by Meg Xuemei X
Zak gave him a harsh look. “I haven’t finished my pitch, and you stole my thunder.”
“He’s always like that,” Paxton said. “Very annoying and immature.”
Zak ignored them. “We can travel to other worlds and universes if you want, Rosebud. We don’t need to stay at Half-Blood Academy and Earth. I’ll make love to you in every corner of the universe with tenderness and passion.”
He still talked like an old-fashion demigod, yet it sounded so sweet and sexy in my ear.
As Paxton, Zak, and Axel kept proposing, my attention trained on Héctor. He hadn’t made an offer yet.
The death god smiled at the Flame—at me—supremely confident I would never leave him.
He shot up toward me, his obsidian wings brushing my Flame, caressing it. I nearly moaned in pleasure. His demigod’s death light infused into the ripples of my Flame. His love, devotion, and passion wrapped around me, cocooning me and my Flame. He offered me his demigod soul.
No matter what form I took for myself, Héctor would always love me and be with me. All my mates would stay with me to the end, but if I stayed as a Flame, I wouldn’t be able to go skin-to-skin with them.
I wouldn’t be able to ride them raw and hard. Would I want to give up carnal pleasure?
Héctor kissed my Flame, projecting through the mating bond how he would ravish and cherish me after I returned to being Marigold, starting with driving into my heat with loving, brutal force with my ankles on his shoulders, his large, hard shaft filling my every inch and stretching me. He would thrust and thrust, enjoying and claiming me…
I wanted that.
I wanted all the irresistible offers my mates made, and I wanted all of them. They were my heart, my anchor, and my home.
The Flame shifted.
“Ta-da,” I called with a mischievous and satisfied grin. I was Marigold in flesh and blood. “Guys, I’m back.”
My mates rushed to me, all reaching me at the same time and pulling me into their arms. Hunger, tenderness, and desire for me burned in their eyes. They murmured their endearments for me, touching and feeling to make sure I was real and solid. Then they planted kisses on every bit of my exposed skin and made satisfied noises, confirming that I’d indeed returned to them as Marigold.
“That was amazing,” Tartarus said with awe in his voice, though he watched cautiously from outside our circle some distance away.
None of the remaining sentinels could get past the walls of flesh that were Lilith’s warriors, who guarded me as their Princess. I hadn’t punished the warden and the guards who didn’t fight us, but that didn’t mean I trusted them.
In this world, trusting anyone could cost a lot.
Dad’s Titans parked themselves solidly outside the open door of the silver dome. They had discarded their rudimentary tools and upgraded to spears and swords—spoils of war. They’d shifted their roles from inmates to jailors to prevent the gods and other Titans from fleeing the dome. And now they shared raunchy jokes that I didn’t think were even slightly funny. But all of them threw their heads back and let out a belly laugh at every joke. A couple of Titans sang a bawdy song that had something to do with battle and bedding maidens. Men, gods, and Titans all behaved the same when it came to singing vulgar songs about humiliating women.
I was too tired to pick a fight with the Titan cavemen on their choice of entertainment now, and besides, they’d fought for Dad and me. I also accepted that not all the guys fighting for the good side were decent guys.
The monsters I’d freed patrolled the perimeter as I commanded. Some beasts were still feeding on the Titans and giant sentinels they’d taken down, and I let them. They’d been starved for too long.
Ares’s corpse was nowhere to be found. He might be in the bellies of the beasts—a fate he’d tried to impose on my mates and me.
I didn’t want to dig deeper into Axel’s emotional pool at the moment. Right now, he was trying his best not to look for his father’s body. Good thing I provided a perfect distraction.
In the end, we’d need to deal with it together. There’d be a lot of healing to do, but I’d pull him through. I’d have to schedule some expensive therapy sessions for him, but he was my mate. Good sex might help him, too, and my other mates for sure would punch some rage out of him, which was how the demigods dealt with trauma anyway.
