Chapter 40
Lumi
Tears flood my eyes as I’m ripped from the earth. The guys’ eyes were fixed on the blood traveling toward us. Focused on which of us was going to get the ‘privilege’ of speaking to a god. Mine was solely focused on who would be the sacrifice.
Hitting the ground harder than I’ve ever hit the ground before is the only thing to shake me from my grief and focus me on the task at hand.
I don’t know where I am. I don’t know if I’ve really been transported to the place of the gods, or if this is another trick of Isolde’s. But I know wherever I am, I’m in danger.
I rise quickly, letting my magic surge like a charged current through my body. I don’t know how to wield it yet, but I’m going to have to figure it out fast if I’m going to survive.
“Put away your magic, foolish girl,” a deep, rumbling voice says.
I don’t.
I refuse to cower or be unable to protect myself.
I consider shifting. My wolf body feels stronger, more in control than this newfound magic. But something buried deep inside me says my magic is more powerful.
A chuckle replaces the voice, echoing around me. I turn, locating the man standing behind me.
But he’s no ordinary man—he towers over seven feet, broad and powerfully built.
Tight cut-off shorts are the only thing covering his body.
His eyes burn a piercing gold, and his hair gleams like moonlight itself.
Yet it’s not only his size that commands attention.
Something in him hums with a power I can’t quite understand.
An ancient magic that demands respect. The kind that could crush me before I even realized what the threat was.
“Who are you?” I ask, my voice unwavering.
He grins. “You know exactly who I am, marked one.”
I stare at him again. “You’re Luan, the wolf shifter god.”
“Very good, marked one.”
“Why? Why am I marked? Who is my mate?”
He chuckles. “So impatient. But as you summoned us using the combined blood of a wolf shifter, a witch, and a vampire, we must wait to speak until the other two gods have arrived.”
I frown. “And how long will that take?”
He glances up, and I see a bright light flickering above where he’s standing.
The ceiling stretches ridiculously high with a chandelier holding what appears to be thousands of candles reflecting pure light.
Arched windows bring in even more light until I’m almost blinded by it.
I could study the details of the place for years—tapestries, paintings, and intricate details tell a story that I’ve never heard of before.
Of a place, a palace that belongs to the gods.
The light grows brighter, then bursts into flame.
I close my eyes for a single second. When I open, the flame has shifted into a beautiful red-haired woman who is standing next to Luan.
A foot shorter, with a fabric akin to white lace hugging her body in such a way that accentuates every curve of her body that it covers.
I’ve never met a woman with such perfect curves.
She glances at Luan and then huffs. “Where is Nizal? Late as usual.”
“You only just arrived, Hestia,” Luan says.
She huffs and then looks at me. “I don’t have time for this. I have far more important things to deal with.”
“Like the fact that you’re about to lose our bet?” Luan taunts.
“Hush,” she responds.
With a whoosh, a black shadow sprints into the room.
And then a man with shadowed skin, white fangs, and piercing red eyes appears.
Somehow, he’s even taller than Luan, but that is where the similarities end.
I can barely make out any clear features on him as he blends into the shadows that seem to be emanating from him.
The vampire god—Nizal.
He studies me with quiet curiosity, a knowing glint in his gaze that makes it clear his power runs far deeper than anything I’ve ever imagined.
“Now, we are all here. Are you ready to proceed?” Luan asks me.
I frown. “What do you mean by proceed?”
They all exchange looks before Hestia steps forward. “You summoned us, marked one? Do you not understand what that means?”
“I didn’t summon you. Isolde did.”
“But she is not a marked one. She doesn’t get to summon us. Only one marked by us can,” Nizal says.
“Why did you curse us? How do we undo them?”
Nizal shakes his head, sounding bored. Like I’ve failed an invisible test. “You’re asking the wrong questions.”
“Then tell me what the right questions are! What questions are more important than how to save the people that I love! You are killing us. Pinning us together. Don’t you care?”
Every eye in the room loses focus into a flat, withdrawn state. Their body language is worse as they each relax into chairs they conjured out of thin air.
This is probably my only chance before the gods. My only chance to try to save everyone I care about. I won’t squander it.
I lash out with my magic in a violent burst. I can’t control it. Can’t direct it toward any particular god. Not that I want to pick one over another. They’ve all pissed me off so much that I wish I could destroy them all.
“You missed,” Hestia says.
I frown, letting the charge refill my fingertips. “I won’t again.”
She chuckles. “You don’t have control of your powers. You will miss a hundred times before you learn to harness your magic. You’ll be back on earth long before then.”
I shoot again, but my magic bounces off the gold-plated wall behind them, proving her point.
“You should be bowing before us, marked one,” Luan says.
“Bow? You expect me to bow?” I laugh. “Why would I bow before three gods that have the power to lift the curses that are destroying the very things you created? The very beings you vowed to protect?”
“Ask the right question, snow wolf,” Nizal says, throwing the term that Nyx used at me.
“You don’t get to call me that,” I growl.
“Ask,” he says back.
“Who is my true mate? Is it Ambrose?” I ask, hating that I have to ask. That I have to know for sure. That breaking one curse might be the only thing I get to do.
They all stare back at me. None of them speaks. Their expressions soften, but that’s all. Like, we are finally getting somewhere, but I don’t understand why they are suddenly tongue-tied.
“They can’t speak. They can’t break the curses. That is why they aren’t answering. Aren’t lifting the curses. They don’t have a choice,” a soft, velvety woman’s voice says from behind me.
Suddenly, the gods in front of me are bowing.
My own knees tremble with the uncontrollable need to bow. I turn slowly, trying my best to stay upright, but find myself lowered onto a knee, bending at the waist.
