by JA Wren
Did she dare crack it open further? Risk more darkness creeping out?
She had to. Something deep inside her drew her to that damn box and she couldn’t deny the call. Like Evelyn’s Siren song but amped up to a thousand.
And she still needed those answers.
She lifted the lid higher, the smoke pooling from inside in thickening plumes until finally the box stood open. The smoke thinned, revealing a small, shiny object perched on a blood red pillow.
How the hell the thing had stayed like that during her run through the campus and into the barn, Rayna had no idea.
But there it sat. A glittering piece of rock twinkling at her with sharp edges like the raw crystal of her necklace. Except, where her pendant had first been clear, then turned wine red when Tink decided to make it her second home, the rock inside the box was obsidian.
So dark it seemed unnatural.
It glinted silver, reflecting fragments of the forest, Tink, and Rayna back at her like a mirror.
“Beautiful,” Rayna murmured as she was drawn to the onyx crystal.
Her hand hovered above it, and little sparks of deep red snapped between it and her skin, buzzing through her fingers and up into her wrist without actually shocking her. Warmth radiated from the crystal in gentle waves. Nothing like the pulsing heat from Asher.
Somehow this was different, though she couldn’t say how exactly.
The moment Rayna’s fingertip touched the stone, a flash of crimson burst from it, bathing every inch of the forest in bloody light. A jolt cracked through her body, knocking her back like being hit by a bolt of lightning, electrifying every molecule inside her.
Rayna screamed as she crashed into the ground, her body convulsing and vibrating against the glowing grass. Something ripped inside her, tearing a path through her body and setting her nerves on fire.
A sharp ache pierced her brain. Like someone had stabbed her through her temple. The knife twisted in her head and she let out another ear-splitting wail, her hands clenching around fist-fulls of dirt and grass.
Her eyes rolled back, but she dimly registered Tink fluttering nearby, the faint glow of her flamey body moving in frantic circles.
“Asher,” Rayna wheezed out, hoping the Wisp could hear her. “Get…Ash.”
She gasped, her lungs feeling like they were contracting in on themselves, locking out fresh oxygen. Her tongue went numb and she tried to roll to her side as her mouth seemed to fill with saliva or froth or something.
And then her world went dark.
Movement flickered behind Rayna’s closed eyes. Like shadows dancing around sunlight. She swatted at her face as something tickled her nose, then snapped her eyes open as she recalled passing out.
Shit, she hoped she hadn’t just hit Tink.
The glowing forest had vanished and been replaced with eerie darkness. Every surface shone like the crystal inside the box, and for a terrifying second, Rayna worried she’d somehow been sucked into the thing.
Was that even possible?
She quickly dismissed the idea, figuring that was ridiculous. If the glittering rock was capable of transporting her into a new dimension or something, Nyx would have warned her. She might not ever win mother of the year, but she would’ve shared that kind of intel.
Right?
Something brushed her arm and she twisted, searching the strange room. But all she saw was glossy surfaces in inky darkness. She’d never seen so much black in her life and doubted a gothic club had even this much in one place.
A chilly breeze crept through the room and she shivered, wrapping her arms around her torso. “Hello?” she called, hoping Tink or maybe Asher would appear.
Please let one of them appear.
Hell, she’d take Evelyn over the nothingness currently surrounding her. Just the hollow echo of her own voice. Tears pricked her eyes, and she swallowed against the lump forming in her throat. Her head pounded, no doubt thanks to whatever had torn her apart when she touched that fucking crystal.
Note to self: no more crystals.
And then a tiny glowing light glinted in the distance. She squinted, stepping closer as she tightened her arms around her stomach. Like holding herself was really gonna help her here.
With light footsteps across the marble floor, she glanced around, searching for—well, anything. Something that might give her a damn clue as to where—
The old WillowWisp!
He slowly came into view, his flame shining brighter and whiter than Tink’s amber glow. He drifted around her head, then flew back the way he’d come.
