Chapter 26
MORTE
Acacius
Tied to a rusted chair with his wrists bound behind his back in a snare of Ronin’s thorned magic, numbness nipped up Acacius’s forearms in a slow pursuit to his fingertips.
Marina sat in a similar seat at his side, her knee brushing against the fringe of his leg. He could hardly feel her touch due to the briar still wrapping his shin.
Acacius studied the Himura witch before them, leaning casually against the wall. His face held vigor and color—no signs of lethargy from his blood loss.
When Cassius fought him years ago, Acacius recalled his brother stating that the witch could only use his hematic cast for a certain length of time, given his mortality. It was a problem Ronin no longer seemed to have.
Theon rested at his side, a middle god of winter that Acacius had watched through the eyes of his Herald during its confrontation with Marina.
Acacius glanced over at her.
Since leaving the abandoned storage room, she’d hardly acknowledged him. Not when they arrived at the Blood Heretics’ compound, or when they were escorted through a side entrance into the small room they currently resided in.
He could sense her dread beneath her unbothered demeanor in the way she avoided him.
After months of prying under her layers, she was starting to be herself more and more with him.
And now, as she held back her stress, he knew that one look at him might provoke her emotions to show, something she wouldn’t allow in front of the others.
To distract himself from the resentment raking his insides, toward Ronin and the child and Naia and the entire situation, he swept his eyes over the distressed brick walls and wooden rafters. Magic seeped in the air, potent, like spiced bark that tickled his nose.
Naia and a broad-armed man stepped through the double doors.
Acacius stiffened at the sight of the two corked bottles in the man’s hands, luminescing a verdant green.
“Avi is going to administer you both a truth potion.” Naia stood in front of them, frowning. “I will then ask you a set of questions. Are you both okay with that?”
Not that we have much of a fucking option.
Acacius ground his molars to keep the words from spilling out and peeked over at Marina. All she had to do was show her discomfort and he would act.
But to his dismay, she acknowledged her sister with a soft nod. “I understand.”
Naia regarded him with a timid look, curling her plump lips inward, waiting.
His stomach was in thick knots. The history he shared with the High Goddess of Eternity was still a fresh wound.
He still loathed her, regardless of working through his grief with Ruelle.
In the end, Naia was the one who took away a deity’s immortality, and he didn’t trust her in the slightest. At her whim, the life he dreamed about with Marina could be ground to powder.
“Um, Lord Acacius?” she asked after a beat, flicking her gaze around his face. Though, he didn’t miss how she avoided his eyes.
As the powerful goddess that she was, it was nice to know that he still unnerved her.
“Better get along with it then, Little Goddess, before my patience runs dry.”
She gave him a pointed look, clearly unamused from hearing the nickname Cassius had created for her.
The bulky witch approached Acacius and Marina.
“My name’s Avi. This is a telling serum.
” He wiggled the vial filled with sage-colored liquid in the air beside his face.
“It tastes like day-ripe bananas, so you shouldn’t have a problem getting it down.
” The witch spoke in a friendly, animated manner, as if he were trying to convince a child to take their medication.
Nausea brimmed in Acacius’s esophagus, and he cut his eyes to Marina, brow pinching, silently pleading with her to let him teleport out.
She cut her eyes back at him, imploring him to behave.
He let out a gruff breath.
The hold this goddess had on him was pathetic.
“Very well,” he said in reply to Avi. “But as the other Council member in the room is aware, if you ask me questions that breach confidentiality, I will be forced to act accordingly.” He cocked his head to look around Avi at Naia. “Therefore, I recommend you tread carefully.”
Naia squared her jaw, instilling courage across her features as if to prove to him that she was not afraid. “I understand, and I will not ask anything out of scope. You have my word.”
“You will have about two minutes until the effects of your little elixir wear off,” he said to Avi.
“It can usually withstand ten.” Avi’s voice shook with strained nerves.
Acacius flashed him a ruthless grin. “It seems you’ve never quarreled with a High God to my pedigree.”
“Once.” Avi averted his gaze, running an awkward hand over his styled copper locks. “On the day of Ash’s birth…”
Cassius.
