Persuasion (Curse of the Gods Book 2)

by Jane Washington

  “QUIET!” Cyrus was standing beside me, staring down at Wanda as though all the crying and apologising had given him an instant headache. “Go and fetch Rau; tell him the girl has been anchored.”

  Wanda disappeared before I could reach out and pat his hand, which I’d just had an urge to do, and then Cyrus was reaching for my dress, probably about to toss me around like a ragdoll again. His fingers were only inches away from the material when a voice boomed out across the platform.

  “Touch her one more time, and you’ll lose your fucking hands.” Yael was striding through the vine-choked columns, and I could see Aros right behind him. Siret appeared next, with Rome and Coen behind him.

  They all looked ready to tear the platform apart, and Cyrus along with it. The hand hovering over my dress retreated, and Cyrus straightened to face them. They fanned out before him, looking like they were about to attack on all sides, but Aros broke away from the wall-of-muscle and knelt down beside me. I grabbed him when he was close enough to grab, and I wasn’t even sure if I was lifting myself up with my grip of his shirt, or if he was doing it with his grip on my waist. And I wasn’t sure how I ended up hugging him. Or how my legs ended up wrapped around his waist. I definitely wasn’t sure how my mouth landed on his, but I was aware that he was the one to stop it, and not me.

  He groaned, but he was also laughing, and his hand was on my neck, holding me back from his mouth.

  “You need to get kidnapped more often if that’s the way you’re going to greet me every time we come to save you,” he whispered, ducking forward to brush the words against my ear. “But first, you need to tell me exactly what he did to you. We felt something … it was … horrible.”

  “You WHAT?” Rome shouted from behind us. Aros spun around to face them, and I tried to climb down, but he only pulled me up higher, forcing me to twist my torso around so that I could see the others.

  “She had anchored her life-force to each of you through a soul-bind, and has been feeding on your powers to keep herself alive.” Cyrus was telling them. “Rau’s curse should have killed her, and this is how she has been surviving. I can understand why you would be upset—”

  “We’re upset that you removed it,” Yael interrupted. “You … you shweed!”

  For a moment, not a single person even dared to breathe. Cyrus looked confused, but the others seemed to be torn between rage and amusement.

  “What …” Coen paused, taking a deep breath, “the hell is a shweed?”

  “It’s a cross between a shit-head and a weed,” I said, causing everyone to turn to me.

  “Her idiocy is contagious,” Cyrus stated. He almost looked surprised.

  Before anyone could respond, there was another person strolling towards us through the pillars. Rau appeared in a sweep of red cloak, Wanda following meekly behind him. My first instinct was to hide, because Rau scared me in a way that I couldn’t quite explain. He acted so insane all the time with his maniacal laughter and his Chaos power, but there were moments … moments where I felt the deliberateness of him. The intention behind the madness. I didn’t like those moments, and I didn’t want him to be anywhere near me just in case I witnessed another of them. Unfortunately, I also didn’t want to run away. I didn’t want to give him that kind of power over me.

  Before I had to make any hard life choices, lightning cracked across the sky above us, and dark clouds started to form. It was an interesting distraction because the world had been very sunny and calm up until that point. My eyes flicked between the male gods and the single server, and I wondered which one of them was responsible. Probably not the server.

  Rau had caused a storm before, on Minatsol, but I didn’t think it was him this time. I might have gotten my answer when Siret let out a low snarl, and then punched Rau right in the face. The Abcurses were starting to lose control, and it seemed as though the atmosphere was losing control right along with them. It shocked me because that was the sort of behaviour I expected from Rome, or Coen. Maybe even Yael if he was feeling competitive. But Siret and Aros were different. Calmer. Laughter and love was how I categorised them in my head, so it was shocking to see such fury across his face, to hear the solid thud of his fists as they crashed into Rau. I didn’t like it, which might have explained the way I shrieked and tried to throw the jug of water on them, only to realise it was empty and all I had actually thrown was the jug.

