61. Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty
Isoria
The fall was dizzying, relentless, but not as intense as the pain searing me. Heat scorched me so deeply I swore it was in my bones, charring me from the inside out. I couldn’t think clearly to try to call on my magic, to bring my phoenix wings back.
Just as suddenly, something changed. I was aware of a soothing sense of coolness washing away the heat and agony like an unseen balm.
Hands clung to me, gentle and secure, and when I forced my eyes open, I met a tender silver gaze of a male I’d never seen before.
And yet, the power and comfort that enveloped me made me recognize him immediately. Sanvo, god of healing.
My pain melted away. My strength returned, my magical well refilling.
“Thank you,” I breathed, but Sanvo had already vanished.
Right before my body struck the ground, my magic exploded out of me. My wings burst forth, my flames ignited, and I hovered above the earth, pinning Vithenna with my gaze.
This time, the goddess froze, the lightning stalling momentarily in her hands. Her eyes were pools of murderous intent. “Sanvo,” she practically snarled.
But her eyes darted behind me. I followed her gaze, realizing I wasn’t alone.
The same stunning deity who had been in the vision Vithenna had shown me at her temple, the one that all phoenixes revered above all others, was suspended in the air behind me, her skin shimmering with light.
Flames crackled along her body, and her eyes were blazing with heated fury.
Sanvo reappeared beside her, a calm but steady presence.
Shadows coalesced as Mortius joined them.
More and more gods appeared, some I was more familiar with than others, like Umbryon, god of night with his crown of starlight and Lirae, goddess of earth with her vines and flowers adorning her hair, and others I didn’t know as well, like Imbros, god of water, whose powerful magic swirling and splashing around him helped me identify him.
“You defied our agreement by refusing to ascend,” Solea proclaimed, fire in her tone to match the sparks surrounding her.
She set a hand on my shoulder, and Sanvo set one on hers.
One by one, the gods connected us all by joining hands or touching one another’s shoulders or waists, until I could feel them channeling their magic through one another, to Solea, and then into me.
“You deceived us all for your own power, and you’ve tormented Emberglade without just cause. ”
“You fool,” Vithenna spat. “You think that the usurper prince with his newfound acceptance is going to suddenly be the right sort of ruler? He wasn’t chosen. This land is soaked in blood. The phoenixes, King Wystan and his ilk, they all deserve this punishment.”
“No.” Umbryon’s expression was unyielding. “The punishment is over. You’ve shed as much blood as anyone. Innocents have suffered. Because of your defiance, we’ve returned to earth to intervene.”
“You still have ascended,” Vithenna protested, summoning another crackling bolt of lightning. This one she hurled herself, straight toward the gathered gods. “Your power is limited!”
But the gods didn’t bother trying to dodge her attack, not when I was there, spreading my wings and sending my flames outward toward the goddess of life.
I repelled her attack with a blazing, roaring inferno, fueled by the power I could feel the gods flooding into me.
Every ounce of the strength and magic they could wield was there, and I was sending it all back toward Vithenna, along with her own electricity.
Vithenna vanished and reappeared, but she couldn’t move far enough away, couldn’t retreat quickly enough. “You cannot kill a god!” she screamed at me, even as the flames and electricity, amplified by each deity’s strength poured into me, consumed her. Her form vanished and her screams cut short.
As suddenly as I’d summoned the fire, it whirled away, leaving nothing but ashes.
Vithenna’s storm weakened and died, the rain stopping and the clouds rolling back to once again reveal the night’s glory.
Slowly, my body aching with exhaustion, I lowered myself to the ground and shifted back into fae form.
I glanced over my shoulder, but the gods were gone.
Quiet enfolded Rainsong in a blanket, like a mother tucking in her child after a nightmare.
“Isoria!” It was Archer, charging through the wreckage of battle, evading the bodies that hadn’t been knocked into the fissures in the earth. He was soaked, his golden hair plastered to his face, his jacket stained with blood and mud.
My heart swelled. He was here, safe and whole. We’d made it.
Tears flooded my eyes as I ran to him. My boots skidded across the slick cobblestones and splashed through puddles that hadn’t drained into the crevices in the street. Leaping over cracks and rubble, dodging the revenant bodies, I flung myself at Archer, my fated enemy, my blood blond.
His arms wrapped me in a tight embrace as he buried his face in my neck. “Isoria, I thought I’d lost you. Again.” His words were strangled, his voice hoarse.
“You’ll always have me,” I whispered.
His hands tightened on my waist at my words.
When he pulled back, scanning my face and opening his mouth to speak, I seized his collar, tugged him to me, and kissed him fiercely.
He tasted of ash and rain, of all the desperation and loss of battle, but also of home.
My whole body warmed with this truth and with the emotions I felt burning through our bond.
Vithenna had said I’d never go home again, and in an awful way, it was true.
I’d never experience the home of my childhood that my mother had given me, because I’d never feel her embrace or hear her voice again.
But I’d found a new home, a new refuge, in this male.
Like Archer had said, we’d made our own fate.
You were magnificent, Archer said in my mind. Powerful and brave and unspeakably selfless. I can’t believe you came back to fight with us when I’d threatened your life.
Breaking apart at last, I caught my breath and gazed into his eyes as he cupped my cheek. “I couldn’t leave Rainsong to suffer when I saw the army, not when I could stop and help warn them. Help fight.”
Archer shook his head in disbelief, his eyes shining with wonder. His lips quirked in a crooked smirk. “I hope this isn’t revolting to you anymore, considering that kiss, or this will be really awkward.”
I laughed along with him as I wiped away tears.
“And maybe this is the least romantic place to do this,” he continued, “but I can’t hold it in a moment longer.
I love you, Isoria Gildmere. I’m in love with you, my ruination.
In spite of fate, my father, the gods. I’d defy them all again and again to be with you.
Truly with you, not for show or survival or convenience.
” His smirk grew into a smile. “And not just because we are blood-bonded, either. I want a future with you at my side.”
“Thank Solea,” I breathed, “because I meant it when I said you’ll always have me. I love you, and I’m not going anywhere.”