Chapter 3 Reckoning #2
She held her blank stare over his shoulder at a couple clutching onto each other, eyes wide, lips bruised.
The straps of the goddess’s dress hung off her shoulders, baring her cleavage, and the man’s trousers were undone.
This lounge was full of deities just like the two of them, occupied in their own pleasures, and gods, how she wished to be one of them at the moment.
Lost to the world, numb and chasing vices to staunch the stretching void disconnecting the chambers of her heart.
It would be easier if you just gave up.
Acacius was an opportunity. A way to end her suffering. And she could let him do it—inflict whatever horrendous torture he had in store for her. Because whatever fire that pushed her to rise and keep going throughout the decades of her life no longer burned.
She did not care what he did—
You made a promise.
The moment came to her, faint, like a momentary glimpse of light. Enough to inject a small dose of vitality in her, pushing her to move and finish what she started.
She grabbed Acacius by the collar of his shirt and pulled herself into his chest. “You were a fool to ever trust me.”
As close as you can get.
His expression hardened, straightening the curl to his mouth.
He squeezed her lips between his thumb and index finger like a fish. His fingerprints blotted her skin, breaking the veins beneath.
“And you were a fool to ever betray me,” he growled.
A chill bit the air around them, nipping at her bones. An unsettling weight slowly crushed down on her chest, tightening the muscles in her abdomen. Her heart jumped frantically against the shuddering in her core. Flickers played in her vision, glitching her sight of Acacius.
You killed him.
Panic dropped in her stomach like a match. The voice was loud and corrupt inside of her head—unforgiving.
You took your father’s life.
She tightened her fingers in the material of Acacius’s shirt, attempting to control their trembling.
You deserve misery.
A sweat broke out across her brow.
To suffer for all the pain that you’ve caused.
The moment flashed in lapses behind her eyes—Father in between her and Finnian, blood trailing down his face, offering his hand out to her.
My darling, I forgive you.
Sickness clotted in Marina’s throat.
She yanked against Acacius’s grasp on her jaw.
He dug the pads of his fingers in harder, refusing to let her go.
I killed him.
A vicious, immobilizing sensation stiffened her body.
He is gone forever.
Waves of fresh agony crested over her, ripping her under their weight. The feelings were just as intense and ruthless as when it’d happened. It was as if she was there all over again, frozen in the biggest mistake of her life.
Acacius released her and she slumped forward, slapping her hand on her bellowing chest. Her forehead met Acacius’s collarbone. She shook uncontrollably, hyperventilating. No matter how much air she sucked in, it did not feel like enough.
I hate myself.
A trill rang in her ears, muffling all sound.
I don’t want to wake up as me anymore.
Tingles raced up her neck and popped like stars behind her eyes.
All I do is fuck up the things I love.
A hand rested on the back of her head, gentle, caressing her hair in tranquil strokes.
I regret everything.
“This,” Acacius whispered, “is only the beginning of the pain I have planned for you.”
Her mouth went dry, her tongue sticking like gritted sandpaper to her teeth.
I want to die.
Acacius’s other arm wrapped around her waist, embracing her. “Death would be too kind a punishment for you.”
She fixated on the midnight-blue specks floating in the misty shadows around them. The particles whirled and flared like sparks, infusing the air with a power that stung the skin of her arms and chest.
This isn’t real.
Her grief and guilt were alive, but to this extreme, in the middle of a vengeful fight of all times?
No.
It was disillusionment.
The ruination of the soul.
Acacius’s specialty.
Marina’s heart drummed against her sternum, fluttering in the base of her throat. She shifted her awareness from the overwhelming quake of her emotions to the quivering of her equilibrium. Nausea pooled in her stomach.
Keep your promise.
A flame flickered in her gut, reigniting her life force.
She huffed out a laugh, staring down at Acacius’s boots. “I already wish for death. You’re only doing me a service.”
She would dig his arrogance out of his chest and crush it like a peach’s pit.
An electric charge rose the hairs on her nape.