Acacius’s smirk deepened, a wicked slice to his lips. “And you thought back then a drop of the Himura’s blood would affect him.”
A menacing look overcame Ronin’s face, and he aimed his hatred at Acacius.
The room remained silent for a long second.
Acacius took it as a sign of victory. He wanted them to feel uncertain by his presence.
While he wouldn’t send them all to the realm of his Daemon for capturing him and forcing a tonic down his throat, he would, however, have fun mentally tormenting them, keeping them on edge, never knowing when he’d snap.
Avi popped the cork from the vial, stepping closer to Acacius. “Please tilt your head back and take an honest swig.”
The rimmed glass met his lips, and Acacius leaned his head back until the sour liquid touched his tongue.
It was nothing like the creamy tang of a banana, and the witch should have been flayed for his misdirection. It stung like bile down his throat, its effects eroding the will to speak what he wanted. He could feel the mechanics of his mind and mouth losing control.
Resistance constricted in his gut as his glamor faded away.
His brunette hair grew out to his shoulders, lightening to his true ivory blond.
The material of his blazer strained around his shoulders as his chest broadened.
The hem of his pants grew up past his ankles as his legs stretched to their normal length.
The barbs embedded in his skin tore deeper, and a river of warm crimson gushed down the side of his calf.
He watched in smug delight as the faces in front of him shifted in surprise at the sight of his divinity.
Avi turned to Marina and fed her a full vial as well.
She licked her lips, face scrunching at the taste. “What a fucking awful potion. You must get your fruit from the gutter.” Her bobbed haircut grew out, curling and meeting her waist. Its dark shade bled through the blonde.
“Sorry about that. It can taste different for everyone.” Avi laughed uncomfortably under his breath, backing away.
Acacius inclined his head at Naia as she stepped up.
“Let’s begin.” On her swift exhale, she clasped her hands together and focused on him. “Are you Acacius, the High God of Chaos and Ruin?”
He tested the potion and attempted to lie, only to feel its power sway his tongue. “Yes.”
“Are you one of the first deities in existence?”
Acacius rolled his eyes at her boring questions. “Yes.”
“What are you doing in Hollow City?”
“Accompanying Marina to locate what she thought to be one of my Daemon Olethros.”
Naia’s brow furrowed, and she shook her head, confused. “What she thought to be?”
He let out a terse sigh before explaining.
“Marina spotted a monster that resembled my Daemon in the city. She came to me to see their true form to compare, only to realize that the ones in your city do not belong to me.” Acacius gestured around the room with a swivel of his head.
“Now here we are, attempting to figure it out.”
Naia crossed her arms, tilting her head in a daring manner. “So, you are saying that you’ve never sent one of your Olethros to Hollow City?”
“I sent a faction of my Heralds. However, when Marina came to me and informed me of the vow she made with Vale to protect Ash, I commanded them to leave.”
He could feel Ronin’s intense stare of disapproval burrowing like blades into his face. Paired with the feisty winter god’s icy glare, they were only stirring his lust for Chaos to erupt.
“Why would you send your monsters to our city?” Emotion quaked in Naia’s tone.
“Why in gods’ name do you think, Naia?” Acacius scoffed bitterly.
“Your child can kill us. The deities are growing more uneasy by that fact with each passing day. Mortals flock in your streets in hopes of locating you and begging for immortality. Do you think I haven’t noticed how you have wards set up all over the city to keep this section hidden? ”
He shook his head, a cynical smile pulling at his mouth.
“And the witches that crawl all over this place like insects either want Ash for a pension or to drain his blood and use it for their gain. The Chaos is already alive and beating in the arteries of this city, in the world around you. I sent my Heraldic Olethros here as a guide, for I have no desire to die at the hands of your child when he grows older and his animosity fuels him to murder us all.”
Naia glared at him, jaw jutting out as tears glazed her eyes.
Her silence, though, told him everything he needed to know—that she knew, on some level, he was right.
“But by all means, blame my Heralds,” Acacius said. “You and your husband created Chaos the day you conceived that child.”
“Our city was peaceful, until you sent your monsters,” she spit back.