  Which smacked into Siret’s head.

  He swung around with another snarl and I froze, both hands held out in front of me. “Shit! Sorry, I meant to hit Rau … and I meant to throw the water not the jug! And I’m … shit!”

  Some of Siret’s anger faded away as he watched me panicking, before eventually his lips tilted in a small grin. He shook his head. “Maybe don’t try and help me next time, might be safer if you just cheer from the side.”

  Cheer from the … I hurried forward to grab the jug again, this time to hit him on purpose, but before I could, Cyrus scooped me up.

  “While you are tied to me, I would prefer you to refrain from violent activities. I don’t have time to be rescuing you.”

  I truly realised something then: something which had been apparent from the first moment the Abcurses had appeared, but which I had been ignoring. I had probably been hoping that if I ignored it long enough, it wouldn’t end up being true. But it was. The link with them was gone. I couldn’t feel them at all anymore. No mental connection. No relaxing of my body when they were in close proximity. Nothing.

  A tightening of my chest was the first sign of my rage and panic. Cyrus had done this, he had stolen from me one of the most important things in my world. I struggled against him until he set me down, and then I kicked at him, aiming for his balls again. He had clearly learned my one and only fight skill, because this time he easily side-stepped me.

  “Don’t push me, dweller,” he warned quietly, grabbing my arms and lifting my feet from the ground again. “I am not like Abil’s sons. I care nothing for you.”

  Jabbing him hard in the chest, which hurt as much as it did every time I jabbed a god, I put my best snarly face on. “Put me down you overgrown man-child. I’m a living being, not a rag-doll. You were the idiot who tied yourself to me without knowing a single thing about me, so now you have to suffer the consequences.”

  And with that final statement, I managed to plant my foot against a nearby pillar, shoving against it, using my legs as leverage to move him away from me. My hope had been to overbalance him. I assumed that he would stumble back and hopefully drop me. I hadn’t realised how close to the edge of the marble platform we were, and since Cyrus hadn’t been expecting my shove, he stumbled in the wrong direction. Rome’s shout of “Willa!” echoed in my ears as the Neutral god, with me still held tightly against him, tumbled off the edge of the platform.

  The fall lasted longer than I expected—we hadn’t really looked to be that far up—which meant that I had plenty of time to wonder if I was about to die. Would my death hurt the Abcurses? I guess it wouldn’t now since somehow asshole-silver-haired-god had removed my ‘link’ to them. Removed it and replaced it with one of his own. It did give me a sense of relief to know that if I was currently plummeting to my death, at least they wouldn’t feel any of it.

  I needed them to be okay, but I was also panicking deep inside. Not being connected to them felt a little like I’d lost a limb, or an organ. The one beating inside my chest. Still, I couldn’t focus on that because I had to focus on the impact which was coming my way in five … four … three … two …

  Just as I closed my eyes and sent out one final goodbye, Cyrus tightened his arms around me and it began to feel as though my body was being sucked through a tiny hole in the wall. Everything tightened around me, and I couldn’t breathe for a click, before we landed with a solid thud on a soft surface.

  Holy shit! That was so close.

  Somehow, Cyrus had managed to save us at the very last micro-click … because he was a god and he could do things like that. Which
meant that he could have done something like that sooner, rather than almost letting us die. With a shriek of poorly-concealed outrage, I bolted upright, smacking him hard on the shoulder. “If you could just transport us like that, why the hell didn’t you do it sooner?”

  The god, who was underneath me on what looked like a massive bed, just blinked up at me a few times. Those unusual but striking eyes seemed almost stunned, or at least confused.

  Realising I was sitting on his broad chest, I quickly scrambled off, landing in a heap on the floor. By the time I was up on my feet, he was standing beside me, staring down at me, still with that same perplexed expression. Seriously, get a grip, I thought moodily, I’m not that weird.

  “Why are you not afraid of me?” His question took me by surprise, while I was mentally measuring his height compared to the tallest Abcurse.