Right. Time to follow again.
She kept her footsteps soft so her boots wouldn’t make a sound on the dark, glossy floor. No clue where she was. If he’d dragged her into another realm—please let it not be inside the crystal—or her own memories again. Either way, she figured it was better to err on the side of caution until she knew what she was dealing with.
“Rayna, my darling girl, what an unexpected surprise.”
Her spine stiffened at the strange, icy voice. Male, for sure, but…different.
“What brings you to my realm?”
She opened her mouth, about to explain she had no idea how she’d gotten there or who he was when her own voice stopped her.
And it definitely hadn’t left her lips.
“I’m getting married.”
Rayna turned and spotted a flash of brilliant red, vibrant against the black background. The slender figure stood with her back to Rayna, but she instantly knew.
The old Wisp had plunged her into another memory. Just like he’d shown her visions of her former life two months ago, right before Apollo attacked. Everyone said it was impossible, that WillowWisps didn’t age, but she knew what she saw.
The old Wisp had disappeared again, leaving nothing but the second Rayna and a tall, dark figure standing before her. He was dressed in a black robe, much like Nyx’s, but his skin was rich bronze and his hair jet black from root to tip, hanging far below his shoulders. In his hand, he clutched a huge scythe with a glinting blade made from shiny black glass or crystal.
The fucking Grim Reaper?
She probably should’ve seen it coming, but frankly, that was the last thing she’d expected. But there was no denying the resemblance. Even the man’s eyes were flooded with black, no trace of white or colored irises. He might have been terrifying, if he wasn’t smiling down at past-Rayna with such genuine affection present-Rayna shivered.
She hoped like hell she wasn’t about to learn she’d been having some sordid affair with Grim while she and Asher were together. About to get married.
How would she ever face him again if that was the case?
But the man grinned and leaned closer to past-Rayna, pressing a light kiss to her cheek. “Married. My darling little girl has grown into a woman while I turned to blink.”
What.
The.
Fuck?
He spoke as if—no. It couldn’t be.
Could it?
Past-Rayna laughed. “It’s been longer than a mere blink.”
He nodded as he stepped back and held out his arm for her to link hers through the crook of his elbow. “When you have lived as long as I, centuries become blinks. Lifetimes turn into passing thoughts. One day you will understand time moves differently for us.”
The two drifted through a giant stone archway and Rayna followed on quaking legs, keeping her distance just in case. She doubted memories would be able to see her, but it wasn’t worth the risk. Something about Grim was putting her on edge.
Maybe the fact he spoke as if he was Past-Rayna’s father.
She shuddered, her mind still protesting.
They stepped out onto a balcony with raw obsidian crystal jutting around them like the side of a mountain. A gray, moonless sky stretched out above silhouetted trees peeking through thick, charcoal fog.
It was as if all the color in the world had been sucked away, leaving everything dark and gloomy. Not a drop
of color anywhere. Only past-Rayna’s shock of red hair.
The two leaned against the polished railing, staring out at the abyss-like forest.
“I assume the phoenix is to be your husband,” Grim said.
Past-Rayna nodded. “Despite his father’s wishes, yes.”
“Hm, Apollo has always been a thorn in need of pruning.” Grim patted her hand and slipped free of her arm to link their fingers. “Together, you will have dominion over death and life. Bound to your phoenix, you would be undefeatable, Rayna darling.”
Past-Rayna tugged her fingers from his. “Please. Let’s not discuss this again. I came to give you the good news, not argue with you.”
“It doesn’t have to be an argument.”
She sighed and turned to face the dark forest again. “But you always make it an argument. I don’t want to be powerful, and I don’t want to go to war. What I want is peace. To live happily with Ash.”
Grim narrowed his dark eyes at her, but said nothing for a long moment. “You are yet a child. Naïve, my darling girl.”
“You just said I’d grown into a woman.” Her back stiffened as she cast him a hard stare.
