Crucible and the Crown (Misfits of Magic Book 3)

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

“I told you that you brought this upon yourself.”

Jackie stiffened as she slowly turned around to see her mother walk out of the shadows and onto the path below the platform. Unable to comprehend what she was seeing, she quickly glanced between the coffin and then the figure walking toward her.

They were one and the same.

“Actually, we’re not. The person in the coffin is your mother, while I…am so much more. And now you have made it possible to exceed even that,” the being explained as her gray eyes began to glow silver. “With your help, I can return to my former glory as the goddess I was always meant to be.”

Then, without warning, she shot a god bolt directly at Jackie, hitting her in the chest so her body was flung back against the coffin behind her.

She’d never felt pain like that before.

Had never even known it was possible to feel such torment and still remain breathing. It felt like her chest had been ripped open, and now she was burning from the inside out.

As she fell to the ground, she watched her mother’s lips curve into a vicious smile that chilled her to the bone.

No, not her mother.

Someone who had been pretending to be her mother.

But seeing someone who was supposed to love her, who she had been living with all her life, look at her with such sadistic glee was heartbreaking.

Her body shook as sheer agony engulfed her, spreading out from her chest until it flooded her entire system. It felt like she was being ripped to pieces by magic, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.She opened her mouth to scream as the pain intensified.

Or at least she tried to scream.

The sound got trapped in her throat, leaving her to suffer in silence. She tried to breathe through it. To ride the waves of it until she could reengage her brain again, but all she could manage to do was lay there and endure.

The goddess walked up the steps of the platform, slowly coming closer until she was standing over Jackie. When she crouched down beside her, Jackie saw her mother’s face leaning over to grin at her.

It was horrible, a torture beyond comprehension.

“I thought it would be fun to do this while wearing your mother’s face, but now that the initial surprise is done, I guess you could say I’m over it. I suppose you deserve some answers in exchange for what I am going to do to you. We’ll call it an even trade.”

Jackie watched in dismay as her mother’s face started to morph and change until the being leaning over her became a completely different person.

A goddess of ruin and deceit.

She shook her head during the change like a snake trying to shed its skin. Her dark blonde hair was now bright orange, and her eyes were glowing an eerie pale amber. Rising to her feet again, she smoothed a hand down her silver and white robes, changing them to a bold mixture of red, orange, and yellow, like a shockingly vivid sunset.

“There! That’s much better. It has been ages since I have been able to wear my own face. I’ve almost forgotten what it feels like. And by the gods, I am so tired of silver, white, and blue that I could absolutely vomit. I don’t know how you winter fae deal with such a lack of color!”

She danced away, doing a slow pirouette before she rested her hands on her hips and smiled down at Jackie again.

“Let’s start by introducing myself. I am Niesha, the Goddess of Illusions, and this is my domain. When I created the Realm of Illusions, I never realized just how useful it could be, but many of my peers did. And so I became a helpmate to those requiring a safe space to hide things. Unfortunately, I agreed to help the wrong gods, and got myself in a little bit of trouble.”

She laughed lightly as she tilted her head back to look up at the dark sky.

“I guess we were always meant to fail. I know you’ve heard the tale of how Lucifer came to be the King of Hell after we tried to trick him and his army into attacking the Realm of Souls. Taking over the Realm of Souls, or the Hell Realm as it is now called, had sounded like an excellent idea at the time, but the reality of it was way too difficult. The reapers were far too powerful, even though we were able to feast on the souls of many and grow in strength ourselves.”

The way she talked about destroying souls like they were nothing shocked Jackie, but it shouldn’t have. The goddess standing before her obviously had no morals or honor, so doing something so despicable was definitely in her wheelhouse.

“While we couldn’t kill all of the reapers, we were able to trap most of them. That should have been enough for our plans to succeed, but Lucifer ended all of our efforts. That bastard angel becoming a dark god wasn’t something we could have predicted. And the few reapers who had evaded our trap were powerful enough to ruin everything.”

She huffed out an irritated breath.

“So, when our leader perished, the rest of us had to go into hiding since we were being hunted by the Hell Realm and the Celestial Realm alike. I was luckier than the others since I had the Realm of Illusions to hide away in. But I had used up too much magic during the war and locking away the reapers. I’d needed to recharge.”

The pain began to ebb enough for Jackie to move a little. She wanted to sit up so her back was against the stone pedestal the coffin was set on, but she only managed to move a centimeter or two.

Thankfully, the goddess seemed lost in her own memories, not paying attention to what Jackie was doing. Not that she was doing much. That initial blow had completely disabled her, and she was unable to do anything to fight back.

