “Oops.” I trailed a line of apologetic kisses along his firm jawline. “I’m just so excited I get to spend forever with you.”

  “Forever is a long time,” he said, in an unconscious echo of Persephone, so long ago. “Are you sure you want to put up with me that long?”

  I wrapped my arms more firmly around his neck, pressing my body against his. Our love would fare better than hers and Hades’ had done. “Try and stop me.”

  He smiled, a world of love in his beautiful blue eyes, and lowered his face to mine.

  “Zeus’s balls!” Syl cried, exasperated. “Will you guys get a room?”

  So we did.

  ***

  Don’t miss the exciting new series, Thirteen Realms, coming soon! For news on its release, plus special deals and other book news, sign up for my newsletter here or by visiting my website, www.marinafinlayson.com.

  Reviews and word of mouth are vital for any author’s success. If you enjoyed Caged Lightning, please take a moment to leave a short review at Amazon.com. Just a few words sharing your thoughts on the book would be extremely helpful in spreading the word to other readers (and this author would be immensely grateful!).

  ALSO BY MARINA FINLAYSON

  MAGIC’S RETURN SERIES

  The Fairytale Curse

  The Cauldron’s Gift

  THE PROVING SERIES

  Moonborn

  Twiceborn

  The Twiceborn Queen

  Twiceborn Endgame

  SHADOWS OF THE IMMORTALS SERIES

  Stolen Magic

  Murdered Gods

  Rivers of Hell

  Hidden Goddess

  Caged Lightning

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Thank you to all the readers who have followed Lexi’s adventures through this series. It’s been wonderful to hear from you and to know that you were just as keen as I was to discover the fate of Lexi and her friends. Thanks also to my family for your support, especially Mal, Jen and Connor for beta reading. Love you guys!

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Marina Finlayson is a reformed wedding organist who now writes fantasy. She is married and shares her Sydney home with three kids, a large collection of dragon statues and one very stupid dog with a death wish.

  Her idea of heaven is lying in the bath with a cup of tea and a good book until she goes wrinkly.