  Which was, admittedly, a weird thing to be doing, but he seemed to be even taller than Rome. As he spoke, I focussed directly on his face, on that harsh landscape of beauty and terror. Unable to maintain eye contact any longer, I decided to stare at the wall just behind him. He was so potent, and I was uncomfortable being alone in the same space as him. I had no idea what being a Neutral really meant, or what power the role afforded him, but it was clear that he would have no problem bringing down a sentence on any one of the gods, and that made him a terrifying prospect. A terrifying prospect that I was oddly unafraid of.

  Of all the other gods that I could have tied myself to, it just had to be the one who enforced all the rules. Because I was so good at following rules.

  My voice was flat when I answered him. “It’s not that I don’t fear you, I just don’t think there’s any point in stressing and actively fearing things that can kill you. If I feared everything that hurt me, I’d never open my eyes in the morning. I’m just going to slot you into the same category as the wild bullsen, who were not very happy when I stumbled into their territory, and leave it at that.”

  Some of his anger and arrogance returned then. I could see the way he stiffened from the corner of my eyes, before he snarled out, “Bullsen are animals. I. Am. A. God. We have nothing in common and it would be in your best interest not to categorise me with them again.”

  I waved a casual hand in his direction, pulling my eyes back to his face, because I was getting sick of staring at the wall. I was just going to have to deal with his potency. “You say god,” I replied, keeping my expression bland, “but I say upper-level bullsen. You’re both dangerous to me.”

  He took a step closer, hands clenched at his sides, but before he could say anything further I stepped around him and crossed into the centre of the room. “What is this place? Where did you transport us?”

  Cyrus followed me and I could almost feel his energy pushing against my back as he drew closer. “These are my private quarters. It’s the easiest place for me to get to under pressure.”

  His home? It was different to the floating marble platforms I had come to expect from the gods. It almost looked like a cave. Everything was stone, but it was not dark and dingy like the caves in Minatsol. Instead, the ceilings were high and the area was light and warm.

  “Are we underground?” I asked, feeling a little claustrophobic at the thought. I’d never done well in underground situations. The thought of all the stone above just waiting to crush me.

  Yeah, underground situations were definitely not for me.

  “I’m not telling you where we are. No one knows of this place and I would like to keep it that way.”

  His words were curt again as he brushed by me, stepping out of the bedroom we were in, through the large and open archway, and into a living area. White couches were spread across the space, and huge fluffy rugs covered the stone floors. There was a fireplace with coals inside that were still glowing from a fire that had burnt-out.

  Hurrying after him, I busted out breathlessly, “What do you mean no one knows? No one has ever been here?”

  He slanted a smirk in my direction. “No one of importance. Do you know what that means?”

  “You need a life?”

  That smirk grew a few inches as he changed direction and strode right up to me. I froze, unsure if I should run or not. But really, where would I go in this round stone cave? He paused a foot from me, before leaning in so close that our faces were only an inch apart. “It means that I’m going to have to kill you.”

  I swallowed hard. “You must really like your privacy.”

  He straightened, giving me a tad more breathing room. “She’s learning.”

  He was gone then, back into his living room, already sitting on one of the comfy-looking couches by the time my breathing had resumed its normal rhythm. I stumbled after him, tripping over the edge of the rug, but managing to catch myself on an expensive looking lamp. I stayed upright. The lamp did not. It hit the ground and somehow bounced off the soft rug to smash into the hard floor.

  Oh, shit. He was definitely going to kill me now. Guys who liked their privacy that much probably also liked their lamps … and speaking of lamps … how did this cave have electricity? Only the rooms of the special sols at Blesswood had any amount of electricity, and they hadn’t lived in caves.

  I prepared for the strike, but Cyrus barely even blinked an eye at his broken lamp. He just waved his hand and then the lamp was back in one piece.