“For a while, I used random fae to help me replenish my own magic, but it was taking too long. By chance, I came upon your mother, and I brought her here. That had been an excellent decision. As a royal, she is connected to the ley lines within the kingdom. Through her, I’ve had direct access to a shit ton of fae magic. I’ve been using her to charge my realm while I became her in the Fae Realm. It’s worked brilliantly so far, but I am sick and tired of living as her. But now, I have a new option…you.”

Niesha grinned as she turned her full attention back to Jackie.

“Now that the joining is being established, I will be able to become you. Or I should say, an illusion of you. Think of it like the bond you have with your mate, only it is between you and me instead. Just like I borrowed your mother’s magic for years, I will now be able to use you as a power source. And by becoming you in the Fae Realm, I will be able to reign as queen for many more years to come.”

The implications of that made Jackie’s blood run cold.

“That’s why I needed you to enter the Crucible. I knew you would figure out someone had tampered with the ice sculpture relic. I thought you would have demanded an investigation, but you surprised me by destroying it. No matter what happened at the ceremony, you would have ended up here. Thankfully, you walked right into my trap. Now, I can place you in stasis and take over your life.”

The goddess sighed.

“The only problem is your mate is turning out to be a lot more troublesome than your father was. But then, that is to be expected of dark angels. I have considered just killing him. It would probably be much easier for me if Micah Volt were gone for good. But he is a prime specimen of a male, and it would be a shame to waste him. I think I’m going to enjoy spending time with him…especially in the bedroom.”

The lascivious smile on the goddess’ face enraged Jackie. Not only was the goddess completely crazy for what she’d done in the past, but listening to her talk about how she was going to take over being Jackie was just fucking insane. How the goddess thought she could deceive Micah was beyond her.

But at least that gave her a little bit of hope.

If the goddess succeeded in using her as a magical battery, Jackie was confident that Micah would be able to figure it out eventually. Then he would come for her. She believed that with her whole heart. No one could love as hard and as deep as they did and then replicate that with a fake.

It just wasn’t possible.

However, the goddess had somehow managed to do just that with her father. Nick and Bianca Frost had been true mates, and yet, he had never realized that the real Bianca had been locked away in a glass coffin. Perhaps Niesha’s ability to create illusions was really that powerful.

Then, Jackie could end up sharing the same fate as her mother.

Or perhaps Micah’s dark angel magic would allow him to see through the illusion.

“Besides that, you and your mate have direct access to a lot of powerful supernaturals, including Lucifer. This will give me the perfect opportunity to get close to him. But…I would rather live a comfortable life than focus on revenge.”

A sly smile creased her lips.

“Although I know a few other gods who would love a chance to pay Lucifer back for destroying their plans. I may help them do just that, depending on what they offer me in exchange, of course.”

Niesha skipped around the platform until she was behind Jackie. She continued to talk while she was out of view busy doing something that made the platform creak and groan a little. Jackie struggled to get her body moving while she had some privacy, but every centimeter made it feel like she was crawling miles through broken glass.

She was sure the joining the goddess had mentioned was the cause of that. Even now, she felt some of her magic being drained from her, leaving her incapacitated and weak. She needed to push that aside and fight back. She needed to figure out a way to take the goddess down and stop her horrible plans.

But she couldn’t even move.

Even as she thought that, Niesha came to stand in front of her again.

“I was going to just kill your mother, but I decided to let her keep you company. For the first few years, at least. It will take about that long to fully establish the joining with you, so it will be good to have a backup magical source just in case. Then, you and I will be companions for the next few centuries. We are going to have so much fun!” Pulling back, she giggled. “Or, at least, I am.”

She waved her hand, and suddenly Jackie was no longer on the stone platform. Instead, she found herself lying inside a gold and glass coffin next to the one her mother was in. Terror shot through her as the glass top appeared over her, locking her in.

A few seconds later, the goddess leaned over the glass coffin, and Jackie stared up at her own face in absolute horror.

“Don’t worry. I will come visit you and let you know how things are going with your mate. I’m sure I will have plenty of stories to entertain you with. I know you can’t move, but you will be able to hear every delicious detail I tell you.”

That made Jackie want to scream.

“Nighty night, princess!” the goddess sang.

And with that, she turned and walked away, the sound of her horrible laughter trailing behind her.

A sob got trapped in Jackie’s chest.

She couldn’t move.

Couldn’t fight.

Helpless and hopeless, all she could do was feel a single tear slide out of the corner of her eye that trailed down the side of her face. Consolidating all the strength and magic she had left, she focused on the mating bond that remained dormant inside of her. She tried to push all the love and anguish she felt into a soul-wrenching goodbye but could only manage a single word.

His name.

Only her mate’s beloved name.

“Micah.”