He grinned. “Ironic, considering that my so-called wretches are no longer in your city. Little Goddess, it appears Ruin still lives among you.”
She whirled her attention onto Marina, hands waving up in desperation. “Sister, help me understand. Why were you trying to find an Olethros in the city if Acacius demanded them to leave?”
Acacius looked over at Marina.
Her shoulders were folded inward and head bowed, staring down at her lap. Her distant, unfazed demeanor had shed away, and it seemed her thoughts were overflowing.
Acacius nuzzled the toe of his boot against the side of hers. A small form of affection to assure her that he was with her.
She flitted her eyes to their touching shoes, peering at them for a beat.
“I hired an assassin to help protect Ash,” she confessed. “He reported the sighting of the Daemon to me.”
Ronin kicked off the wall and charged Marina. “You brought an assassin into my city without telling me?”
Naia caught him by the crook of his elbow. “Ronin.”
Acacius flexed the muscles in his core, tugging on the briars embedded in his flesh. Agony rippled up his leg and through his arms.
“Are you fucking insane?” Ronin towered over Marina with a murderous glare. “Of all the stupid things. That assassin could’ve easily turned on you and killed my kid.”
“Ronin,” Naia repeated louder, her knuckles going white as she tightened her grip around his arm.
Acacius’s pulse hammered in his skull as he clenched his fists. The steady flow of blood dripping down his wrists gushed out faster.
Marina lifted her head, meeting Ronin’s wrath. “I apologize for not informing you, but Soren has taken out several witches that placed bounties on Ash. He is an assassin, yes, but he is one of my closest friends—”
“Wait.” Theon straightened from the wall. “What is his name?”
Ronin and Naia both looked to their trusted bodyguard.
Acacius did not like the concern folding on the god’s brow.
“Soren,” Marina blinked at him with a shortness in her tone. “He’s a middle god of slaughter, and a close friend of mine.”
Theon moved closer to Marina, the blue in his irises cracking from the light above. “What guild is he from?”
Marina shook her head, frustration coloring her cheeks from his sudden and intense questioning. “Morte. Why?”
“Fucking idiot.” Theon hung his head, and his fingerless gloved hand dove through his pale hair, clenching the strands tightly. “He’s not a god of slaughter. Soren is the High God of Trickery and Mischief.”
Marina’s eyes widened, unadulterated shock warping her features. “But I…” her words fell quiet, lips remaining parted.
Theon dropped his hand from his hair and gripped his hips, glaring at Marina in disbelief. “He can make you see things that are not real, or manipulate the perception of those that are. And now, you have given him all the information he needs to infiltrate our city and organization, to take Ash.”
It all made sense now, how the creature resembled his Daemon, and why Acacius couldn’t find a single bit of information on the god after seeing him with Marina through the eyes of his creature.
The High God of Trickery and Mischief was a mystery to all. It was a custom of their lineage that the Council agreed to uphold by allowing their duels to be performed in draperies and masks, unrevealing their names. A way to shield them from the wrath of those who they inflicted misfortunes onto.
Acacius searched in the stock of his memories for the duel when Soren received his title. It would’ve been the most recent one between their lineage. Perhaps he could remember something of importance about Soren’s divine power.
Acacius would’ve been standing next to Cassius, bored and ready to depart, barely giving it his attention—unless something sinister piqued his interest. Though, it appeared nothing had, since he couldn’t recall Soren or his duel.
For fuck’s sake. He could hear Cassius’s lecture in his head. This is why you should pay more attention.
He watched the panic slowly warp over Marina’s features as she leaned her weight forward in her chair against the binds. “How would you possibly know who the High God of Trickery and Mischief is? Nobody knows that information.”
Theon rubbed at his brow, prolonging his reply as if he were in some sort of striking pain.
Naia looked between Marina and Theon.
Ronin and Avi exchanged confused glances with each other.
Silence mulled on, and the suspension in the room was like a hand around Acacius’s throat, slowly smothering his lungs.
He could no longer stand it. “For fuck’s sake, winter god, spit it out.”
Theon let out a stale breath and crossed his arms. “Soren is my brother.”