by Jaymin Eve
Another shiver of energy down my spine that I ignored.
“Who else?”
Jesse hurried through the rest. “There was Fallon, the god of the sky; Clune, the goddess of war; Petuni, the goddess of fertility. And the seventh is and always will be the mother, who is mother of all gods. Our first god. The one who created the fey realm and blessed the supernaturals with their abilities. It was said that she was the consort to the all-knowing god of human worship. That he had his creation, and she had hers.”
Everything in my body felt tight, like someone could flick my skin and I would shatter into a million pieces.
“So six gods, one mother of all gods, and three royals make the ten statues,” I said softly. Whether Lotus or Queen Helene was my mother, they were both up there, carved and worshipped.
“There are lots of other gods,” Calen reminded me, breaking me from my shocked state of mind. “You met Shera, who was a minor deity, but there are other many more major ones worshipped by supernaturals. Including the god of shifters and goddess of fey, but in regard to specific Atlantean worship, these are our main.”
I shook my head. “It’s a lot to take in, especially when I’m still not sure how I tie into all of this—”
“Maddison!”
I was cut off by the shout, and spinning back to stare across the sea, I found a familiar face bobbing in the water, near one of the huge statue heads. “Connor,” I said, half irritated and half resigned to being nice to him.
“You need to get in here and see what’s going on under the water,” he said, waving me over.
Crossing my arms, I shook my head. “Honestly, I don’t trust you not to kidnap me, so I’m keeping my ass above the surface for the time being.”
He raised eyebrows. “Chicken.”
I snorted, lifting my eyebrows in return. “Dude, I’m not five. Taunting me won’t force me to jump into the sea to prove my bravery.”
Connor’s grin was huge, and I wished for the tenth time that he wasn’t so good-looking. Assholes who kidnap people and assist evil god-bitches should not be attractive. Their faces should cause women to run in the opposite direction.
“You were supposed to come and see me a month ago, Maddison James,” Connor said in his rumbly, annoying-as-fuck voice. “I have been very patient, but now it’s time for you to get your ass in the water and embrace your Atlantean side.”
Jesse growled at him. “And what about the rest of us? We’re all Atlanteans here. Why are you focusing so much of your attention on Maddi?” He leaned over the edge, his next words rumbling through his clenched jaw. “She does not belong to you.”
Connor’s stupid happy smile faded, and I found those dark eyes right on me. “Sorry about Asher,” he said softly, “but at least the sacrifice wasn’t you, right?”
My world stopped spinning. It was like everything ground to a halt as his words hung in the air between us. I’d heard this before. I’d had similar thoughts myself, but hearing it put so bluntly was absolutely gutting me.
“How dare you,” Larissa snarled, and for once her fangs were very visible. She was the least vampire-y vampire I’d ever met, but right now she was channeling her race hard. “Maddi would never be happy about anyone being sacrificed instead of her. Fuck off. Stop talking to us.”
Jesse’s arm was around me as he held me up, no doubt ready for me to collapse into a puddle of despair and anguish, but I was heading in a much healthier direction.
Pure rage.
My legs shot me up and over the side of the boat, the massive well of energy inside me exploding out in visible waves. By the time I hit the water, my vision was tinged in shades of blue and green, and my brain was single-mindedly focused on smashing Connor into a million pieces. He dropped below the water and started to speed swim away from me, but there was no way in hell he was going to outpace me in my current rage.
I caught him in seconds, my hands wrapping around his throat as I poured water magic into him, knocking him back into the statue beyond. I didn’t have time to really notice the statue, but I did see a crown, ornately detailed, on the top of its head. It was probably one of the Atlantean royalty, then, which was fitting. Connor might be getting crushed against his long-dead family.
I hit him again and again with my magic. He tried to defend himself, but he had nothing on me. Eventually he just covered his face and pressed himself into the statue so that he’d stop getting so smashed around.
He looked so small and pathetic that some of my fire faded, and I sort of slumped, pulling the energy back inside. Part of me felt better, having expelled a ton of pent-up rage and sorrow and fear. Another part of me felt just the same: dead, broken, angry.
I kicked a few times, rising to the surface without even sparing a look for whatever world of Atlantis lay below.
When my head broke the surface, I wasn’t surprised to see Calen, Jesse, and Rone in the water with me. They’d been at my back, like always, keeping me safe. Even when I was the one who should be feared.
“You could have killed him,” Calen said, and it wasn’t in a reprimand way; it was in a “why didn’t you kill him? You had the power” way.
I shrugged. “He’s not worth it. I just needed someone to beat up on a little until I felt better.”
Connor’s head appeared above the water. He looked paler than usual, his face creased. “That hurt,” he groaned.
“Good,” I shot back. “Maybe next time you’ll think before you speak. Trust me, Asher was twenty times the supe you’ll ever be, and you probably don’t want to hear who I would have sacrificed had I been given the choice.”
Connor groaned again. “Harsh, babe.”
Babe? Did he just fucking—?
“Call her that again and I will drain your blood and feed you to the sharks,” Rone warned.
