Chapter 21 Discord
DISCORD
“Are you ready?” Cinder squeezed my hand.
I laughed dryly. Was I ready to face the goddess of magic, whose wrath would likely tear me to shreds the moment her gaze met mine? “No, not really.”
We stepped through the fissure, and the heat of Ruin’s chamber vanished behind us, chilling stillness replacing it.
The silver light dimmed to a soft glow, illuminating an endless cavern carved of obsidian and bone.
The air smelled of frost and rot, an impossible combination that made my skin crawl.
Then, I saw her.
Hecate hung suspended above a black altar, her body bound in chains that glowed faintly with demonic sigils. Her long, silver hair drifted like smoke on a breeze, her eyes half-lidded but aware. Even broken, she radiated power, the kind that humbles you without words.
“Holy Hec…” Cinder trailed off, her voice a whisper. “Is that…?”
“Yes,” I said quietly. “The goddess herself.”
Cinder started forward, her steps echoing across the stone. “We have to help her.”
“Careful,” I warned. “Those chains were forged for deities. Touch the wrong rune, and it could melt you from the inside out.”
“Just like in Indiana Jones,” she said.
We approached the altar, and the chains hummed, reacting to our presence. I could feel Ruin’s magic woven through them—layered, precise, merciless. This was no simple prison. It was meant to drain her.
“Cinder,” Hecate’s voice rasped, barely audible yet filled with divine resonance. “You came.”
Cinder froze. “You know who I am?”
“Your mother told me about you and your sisters.” She closed her eyes and let out a long hiss, as if speaking pained her.
Tears welled in Cinder’s eyes. “She’s alive? And my dad?”
“I helped them escape.” The goddess wheezed and opened her eyes. “As you will now help me.”
Cinder brought a trembling hand to her lips. “Where are they?”
Hecate hissed again, her eyes rolling upward until only the whites were visible.
“Enough questions. We must release her.” I circled the altar, examining the chains. “Ruin tied the binds to her essence…a trick he learned from Lucifer. If we break them the wrong way, we might kill her.”
“Then we find the right way,” Cinder said, her voice steady, filled with resolve. “Nothing is impossible. Not if we think it through.”
Her determination sparked something in me. For centuries, I’d lived in a world where power was brute force, where thinking too long was a weakness. But Cinder made intellect feel like defiance.
“Alright,” I said. “We outthink the bastard.”
I hovered my hand above the nearest chain, just shy of touching it, and the sigils pulsed red. I closed my eyes, reaching out with my mind and tracing the flow of energy. The bindings were a circuit, using darkness to feed on the goddess’s power. If we could disrupt the current with light…
“Cinder, channel your firelight into the binding sigil on the shackle here.” I pointed to Hecate’s wrist. “Slow and steady. Focus on your light rather than heat.”
My witch nodded, unquestioning, and held her hand toward the shackle. Her flames flickered gold rather than red, as soft as candlelight. The binding sigil glowed, growing brighter and brighter, its low vibration fighting against Cinder’s high. Then it faltered, and the chain shuddered.
“That’s it,” I whispered. “You’re burning the darkness out.”
She bit her lip, focusing, sweat beading on her forehead. The first chain snapped, the sound echoing through the cavern like a scream before dissolving into smoke. Hecate’s arm dropped, hanging limp at her side as her expression contorted into one of pure agony.
“Oh, Goddess. I’m so sorry.” Cinder wrung her hands. “It’s hurting her.”
“But it’s working.” I squeezed her shoulders. “Try the next one.”
“Which one?” Her gaze bounced from the goddess’s arm to her ankles.
“What feels right?” I asked, sending a pulse of magic into my witch, bringing clarity to her thoughts.
“None of them.” She shook her head, and I released her.
“Help me,” Hecate rasped.
“Just choose one.” I stepped away, giving Cinder room to work.
“Okay, I’ll try the opposite ankle.” She lit another soft flame and sent it into the shackle.
Hecate mumbled something inaudible. Her head jerked back, and drool ran from the corner of her mouth.
Cinder cringed, her brow crumpling as she poured her light into the second shackle.
Her breathing grew shallow with her exertion, but she continued feeding her light into the darkness until the sigil popped and the bind dissolved.
Hecate wailed in pain.