Acacius’s body tensed, and he whipped his head around. Ribbons of his divine power furled around them, tugging against her to teleport away.
Marina locked her arms around his waist. Onyx chains formed from her backside and latched into the floor, fighting against the gravity of his teleportation.
The muscles in Acacius’s arms flexed, and she constricted her embrace around his frame with all her strength, cracking his bones.
A deafening boom and a flash of indigo blasted through the ceiling. A bolt of lightning forked like arteries through the air. Debris flew across the lounge in an eye’s quick blink.
An electrical current pronged through her, melting tissue, until it felt as if her blood were bubbling. She held the cry in her throat hostage, her body convulsing against Acacius. Lightning scalded her insides, buzzing and splitting every synapse she had.
The release of the shock was instant.
She gasped.
Her legs trembled, and it took all the will she had to remain upright, unravel from Acacius, and summon the strength to shove him by his chest.
He stumbled back on wobbly legs.
Deities rushed to get out of the path. Always lurking nearby. Never doing the smart thing and getting out of the fucking way.
Acacius’s calves collided with a leather sofa, knocking it over onto its back. Marina caught sight of the refractive paths of bullets burying into his torso as he toppled over and hit the ground. His feet hung over the ledge of the sofa, and he made no move to get up.
“Took you long enough,” Marina said through clattering teeth, the shock still alive in her system.
Viviana materialized in front of Marina, her long, pale-blonde strands metallic under the purple lights of the lounge. “Nice work.”
“Your concern is endearing,” Marina muttered.
Viviana rolled her eyes, turning her attention to the High God in front of them. “What a pity. I expected him to put up more of a fight.” She slipped her hands into the pockets of her pressed trousers.
Mansi strutted out of the cloud of dust, twirling a slender rifle around her index finger. The jewels lining her bronze torso and defined biceps clinked with each step. Under the circling lights, they glinted in her dark, wavy hair.
She aimed her weapon down at Acacius with a proud expression. “Why hello, Lord Acacius.”
He sat up, cracking pieces of wood in his grip as he crawled to his feet. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t speak my name in public.”
Mansi barked out an amused laugh. “It’s a little too late to shield your identity, wouldn’t you agree?” She gestured to the deities around the room gawking at them.
He dug deep into the flesh of his shoulder to fish out one of the hollow cartridges. Slivers of his blond hair fell freely from his bun and stuck to his temples. He truly resembled a mad god, like the ones who bore a curse from Cassian.
He held up the bullet in front of his face, studying the magma blue carbon. “It’s been a while, Mansi. I see your inventions are still quite bothersome.”
As a middle goddess of machinery, Mansi’s bullets were of her own invention.
They contained a chemical capable of temporarily immobilizing a deity's divine power. It would take at least an hour for the effects to wear off. Though, with Acacius’s status and tenure as a High God, it would likely take half that time.
Mansi inclined her head to look at him over her gun’s stock. “Not as much as your presence. I waited all night to have my way in the Pit, and now there’s a fucking hole in the wall. And you want to talk to me about being annoying?”
“Forgive me,” he replied in a condescending lilt, lowering the shell. “I was chasing a mouse.” His gaze flitted to Marina, full of bloodlust.
Tension quivered the muscles in her face, but she maintained her indifferent expression, as if she were unfazed by his attention.
“And you came across a pack of wolves instead.” Mansi gave him a daring smile, intentionally baiting him, always itching for a reason to play with her toys.
Acacius flung the bullet at them. It rolled across the floor and hit the top of Marina’s boot. “Run away again,” he said to her. “It will not matter.”
To uphold her promise, she knew what lengths she would have to go through to keep him occupied. And Acacius had to be occupied for her to see her plan through.
Marina would play his game for as long as it took.
She lifted her chin in a provoking manner, a curve to her lips. “Best of luck finding me in the shadows then.”
Acacius shook his head in a slow rhythm. A demented smile pulled the corners of his mouth up, contorting the expression on his face. “There is nowhere that you can hide from me, Rina.”