Pain (Curse of the Gods Book 5)
Page 27
Staviti had not prepared the gods in any way to sustain or support themselves. After the collapse of the servers, they struggled to cook, clean, or even fetch their own water. Many of them came to Minatsol, asking to learn, and were taking in by the sols and dwellers. It no longer seemed to be such a blessing to become a god, as it became apparent that while Staviti had been actively trying to limit ascension, he wasn’t the only restricting factor. Topia itself had also been limiting ascension, only accepting those whose power was strongest, whose energy had the deepest connection to its own power. Maybe in a way to sustain itself as the balance fell away from the worlds.
Either way, the gods were suddenly not as powerful as they used to be. At this point we weren’t sure what that meant. If the waters spread the balance of their energy around, then the gods could very well find themselves able to die and move on to the next world. The future was uncertain, but for the first time it was filled with hope for more than just a select few.
“Willa,” a soft voice called, distracting me.
Rome set me gently on my feet now, because he knew the rules. I got to walk when I was up here.
Siret laughed, giving his location away. “Fine,” I scowled. “Waddle. I get to waddle when I’m on flat ground.”
They thought it was hilarious that our babies were giving me such strife, and they weren’t even born yet.
I hurried—as fast as a pregnant woman can hurry—across to the woman nestled under a tree, a picnic blanket beneath her as she read a story to the little girl on her lap. “Pica,” I exclaimed. “You started story time without us.”
She grinned before pressing a kissing into her daughter’s head. “Jilly couldn’t wait another click, she just had to know what happened next.”
My heart still swelled every single time I saw Pica with her child. It turned out that Pica’s soul was pure, despite what she had done in her life. The motivations for her actions were based on a grief so deep that it literally rent her soul in two. Her heart in pieces. But when she found her child in the imprisonment realm, some of the damage was repaired. When her soul was mended, it was pure.
I’d cried as she passed through the mortal glass, holding the hand of the prettiest little blonde angel I had ever seen. Their joy was beyond words.
It was a happy ending I hadn’t expected, but now she was a solid part of our lives.
Within five clicks we were joined by dozens of god children, dwellers, sols, and gods. Everyone was ready to tune in to the next instalment of Pica’s story time, because the woman still had a flair for inventiveness. A tiny sliver of crazy lingered within her mind, but she put it to good use.
The Abcurses joined me, and I found myself leaning back on Rome, his huge body cradling mine, his hands pressed over the bump. He stroked the swell of our babies, soothing the tiny pains that accompanied the kicks I was regularly getting.
I should have expected that the Abcurses would have overachieving kids.
After story time was over, we stayed beneath the tree, watching the world around us. My feet were pulled into Siret’s lap, and he rubbed the slight swelling around my ankles, because I was getting puffy all over now. I was not one of those women who did attractive pregnancies. I was a swollen mess.
“You’re beautiful,” Yael said, as he leaned over and pressed his lips to mine. “Perfect in every way.”
I chuckled, my eyes fluttering closed. “I’ll be honest, I’m more than ready to meet our babies, even though I do love them being all safe and snug right now.”
But it was uncomfortable. There was no denying that truth.
Adeline popped up from somewhere, a very in love with her Abil not far behind. It turned out that Abil and Adeline had long hidden their soul-bond from the world because they feared what Staviti’s reaction and retribution would be. Their number-one priority was to protect their children, and in doing so, they sacrificed their love for each other.
Now though, they were beaming and bristling with so much love that sometimes it actually made me blush. The only couple worse were my parents.
As if I’d summoned them with that thought alone, they appeared in the distance. Dad was dragging a large table up the stairs from below, and my mother had a basket in her hands, laughing at Jakan as he struggled.
“You’re a god,” I heard her tease him when they got closer. “You’re letting your people down.”
He shook his head, the look he levelled on her nothing short of adoring. “Dwellers are all the rage now, haven’t you heard? Gods are old news.”
He was teasing because for the first time in a long time, no one was the rage. We were all equals.
“We brought lunch,” my mother said as she hurried across. “Got to feed my grandbabies.”
She dropped the basket near my feet before leaning down to kiss my cheek and rub a hand across my belly. “How are my little babies doing this sun-cycle? Is your momma being mean to you?”
I snorted. “Stop crooning to them like that, they probably like you more than me already.”
It turned out that I’d really missed out on one fantastic mother growing up. Winnifred Knight was kind and sweet and caring. She baked pies and washed clothing and read stories to children. She was one of the warmest people I’d ever known, and I counted myself blessed that Jakan had figured out a way to return her to Emmy and me.
“Hey, Dad,” I said when he dropped the small table down. “Mom putting you to work again?”
He laughed, the rich tones drifting through the air. “She definitely keeps things interesting.” His expression grew serious. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Neither would I. Everything had worked out perfectly.
Many rotations later, when night had fallen and the bustling activity of the Peak had faded away, I found myself back home. It was the first real home I’d ever had, one designed solely by me and my guys, and it was singularly my favourite place in any world. Made double incredible by the fact that Emmy and Cyrus lived in a nearby section of the Peak, Abil and Adeline as well, and my parents on the other side but still close.
