Chapter 32
The halls of the gods had been silent for so long, it was easy for Elric to walk through them as though he was the only one who owned them.
He’d often wondered in his years trapped in his own realm whether he would want to come back here.
Without a single person or drop of magic to keep them safe, the halls would fall into disrepair.
Of course, the moment he’d been resurrected, he hadn’t really cared what had happened to this place. He’d just wanted to experience life again. He’d wanted to throw himself into existing and learning and touching.
But now, it was good to be home. This was the place where his family had been together most, after all.
He had been summoned here so many times it was hard to count how often he’d darkened these halls.
And sure, usually it wasn’t for good reason.
His siblings had loved to berate him about all the things they perceived him to be doing wrong.
And yet… now it was different. Now he was summoning his brother for altogether different reasons, and Ajax would have to be the one listening to Elric. His brother was going to hate it.
He couldn’t wait.
Elric approached the throne at the very end of all the others.
The God King had always put himself in the position of highest esteem.
He wanted people to look up at him when they talked, even other gods.
He wanted them to be equally terrified and in love with him.
No matter what it cost the person, their life, their freedom.
Ajax would barter with them until he got what he wanted.
The Deathless One had never begged for an audience with anyone, though. And he wouldn’t start now.
Elric leaned forward and knocked on the dusty throne. “Brother? You are needed.”
He stepped back, certain that Ajax would answer him rather quickly.
And he wasn’t wrong. The dust on the throne exploded outward and hovered in the air, like something had popped underwater and then all the dust scattered throughout the room.
The throne gleamed with a light that seemed to shine directly on it as Elric took a few more steps back, and then…
There was his brother. Larger than life. In the hall of the gods, Ajax always wanted to look like a giant. Even though he wore a different face, the reaction within Elric was still the same. He hated how his first instinct was to be afraid.
His brother had always inspired fear, though. Always. Perhaps it was a fear of the pain that Ajax would feed off, and that didn’t matter if it was mortal or god. Ajax could and would take anything that he could.
But still, there was something reassuring in knowing that there was a plan in place. Elric wasn’t alone, and now it was time for Ajax to realize that as well.
“Hello, brother,” Elric said, looking up at Ajax with an amused expression on his face. “Fancy seeing you here.”
“You’re supposed to be dead.”
Ah. His confusion was enough to reveal that Ajax had not, in fact, felt that there were other gods alive. Perfect. This would be so much more entertaining now.
“Oh, yes. That.” Elric shrugged. “I’ve never been good at staying dead. You should know that by now. Death doesn’t want to keep me. I’m stuck here, unlike you. Care to share what death was like for you, brother?”
There was a flicker of rage already in Ajax’s eyes. Which was perfect. That was the plan. Elric was supposed to make him angry so that they could then show his brother just what was coming for him.
“Elric,” Ajax snarled. “You are wasting my time. How did you escape death when you no longer have a gravesinger at your beck and call?”
“That’s my little secret.” Elric pressed a finger to his lips. “But maybe someday I’ll tell you. Now, let’s get down to business. A little birdie told me that you were trying to build a pantheon of your own.”
He gestured around them as though to point out the very obvious.
There were no other gods here. Not that Ajax could see, at least. There was only his throne and Elric’s easily visible.
Jessamine’s own throne was slightly behind a pillar, and even if it wasn’t, his brother had never been all that observant.
He would be shocked if Ajax noticed anything beyond his own fat head.
Ajax hadn’t even looked around once summoned. He’d only had eyes for Elric, the need to punish far stronger than the need to be safe. But arrogance had always been Ajax’s downfall.
“I am going to rebuild what your little rats broke,” Ajax snarled.
“Your coven is in shambles. You were supposed to be dead, along with that ridiculous excuse for a gravesinger. Do I need to send people to Inverholm to take care of the rest? That coven of yours always meddles where it is not supposed to.”
But then he could see Ajax really looking at him. His brother started at Elric’s feet, his gaze taking in every detail of the body before him.
