THIRTY-SIX
WILLOW
It astounds me that it took days for us to put Decius down, and within a couple hours of Selah’s awakening, he’s active again.
When Selah brought us back to Council Castle, she insisted that we all sit together and enjoy a calming dinner. There is nothing calming about it though. The dining room simmers with animosity, and I’m so pissed I can’t think straight. There’s a mixture of anger and fear I feel—fear that he’ll reach for me and suck my tether away.
Decius sits right across from me, smirking as he sips from a silver goblet. Selah produces refills of wine with a flicker of her fingers so servants aren’t necessary. Not that there are any to help anyway. She’s killed them all.
The Council laughs with glee and praises her for returning and thanks her for believing in them.
They’re idiots, all of them. Their people are dead and they’re acting like she’s some kind of angel.
“You look lovely as always, Willow.” Decius eyes me, swirling the liquid in his cup.
I glare at him, wanting so badly to pick up the knife on the table and gouge his eyes out. I’m not one to become violent, but it’s because of him that my brother lost his fucking mind and made it so vulnerable that Selah could tap into it.
Speaking of…
I shift my attention to Selah. “One of my parents on Earth died and the other ran away because he was afraid to raise us. Was that because of you?” I blurt out.
This situation is already weird. Who cares if my questions are?
Selah’s eyes latch with mine, and she does that weird tilt of her head. “Most likely.”
“They had nightmares about you. Said you haunted them in their sleep. My dad told my brother—my twin —Warren, that his nightmares didn’t end until he abandoned us.”
“The more vulnerable you two were, the better,” she returns, flashing a wicked smile.
I grimace.
“Oh, don’t be so upset about it, little one. If it helps, they weren’t even your real parents. They didn’t create you. They hardly even knew you, darling.”
I smash my lips together.
“As for your brother and his nightmares, well…his mind and body were available, and I used him to see things I needed to see. But that’s all thanks to my darling here.” Selah gestures to Decius seated right beside her.
Decius gives her a proud smile. “Thank you, Mother.”
That’s so weird hearing him call her Mother. Not too long ago he was blaspheming The Regals.
“If it weren’t for you, I’d have been so weak in that tomb. I’d have shriveled to dust, but you kept me fueled.”
Decius continues a smile.
“But then you betrayed me.” Selah’s eyes darken. Her normal eyes are the darkest brown I’ve ever seen. Within them, it seems there’s no soul. A chill rides down my spine seeing her like this—a demon. Pure evil.
Decius swings his eyes to hers. “I would never betray you, Mother. I only wanted to gain power so that I could claim Vakeeli as yours and restore you.”
Selah glares at him while everyone else at the table remains silent. She drums her red claw-like fingernails on the wooden table, still keeping her gaze locked on Decius. Then, finally, she softens and gives him a smile.
“You’re lucky I’m so forgiving.” She taps his nose and winks.
I glance at Killian who has his arms folded. Just like me, he doesn’t want to eat. And the wine is tempting, but after hearing Selah say there’s a child in me…I can’t bring myself to drink.
She has to be wrong about that. I’ve been completely fine and healthy…other than that sudden wave of nausea. And vomiting on the way to my appointed room. I just thought it was the food.
I lower my gaze, trying to remember when my last period was. With all that’s been going on, I haven’t been able to keep track of it properly. Maeve bought me pads and tampons once, and it’s now I realize that I haven’t used them since I agreed to live in Vakeeli.
How could I be so na?ve? Back on Earth I was on birth control, but they don’t have that here. Still, it’s only been about a month and a half since I agreed to stay. We haven’t been together long enough for a pregnancy to happen… right?
The screech of chair legs pulls me out of my thoughts, and I look up to see Selah standing.
“There was a time when I was in love.” She strolls around the table with a bored sigh.
I can’t help frowning as she raises her hands in the air. The dining room darkens, save for the candles on the center of the table. As she lifts her hands higher, a luminescent streak of orange appears and slowly transforms into a woman.
“I’d like to tell you all a story.” She works her fingers so the figure of the woman in a swaying gown moves. “There was a time when I was on Earth. Born from the tears of Gaea, my Mother, I was fueled with incredible power. My siblings and I were.” Three more figures appear. Two are shaped like Hassha and Korah, but the other is a male. I narrow my eyes. Who is he?
Swords are in their hands as they all begin to run like they’re charging toward something. On the opposite side of them is a massive crowd. The women raise their swords and launch into battle as Selah continues.
“Though we started out as gentle creatures, we were sent to fight in wars that didn’t belong to us. We assisted the god Kronos as well as the Titans in his battle against his father, Uranus, and we won. My sisters hated fighting, hated the blood and the hatred, but I loved it.” Her teeth gleam in the orange light.
“The people of Earth didn’t know who or what we were, and we chose not to reveal ourselves as much as the gods. You see, the gods on Earth were quite full of themselves and foolish…well, all but one. Kronos .” She sighs dreamily. “The stories won’t tell you this, Willow, but while Kronos was with his wife Rhea, he was also with me. Kronos took me under his wing, provided for me, and showed me how to always win wars and battles. He was my teacher, and I fell in love with him. We were, as I like to call it, a pair of lethal souls .
“There was one thing he wanted, and it was to rule the gods. But our mother found it selfish. My sisters called him a liar, a traitor. They constantly berated me, told me that I was a fool for loving such an evil man. But he wasn’t evil, you see. He was just smart. And that’s the problem with all these worlds, these realms, the simpleminded beings—they fear true wisdom .”