Mom and Dad were conversing, mostly flirting after being apart for decades. Mom’s horns sparked crimson, which meant she still fancied Dad, and Dad gazed at her with stars in his dark green eyes.
My flaming, cold gaze snagged on Tartarus, and a muscle twitched nervously under his left eye as he attempted to crack a smile, which unsurprisingly turned to a grimace.
“I didn’t side with the original gods, Princess.” He was quick to defend himself. “I risked their displeasure for you.”
“If you had sided with them,” I said, “you’d have joined them in the dome.”
Tartarus shuddered as if he had a bad cold.
“We should just send the warden and all of the guards to the dome and be done with it,” Axel advised. “They didn’t lift a fucking finger to help us.”
“I did,” Tartarus cried in protest. “I left the door open to let your Titan father out to even the odds for you.”
I regarded him, and he dropped to one knee. “Princess of the Void, I pledge my sword and services to you.”
The other guards who had wisely chosen not to go down with the gods all knelt and crossed their arms over their chests in surrender.
“Should we also pledge our fealty to the Princess, too?” a Titan asked, and they stopped singing. “Everyone is kneeling.”
“Why? We serve King Hyperion already,” another Titan asked in confusion.
“His heir is more powerful,” another Titan chimed in. “Do you want to go back to your cell?”
“Nay,” the questioning Titan said.
And then all the Titans went down on one knee beside the door of the dome.
“Princess Heir,” they called. “We pledge our fealty to you as we once pledged to your father.”
“That’s fine,” I said, gesturing for them to get up, and they jumped to their feet right away, about to sing a bawdy song again. “You don’t need to guard the dome. My flame will do.”
I waved a hand, and three entwined rings of fire encircled the silver dome, and the door slammed shut, sealing the bellows and screams of profanities inside.
“You warded the dome with your flame, Princess?” Tartarus blinked and asked.
“You have a problem with that?” Paxton hissed.
“No, of course not. It’s just the Princess’s method is unconventional,” Tartarus said, giving Paxton a worried look. “I was only curious about what happened to the ancient ward we used to cover the Eternal Prison. My hammer was keyed to the ward.” He turned to me. “Your mates are very dominating and aggressive, which is good.”
He hated anyone being aggravating toward him. That was why he wasn’t a fan of the original gods.
“You have no need of that showy hammer of yours anymore,” I said. “It’s out of style, and it won’t open any door. You’re welcome to try slamming it on any door if you don’t trust me.”
“I trust you, Princess,” he said, only eager to please me. I was the new boss. And I bet he’d ram it everywhere to test as soon as I turned my back, but he’d only disappoint himself and feel bitter.
“Then hand me your hammer,” I said.
He hesitated before lifting his hammer toward me.
I flicked my wrist and his hammer flew to my hand. I regarded it for a moment and shook my head. “Dad, you want it?”
Without waiting for a nod, I tossed the hammer his direction. It flipped in the air until Dad caught its haft.
Tartarus’s eyes almost bulged out, a tragic look written all over his face. He’d been with this hummer for eons. He slept and ate with it, according to him.
Dad swung the hammer a few times, eyeing it critically.
He flung the hammer back to the warden, and Tartarus caught it and thanked him profusely.
“Now that we’ve got a new sheriff in town,” I said. “We’re going to set up a few new rules.”
“Sheriff?” a nosy Titan asked.
“Will you let my heir, the most powerful, glorious Princess of the Void, finish her speech without any rude, ignorant interruption?” Dad hissed. I doubted he knew what a sheriff was, either.
“Sorry, King Hyperion,” the Titan murmured in a low voice.
“My father will be the new warden,” I said. “All the Titans and sentinels will be his to command, and Tartarus will be his new secretary until Dad promotes him.” I surveyed the guards. “Your job is to follow his orders and guard the Eternal Prison, as you did before. My monsters will join you on patrol and you won’t hunt them. Once a month the gods will be let out to walk in the courtyards.”