Connor eyed the huge vampire before shaking his head. “You guys are all as psycho as each other. I can see why Maddison fit right into your group.”
“Why are we here?” I asked Connor, changing the subject. “Atlantis has not risen. It’s like ten statue tops and that’s about it.”
Connor looked less pained and more businesslike in that second. “Yes, right. It appears to have stopped again, and we think it’s because Asher’s sacrifice—” He flinched and paused for a second, but I managed to hold on to my temper. “—wasn’t quite enough. I’m thinking it’s going to take your blood and mine to finish the transition.”
Connor believed a lot of crazy shit. “You said I was born just before Atlantis sank, and that somehow I stayed in stasis for ten thousand years, only to be released by someone … Asher’s parents maybe. Do you believe you and Asher were the same?”
Connor hesitated. “Well, at first I didn’t, but after what we all did together last year, after we broke that magical seal that held for a century, I have been digging deeper. It appears there’s a possibility that all three royal families had babies at the same time. Babies that were sacrificed to appease the gods. Only they were not appeased. They were incensed that their children were sacrificed in such a way, and they cursed Atlantis to sink.”
“So you now believe that you and Asher are from original Atlantis too?”
He nodded.
I mulled the thought over in my mind. It would fit with what we found in that nondescript book in the library. Three god babies born. Not that Connor seemed to know that part yet…
“If Asher had to die, then also … if we apply logic to the thought process, shouldn’t we also have to? Asher’s energy was enough to get Atlantis to here, but maybe that’s as far as it goes.”
The words had barely left my mouth when Connor’s face turned into something a little darker and more sinister. “Ah, if only it was going to be that easy. But you’re right. One sacrifice doesn’t seem to be enough.” His face softened, and I saw true regret in his eyes. “I’m sorry for what I’m about to do, but trust me, it’s not the end for us.”
Something grabbed onto my feet, and before I co
uld scream or use my magic to try and save myself, I was dragged down so fast that by the time I blinked and started to breathe beneath the water, I was at the gates of Atlantis.
The gates were huge, two ornately carved stone and wood pieces that spanned about fifty feet high, and that much in width as well. Standing in front of them, not moving or floating despite being way under the water, were two beings.
One was a woman, coldly beautiful, with raven dark hair that hung in long, unmoving strands down her back. She wore a white robe that brushed her bare feet and left one shoulder free. Her eyes were the same dark blue as mine, and her face … it was so much like mine it was scary—same heart shape, same nose with the tiny kick up at the end, the same freckles across her cheeks.
“Daughter,” she said.
Unlike me, though, she was practically glowing, and everything about her was unearthly. Her energy actually set my teeth on edge, my jaw aching as I clenched it. It hurt to look at her, and yet at the same time I couldn’t have stopped.
“It’s time, daughter,” she said again, her words as clear as anything. Lightning raced across her skin, and I recognized it. Bitch. This was who killed Asher.
If I could have spoken under here like she somehow could, I would have whispered one word: Lotus.
The man beside the woman remained silent; I’d barely spared him a second glance, even though I caught enough to know he was as impressive as Lotus.
Connor appeared at my side then, shooting energy behind him, no doubt to keep my guys away. For once, I was on Connor’s side. I did not want my guys trying to protect me from the gods … I’d already lost Asher that way. No more sacrifices for me.
So when Lotus held out her hand, I took it without hesitation, hoping she would get this shit over with. I’d tried to outrun my destiny, but here was a god wearing my face, and … the past had finally caught up to me.
“I promise, you won’t feel a thing,” she whispered before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to my head. I closed my eyes, trembling in her embrace. For a second I forgot that she was a goddess, probably hell bent on destroying our world, and instead, for a moment, I had a mother.
Warmth spread from beneath her lips into my body, and at first it was pleasant, but all too soon the heat was burning me up. I opened my mouth to scream, but before I could make a sound, a light so bright it instantly blinded me lit up the water.
And the darkness that followed took me.
Until I was no more.
23
I had never believed in death being the next journey of my life. I wasn’t sure I’d ever really thought about it long enough to know what I believed, but I was definitely not of the heaven and hell belief, even when I thought myself a human. I just expected that I would die, and then it would be ... dark … forever.
After Lotus killed me, that should have been the end. The eternal sleep. My energy now part of the great circle that would bring about the next part of the supernatural world.
But then there was light again. It splintered my darkness, piercing my brain and bringing me back to the land of the living. Breath filled my lungs, water following, because I was still in my beautiful ocean.
Even without my eyes open I could feel the energy, taste the salt, sense the life around me.
Life … my life.
How was I still alive?
My eyes shot open, and in the same instant I spun into what would have been a crouched position if I wasn’t under the water. My vision was instantly clear, even though I was very deep in the ocean. Almost no light penetrated this far down; it didn’t hinder my sight.
Not alone.
I definitely wasn’t alone, and I drew my raging energy into my hands prepared to fight. I’d let Lotus take what she wanted before because I needed to protect my friends, and … truthfully, for a brief second, I’d wanted relief from my pain. So I hadn’t fought back.
