61. SOPHIE
“This year was a test of mettle unlike any other. Some of you suffered grave injuries.” Ares nodded to Nyx who still had a paleness to their skin. Morpheus had his arms around them as the angels of the Tienthan sat on the ground of the training ring back on the Isle of Deos. As they stumbled through the beacon, they landed in the training ring and were brought straight to the attention of medics. “Others made decisions that weren’t according to plan.” He nodded to Nemysis. “While others proved themselves worthy, to be a part of the team.” He nodded to Sophie. Her cheeks burned at the sudden attention and nods of agreement from the other angels.
Ash nudged his elbow into her arm, flashing her a proud grin.
Sophie turned even more red.
“Being a guardian angel in the Tienthan is in most parts challenging. It comes with responsibilities, but what makes every drop of blood spilled worth it, is knowing that the realms are safe, and that you have each other’s backs in a team that will never own defeat. Congratulations, you made it another year,” Ares said proudly.
The angels of the Tienthan burst into conversation. Patting each other on the back. Hugging each other. Laughing.
“BUT, before we take leave,” Ares’s deep voice shot through the group. “Sophie, will you please join me up the front.”
Suddenly, Sophie felt tiny. Her stomach lurched in nervousness.
Shit.
Ash kissed her quickly on the cheek before pushing her up.
Sophie shot him an annoyed look.
He winked.
Asshole.
Slowly, Sophie walked to the front of the group and stood beside Ares. All eyes were on her. Her and her undeniably sweaty palms.
As she looked over the group of angels she’d just spent the gruelling week with, her heart warmed. Ash was on his knees, smiling brightly. His hair was all a mess. Eros was blubbering into Deymos’s shoulder and Nemy gave her a firm nod of approval.
Ares fished a small white crystal from the pocket of space he often kept things in and held it up in the air between his fingers – the light of day making it sparkle. “For your reckless valour, your resourcefulness, fidelity and comradeship throughout the Hrabrost Trials, welcome to the Tienthan.” Ares smiled as he struck the crystal into Sophie’s back.
Sophie coughed at the sudden force. Her back instantly fell cool, her skin and bones moved in place as if something was crawling inside her. Pain lanced through her back bringing her to her knees but as soon as the pain appeared, it quickly rushed away.
Then she felt them.
Their heaviness and how they twitched and moved with the muscles of her back. Their feathers and how they tickled parts of her skin.
“Team, please join me in welcoming the newest guardian angel in the Tienthan. Sofreya Brighid Taliesin.” Ares clapped loud and proud.
Sophie looked up to find the entire Tienthan standing up and cheering her on.
Sophie stood, a laugh bubbling in her throat and a smile so bright. She’d done it. She’d completed the Hrabrost Trials and now . . . now she had wings.
Her heart was bursting with pride.
She peered up at the large wings. Her feathers were a soft lilac and fluttered in the slight breeze. They felt powerful, strong. They were proof, not that she ever needed it, that she was capable.
The angels of the Tienthan surrounded her. Kissing her silly. Chronos even gave her a small nod and smile.
“Welcome to the family!” Eros squealed as he hugged Sophie.
He was immediately wrenched back by Ash and his little storm clouds. He said nothing as he prowled closer and claimed her lips. Sophie gave in fully, drinking in his woodsy sent. They were blood-soaked and worse for wear, but she didn’t care because. Well. She was in fucking love.
“It’s about time!” Morpheus whooped.
Ash smiled against her mouth. “You made it, Starlight.”
Sophie pushed back in his arms. “And I saved your ass while doing it.” She poked her tongue out, earning herself a tsk and another breathtaking kiss.
“Come on.” Ash laced his fingers between hers. “Let’s head home so we can finish what we started. Something about a whole week and doing whatever I wanted. Does that ring a bell?”
Sophie pulled back, the weight of her new wings throwing her a touch off centre. “Can we stop by somewhere?” Sophie’s eyes turned murderous.
“Oh?” Ash raised his brows.
There was one shrivelled up god she needed to pay a visit to. She didn’t have to say a word for Ash to realise what she was talking about.
“Oh.” Ash’s eyes turned positively murderous too.
Sophie enlisted the help of Ash, Deymos, Eros and Nemy for this one act of retribution.
They stood in front of the council building, its white marble glistening in the evening sun. The scales of justice had seemed to tip at a different angle than when she last saw it, perhaps in her favour.
“What about something like the jig’s up, bitch!” Eros was rattling off one liners for Sophie to use.
