Chapter 17
Orion, the twins, and I enjoyed one night together. One night that would forever be seared into my memory.
The night I not only reclaimed Orion and reunited with the twins—but it was the night that I could bond Samael without dark forces pushing us apart.
Awakening as a goddess couldn’t have come at a more perfect time. I couldn’t help but wonder if fate did know what it was doing after all.
My angels draped over me, acting as my blanket as Azra had tangled himself between my legs and Sam had fallen asleep against my back.
Orion was awake, like me, and watched me as his large fingers painted the glowing dots across my breast.
Don’t apologize again, I said in his mind.
His eyes crinkled in response. Who says I was going to? he asked.
That look on your face.
I didn’t want to wake up the twins, so I’d been talking telepathically with Orion while they slept.
I hadn’t slept at all. A goddess didn’t need to sleep, but it was a habit all the same. I could if I wanted to.
But I’d been trying to put all the pieces together after my Virtues had finally dozed off.
Are you worried about Hades? Orion asked after our conversation had grown quiet.
Glancing at the wall, I flicked my finger and created a window. Of course, there was another room on the other side, so it was more like a portal. It peered through concrete and rock until it tunneled the view from the outside.
The sun was rising and cast a red glow on the horizon. Lucifer’s compound was in a city, so the bustle of daily life twinkled on the streets.
It would have looked like a regular day if not for the buildings on fire in the distance with no sign of anyone coming to put them out. Chaos had found a home here and that didn’t sit well with me.
I toyed with the ring on my finger, one that felt like ice against my skin, but I didn’t dare take it off. My body trembled as anger swept through my chest and I squeezed my fingers into a fist.
Calamity wanted to be corporeal? Well, it had gotten its wish.
Now I would wear it when I finished off the rest of it.
“Why is the ground shaking?” Azra asked against my thigh.
“I think she’s thinking about Calamity again,” Sam said against my shoulder before kissing it. “Our fiery little goddess is angry. Do you need me to make you come again? Would that help?”
“On it,” Azra already said, his words muffled as he turned his mouth toward my flesh.
I stopped him with a hand on his pretty head. “As much as I’d love that, Hades will be here any minute,” I said. Orion had mentioned that he normally met him down in one of the massive living rooms, and even then Hades made any space feel small. I dreaded the phone call to summon us downstairs.
Azra gave me a pouty look that almost had me giving in, but Hades couldn’t find us like this.
Not if my plan was going to work.
The bed tilted as Orion got up. I blinked at him, temporarily mesmerized by how beautiful he was.
His entire body sparkled once again, lit up from the inside as he glowed with the sunlight I had returned to him.
Tiny pinpricks of light sprinkled all over the walls.
He had more light than usual. It rushed through him in waves, making his hair shine and his eyes sparkle.
Maybe I’d put a tiny piece of myself in him, too, by accident.
Or maybe it was on purpose.
Because Orion glowed a little bit brighter than I remembered. He seemed larger, if that was even possible. His body flexed as he moved, key muscle groups rippling around his perfect form.
I yipped when pleasure spiked through my core, Azra wiggling between my legs for a taste despite being told no.
Giggling, I pushed him off, only to fall into Sam’s arms as his wings closed around me, protecting me from his unruly brother.
“All mine,” he growled into my ear, slipping my legs over his hips to feel his renewed erection.
My Virtues were drunk on me and wanted to play. I had to get a handle on this goddess thing if they were going to be of any use at all.
And it didn’t help that I was naked.
Solving the latter problem, I kissed Sam, distracting him while magic tingled over our bodies. He pulled away, dazed, then looked down at his new suit. “Did you just… cockblock me with fabric?”
Light spilled in as he unfurled his wings. I smiled at him as I managed to wiggle off the bed.
“Yes,” I said, directing my magic at myself this time. “Because there will be plenty of time for that later.”
Hopefully.
A rush of doubt seeped in, making me wobble on my feet. I caught myself on the bed, but the others had immediately noticed. Orion’s pretty face tugged into a frown, while the angels ruffled their wings.
I smiled, hoping that would be reassuring. “All this goddess magic is overwhelming,” I said, which was truthful.
But it was my doubt that made me weak.
Get a handle on it, Lils.