My Living Flame had stripped the original gods of their powers, and the Void would further drain their remaining strength. They were no longer a threat, and they wouldn’t have the power to open the portal to Olympus even if they escaped the Eternal Prison, which was unlikely as well.
My sentient Flame would force them back to their cells after they stretched their legs and inhaled the fresh air.
“You see, I’m not totally without humanity.” I waved a hand. “I don’t want the gods and the Titan inmates to become crazier than they already are since we don’t have the budget for therapists.”
I showed mercy to the gods for my mates’ sake, and I saw gratitude shine in their eyes. But I couldn’t allow the gods to roam free. If they were set free, they’d keep coming after me. And they’d summon their allies and brothers-in-arms from every corner of the universe, and then every superior being and their lesser would take their shot and come hunt me.
That wouldn’t be a pretty picture, and it wouldn’t be fair to Earth, which would be caught in the crossfire. So I was going to prevent it from ever coming down to that.
After I’d endured all this crap, I wanted a break. I wanted to live peacefully with my mates and have a lot of hot sex with them without looking over my shoulder all the time. And I didn’t think that was too much to ask.
“The Flame that guards the dome is automatic,” I said. “It’s connected to me no matter where I am.”
And unbeknownst to anyone, when I transformed into the Flame, I’d deeply connected to the Void. It would give me any magic and energy it possessed as its child, but it wouldn’t let me leave. So I’d bargained with it. I would leave a part of my essence—a thread of my Living Flame—behind.
And I promised to visit Void at least once every century.
That was how I’d tether to the Void, and that was the tithe I paid to have a life with my mates outside the Void. I wouldn’t feel incomplete as long as I had them.
It was time to go home with my beloveds.
CHAPTER 19
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Mom, Dad, my mates, and I lounged inside the carriage driven by hundreds of beasts toward the edge of the Void. My former hellhound sprawled at my feet, licking my hand. He knew I was leaving, and he’d stay with the former Queen of Hell.
Mom’s maiden warriors rode tall on the backs of the beasts, whipping them to make them obey and run faster. I winced, even after that bloody battle.
The beasts howled.
Wind of a riot of colors flowered above us like a stream of starlight, and an ancient, haunting symphony arose in the air.
“The Void is seeing its child off and will welcome her back home,” Mom said proudly.
At least I remained humble and didn’t whip out my blue wings and let my flame adorn their feather tips to add to the effect, though my mates would have loved it.
The Field of Forever came into view—a terrain of endless sunflowers under sunlight with clouds floating across the bluest sky, until they melted into a ridge of silver mountains lining the horizon.
The Void with such unique territories was supposed to be my home, but I’d found a home on Earth with my mates.
“This is it, the edge of the Void,” Dad said, looking at me with fatherly pride and love. “I was sent through here eons ago, chained and dragged to the pit of the Eternal Prison, and today, my heir freed me.”
“Oh, Hyperion, you sentimental fool,” Mom said fondly. “You’ve gone soft since we had our baby girl.”
Dad held Mom’s elegant hand in his large one. My eyes moistened a little. But it was time to leave, and we stepped off the golden carriage into the edge of the Field of Forever.
I breathed out, looking at the beautiful sight in front of me. “It’s so peaceful and lovely.”
“Don’t be deceived by its appearance, child,” Mom said. “All the plants here have teeth and claws. They shift at night and become cannibals.”
I shivered, widening my eyes, and my mates immediately drew their swords, looking alarmed.
Mom laughed. “But nothing will harm the child of the Void.”
My mates relaxed their shoulders and muscles, and Mom gave them a look. “The courtesy doesn’t extend to her mates, though. Men have to keep earning her favor and proving their worth.”
Mom just couldn’t get rid of her wicked nature.
I called my power. The wind of the Void chimed all around us. A stream of flame blasted out of me, tearing the air open. A doorway made of dancing fire formed in front of us.