“Shut it, Eros,” Deymos grumbled.
Sophie looked to her new family.
“Are we sure he’s in there?” Sophie asked.
“Yep, just got confirmation from Ares,” Nemy said.
“Then let’s get the show on the road.” Sophie stalked up the steps of the council building, her wings tight against her strained back. They would get some taking used to. When she reached the large door, she took a deep breath and blasted the doors apart with her air mana. The sound of the splintering door echoed down the hall.
Whoops. Overkill.
Deymos added shadows all around her, making her aura dark. While Eros created billowing smoke. Ash carefully struck his lightning around her and Nemy pumped adrenalin into the air.
Sophie prowled to the centre of the council building foyer with the angels of the Tienthan in tow. “VESTES!” Her voice boomed and echoed through the entire building, almost waking the marble statues.
It was his slimy presence that she felt first. There he was. Entering the hall, dressed in a long flowing green robe. He looked down on Sophie, his chin held high. “What is a trai—”
Sophie cut him off, wrapping a lasso of fire around his neck. His face turned red as she took the air from his lungs and his lips cracked as she drew the water from his mouth. She forced him down on to his knees and a tiny struggling sound escaped his lips. She stalked closer and closer. She could see him assessing her wings, his eyes widening the slightest. “That’s right, you bastard. Quake in fear. You really thought you could get rid of me,” Sophie snarled.
She squeezed her magic tighter before dropping it all together. Vestes fell to the ground with a smack, groaning as his nose broke against the cold marble floor. At first it sounded like he was crying, his voice wheezing. But the wheezes quickly turned into a maniacal laugh.
“Oh Sofreya, Sofreya. It was a test, you see.” His voice slithered into the air like an unwanted smell. “I knew you would make it. So strong. Just like your mother.”
Sophie rolled her eyes. Fates save me.
“I loved your mother once, you know. She would have been my wife if she hadn’t lost her mind and dignity to that Fae imbecile. I would have been your father, Sofreya. Don’t you see? I could still be that if you want.” Vestes was desperate. So desperate. She didn’t need a father figure. She’d gone throughout her life with one that barely fit the bill.
Sophie looked down to her hands, pretending that she was totally buying into this last-minute save of his. She softened her eyes and even gulped for good measure. Slowly, she walked over to Vestes. His eyes were bright with false victory. She placed a soft hand on his wrinkly face, fighting hard not to gag as his musky odour violated her nostrils. She leaned in closer, her wings spreading high and mighty above her. “Get fucked.”
His eyes widened.
Sophie smiled devilishly before awarding Vestes with the most brutal slap to the face. The sound echoed through the halls of the council chambers, all the way up to the sky where her ancestors would be smiling proud.
Vestes sputtered, his eyes somehow even wider than before.
Sophie could hear the angels behind her, holding back their laughter.
She pushed him down onto the ground again, his hands braced on the ground before her feet. She stepped closer, making sure to stand on his hand. “You do not know me, Vestes. I do not need a father. I am an angel of the Tienthan. A demigod. A Fae. A human. I am Sofreya Brighid Taliesin, and I am everything you are not. Cross me again, and I will fucking skin you alive. Do you understand?” Sophie intertwined all her elements including her vines and wrapped it around Vestes’s neck. When he didn’t answer, she tightened the noose again. “Do. You. Understand?”
His eyes grew bloodshot and his face red. He nodded once. Twice.
It was only then that Sophie let him go.
Smoke appeared in the middle of the room, just behind Vestes. Sophie had an inkling as to who it was. The air fell still and silently on a bed of rolling smoke, Ares stepped out, dressed in his golden armour, his spear in hand.
Vestes scrambled to his knees. “Ares! This traitor deigned to strike me in the face with her half-breed power. You must smite her!”
“Strike?” Ares scoffed. “I’d call it a redirection strike for the shit you dealt her.” Ares struck his spear onto the ground, washing the white marble floor with glittering gold. He pulled out a golden note and read. “Vestes, God of Nothing, for endangering innocent lives and putting the safety and fate of the realms behind matters of your own personal gain, you are stripped of your powers.” Ares struck the spear on the ground again. “You are stripped of your position upon Zeus’s council.” The spear struck the ground once more. “You are banished from the Godlands.” Ares’s golden spear struck the ground for the final time.