  “Do you need a job?” I blurted out, my eyes locked on the once again pristine piece of furniture. “Because I might have an opening for someone of your skill set.”

  Cyrus almost cracked a smile then—I would swear it was there but before I could comment, the stony face returned. “I already have an important job, I don’t have time to follow you around picking up the pieces of the world you break.”

  Deciding I was too tired to stress about him killing me anymore, I slumped into the chair across from him and dropped my head back, allowing the unnatural softness to encase me. When I opened my eyes again, I found his attention locked on me: unblinking, dissecting. I quickly straightened and glanced down, relieved to see that all of my body was still covered up, and that I had no nipples showing. He was simply looking at me, and it wasn’t sexual at all. It was more like a healer assessing a patient, though there was something intrusive about it.

  “Why are we still here?” I’d been wanting to ask that since he first dropped us onto the bed, but I had been afraid of the answer. Maybe he really was planning on killing me. Maybe he was waiting for someone else to take me off his hands and do the same thing.

  Cyrus’s expression didn’t change, but those eyes shone lightly as he shook his head. “You have no idea who I am, which can be the only reason you’re so comfortable sitting this close to me. All you need to know is that there is no other like me in any of the worlds. I have power that is beyond even Staviti. I was created as a balance, which means I have gods trying to take me down on a regular basis. Gods that don’t want balance.

  “They’re arrogant enough to think that they can best me. And if enough of them took me by surprise, they very well might. So I decided long ago to create a sanctuary where I could stay and be secure. No one would know about it. There are many securities layered across my home—the main spell being one that completely rejects entry if I form a doorway here without warning. This was in case of injury—for a sun-cycle no one may enter or leave, which allows me time to rest. I could get out if I needed, but I could not bring you with me.”

  “So we’re stuck in here for a sun-cycle?” I shrieked, jumping to my feet. “I can’t stay here with you … it’s … it’s inappropriate!”

  Not that it mattered when I was with the Abcurses, but Cyrus didn’t need to know about that.

  He shook his head. “How did you think it would work: five gods and one dweller? They would destroy you. Trust me, what I did is better for you in the long run.”

  I had forgotten that he was getting some of my thoughts now. I wondered how many he’d already heard and ignored.

  A grin did tip up one side of
his lips then, and I quickly asked a question to distract us both. “What did you do to my link to them exactly? I was kind of following along and then I was lost.”

  His voice was a drawl of sarcasm. “I’m shocked. I’ll bet that never happens.”

  I wanted to punch him for that response … but he had a point. Lost was normal for me, I had never understood the world and every crazy thing contained within it. I couldn’t align myself with dwellers, or sols, or gods. I fit none of those moulds because I didn’t understand how any of them thought.

  “Your inner monologue is amusing,” Cyrus said, interrupting my thoughts.

  I snorted. “So I’ve been told.”

  “And to answer your question: you are carrying a curse from a god. Rau designed that to hit one of Abil’s offspring. It didn’t. You got in the way. I’m sure you do that often. As a dweller, you do not have the power to sustain the energy this curse is leeching from you, which is why you formed a soul-link with Abil’s sons. Their powers were keeping you alive, which is why you had to stay close to them. Too much distance and the curse fed from your life-force.” Well, that explained the pain. “I could see those threads linking you together, so I cut them and drew them to myself instead. It had to be done, otherwise you would have died. They were not yet in Topia. The curse was killing you.”

  My hand rubbed absently at my chest, the memories of the tearing and fissuring inside of me still strong. “So basically what you’re saying is that I have to be linked to a powerful god or I will die. No exceptions.”

  Cyrus nodded. “Yes. Rau asked me to cut the soul-link so that he could take you into his power. I’ll be handing you over to him as soon as we are released from here. I’m not planning on keeping this connection open—I do not need a leech attached to me at all times.”

  “If you are Neutral, then why the hell are you working for Rau? Isn’t he one of the people who wanted to end your balance thing?” I was starting to raise my voice, the panic inside of me bubbling over.