Thirty-Three
T HIRTY - T HREE
ESTRELLA
“Impossible,” Melinoe murmured as her platform dropped, bringing her closer to the lion who waited at the bottom. She looked at him fearfully, watching as I cracked the cane in half. The ends shimmered with golden threads, the magic of chaos coursing through them. I had little doubt that was what allowed me to remove the cane from the dreamscape, taking it back to the waking world with me.
“They were my memories. My dream,” I said, taking a step closer to the edge of the platform. “Only I can decide what happens within it.”
“You said she’d given her power to Tartarus before entering the trials!” Melinoe said, turning her glare to Khaos. “She should not have been allowed to compete.”
“I did give my magic to Tartarus upon entering,” I said, standing with my toes hanging over the edge. I tossed the broken cane to her feet on the other platform, reaching behind my back and pulling one of my swords free.
I stretched out a hand, calling to the thread of life waving in the breeze as it swayed off of Melinoe. Grasping it in my hand, I entwined it as I smiled at her, the same malice I’d seen on her face stamped onto mine.
I stepped off the platform, tugging at that thread as I fell and landed on my feet, rolling forward to soften the blow to my knees. I stood as the lion stalked toward me, moving slowly as its tawny eyes dropped to the sword in my hand.
Glancing up to Melinoe, I found her gasping at the edge of the platform as it dropped. Without my weight on the opposite side, she was the heavier of the two scales no matter what any victory said. Holding firmly to her thread of life, I tugged it toward me and watched as she tumbled over the edge, landing on the sand below face-first.
She sputtered, spitting the sand everywhere as I finally released her thread and stepped toward her. The lion tracked my movement, its massive paws sinking into the sand as it pivoted to follow my movements.
It seemed even larger from this vantage point as I closed the distance between Melinoe and I. She got to her hands and knees, backing away from me as I stalked toward her. The lion followed at my side, and I watched as the Goddess’s eyes went back and forth between us as if she couldn’t decide which threat was greater.
Which one she should fear more.
It should have horrified me to admit that the answer was me.
I stopped in front of her, watching as she panted in fear. Squatting down in front of her, I stared into her eyes. There was no anger, even though I should have hated her for the things she’d made me live through.
For the pain she’d caused. It was the kind of pain that would always linger in the back of my mind, even after waking and knowing it hadn’t been real.
It was the kind of pain that would drive every one of my actions from this day forward.
“Where are your nightmares now?” I asked, watching as her eyes wet with the threat of tears.
She swallowed as I gripped her hair in my hands. “I’m looking at it,” she said, her voice a quiet reminder of my own fears.
Snarling, I pulled her hair forward until I managed to get the spot where the black locks met the white, cutting a chunk of both colors and shoving them into my pocket as a keepsake to offer.
I dragged the tip of my sword across her cheek, drawing a thin line of blood to entice the beast. She touched her hand to the cut in horror, her gaze tracking over my shoulder to stare at the lion as it approached.
It walked up behind me, and I spun with my sword in hand. Tawny eyes met mine, its massive head only a breath away as I held its gaze in a silent warning. I raised my sword, pressing it to the underside of his neck. He raised it to allow me better access, allowing me to saw off a chunk of hair from his mane.
His purr echoed through the space, igniting one in my own chest as he rubbed the side of his face against mine.
Moving past him, I ignored the sounds of his feast as his teeth met flesh. I ignored Melinoe’s screams, feeling nothing as I made my way to stand on the sands before the obelisk.
I stood before the Primordials waiting on the dais at the top, glaring up at them and holding my father’s gaze. His mouth spread into a wide smile as amusement lit up his eyes.
“What am I to do with you, daughter?” he asked, watching as I tossed the collection of hair onto the sands before me in an offering. “Never before has someone taken their power back from Tartarus in the middle of the trials.”
I shrugged my shoulders, shoving my sword back into the scabbard behind my back. “Good,” I said, smiling up at the man I refused to think of as my father. He might have given me my magic, but every other trace of him within me had to be gone after centuries of rebirth. “I would so hate to be predictable.”
His smile widened, a laugh bubbling up his throat as those around him stared at him in shock. I gave a mock bow, grinning slightly when he returned it with a flourish.
“Until the next river, Khaos,” I said, using his name instead of the word he thought he deserved and the respect that went with it.
“You can avoid calling me father all you want, Estrella, but you are more my daughter on this day than you ever have been before,” he said, and my smile faltered at the words. They were an echo of the fear I felt, a reminder that the creature I’d embraced was probably the part of me that came from him. “Until the next river.”
The water came down, sucking me into the vortex of green. Pain and sorrow struck through me, forcing me into a pit of anguish even as the waters thrashed me in all directions.