Cinder shook her hands. “This isn’t right. She’ll die if we keep doing this.”
“What else can we do?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
I grasped her shoulders once more and sent a wave of magic into her psyche. She gasped, her eyes glazing, and through our bond, I felt her connect with the goddess’s mind. The sheer power of her light nearly knocked me from my feet.
I closed my eyes, focusing only on my soulbride, my magic, my essence, mingling with hers until I couldn’t tell where I ended and she began. Light and dark, high and low, evil and goodness mixing and melding, creating a symphony of indisputable power.
“Her heart!” Cinder’s voice brought me back to myself, and I released her. She climbed onto the altar, her hands trembling above the goddess’s chest. “We have to break the heart bind. Come here.”
I joined her atop the stone table. “Tell me what to do.”
“Exactly what you just did.” She took my hand in hers and hovered her other over Hecate’s heart. Lighting a soft golden flame, she focused her intent on freeing the goddess and opened herself to me once more.
Our magic melded instantly, as if it were two halves of the same whole, and my skin turned to gooseflesh. Cinder’s high vibration hummed in my muscles, making them twitch as she used my essence to fuel her own and focused it into the invisible chain.
Searing pain lanced through me as the bind fought back, and I absorbed it, channeling it away from Cinder so she could continue her work unhindered. Her palm heated, slick with sweat, and a prickling sensation shot up my arm, igniting in my chest.
Hecate groaned. Cinder wheezed. An earth-shattering snap echoed through the chamber.
The shackles dissolved, and Hecate fell to her knees on the altar. I caught her arm before she could tumble to the ground, and an electric jolt ricocheted through my body, setting every nerve ablaze.
“You dare touch me?” The goddess yanked from my grasp and floated to the floor, her hair whipping in an invisible wind.
I slid from the table and lowered to one knee, casting my gaze to her feet. “My sincerest apologies, goddess. I am sorry…for everything. I knew not what the amulet meant when I wagered it.”
I dared to look at her. White flames flickered in her silver eyes, and vibrating energy gathered around her, making my body itch.
“I will return it to you,” I said. “You have my word.”
“Please, goddess.” Cinder pressed her palms together and bowed. “My sisters are searching for it as we speak. We will make things right.”
Hecate straightened her spine on a quick inhale, her fury dimming to a simmer. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
“I know.” Cinder dropped her arms at her sides. “We’ve unraveled the veil by freeing Discord and his brothers, but we intend to fix it. We’ll do whatever it takes.”
The goddess scoffed. “You speak of ‘we’ as if you share the burden.”
“We do,” I said.
“Not you.” Hecate glared at me, and I clamped my mouth shut.
“I…” Cinder swallowed hard. “It’s my fault. I set it all in motion when I summoned Discord. The burden is mine to bear.”
Hecate laughed, disbelieving. “Have you learned nothing, child? Your mother started this when she summoned Lucifer himself and used your father as her accomplice. If fate had not already woven your tale, I’d strike you both down here and now.”
“My tale?” Cinder’s voice cracked.
“Yours, your sisters’…” She waved a dismissive hand at me.
“Theirs. You’re meant to break the mold, unite the people, usher in an era of peace between the realms.” Hecate steepled her fingers, and the invisible wind blowing through her hair quieted.
“But you’ve torn the veil to shreds. Yes, it is your burden, but it’s also your parents,’ your sisters,’ and theirs. ”
Again, she merely waved in my direction, which I supposed I should be grateful for. I deserved much worse than her casual disrespect.
“I never should have done this alone.” Cinder clasped her hands together. “I know that now.”
Hecate inclined her chin. “So you can learn. Good, because your strife isn’t over yet.
I released your parents from Lucifer’s clutches, and they got away before his minions trapped me.
Scorsha has been channeling my energy, attempting to hold the veil together, while you searched for me and your sisters searched for my amulet. Your entire family, working together.”
“Where are they?” Cinder asked, her voice quiet. “May I see them?”
“To find them, you have one more obstacle to overcome.” The goddess raised her arms, and silver smoke billowed at her feet. It swirled upward, encasing her in fog before an intense light flashed, blinding me for a moment. When I opened my eyes, Cinder and I stood in the chamber alone.
“What obstacle?” Cinder rubbed her eyes and turned in a circle. “For eff’s sake, what obstacle?”