I look up, and suddenly I’m not breathing.
The most enchantingly beautiful woman I’ve ever seen stands before me.
Blonde curls that cascade all the way to the floor reflect all of the light in the room at me.
Shimmering sparkles of every color in the rainbow blind me with their beauty.
Eyes an unnatural shade of pink that matches the pink of her cheeks.
And the dress—sheer glitters that aren’t so much fabric as a decoration drawn onto her skin.
“I’m Myrria.”
“I’m Lumi. I’m sorry, but you’re the god of…?”
She smiles. “Everything. My father rules the gods.”
Her power dances around me as if taking up all of the oxygen in the room. I’m only breathing because she allows it.
“They can’t answer because of the blood deal they made when they entered my father’s games.”
“Gods have blood deals?”
She nods. “Where do you think you got the idea from? You and I are quite alike.”
I frown. “No disrespect, but I’m nothing like you. I’m not a princess with the power to, well, do whatever you want to the world.”
She smiles sadly. “Unfortunately, I don’t have as much power as you’d think. Yet.”
I raise my eyebrows, confused as ever. “Can you answer my questions?”
She nods. “I am not bound by a blood deal. What I’m bound by is much different.”
I wait for her to elaborate, but she doesn’t.
“How do I break the curses? Which man is my mate?”
She shakes her head. “My father is old. He’s ready to step down as king of the gods. Pass the torch to the next generation.”
I study her, trying to get this princess of the gods to like me, so I choose my words carefully. “He doesn’t think a woman can do the job?”
“He doesn’t think I should bear the job alone. I haven’t found the right god yet, so he set up a competition to ensure the rightful god or goddess would win. Whoever wins will become my spouse. We will rule together.”
She pauses as if she has all the time in the world.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not following what that has to do with me?”
“It has everything to do with you. Each god got to choose one being: a wolf shifter, a vampire, a witch, or a human. Any person they wanted. My father paired two of them as mates. The god or goddess who chose the correct pairing as mates wins.”
I frown. “So my entire life, my fate, my mate is all because of a stupid game the gods are playing?”
“Yes, and I’m sorry for it. But it is out of my hands.”
“So how do I figure out who my mate is? Or if I’m even one of the two people your father chose.”
“You are the chosen one. I got my father to admit as much.”
“How?”
She shakes her head. “That’s an answer for another time. But to figure out how you figure out who your mate is, you challenge a god to learn one truth.”
“How? What does that mean?”
“Don’t trust anything. Don’t trust a feeling, an emotion, a clue, words spoken to you, what a seer has said—everything can be manipulated by the gods to try to get you to choose their mate.”
Fucking gods.
“How do I challenge?”
She smiles, like I’ve given her hope.
“You summon us, and instead of asking questions, you challenge a god or goddess of your choosing. If you win their challenge, then they will give you one truthful answer.”
“Just me or…”
“Any who are marked may challenge.”
“And it will cost?” I ask, my throat going dry.
She nods.
“No, I won’t do it. I won’t risk anyone’s life but my own.”
“That’s very noble of you, but more will die if you don’t correctly choose your mate.”
“I already know who my mate is, the seers—”
“Are controlled by Hestia. Of course, she would have them see her choice.”
I frown. “So then Nyx is my mate?”
“If Nizal is to be believed.”
I sigh. “There are more possibilities, aren’t there?”
“Any that bear a mark are possibilities.”
I only know of markings on Ambrose, Nyx, and myself. But that doesn’t mean I’ve checked every witch, wolf shifter, or vampire.
“It has nothing to do with love. Nothing to do with who is the best match for me. Not even fate—it’s all just a game. My life is a game to all of you.”
“Yes, and my life is tied to yours. My future is tied to this game as well. I don’t know who the winner is. All I know is if you pick wrong, if you die, the game starts all over again, and I…” She doesn’t continue her thought, just stares off into the distance.
“I will not allow you to choose wrong. I’ve waited long enough. You will figure this out. A winner will be declared.”
I search her eyes. “You’ll break all the curses if I find my mate? You’ll put a stop to all the suffering?”
“Everything will change.”
It’s not a promise. Actually, it’s the opposite of a promise. It’s not a guarantee that she’ll make change for the better. I can’t trust her. I don’t even know if anything she’s telling me is the truth. Just that I don’t have a choice but to believe her.
“What happens now? I go back. Isolde tries to force me to complete the marking ceremony at the full moon tomorrow? I will probably die.”
She frowns. “You can handle Isolde. You’re more powerful than you know.”
“And if I survive, I what? I just sacrifice one of my friends so that I can challenge a god to get a tiny piece of information that may or may not be helpful?”
“Or you could sacrifice an enemy,” she winks at me like that’s somehow supposed to make this better.
“What happens when we die?”
“You’d have to ask Aethyr, the god of death.”
I frown, realizing I know nothing about the gods. I don’t know how many there are or what their roles are. If each picked a different pair, there could be hundreds of options for my mate.
“Who was my mother? Why am I part witch?”
“If that’s the question you want answered, you’d have to challenge a god with the answer to get the truth.”
“So that’s it, that’s all the information I get?
Now I have to go back, take on the most powerful witch and the vampire king.
Survive long enough to find a random man your father chose as my mate.
Complete the marking ceremony with him to break the curses, and then spend the rest of my life miserable instead of living with someone I love. ”
“Sucks, doesn’t it? But you can save the people that you love.”
“What if I can’t?”
She gives me a look, like she’s not giving me a choice. I have to succeed. For all of our sakes.
Before I can protest, plan, and think through my next steps, I’m falling, and I know exactly where I’m going to land.