The interior was a mix of dweller, sol, and god—we took from each the style we loved the most, all while mixing the Abcurses’ colours throughout. I never had “received” a god colour, which Jakan had explained was because I had to choose one. As a Creator, I had control over things like that, but in the end, I was happy with a mixture of the five Abcurse colours. The same colours that were scattered about our house. Purple drapes and dark grey cushions by the fire, a green blanket on our bed with blue and gold cushions. The list went on and on, the six of us mixing our lives together until we were basically one colour.
One life.
“Baby, get your ass in bed,” Coen called from the other room, and I smiled, pushing myself off the glass wall. I’d been caught watching the ocean; it always got me.
“What are you going to do for me?” I called back, then grimaced as I got kicked extra hard in the ribs.
Yael appeared in the doorway. “We’re going to give you multiple orgasms and then you’re going to rest and grow our babies. We want the best bab—”
He cut off as I glared, and his lips tilted up. “Healthy babies. We want healthy babies.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, rubbing a hand over my belly. “What did you say about orgasms?”
Siret’s twinkling eyes appeared a moment before he swept me off my feet. I didn’t bother to protest my independence, because my feet were actually hurting a little at this point.
“Come on, Soldier, let’s go to bed.”
We still had a schedule for a lot of the sex, but on many occasions I didn’t choose—which was pretty much how I ended up this pregnant—but we always slept together in our gigantic bed. And since I’d gotten near the end of my pregnancy, it had been a little different. They were being gentle with me, which I loved and hated at the same time, but there was definitely no shortage of orgasms in my life.
Siret paused in the doorway and
warmth spread through my centre. Aros and Coen were both sprawled out on the bed, naked, their huge bodies taking up way more space than two gods should. Siret crawled up onto the end, carrying me all the way across to deposit me gently onto a huge mound of pillows.
His eyes when he stared down at me were warm, filled with desire and love, the mixture enough to have my body clenching with need. Aros and Coen pressed in closer to either side of me, and Yael and Rome entered the room, closing the door behind them.
My clothes were stripped off before I could blink, and then lips were on mine—Aros’s—his Seduction filling me in gentle warm waves. A mouth was on my breasts, another between my thighs then, and before I could catch my breath, the build-up ripped through me and left me writhing and crying out.
“So sensitive,” Rome said, dragging a finger across my nipple as I moved with the aftershocks.
I was their queen as they worshipped me, but I was never okay with taking and not giving. “It might be our last time to all be together,” I murmured, brushing my hands across all that I could reach. “All five of us. Before I’m too huge to manoeuvre myself.”
Coen opened his mouth to protest, I could see the denial in his eyes because he was worried about them hurting me, but I wrapped my hand around his hard length before he could speak.
“One more night,” I pleaded, turning my eyes on all of them, drinking in their green-eyed gazes and the long lines of their bronzed muscles. “I need this. I need you all.”
Before another word could leave my mouth, they descended on me, the five of them lifting my body so that they could all touch me. My head went fuzzy and I didn’t even care who touched me where. As long as they were all there.
This was still my thing, and it got to me more than any other. I was sandwiched between my Abcurses with more love than I was sure my heart could handle.
This was it: the life I’d hadn’t even dared to dream of.
I had been cursed by the gods since the first sun-cycle of my birth, but I was Willa-freaking-Knight, and if being skilled with curses could count as a skill, then I was gods-dammed gifted. If my curse had been a lifetime of expected servitude as a lowly, unimportant dweller, then I had turned that curse into a soul-bond with five of the most powerful gods in Topia. If my curse had been to cause trouble and mayhem and chaos wherever I walked, then I had turned that curse into the first true peace that Minatsol and Topia had seen in hundreds of life-cycles. If my curse had been to start a war to end the worlds, then I had turned that curse into a brand-new world to save the dwellers, sols, and gods alike …
Because that’s how you deal with things when you’re gifted.
The End.
Also By Jane Washington
Standalone Books
I Am Grey
The Bastan Hollow Saga
Book One: Charming (Dec, 2018)
Book Two: Disobedience (Jan, 2019)
Book Three: Fairest (Feb, 2019)
Book Four: Prick (Mar, 2019)
Book Five: Animal (Apr, 2019)
Curse of the Gods Series
Book One: Trickery
Book Two: Persuasion
Book Three: Seduction
Book Four: Strength
Book Five: Pain
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Book One: Charcoal Tears
Book Two: Watercolour Smile
Book Three: Lead Heart
Book Four: A Portrait of Pain
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Book Two: The Soulstoy Inheritance
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Book Two: The Princess Must Strike (October 1st)
Book Three: The Princess Must Reign (November 1st)
Curse of the Gods Series
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Book Two: Persuasion
Book Three: Seduction
Book Four: Strength
Book Five: Pain
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Book Two: Queen Alpha
Book Three: Queen Fae
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Broken Compass
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Louis (December 2018)
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