Her eyes flash as she converts the light to a crying woman on her knees. “So what if he’d eaten his children? So what if he wanted to keep the throne? He had a right to it. He won our mother’s battles and didn’t protest once. But was Mother happy? No. And my sisters and brother didn’t like what he was teaching me, so they assisted Zeus in defeating Kronos and the Titans. They were banished, and soon after, Kronos was killed. Only…I didn’t know my siblings were behind this at the time. Not until many, many years later.
“When he died, I wept for months. My heart was shattered because he was all I wanted. And to make matters worse, Mother sent my siblings and me to the cosmos. She wanted us to create another world—one that was stable and full of hope. One that didn’t contain wars and battles and betrayals.”
Selah snorts a laugh. “For a while it worked. I created the Original Tethered out of sheer boredom. And boring they were. It felt only right to shake things up a bit, get a little chaos going. Then an idea struck me, and I went back to Earth to retain what was left of Kronos’s remains. I brought what I found back to Vakeeli, and with my blood and Kronos’s ashes, that is how my dear Decius was born.” She gestures to Decius who nods proudly. “Then I forced Decius to mate with Oriah.”
“And forced her to make a choice on who to stay mated to,” Decius tosses in. I hear a hint of agitation in his voice, like he resents Selah for it. “You knew she wouldn’t choose me. Knew it would devastate me.”
“Of course I knew. She was madly in love with Lehvine.”
“That’s fucked up,” Killian mutters.
“As fucked up as it was,” Selah retorts, eyeing Killian, “It fueled you, no?” She points her attention back to Decius. “Made you powerful?”
“It did, Mother.” Decius’s answer is deflated. He doesn’t seem convinced that it did.
“All the energy you’ve collected over the years still rests inside you,” she goes on. “All those Tethered Souls, the Cold Tethered children—they’re all within you. You’re fueled with so much power and for that, I am proud.”
Decius bows his head.
Selah sways her hand, making the image before us vanish. “It is because of my sisters that Kronos died. It is because of my sisters that the Cold Tethered kept being reborn. To me, it was like a slap in the face. What they did to Kronos was a betrayal. But with the Tethered I created, it was like they were stealing my power,” she snaps. “Then they used Yuri, made him sacrifice his energy for their sake—when they realized I knew of their betrayal and my anger could not be contained.” Selah runs a hand over one of the chairs, and it catches fire. I shift in my seat.
“They turned the Tethered against me. My own creations against me !” she says in a louder voice. “I made more people, of course. Like The Council,” she says, gesturing to Callista, Arie, and Vassilis. “Your elders held much more power than the Tethered, but it didn’t matter. They were mine first, and my sisters fed them lies. They became attached to them…so I figured the only way to solve it was to get rid of them. Decius did that for me. Unfortunately, it didn’t last for long.
“With Yuri’s sacrifice, they were able to put me into an eternal slumber. They never wanted me to wake again, but that’s unfortunate because I’m here. And the only way they’ll defeat me again is with Yuri’s power…which your mate has, Willow.”
She sets another chair ablaze. This one is close to Arie, and he inches away a bit as she walks behind his chair.
“I don’t understand why you want us all dead. All the people of Vakeeli are your creations and procreations. Why wipe us all out?” I ask.
“Perhaps it’s spite for what my sisters have done to me. They’ve created love here. Families. Tribes. All of this they’ve built while I rotted in a tomb. It could be for that reason,” she murmurs, running a finger along the top of Decius’s chair. His doesn’t catch fire, but it does sizzle. “I should want them to suffer just as I did. But the truth—the absolute truth, little one—is because I fucking can .”
Right after Selah says that, she drops a hand on top of Decius’s head, and her nails stretch in length. The red nail bed turns into thick claws, and she curls her fingers, piercing them into his skull.
Decius’s eyes widen. “Mother! What are you do?—”
With a twist and yank, Selah beheads Decius, and black blood gushes downward. I push back in my chair with a gasp, stumbling out of it as her mouth stretches wider.
“Oh shit!” Kilian barks, bustling back in his chair too.
Selah tosses Decius’s head into her mouth then twists the chair around to devour the rest of his body.
What. The fuck. Is happening?
The Council float out of their chairs with wide, horrified eyes, and we all watch as black veins appear on Selah’s skin and ride up to her shoulders. They crawl up her neck and slither across her face. She steps back, swiping dark liquid from the corner of her mouth before tossing her head back and breathing in through her nostrils.
“We need to get the fuck out of here, Willow!” Killian grabs my arm and tugs on it as Selah exhales with satisfaction. We run toward the door, and behind me I hear chairs flipping over, glass breaking, Callista and Vassilis shouting.
When I look back, Selah has grown four times her height, her head nearly touching the dome roof, and her orange eyes focused on The Council.
With one long arm, she reaches across the room and clutches Arie in her oversized hand. Then she tilts her head back and dangles him above her open mouth.
“What? No! No! ” Arie screams.
“Your Majesty! No!” Castilla yells, throwing a useless arm out for her brother.
Vassilis vanishes all together.
It all happens so quickly. One moment Arie is dangling by Selah’s hand, and the next he’s falling into her mouth.
She chews, and I hear bone crunching as silver liquid coats her lips. After swallowing, she puts on a devious smile, places a hand on the floor, and sets the dining room on fire.