Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
Bloom
One Bed and One Horse
“I’ve got you,” Sebastian mouthed.
Around us, the waves hardened and rose, taking shape and form—serpentine creatures with gaping mouths and teeth like razors. A school of sharks surrounded us, their cold eyes fixed on me.
Sebastian pulled his lips back in a snarl. A sunbeam burst from him in a brilliant shockwave, slamming into the sharks. The light was blinding, even underwater. The nearest sharks exploded. Blood clouded the water instantly, staining it red.
The water monsters lunged. Sebastian’s light carved through them, but more kept coming. A serpent wrapped around his leg. He kicked hard, golden light erupting from his foot, and the creature disintegrated.
A massive shark came at me from behind. Before I could kick it in the teeth, Sebastian spun us, his shield of sunlight expanding to meet it, torching it to death.
The serpents multiplied. The sharks circled closer. Poseidon’s will was a current we could not fight.
Sebastian’s sunlight forged a shield around us. He hauled me forward through the temporary clearing, swimming with impossible speed. His arm, locked around my waist, was my only anchor against the raging will of the sea.
My blood threads held the greatest power, but blood magic was useless here, diluted in the endless water. So I wove wind instead—a howling thread that deflected the creatures surging from the depths and pushed us forward faster.
We broke through wave after wave of scaled fury. The water began to lighten, shifting from abyssal black to deep blue, then to green.
Then we shattered the surface.
I gasped, the air a shocking relief. My eyes stung as I stared up at the vast, wild, open sky.
We swam for shore. I had never been so grateful for land.
I dropped onto the volcanic rock, heaving seawater until my lungs were empty, then collapsed onto my back. The impact was rough, painful, but I didn’t care.
Slowly, my breathing evened. The air felt stale and dead here, a stark contrast to the crisp chill of France or the magic-thick atmosphere of the Fates’ chamber.
I took in our surroundings through slitted eyes.
A shore of black volcanic rock stretched for miles in every direction, jagged, inhospitable. At the far edge, a few skeletal trees were scattered over the barren landscape. No green. No life. Only rock and ash and emptiness.
Sebastian stood beside me, guarding. His eyes scanned the horizon, alert and focused.
I must have looked like a drowned cat, but he looked as fresh as if he’d just stepped out of a shower. The battle, the escape—none of it seemed to have touched him at all.
He was breathtakingly beautiful—golden hair clung to his chin, and his features belonged on a statue: high cheekbones, a sculpted nose, and sensual lips curling slightly when he noticed me watching.
His eyes were tiger-gold, warm in a way that felt deliberate.
His lush lashes caught the light seeping through the gray sky.
His wet clothes showcased a body carved to perfection. Even his presence brightened the air. After all, he was God of Sunand Brightness, one of the twelve most powerful gods. But I let none of my reclaimed knowledge show.
For a moment, I feared he might sense my goddess essence stirring within me, even though my transformation wasn’t complete.
Shivering, conscious of my soaked clothes clinging to my skin, I sat up slowly. I flexed my fingers, attempting to weave a subtle thread to further disguise my essence.
Sebastian might have saved me, but I’d sooner trust a scorpion than a god. Least of all an Olympian.
Nothing formed between my fingers.
“If you’re trying to use your power, don’t bother,” Sebastian said, catching my failed attempt. “This is the dead zone. No magic works here. Or I’d have conjured dry clothes and built a fire.”
I nodded. It worked in my favor. I couldn’t afford to let him discover my awakening.
“Thank you for coming for me, Sebastian,” I said and meant it, despite everything. No matter his past betrayals, his alliances to my worst enemies in other lifetimes, he had helped me today.
But I wouldn’t let my guard down because of it.
I’d been betrayed too many times. It had cut too deep.
“Anytime, Bloom.” He grinned. “I was bored anyway.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Were you?”
He extended a hand to me. “We need to get going.”
I took it, letting him pull me up. His grip was warm, unnervingly strong.
“You know this terrain?” I asked as he led me across the barren rock.
“This is the edge of the Fae realm. A buffer between mortal and immortal lands.” His tiger-gold eyes never stopped scanning the horizon. “Even the Fae avoid this place. It was the only back door into that chamber.”
