Chapter 73
RAINIER
Aonara’s long, straight hair was white, like my daughter’s. Her eyes shone white, just like Elora’s did when she was angry.
And the goddess was furious.
“How dare you?” she screamed, and divine fire encircled us. I didn’t regret having my sword at the ready, but against the might of a goddess, it felt futile.
Nor screamed, and Dewalt covered her. We’d been stupid to allow them to come.
“We only seek your favor!” Em shouted, running past me to stand between me and the goddess.
“Em, get behind me,” I bellowed, but she ignored me. Expending more divinity than I’d ever seen her use, she used her shadows as a barrier between the rest of us and the goddess.
“You seek my favor by forcing me to the mortal plane? Do you know what you’ve done?” The woman’s voice was bone-rattling, both deep and high at once. It was unsettling. I could barely look at her, the glow of her white eyes near blinding.
“Em,” I pleaded, trying to use my own divinity to thwart hers. Though I might have shared her gifts, they had only been an extension of hers, and she quickly overpowered me. I could barely see her through the shimmering black barricade between us.
Aonara stepped closer, peering through Em’s barricade. As her gaze penetrated the shadows, two beams of light cutting through, I held my breath as she took each one of us in.
She didn’t linger on Dewalt, moving quickly to Nor. She tilted her head, almost in recognition, but she moved on. As her eyes rested on Lasu and the Supreme, the fire she’d created to encircle us all flared hot.
The Supreme gaped at the goddess. With an open mouth, he fell to his knees. “I’m sorry, Larke. Oh gods, how?”
“Do not speak to me with that name,” the goddess boomed, and I merely stared between the two of them. He had called Aonara by a different name. The name of the woman he’d betrayed and tried to resurrect. “You are long dead to me, Zaphus.”
My heart was a stampeding creature in my chest. “What in the gods’ name,” I breathed, unable to follow. Aonara had ruled as a goddess for millennia. How could the Supreme think she was Larke?
“You,” Aonara said, pointing an outstretched finger toward me.
“Do not look at him!” Em shouted, focusing more of her shadows on the barrier in front of me. Before the goddess’s gaze could penetrate it, Em stepped forward. “Your grievance is with me, and me alone. I am the one who summoned you!”
The goddess laughed, the flames flaring in correspondence with the noise. “You take ownership of this, then?”
“Yes!” Em cried, and then we all began to move. Em’s shadows gathered Nor and Dewalt, dumping them in a heap beside me. A breath later, Lasu joined them. And then she turned. Leaving the Supreme unprotected, she moved, forcing the goddess closer to the man she seemed most angry with. With her back to the sea, I wondered what Em could possibly be planning.
“Do you bring me Zaphus as consolation for summoning me here and stripping me of my immortality?”
“What?” I asked, eyes widening in horror. That hadn’t been our intention at all. I fought against Em’s shadows, wishing she’d let me stand beside her. There was no reason for her to hold me back, and yet nothing worked against her. I considered using Hanwen’s divinity to tunnel beneath her barricade, but it would take too long. Instead, I hoped she’d feel my desperation down the bond as I called her name.
A tremendous roar from above brought my eyes skyward. I’d expected Irses to find us eventually, but Lux and Shika had found us as well. I wasn’t sure what they could do against a goddess, but their presence brought me comfort.
“I only intended to ask for your favor, goddess,” Em said. “He and the Nythyrian queen sought to destroy the Three Kingdoms, and we simply seek your help.” Em’s skirts turned her lower half into a brilliant blue blur, while her golden-brown hair whipped in the wind.
Nor sobbed beside me, and Dewalt pulled her against his chest.
I was helpless.
“The Three Kingdoms should burn,” the goddess bellowed, and everything went white.