“No! N-n-n-o you can’t do this to me! I’m a god!” Vestes tried to get up, but Ares’s power held him down. His head was on a swivel, because one moment he was begging the god of war and in the next second, he was spitting venom at Sophie. “You! You half-breed! You spilled poison into the ears of all the gods. Wait until Zeus hears of this injustice! Wait until he—”
Thunder and lightning, more devastating that Ash’s, split through the room.
“Wait until he what?” A soft yet deep masculine voice echoed through the room. From a puff of smoke, a middle-aged male with blond hair and fair skin, stepped out. He was wearing a black-as-night tuxedo and had tattoos across his hands, all the way up to his neck. He adjusted the cufflinks of his pristine suit and winked at Sophie.
Hmm . . . totally not what I was expecting Zeus to look like.
Sophie whipped her head to the other angels who were already down on one knee, their hands to their chest.
Oh shit. Shit. Shit.
Sophie scrambled to her knees and swore at herself. The god of all gods was here, and she was too busy comparing him.
“Sire! This snake”—he pointed at Sophie with a spindly finger—“has infiltrated the minds of your Aerial Legion. They have been compromised. You must smite her.” His nostrils were flaring in all sorts of directions and his voice wobbled with anger.
“Oh hush, Vestes.” Zeus snapped his finger and Vestes mouth literally disappeared from his face. All anyone could hear were panicked mumbles.
Impressive.
“Ares, make sure he’s disposed of, will you?” Zeus said airily.
Ares’s bright smile was all Sophie needed to see to know that he was going to enjoy every minute of disposing of Vestes. He stepped forward, picking Vestes up by the scruff of his neck and gave a mocking salute to his angels before disappearing on a puff of smoke.
Sophie bit down a smile.
Zeus, tall and fair, slowly walked to Sophie. His dress shoes clicked against the marble floor to a steady beat. “Let’s have a look at my newest angel.”
Sophie looked up. He had his hand out for her. She gingerly placed her hand in his, and he helped her up.
“Sofreya Brighid Taliesin, is it?” Zeus asked as he walked a slow circle around her, examining her wings closely, her tattoos. She felt like she was under a microscope. The microscope being the judging eye of the freaking god of all gods!
Panic. Sophie was panicking. “That’s correct, sir.” Sophie bit out. Sir? Is that even what you would call Zeus?
“Noble Lady of the Stars and Goddess of Fire. The name suits you,” Zeus observed.
Umm . . . thanks, I guess? Sophie landed on saying nothing.
“You did well for your first time in the trials.” He stopped right in front of her. “I was watching from Olympus. Well done.” He smiled brightly and held his hand out for her to shake.
She took it and shook it firmly. “Thank you for accepting me into your Aerial Legion . . .”
“Zeus. We’re all on first name basis here.”
“Thank you, Zeus. For having me.” She meant it.
“Taranis, is she yours?” Zeus pointed to Sophie’s tattooed arm.
Ash stood up from his crouched position and nodded firmly, a gummy smile across his face.
“Thought I recognised the pattern somewhere.” Zeus scoffed. “Love, hey?” He punched her on the arm.
Did Zeus, just punch me in the arm? Like he was a friend? Am I blushing?
Sophie laughed nervously. Her ears were positively red. “Yeah, totally.” Yeah totally???
“Well.” Zeus clapped his hands together, his power suffocating the room again. “I must take my leave. As always, it’s great seeing you all. I’ll be sure to visit over the coming weeks to see how everyone is going. Until then.” He disappeared into a ray of light.
Sophie just stared and stared at the place he disappeared into.
Slowly, she turned on her heel to face the other angels. “Was that weird? Or was that weird?”
“He’s a strange cat that guy . . .” Deymos admitted.
“He was kinda nice? But in the same breath could fuck up your entire life if he really wanted to. Psychotic. That’s the vibe I got,” Sophie explained.
“I can hear youuu,” Zeus’s voice echoed into the room.
“Okay! We’re going!” Ash wrangled them all up and pushed them out of the council chamber doors.
The sun had finally set, and the coolness of the evening had begun to fill the air.
Sophie sighed. “Well, what now?”
Before she could even think, or before anyone could reply, Ash threw her over his shoulder and shot them both into the air. “See you in a week, assholes!”
Sophie let out a squeal as they rushed through the air. Light laughter bubbled in her throat.
“Remember to wash thoroughly and pee after sex to avoid any urinary tract infections!” Eros shouted after them.
“And put a silencing bubble around your fucking villa!” Nemysis laughed.
Idiots. They were all idiots. And she loved every single one of them.