Because no god could enter the Fae realm directly. Not the way I had.
He didn’t mention the Fates, but I was certain he knew exactly whose lair it had been. He shot me a sideways glance, waiting for me to volunteer information.
The tidal pool had been heavily warded. Sebastian hadn’t been able to breach it. He’d waited in the deep, either gambling I’d jump or expecting to witness my end.
“There were three women in that cave,” I said, letting a shudder through. “My kidnappers. They were batshit mad—said things that made no sense, then tried to kill me. I panicked. Used some flint I had. All those yarns…they caught fire so fast.”
I hugged myself. “While they were distracted, I ran.”
A strange light sparked in Sebastian’s eyes.
“That explains the sound I heard,” he said slowly. “Those… yarns were likely their most treasured possessions. I don’t even want to consider the consequences. For them. For everyone.”
“They had only themselves to blame!” My jaw tightened as I maintained the act. “They shouldn’t have kidnapped me and tried to kill me just because I’m a redhead.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” he said, his voice hardening. “They brought their own downfall, and I have no sympathy for kidnappers or murderers.” He paused for a beat. “What else did they say to you?”
“A lot of nonsense. Something about keeping the universe balanced, no one appreciating their work, needing to off me because I ‘shouldn’t exist.’” I let my voice climb with indignation. “What the hell?”
Sebastian wrapped an arm around my shoulders; a gesture meant to comfort. “It’s pure madness. Let’s put this behind you. You’re out now. You survived. That’s what matters.”
“Thank you for coming for me,” I said, quickening my pace and letting his arm fall from my shoulder. “We need to hurry. Those women are powerful. They’ll send guards.”
“They’ll have to get through me first,” he said, a low heat in his voice. “I’ll topple kingdoms for you if I must.”
I swallowed, letting gratitude show in my eyes, and I wasn’t faking. “How did you find me?”
“I have my resources,” he replied. Of course he did. He was an insider. One of the Twelve. He must have seen the suspicion flicker across my face. “But know this, Bloom. I may be of Kingsley House, but I am on your side.”
“Of course.” I nodded, though I reminded myself to hold my guard close. Especially here, in this barren place where I could not weave a single thread to defend myself.
I was not utterly defenseless though. As Persephone, I’d been well-trained in combat. I knew how to fight without magic if necessary.
We reached the edge of the volcanic field.
“Where do we go next?” I asked. “How far must we walk?”
Sebastian slid two fingers between his lips and let out a piercing whistle.
A thunderous sound vibrated through the ground. Then a giant stallion trotted toward us as if emerging from thin air. It stood at least seventeen hands, its coat gleaming in the dull light, mane flowing like silk. Its eyes were intelligent, fierce. Steam plumed from its nostrils with every breath.
The horse halted before Sebastian and lowered its head. He stroked its nose, a gesture of familiar affection.
“This is Helios,” he said. “He’ll get us out.”
His hands firm around my waist, Sebastian lifted me effortlessly onto the tall stallion. Then he swung up behind me in one fluid motion, settling close.
One arm wrapped around my waist, holding me secure. The other took the reins.
Helios surged forward. Sebastian’s body pressed against my back. His breath ghosted across my ear with every shift of the stallion’s gait. The closeness coiled tension through my limbs.
Apollo had been obsessed with Persephone. He’d tried to court her when she was still a maiden, but her mother had done everything to discourage his interest. While Demeter had fixed on Apollo, Hades had slipped into the garden and stolen her daughter away.
That was the root of the feud between Hades and Apollo.
In each mortal life I’d lived, Apollo had been there, wearing different names and personas. Always circling the redheads who were me. Always pursuing what he could never have.
I wondered if Apollo had ever been among my murderers, but he could end me now if he wished, here, while I was most vulnerable.
At Reaper Academy, girls swooned over Sebastian. Had I never met Nero, would I be drawn to him too? Would I be defenseless against that charm?
His minty breath grazed my earlobe as the horse galloped. Our bodies rose and fell together, each stride pressing us closer.
I pressed a hand to my chest, feeling the secure weight of the threads tucked between my breasts. I’d compressed the strands of all my lifetimes into an invisible, miniature lattice.
The threads were safe. My secret remained my own.