He nodded, long hair shifting in the breeze. “One still clinging to juvenile beliefs.”
Grim turned and rested his back to the balcony, his gaze settling on his hands and drawing present-Rayna’s attention to the ring on his finger. It was a gaudy monstrosity with a spherical stone of pure black set into a silvery band that somehow managed to find the smallest hints of light to reflect.
“Will I ever get to meet this phoenix of yours? Or am I so shameful, you wish to keep me a secret for all eternity?”
She lifted one shoulder, turning her head to give him the tiniest smile. “If you come to my wedding and promise not to make a scene. To keep discussions of war to yourself.”
Grim’s eyes hardened, the pools of black somehow even darker. “Someday, Rayna darling, you will understand there is no avoiding the coming war. It is as inevitable as the sun setting and the moon rising. As inevitable as life and death.”
He twisted the ring around his middle finger, his jaw clenching and unclenching before he spoke again. “Just as it is inevitable you will join me. Side by side, we’ll conquer all who would stand against us and take the throne always destined for the Primordials. Father and daughter. Darkness and death. Ruling together for eternity.”
Nine
Rayna bolted upright, jerking awake with an electric shock through her chest.
She gasped, her lungs desperate for oxygen. As though she was drowning. Hands clutched at her shoulders, but she fought them off, the image of the Grim Reaper still swirling through her thoughts. Worse than the nightmares that usually plagued her.
She wouldn’t let him touch her. Wouldn’t allow him to use her for his own agenda.
Father and daughter.
Darkness and death.
A choked sob burst from her lips, a cry she didn’t even recognize.
It couldn’t be right. Grim couldn’t be her father.
“Rayna.”
Her name barely registered through the ringing in her ears and the thumping of her head. It matched the frantic beats of her heart vibrating inside her chest. She had to get away. Far from Grim and his plans for her.
She couldn’t—wouldn’t—let him use her to bring the world to an end the way Nyx had shown her.
Mass devastation.
Genocide.
Only death, Liv’s voice ghosted through her head.
“No!” she screamed. “No. No. No.” Over and over it clawed out of her, more and more desperate to reject the truth. That she’d one day destroy everything.
“Rayna, calm down.”
She couldn’t. Her body was exploding at the seams, ice and electricity spreading through her with every hard thud of her heart. Static snapped in her fingers, a cold shock that was somehow familiar.
Like she’d felt it before, a million lifetimes ago.
She shivered as her body turned to a block of ice, no hint of warmth anywhere. Crisp ozone surrounded her, as if she was floating out into space.
“Rayna.”
Wait. That voice. She knew that voice.
“You have to calm down for me. Please, Rayna. Come back to me.”
A blanket of incredible warmth draped over her, chasing away the cold. Shoving the Grim Reaper aside. She leaned into it, absorbing it like it was the very essence of life. The delicious scent of sunbaked cotton and a hint of sulfur.
Asher.
She blinked her eyes open, her body still humming but slowly settling down. “Ash?”
“I’m right here.”
He’d cocooned her in his arms, wrapped them around her tight, while flames licked at his back and shielded out the rest of the world. Warming her. Chasing away the darkness.
The Grim Reaper.
Tears spilled from her. “Where am I?”
“The infirmary,” he whispered, his lips brushing her ear as he spoke. “Tink found me. Showed me where you were. By the time I got there—”
He broke off and while she wanted to know how he’d found her—what state she’d been in—she couldn’t bring herself to ask. Not yet. For now, she soaked up his warmth and comfort, letting it bask through her until her shivers subsided.
“Tink?” Last she recalled, the Wisp had been hiding out in her hair.
The crystal pendant hummed to life, a deep red glow lighting the cocoon Asher had created for them. Rayna touched her necklace, sensing Tink. Little sparks snapped into her fingers, the Wisp’s own version of a hug.
When the flames grew sweltering and sweat coated her skin, Asher eased back enough to study her face. “You okay?”
