Chapter 38 You will never be a god
Hazel
When I snap back into the mess I left behind, Nevaeh and Tiberius are at each other’s throats.
Tiberius splits his form, and then there are two of him charging at Nevaeh. I strike one from behind, my blade sinking in his neck, but the body collapses into water, soaking the ground.
Fuck his illusions and cheap tricks.
Nevaeh and I fall into rhythm.
Her gold veins laced with spikes lash out, climbing over him, pinning him in place until he hacks himself free and charges at us again.
I stay on him, not giving him a second to breathe, forcing him to keep splitting his Divine to tackle us both.
When he struggles against Nevaeh’s hold, I wait for the smallest opening to strike again. It turns into a game, seeing how many times I can stab him before his Divine counters my attack.
I’m going to make him feel every ounce of pain he has inflicted in his pathetic life.
He should’ve died years ago. I should’ve come back, ripped his fucking throat out, no matter what it cost me. I should’ve accepted Anxo’s offer to help me fight Tiberius.
All these regrets are going to keep up at night, but tonight? He falls.
His worshippers will watch him kneel before me, powerless and helpless as he begs for his life.
The King of Hell wants to use Tiberius as a torture subject. Once he has all the information he needs about merfolk, his warriors will practice interrogation techniques on Tiberius for decades.
As much as I’d love to drive my dagger through his heart, I don’t mind watching him suffer for decades before meeting his end. Maybe he’ll make up for all the hurt he put in the universe.
Another ice blade crashes down, but this time, Seiji and Akihiko try to stop it with lightning, shattering it midair.
But then something happens that none of us could’ve thought of.
The combined magic of two Horsemen and the magic surrounding Eldoris clash, the impact shooting upward and hitting the dome.
A crack rips across it, loud enough to silence the war. And then the screaming starts.
I look up at the fracture spreading right above us, widening with every second. If the dome collapses, Eldoris dies with it.
Merfolk would lose their home, families, and the history that lives here.
“Nevaeh!” Anxo’s anxious scream cuts through the chaos as he sprints toward the fracture. He’s going to try fixing the dome before disaster strikes.
Nevaeh still has Tiberius pinned, but her eyes keep flickering to Anxo, worried about him fixing it on his own.
Our Conquer is powerful, and protective barriers are his specialty, but a dome this size, built against nature and held up by overpowering magic? Fixing it is going to be a nightmare.
“Go help him.” I push her toward Anxo.
She’s shaking her before I can finish. “He has it under control.”
Her fist clenches, her Divine tightening its grip on Tiberius, crushing the air from his lungs.
It’s a reminder of how much she’s holding back for my sake. If it weren’t for me, Neveah would’ve dealt with Tiberius by now. She’s giving me the kill, giving me control to play this on my terms.
Another crack shakes the ground, but now Anxo’s barrier is attached to the dome, slowly knitting it back together.
Tiberius starts cackling like the thought of us getting deep by the ocean is amusing to him. Nevaeh shoves him back, gold veins pinning him to the ground as he thrashes.
He’s no match for the.
Our kind thrives when it comes to mind games, but we don’t have powers that can crush someone to death with the flick of a wrist.
I grab Nevaeh’s arm, turning her to face me. “Anxo doesn’t have enough time to fix the dome before it collapses on top of us.”
“No.” Her eyes dart up, nostrils flaring at the damage, but she doesn’t budge.
“Nevaeh—”
“I’m not leaving you alone with him.” Her eyes squeeze shut, chest heaving. When she looks at me again, her Divine is sitting in the driver’s seat. Eyes flashing gold. “I won’t let him hurt you again.”
“Look at me.” She shakes her head, so I snap, “Look at me, you glittery menace.” Her eyes snap open, but the fire is still blazing bright… and I’m the target now. “I’ve got this.”
Her eyes soften, and even though she believes in me, I can see she’s reluctant to leave.
“Go help your mate. Trust me, I can handle this asshole.”
Another crack rips overhead, and Nevaeh swears, “Motherfucking shitballs.”
She turns to me fully. “Promise me you’ll link Papa the second something goes wrong? He’ll be here before you blink.”
I nod, but she doesn’t move until I say words out loud. Only then does she finally run to her mate, her hold on Tiberius faltering with the distance.
Before I can fully face him, his Divine lashes out. I twist away, but not fast enough. Something sharp cuts my cheek open.
I wipe the blood away with a dry, humorless chuckle.
Tiberius has always been a coward. I don’t know why I expected him to suddenly fight fair.