She jabbed her fingers into her hair, pulling it at the roots, her frustration palpable. “And not so much as a thank you? What the hell?”
She dropped her arms at her sides. “That didn’t go at all like I planned.”
“I can take you to your parents.” A gust of frigid air swept through the cavern, carrying the voice and the faint sound of footsteps.
I turned, instincts screaming. A shadow slipped through the fissure behind us—tall, graceful, deadly.
Seraphine.
She was fully healed, and her hair gleamed under the silver light, her eyes as cold as crystal. “I see the pitiful Little fire witch found her goddess.”
“Stay back,” I warned, stepping in front of Cinder.
Seraphine ignored me. Her gaze fixed on my soulbride. “I never expected you to get this far, even after you threw me into the acid river.”
Cinder curled her hands, sparks dancing across her palms. “You said you can take me to my parents.”
Seraphine strolled toward us. “I did say that, didn’t I?”
“She lies.” I wound my arm back, hellfire igniting in my hand, but Cinder grabbed my wrist.
“She doesn’t have to lie.” She gave me a squeeze. “Does she?”
I opened myself to her, giving her what little energy I had left, and she sent a pulse toward Seraphine.
“You made it this far. Why should I lie?” the insolent witch said. “I know where they’re hiding. I’ve only let them live this long so I could see my mother’s curse finally come to fruition.”
“Your mother’s?” Cinder gaped, blinking rapidly as she shook her head in disbelief.
“You are Isabel’s firstborn.” My brow slammed down over my eyes, a newfound fury sparking in my being.
“The soul she promised to you in exchange for cursing the Holland bloodline…” She sneered. “In the flesh.”
“Where are my parents?” Cinder asked through clenched teeth, her waning magic pulsing one last time.
Seraphine held out her hand. “I’ll take you to them.”
My gut twisted. “Cinder, don’t.”
“She isn’t lying. She can’t be.” My witch stepped around me.
“She will take you to them, but you may not survive the journey.” I clutched her hand, holding her back, but she tugged from my grasp.
“You’re smarter than you look, demon-boy.” Seraphine raised her arm and made a twisting motion with her hand. Wind swirled at Cinder’s feet, picking up debris as it rose around her.
“Enough,” I snarled. “You’re not taking her.”
Seraphine’s gaze slid to me. “She isn’t yours to keep.”
Before I could move, she fisted her hand and power rippled through the chamber. I staggered back as the swirling force wrapped around Cinder, lifting her from the ground, and her eyes met mine, wide and terrified.
“Discord!” she shouted, reaching for me.
I lunged, catching her hand for the briefest second before the tornado engulfed her. Her fingers slipped from mine as Seraphine ripped her away, pulling her through the fissure in a blinding flash of blue light.
I gave chase, darting through after them, my feet pounding the ground as I crossed the underground chamber and raced up the staircase and out of the shed.
Orange moonlight illuminated the garden, casting long shadows across the rocky ground, but the atmosphere was still.
Not a trace of the foul air witch or my soulbride remained.
The entire world fell quiet.
I sank to my knees, staring straight ahead, my heart hollow and burning, the silence pressing in like a vise. A guttural roar ripped from my chest, aching, anguished, piercing the quiet as hellfire burned hotter in my being than it ever had before.
When I finished, I sucked in a ragged breath and Hecate’s voice came softly beside me, “You’re at a crossroads, demon. In my domain.”
“What are my choices?” Pressure built in the back of my eyes.
“You took what was mine, so I’ve allowed yours to be taken. I will return to Lucifer, and you can reclaim your place by his side. Command his army as the veil crumbles and enjoy power beyond comprehension.”
I scoffed but said nothing, awaiting her alternative. “Or continue your quest in your weakened state. Find your soulbride, if she’s still alive, and face Lucifer from the opposing side, fighting with the mortals, completely stripped of your power.”
My hands curled into fists. “I prefer what’s behind door number three.”
“And what is that?”
A sinister smile curved my lips as I rose to my feet. “You’ve picked the wrong demon to challenge, goddess.”
Hell held its breath.
* * *
Will Cinder make it out of Hell alive?
Will the Holland sisters mend the veil and save Salem?
Find out in Desiring Discord, the thrilling conclusion to the Fire Witches of Salem Series!