Ajax might not usually be good at details, but he wasn’t a fool. And in this case, he was seeing a very important thing for this god to notice.
“You don’t have a new body,” Ajax muttered. “Why is that?”
Elric rolled his eyes. “I get to choose my body, don’t you remember? The coven that summons me gives me the choice of form. I don’t need to possess a creature like you.”
“Yes, you do. That is how you were given your godly powers. Through possession, Elric.”
“In the beginning. But now I have no need for a form. I’ve grown stronger in all the years since our collective death.” Elric lifted his arms, waving up and down his body. “And I quite like this choice. It’s dashing, and the ladies seem to like it far more than my old one.”
Ajax’s head cracked to the side, his neck making a popping sound before he looked at Elric once more.
Yes, this was all going to work almost too well.
His brother fell into the usual rhythm with the two of them.
Hatred, anger, annoyance—all of those feelings had been there for hundreds of years.
There was no shaking it. Elric knew exactly what buttons to push.
Just like Ajax knew how to make Elric feel less than he actually was.
“You’ve been dead just as long as I have,” Ajax snarled. “Don’t think that because you were raised before me means that you have an edge over me, little brother. You are the weaker of the two of us. You always have been.”
“Yes, I know. You deal in pain, I deal in death. Theoretically, we could have worked together to become even stronger.” Elric shrugged. “But you got too greedy. As you usually do. And now you are so weak that you cannot even feel when other gods have returned.”
At the words, his brother stilled. It was like Ajax froze entirely to his throne, and then sudden movement.
He stood, all that massive height unfurling from his chair and looming over Elric. And then Ajax stepped down, the entire world seeming to shake with the force of his weight as he stalked off his throne and down the hall toward his brother.
“Elric.” Ajax’s voice pulsed with rage. “What do you mean, ‘gods’?”
Elric remembered that rage. It always came just before pain that was so blinding it was hard to think through.
Ajax would do it over and over again. He wouldn’t stop until the god or goddess was writhing on the floor, or curled in a ball so tight they had to wait for hours until their muscles unlocked. It was a fate worse than death.
He swallowed hard and stuck to the plan. Stepping backward, he led his brother in the direction of his own throne. “Ah, Ajax. You know how I misspeak sometimes. It’s not all that surprising that I would.”
“You didn’t misspeak. You said exactly what you meant to say.” Ajax thundered even closer, the sound of his footsteps making every muscle in Elric’s body quake. “What did you mean by ‘gods,’ little brother?”
Elric meant that he wasn’t alone anymore.
He meant that Ajax was so blinded by his own need for sovereignty that he hadn’t thought to stay aware of whether anyone else could rival him.
There was something humorous about a god who was so bloated in his own arrogance that he genuinely thought no one else could surpass him.
But Elric just stepped up onto his own throne and slowly sat down.
“I mean, brother, you aren’t the only one who thought about creating a pantheon.
But you were the only one to do it the hardest way possible.
Really, trying to shove the Huntress into an unwilling body?
You should have known she wasn’t smart enough to trick a queen. ”
“You are purposefully not answering my questions, little brother.” Ajax braced his hand against the back of Elric’s throne, looming over him. “Now say what you have to say.”
“I think you should be more aware of your surroundings,” Elric replied. “And perhaps, if you were smarter, you would turn around.”
It was so satisfying to see Ajax’s eyebrows rise in surprise as he turned around in horror to see that there was a new throne in their hallowed halls. A throne that was now so overgrown with ivy, it was almost impossible to see that there was even a seat there.
Elric could appreciate the drama, even if it was perhaps a little overdone on Jessamine’s part. The overgrowth made it nearly impossible to see that there was even a goddess there, other than toes of her bare feet.
He hadn’t known when she was going to show up or where she was going to put herself.
But seated on her throne, where he had just worshipped her as only a lover could, seemed fitting.
Especially with his brother, unaware of how all that ivy had grown.
It was the bursts of her pleasure that had bid them to have a new life.
The feeling of her magic growing with every lick and stroke of his tongue.