Time moved strangely here in the dead zone. After what felt like hours, a structure emerged in the distance.
A cabin.
It stood alone on the barren landscape, small and weathered. The wood was gray with age, the roof sagging. The ground around it was muddy, puddles mirroring the dull sky.
“We’ll rest there for a few hours,” Sebastian said. “We’ll need our strength before crossing the border.”
A deep weariness hit me all at once, now that we’d stopped moving. The fight with the Fates, the near-drowning, and the heaviness of the dead zone had all drained me to the bone.
Sebastian dismounted before helping me down. My legs nearly buckled when my feet hit the ground.
The cabin had one room with a narrow bed against the rough wooden wall, a small table, and a single chair. The floor was packed dirt, damp where water had seeped through the roof.
“This place doesn’t just suppress magic,” Sebastian said. “It drains vitality. Even gods feel it.”
He gestured toward the bed. “Rest. I’ll keep watch.”
Too exhausted to care about my manners, I collapsed onto the bed without removing my wet clothes.
Sleep took me almost instantly.
But it wasn’t peaceful.
Nightmares rose like black water—drowning in the tidal pool, burning in the Fates’ chamber, their laughter twisting into Morrigan’s false tears, the net descending over me in the lake.
I jerked awake with a gasp.
Sebastian sat on the damp ground, leaning against the side of the bed. His eyes were closed, brows drawn together as if in pain. The perfect mask had slipped. For the first time, he looked exhausted.
I studied him in the dim light.
Apollo had stood with my enemies in every other lifetime. Even though he’d come for me this time, he’d tried to frame Nero and driven a wedge between us. And in every era, he’d pitted himself Hades’s various alter egos.
But in this era, he’d said he was tired of the game. That he wanted it to end. He’d told me I was different this time and that he was on my side.
Was that why he helped me? Or was he still a disguised enemy? What did he want?
Was sharing a horse and riding into the sunset a play to seduce me away from Nero?
But here, sitting on the wet earth with his eyes closed, he looked boyish. Utterly alone. He was one of the most powerful gods. He didn’t have to be here, in this bleak, magic-dead place, yet he’d taken it in stride. For me.
A loneliness he couldn’t hide seeped from him in the quiet.
My heart softened, though I knew it shouldn’t.
Even after everything, I was never truly battle-hardened. At my core, part of me remained soft—I’d always been that way with strays and lost things. And in this moment, Sebastian looked like both.
“Sebastian?” I called softly.
He startled, his tiger-gold eyes flying open.
“You don’t have to sit on the floor,” I said. “We can both rest on the bed.”
He studied me for a long moment, something unreadable shifting behind his gaze. Then he nodded.
I moved to one side of the narrow bed, leaving space. He rose and sat on the edge, careful to keep distance between us.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
“I’m glad you made it.” Sebastian broke the silence.
“You reached me in time. Thank you.”
“I’ll always come for you,” he said, his voice fierce. “When Ravencrux cannot.”
I didn’t point out that Nero couldn’t have reached me even if he’d known. The Fae realm was barred to gods. Apollo might be the only one who knew of this back door, this forgotten dead zone between worlds.
A cold worry for my mate tightened like a fist beneath my ribs. Had Morrigan reached him? Had the Mortis Bloom—woven with my own healing magic—mended his wounds?
Was he searching for me now?
“I don’t believe Nero killed those other women,” I said, my fingers drumming restlessly on my legs. Nervous energy hummed beneath the fatigue.
Sebastian swallowed. “That depends on how you look at it.”
I knew what he meant. If I had never become entangled with Hades, this cycle of tragedy might never have begun. It was the argument Apollo had always made.
“Even if he wasn’t directly responsible,” Sebastian pressed, “he cannot protect you. Look at how you’ve been hunted. He brings you only pain.” His voice hardened. “You deserve more, and Ravencrux doesn’t deserve you.”
“Everyone is dangerous,” I replied carefully. I didn’t add that the God of Sun had scorched plenty of his own victims across the millennia.
I closed my eyes, exhaustion dragging me under.
It felt like I’d only dozed for a second when the cabin rocked violently.
Sebastian cursed, already on his feet.
Thunderous hooves shook the earth. Blood-curdling yowls rose into the dead air from outside the cabin.