But no more. She’d had her chance. She didn’t kill me, and that was a huge mistake on her part, because I was nothing more than a rage of power and sorrow and vengeance.
I was taking her down.
The shadow moved closer, and I remained where I was, barely moving, letting the current of the water shift my hair and nothing else.
Energy tingled in my palms, growing, surging even, but it didn’t feel out of control. For maybe the first time since my power was released, I felt like I was in complete control of it, and I probably should stop to examine why that was, but right now, I had a goddess to kill.
As the shadow got within fifty feet of me, his face was clear, and I relaxed ever so slightly.
It was Connor.
He noticed me then and stopped swimming, like he’d not actually been looking for me and was surprised that I was here.
He moved closer.
And closer.
Until we were only a few feet apart.
I didn’t relax my energy, because Connor was not to be trusted. He’d orchestrated so much of the bullshit in my life, and frankly I was pissed at him. If he died, I would not lose any sleep.
“Hey, asshole,” I said, forgetting I was under the water.
What the fuck? The energy fell away from my hands, drifting harmlessly in the sea, because I was too shocked to hold it any longer. I’d just talked, and the words could be heard. Under the freaking water.
Connor blinked at me too, and then with a tilt of his head, he opened his mouth.
“Did you just talk…?” He trailed off before shaking his head. “Did I just talk?”
Like the gods.
We’d just spoken underwater like the gods had.
“What did they do to us?” I asked him, my voice hard and biting. When he moved closer, I moved further away. Not because I was afraid of him—nope, I was afraid of me and what I might do if he was within strangling distance.
Connor didn’t answer, so I tried another question.
“Who was the male god? Was it Sonaris?”
I was almost certain it wasn’t, because the male’s energy was nothing like the ocean. It was strong and ancient and dark.
“Draconis,” Connor said simply. “My father.” He paused, and if we’d been above water, I would have guessed he was clearing his throat. “And yours.”
Hopefully my face didn’t react. I was freaking out inside, but I did my best to not show that to him. I hated to think he’d see how that affected me.
“Is Lotus your mother?”
He nodded. “Yes. Yours too. We’re both born of those two gods.”
What the fuck? I hadn’t wanted to believe it could be true.
“How do you know for sure? Before you betrayed me again,” you bastard, “you seemed to think we were born of the royal Atlanteans.”
Connor shrugged. “Lotus told me before she sent her power through my body.”
She had. Maybe she also told him…
“Asher’s parents?”
Please don’t say Lotus and Draconis too.
Connor shook his head. “You and Asher are not related, trust me. From what I’ve learned, the three god children were supposed to all be related, but the mother of all interfered. Asher is the reason everything went to shit.”
I moved a little closer to him. “Tell me everything you know, and tell me right the hell now before I rip your fucking head off.”
Connor actually chuckled, the arrogant fuck. “I don’t know much more than you. In fact, if you’d bothered to research as much as you could, you’d know even more than me.”
I snarled. “Yeah, thanks for that lecture.”
My power shot from me and smashed into his chest, sending him tumbling back across the ocean. I followed in a zoom of energy, moving faster than I’d ever moved in the water before. I wondered if I’d even be visible to humans at this speed.
Connor and I clashed as he came at me, but while I was trying to destroy him, he was simply detaining me. Which allowed me to get a few more good hits in before I calmed enough to back away.
“Talk. Now
!” I yelled.
He held both hands up, his hair drifting in the tides, the low light giving everything an eerie look. “You, me, and Asher were all born of gods. Two gods, but in a mortal body.”
“How could this happen?” I said shortly. “Explain better.”
“Lotus and Draconis are our biological parents. They used their energy to place a child in the womb of Queen Helene and Queen Marie, of House of Jervania. Asher’s biological parents did the same, but I don’t know who they are. It’s the reason your energy calls to me—we’re siblings. Asher, on the other hand … his energy is very different.”
Hellbringers.
A dark twisting in my gut was the only response from my body. “We’re the reason it fell, aren’t we?”
Connor’s face sobered. “I don’t know. Clearly the gods and the leaders of Atlantis were cooking something up together. I don’t know what the plan was, but it was enough that it caused the end of our civilization.”
Shit. “So what did our parents just do to us? I mean … it felt like I died. But…”
Here we were, clearly not dead.
Connor’s face brightened. “Ah, for the first time I know the answer to this for sure. Our parents killed our mortal bodies, allowing the demigod inside to be reborn.”
I pursed my lips and shook my head. “What? I’m not sure you truly understand how to answer a fucking question clearly.”
He looked at me like I was an idiot, but seriously, I had a point. He couldn’t answer questions for shit. All cryptic. “If our bio parents are gods, how the hell do we have a ‘mortal body?’”
“Because we were actually born from the flesh of a mortal. The energy created the baby, but some of the other stuff that went into creating us was normal supe. Technically, we are demigods, or two-thirds god, but there really isn’t a name for that. Suffice it to say, we can’t die in any normal way, and our parents were just now destroying the mortal part of our physical makeup.”
“My powers,” I whispered. “I never could control them well before, but now…”