Ajax let out a little huff of laughter. “You want me to believe that you brought a goddess to life? You, of all people?”
“You can believe what you want. The proof is right in front of you, though, Ajax. I would think it was rather obvious.” Elric tried to keep his voice from shaking in fear.
“But you never were all that observant. I suppose it makes sense that even presented with a truth not of your own making, you would rather pretend it did not happen at all.”
He was rambling, but he also knew that Ajax wasn’t listening to him. Oh, no. His brother was looking at that newly alive throne as though he had seen a ghost. He hadn’t, of course. There were no life goddesses when they had both been alive last time, but maybe that was by design.
Ajax likely hadn’t wanted anyone like her to challenge him. Because while he could give pain, she could take it away.
The ivy shifted, spinning and rolling among itself like a bundle of snakes writhing before their eyes.
A rosebud peeked out through the vines, tiny and so large it would have fit perfectly in the palm of his hand.
As they watched, it bloomed into a bright red flower that dripped blood onto the emerald-green leaves.
The rose followed an exaggerated life cycle, withering to death before their eyes as its petals fell and a rose hip formed along the vine. Only then was a single dark eye revealed, watching them with hatred burning within the depths of that darkness.
“How quaint,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “A god who believes he is the end of all that is.”
Ajax recognized her voice. “I thought you were dead, witch.”
“Witch no longer. I am a goddess, and you will bow before me.” The vines slithered off her body, revealing graceful bare shoulders and cracked skin that glimmered with gold.
She stood slowly, the ivy clinging to her form and creating a tight bodice that dipped between her legs.
She was covered only by greenery and leaves, life itself blooming from her body as more flowers pulsed between living and dead.
“I will bow before no new goddess,” Ajax scoffed. “And you will see why.”
Elric didn’t move fast enough. A spell had already been hurtled from Ajax’s mouth, guided by the direction of his hand right toward Jessamine. Soon she would know why all the other gods had feared him. She would understand why they were terrified of their brother and king.
His gut twisted as he waited for her scream. Yet again, she would endure pain when he might have prevented it. He could have stepped in the way of that spell if he was just a little faster.
But she didn’t scream. Instead, she just stood there and smiled at the God King with an expression that said she thought not only was he weak, but that he was foolish as well.
“No more pain,” she said, her voice a soothing balm on Elric’s soul. “Not for me.”
Ajax’s eyes went wide with fear. Elric hadn’t realized just how much he needed to see that expression on his brother’s face. For once, Ajax would know what it was like to be bested. He would know what it was like to feel hunted because he could not intimidate a goddess of life.
And apparently, he could not cause her to feel pain either.
His brother turned as though he planned to leave, but Jessamine wasn’t going to let him.
Vines shot out from her throne, wrapping around his legs and arms and holding him in place as she walked up to him.
She was so small next to the behemoth of a man.
Such a tiny woman to look up into the face of danger with hatred in her heart and vengeance in her eyes.
“I’m going to let you go,” she said. “Only because I want you to know a little longer what this feels like. This rumbling in your gut, the way your heart is racing, and your mind feeling like it can’t catch a thought.
I want you to lie awake at night, wondering when we’re going to show up.
Because we are. We’re coming for you, Ajax.
I’m going to banish you from Leon’s body, and then I’m going to slit his throat just like he did mine.
If I let him die afterward? That’s a question for Elric. ”
Ajax struggled against the vines, but he still managed a disbelieving chuckle. “You are not strong enough to do that. A brand-new goddess and a deathless god who has always been worthless? I’m not frightened by you, nor your threats.”
She flexed her hand, and the ivy became stairs for her to walk right up to Ajax’s ear.
She then leaned so close that Elric knew her lips almost touched his skin, and she whispered, “You should be very afraid, God King. You’re going to know what it’s like to kneel at my feet before I destroy everything you hold dear. You never should have fucked with me.”
With another flick of her wrist, she banished him from the pantheon.
Elric didn’t know what to say, so what came out was “I have never been more in love with you.”