I can’t believe there was a time I accepted my fate and surrendered to my fears.
Thank Fates, I’m not that girl anymore.
Tiberius stalks closer, rage simmering under his skin, but he doesn’t know who he’s up against. Who I’ve become.
I’ve learned to fight for my future. For my mate. For the life we haven’t lived yet. I’ve learned to fight for myself because, damn it, I deserve to be here. I deserve love. A life where I don’t have to look over my shoulder.
I deserve more than survival.
I square my shoulders, lifting my fists, ready to show him everything I’ve learned for this day.
He lunges at me, expecting his size and brute force to overpower the weak woman he thinks I am. I sidestep, using the opening to drive my elbow into his cheek. The skin splits, and he stumbles, stunned by the power behind the attack.
His anger returns tenfold, laced with humiliation now that I’ve made him bleed.
Sure, Nevaeh was keeping him pinned so we could torture him, but that doesn’t mean I’m not capable of ripping his tongue out on my own.
For every hit I land, I take three. Tiberius might be taller and bigger, but I’m faster. And a hell of a lot smarter.
While Tiberius fully relies on his Divine, I have years of honing my skills and instincts backing me up.
I don’t waste openings, hitting hard as I can to send pain radiating through his entire body.
His wounds heal quickly, while mine linger for longer. The only reason I’m healing at all, even if it’s embarrassingly slow, is because of my bond with Dean.
But pain is nothing new to me. I’ve lived with worse.
Honestly, he should be ashamed that a supposedly broken siren is still standing when he calls himself the most powerful being in his kingdom.
I’m bleeding. Bruised. Barely holding my ground after some hits, but his pride is cracking faster than my bones.
Tiberius begins to lose his patience and switches tactics. When he can’t win by force, he defaults to playing dirty. A brand move for him.
He drops his weapon, his Divine flaring his back in a cheap imitation of Dean’s shadows. He’ll need to be reborn at least a dozen times before he gets close to being anything like my mate.
“Give up, Flaw. Apologize, and I’ll end this whole charade. You could still be my queen.”
Some people don’t learn.
“I’d rather die.”
He laughs, low and cruel. “That’s exactly what your mother said.”
What?
“She was just as stubborn. Look where that got her.”
The world lurches to a halt. something sharp twisting inside me, and I stagger back. My hand presses to my abdomen and comes away slick with blood.
When did he stab me?
I stumble, shock locking my body in place, but when I look up, my lungs forget how to work.
Tiberius stands over me, the same cruel grin on his face, but something is different. He looks… younger?
Tears stream down my face, but I don’t remember when I started crying.
Something is wrong.
When I look around, the two armies that had been fighting to the death just moments ago are gone. There’s nothing but a dark alley before me and a cold wall against my back.
I shake my head hard, blinking through the static in my ears like I’m drowning. The world around me glitches, losing color until I’m back on the battlefield.
I’m on my knees, gasping for breath… and so is Tiberius.
A thread of his corrupted Divine snakes into me, and understanding slams into me. He’s invading my mind. Again.
I blink, and I’m back in the dark alley. Only this time I’m standing over a bleeding woman.
It’s a memory. But why is he showing it to me?
I turn my head, and I’m confused to see him standing beside me.
Then whose memory is this?
The woman cries out, and my head snaps back to her. She’s on her knees, begging Tiberius not to take her baby.
But he starts kicking her stomach. Hard. Again. Again.
Why is no one stopping him?
“No? You dare deny your king?”
I try to move, to scream, but I’m frozen in place, trapped inside the eyes of whoever is watching Tiberius beat a poor woman to death.
“You were nothing. Living in the dirt before I bought you. And instead of being grateful, this is how you repay me?”
I flinch when he kicks her again, and a scream rips out of her.
It goes on for so long, I start praying for Fates to have mercy on her and let her die. Why are they making her suffer like this?
I can’t do anything but watch him helplessly when she goes still. Blood pools around her, and something inside me fractures like a part of me died with her.
The grief isn’t just mine. The person whose memory I’m invading is filled with the same dread, their fear threatening to swallow me whole.
“All you had to do was give me the girl, Maralyn.”
The name hits like a dagger to the heart.
Maralyn?
No. No… that’s not… it can’t be—
When Tiberius kicks the woman on her back, her hair blows from her face by a strong gust of wind.
Then I see her face… and everything shatters.
My eyes widen in horror, a scream ripping out of my throat that no one hears.
My mother.
He… he killed her.
Tiberius killed my mother.