Chapter 12 #2
Suddenly, Maize appeared out of thin fucking air, followed by Philip. I surged forward on instinct, my arm sliding firmly around her waist to steady her before she could collapse.
“I’ve got you, teacup,” I promised as she gasped and turned into me, wrapping her arms tight around my neck. I held her there, protecting her even as my eyes swept the space around us, trying to figure out what fresh hell we’d landed in this time.
Philip stood a few feet away, eyes wide with surprise as he turned in place, scanning every glowing surface. He shot me a look that was equal parts awe and holy shit before muttering under his breath, “Another dreamscape?” His tone was tight, edged with reverence and unease.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have an answer. The air shimmered with a different kind of magic—magic that moved like Maize’s, but older.
I tightened my hold around her, feeling her heartbeat hammer against mine as she turned her gaze toward the fiery walls.
“We’re not in a dream anymore,” I said quietly, realization settling cold in my gut. “This is real.”
Suddenly, a deep and resonating voice rolled through the cavern like distant thunder. “Come forward.”
As the sound faded, the molten light shifted, and a stone altar rose at the far end of the chamber.
On it was a bed of rock and fire, and a massive figure lay sprawled across its surface.
Shit. The form was dim, flickering in and out of focus like a dying flame, power leaking from every crack in his skin.
Maize instinctively stepped toward him, drawn by something I couldn’t see—something having to do with her magic.
I could feel it through our bond. I moved with her, my hand hovering near her back in case I needed to pull her into my arms, while Philip guarded her other side.
His shoulders were tight, every movement coiled with tension.
“Balor?” she asked, her voice tinted with disbelief.
The figure stirred, firelight spilling from his eyes like an explosive volcano. I felt my lips curl back, and a predatory growl caught in my throat. I couldn’t fucking help it. This was a true god in the presence of my mate, and a lethal one at that.
Balor wasn’t just a god—he was one of the most powerful, most ancient of their species.
“Yes, child, it is me,” he said, his tone layered with exhaustion and something tender, catching me off guard. “I can’t hold him off for long, but my Cethlenn told me you needed answers.”
“Yeah,” I said. The god’s glowing eyes shifted toward me, his massive form unmoving on the bed of fire and stone. “Maybe start with where the hell we are.”
“In my realm,” he answered calmly. “Safe. Away from his influence.” I grunted, not entirely convinced but willing to take the win for now.
“For now,” Maize pointed out, her brow dipping. “He’s everywhere and watching everything.”
“How the hell did you trap him in the first place?” I was possibly jumping the gun, but considering these gods liked to disappear whenever they wanted, it felt like the right damn time to ask.
Balor’s lips twitched, the faintest hint of amusement ghosting over his face. “I was in my youth then,” he said, followed by a deep sigh that vibrated the walls. “Only a few millennia old. Reckless. Strong.”
Only a few millennia…
“But it poisoned me to do so,” he finished, and my stomach dropped at the picture he painted.
Maize shifted beside me, her voice cutting clean through the heavy air. “Will it poison me? Will the fate I’ve been given—the path I’ve been set on—bring me to this state too?”
I knew my mate well enough to understand she wasn’t afraid for herself. It wasn’t the poison that scared her, it was what it might do to the people she loved. To our bond. To the brothers she’d sworn to protect.
Balor looked at her—really looked—and for a moment the light in his eyes flared brighter, full of both pride and sorrow.
“You have more power than I ever did,” he admitted softly. “The blood of two gods—of war and prophecy. Your blood and your magic are the only things strong enough to end him. When the time comes, pour that magic into him. Give it to him. Don’t fight him, Maize.”
“What the fuck?” Philip snapped, his demanding question echoing against stone.
“I don’t understand,” Maize murmured. “You want me to give him my magic?”
“Your magic will unmake him,” Balor explained, his tone thinning as cracks of light began to shimmer across his skin. “The essence of it will unravel his being. It’s how I was able to trap him in the first place—it will destroy him. It will…”
“Poison him,” Maize whispered, realization dawning in her eyes.
The words hung in the air, heavy and final.
Maize’s lips parted in question. “What about my mates? How will that affect our bond?”
But Balor’s form was already fracturing, light bleeding through his chest like cracks spreading across glass. The rumble beneath our feet deepened, the magma-filled veins along the walls pulsing faster and brighter, as if the chamber itself was trying to hold Balor together.
The chamber shuddered, then began to collapse around us—light folding in on itself until the only noise I could hear was a thunderous heartbeat.
I jerked upright, breath catching as the heat and noise vanished, replaced by the cold, still air of the tower. Maize gasped awake a moment later as Philip grunted, catching himself before stumbling to his feet and heading for the door to alert the others, no doubt.
Maize trembled, her pulse racing against my chest when I pulled her close.
I didn’t say anything—words felt too small for what had just happened.
I just held her, feeling every tremble and uneven breath.
Her fingers fisted in my shirt anxiously and I tightened my arms around her in silent support and comfort.
“I love you,” I murmured finally, the words pulled from a deep and unguarded place within me. I needed her to fucking know after that.
She drew in a surprised breath before whispering back, “I love you too.”
Music to my fucking ears.
I rested my chin against her hair, letting the weight of it all settle between us—the storm outside, Balor’s warning, the quiet truth of what we’d just survived.
She wasn’t simply some weapon born to end a god, as Balor suggested.
Maize was more. So much more.