Trying not to think about all the negative possibilities, I focused on summoning an outfit for myself. A fitted halter top stretched over my chest while a silky pair of pants hugged my hips. I popped up onto a pair of heels, then changed my mind and transformed them into boots.
There, better.
Glancing at my other two naked Virtues, I practically drooled before summoning them something to wear, too.
While it was a shame to cover up perfection, we had work to do.
Magic tingled over my fingertips. The source came from my chest, supplying a dizzying effect that was more euphoric than anything else.
I had so much power. This whole time, it had been right there all along.
Azra tugged at the suit I had made him, one that was a little edgier than his brother’s. Just because they were identical twins didn’t mean they had to dress alike.
Sam peeled up the sleeve of his shirt, exposing his forearm. I stumbled as he flexed and rolled up the sleeve on the other side to match.
Why is that so hot?
For Orion, I couldn’t help but leave a little of his skin on display. I just loved his glowing freckles, so I gave him an open suit with no undershirt, and gold cuff links to match his eyes.
He adjusted them as he winked at me, making my stomach flip. “What’s the plan, little star?”
The plan was batshit crazy, but that was why it was going to work.
I just had to get the male muses to agree to it.
Hades arrived without procession, appearing at Orion’s bedroom door and rapping on it with a subtle knock.
“Does he always just appear unannounced?” I asked Orion as I put the finishing touches on breakfast, summoning strawberries with powdered sugar and tiny cinnamon rolls with jam. Who needed a kitchen when one could just summon anything they could think of?
A girl could get used to Creation magic.
Not that I usually cared about a fancy breakfast, but I didn’t want to think too long about who I was about to talk with. I was absolutely avoiding the fact that Hades was the very same male who had ordered my mates to fight to the death.
Who was the reason I had almost lost Dante and Hendrik.
As that thought crossed my mind, some of the strawberries shriveled up and molded.
Oops.
“No,” Orion said with a frown, answering my question about Hades’s unusually sudden arrival directly at his bedroom. “He knows something is wrong.”
The knock sounded again, this one more insistent.
Sighing, I smoothed my pants and gave the twins a look. “You two make yourselves scarce until I give the signal.” My plan might have been crazy, but I didn’t need to sabotage it.
And the feral look on Azra’s face was the definition of sabotage. But he was going to be good, apparently, because he blew me a kiss and left the room.
Behave, I thought at him.
Always, beloved. By the way, don’t forget cherries for breakfast. You know that’s my favorite.
A blush washed over me as I marched to the door, attempting to ignore Azra’s efforts to crawl under my skin. He was already impossible around me, but my goddess magic had a tendency to remove inhibitions. I was starting to figure that out, based on the unrestrained versions of my Virtues.
I hadn’t even realized how much they’d been holding back until last night.
It explained a lot about how my interactions with my Virtues had gone over the years. I’d blamed it all on my succubus side, but that hadn’t been the full truth.
I was a goddess of love.
And a goddess of wrath, when wronged. And as I glanced at the strawberries, I realized that anything my magic created, it could uncreate, too.
Steeling myself, I opened the door and made sure all of my power shone through when I greeted Hades.
He wasn’t alone, startling me when I realized I was standing in front of not one but two male muses.
Hades, as well as Ares.
Hades stared at me, clearly unimpressed, then peered over my shoulder until he found Orion. “Where is it?” he demanded, completely ignoring the fact that my skin shimmered with light.
Okay. Not how I expected this to go.
“Where’s what?” I asked, pushing onto my toes to block his view and regretting not going with the heels. Ares seemed amused by the exchange and leaned against the door frame while he watched us.
Hades was even taller than me, boasting glowing red eyes and lengthy fangs that betrayed his decision to become a vampire at some point in his long life.
He was still a muse, but it was proof that muses had Creation magic, too.
I wondered if that made them little versions of gods bound to limiting rules.
Types of gods liked to form in threes, and male muses were no different.
He flicked his gleaming red gaze down at me like I was an insect he was about to swat. He frowned when his nostrils flared. “The fragment,” he said as he narrowed his eyes.
The fragment? I wondered.
Orion answered me in my head, even though I hadn’t been intentionally asking him. I think he means the Calamity rock on your finger.
Using my thumb, I twirled the ring around. Hades seemed to notice it and his posture stiffened. Ares had also gone very still.