She nodded to soothe him in return, but honestly she had no clue. Her body felt battered and bruised, whether from the earlier training session or her trip to the glowing forest and being knocked out by the damn crystal inside the box, she couldn’t say.
“The box,” she gasped out. “There was a box with a black rock—”
“I know.” He ran his fingers over her clammy forehead, brushing away the strands of hair clinging to her skin. “It’s on the table right next to you. I don’t know what it is, but I brought it with us. Seemed pretty important since you were clutching it like your life depended on it.”
She sighed in relief, though she wasn’t sure why exactly. That stupid thing had first hit her with a bolt of body-shattering lightning, then shown her a past she didn’t want to remember. Didn’t want to face.
But the rock-crystal-thing was still hers. Nyx had given it to her for a reason and she didn’t want to lose it.
“I think—I think it’s the key to my memories,” she said softly.
Asher frowned and the fire raging from his back receded. Weird that she was growing used to the flames pouring from him like it was perfectly normal. They shrank into his skin, leaving only a vague scent of smoke and sulfur. “Your memories?”
She nodded. “When I touched the stone or rock or whatever the hell that thing is, I—I remembered something.”
She left out the part about the old Wisp, figuring it was unimportant and knowing Asher would tell her she’d imagined it again.
“What?” he asked, the single word rushing from him, like he was desperate to know how much more she’d remembered.
She shook her head. “I—”
“What about only when you’re ready did you not understand?” Nyx’s angry voice bellowed through the room, rattling the vase of flowers on the nightstand beside the box. “I specifically told you to open it when you were ready. Not five minutes after leaving my presence.”
Asher turned to face Nyx, revealing the cloaked figure standing at the base of the bed, her hood draped around her shoulders. It reminded Rayna so much of the Grim Reaper she had to blink hard and concentrate on Nyx’s long, pale hair to prove it was her and not the creepy man claiming to be her father.
Oh God.
Was he right? Was she r
eally his daughter?
And if she was, who the hell was he?
“You gave her that box?” Asher roared at Nyx, cutting off Rayna’s thoughts. “What happened to easing her into her memories gently? You fucking demanded I lie to her, for her own good, and then you do this?”
Nyx lifted her chin and stared down the bridge of her nose at him, those black veins spreading across her skin. “Watch it, firebird.”
“Fuck that.” He rose from the narrow infirmary bed, careful despite the anger radiating off of him. “This is the problem with all you gods and goddesses. You do whatever you please with no care about who you ruin in the process.”
“Need I remind you that your soul is bound to a goddess?”
Asher sneered. “Rayna’s nothing like the other gods. She’s never acted like the world is beneath her, hers to manipulate as she fucking pleases, or as though the rest of us are just pawns in a game for ultimate power.”
He spoke to Nyx, but Rayna knew he meant Apollo—his father. The god who’d commanded his own sons to do unspeakable things for his own gain. Then punished them in horrific ways when they refused.
Apollo had murdered Asher’s brothers. Slit Rayna’s throat after they married. Then shackled Asher inside a volcano for a thousand years. All because he sought power.
And now he had his sights set on her.
It was no wonder her soulmate wasn’t all that fond of the gods.
The black veins in Nyx’s skin darkened, spilling further down her neck and even seeping into her hair. Her eyes flooded with black until they matched the Grim Reaper’s. But unlike his, Nyx’s eyes shimmered as though tiny stars twinkled within the depths, cutting through the darkness.
Rayna feared her mother was on the verge of eviscerating Asher on the spot. She had to do something to cool them both down or they’d blow up the infirmary. “Hey, how about instead of fighting, you could explain what that rock is.”
Nyx’s gaze shifted from Asher to Rayna, and the black eased away, slowly retreating until she looked as normal as a Primordial goddess of night could. “The box contained a fragment of the star I bound you to when Apollo ended your life a thousand years ago.”