The Living Flame could open a portal in any universe.
“And here’s where we say goodbye to our daughter and bless her and her mates for a safe journey,” Dad said.
Tears glinted in Mom’s eyes, and her horns turned pale silver.
“You’re a child of the Void,” she said. “Wherever you go, remember you always have a home here.”
Titans and archdemons were villains in the textbooks. Who would imagine they could both be great parents?
I was a product of conflicts between species, driven by the ultimate ambition of an archangel who lost the war against Heaven. My parents created me as a weapon to either win their freedom or help their rule. Yet when Mom gave birth to me, she changed her mind and loved me enough to forsake her hunger for power and gave me the opportunity to choose my own path. She wanted that freedom for me so much that she sent me to the other world, never knowing if I’d return.
Despite that beginning, I turned out to be the creation of love.
“Mom, Dad, you sure you don’t want to come with me?” I tried one last time. “There’s always a place for you where I am.”
Mom shook her head with a stunning, sensual smile and traded a look with Dad, and Dad appeared a goner.
“We’ll make sure the nasty gods and my fellow vicious Titans behave,” Dad said, his hand on his mace. “They’ll never come after you.”
“We need to go, Rosebud,” Zak urged gently.
The Void agreed to let me leave reluctantly. The longer I stayed in its dimension, the more attached it would grow.
I gazed at my parents, blinking back my tears, until Dad gave my mates a calculated, threatening stare. “Remember what we discussed about the wedding, demigods. It must be the most spectacular—”
Oh, parents!
“Dad, we have to go now! See you.” I waved a hand at them and rushed toward the portal.
The five of us clasped our hands tightly, so we wouldn’t be separated by any wind, any world, or any force, and together we stepped through the flaming doorway.
CHAPTER 20
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It was like falling through the universe and watching the worlds blur by. Exotic forests, strange cities of alien beings, deserts, and oceans of all colors swirled around us at high speed, and we kept slipping through them.
Until finally, the endless azure sky no longer spun.
I still clutched my mates’ hands as we touched down hard on a sidewalk. As soon as we were
steady on the ground, my mates held me in the midst of their tight embrace.
I let out a rasped breath and inhaled. The air smelled earthy, with a hint of lemon and ocean salt.
“We’re back,” Axel said excitedly, breaking away from the group hug. “We’re back on Earth, in Staten Island. We’re back at the Academy.”
Axel was born on this island. This was truly his home.
With sunlight on my face, I squinted to take in the lush garden to the left, a century-old tree in the center of the courtyard. Skyscrapers of steel and glass rose in the far background, and near us stood several old stone buildings with elaborate carvings that marked their rich tradition.
Memory flooded back before my fluttering eyelids.
I pointed to the end of the courtyard and cried in thrill. “I remember that place. That’s where you dragged me to the class of Olympian Glory and History, Paxton. You didn’t allow me to change my mismatched socks, or grab a donut for breakfast.”
Héctor, Axel, and Zak turned to snarl at Paxton. I hadn’t even mentioned the incident of me being beaten half to death under Paxton’s supervision in the training room.
“Guys,” I said. “That was a long time ago. What I meant is how far we’ve come, all of us.”
I thought of the first day Axel had dragged me to Half-Blood Academy, aka Half-Death Academy. Zak hadn’t listened to my pleading and watched the Blade of Runes toast me. Paxton had tried to bend and break me, and Hector had wanted me all to himself.
Now we were all here, together. And I was more in love with them, after all that we’d gone through.
Paxton dropped to one knee, held my hand, turned it, and kissed my palm with his sensual lips. “Allow me to make it up to you for the rest of my life, Buttercup.”
Was he kind of proposing to me? Had Dad’s big words about the wedding gotten into my mates’ thick heads? My mates were super hot, but who wanted to get married at twenty-two in this age? I’d be the laughingstock of the academy, and I hadn’t graduated. I still had two years to go.