Chapter 31 #2
Terena had only ever used this power once while training with Hermes back in Olympia.
It had come out of nowhere, surprising her and making Hermes laugh and clap with glee.
The power of compulsion was from her mother, he’d said.
Once it manifested, he’d had her practice with it until it came to her easily, without her needing to even think about it.
As her powers ignited, the light beneath her skin no longer shown white. A dark red light glowed, racing through her veins as the compulsion worked its way through the men standing above her. Her vision turned red.
The grating of the portcullis sounded as it raised and Terena tensed. She dismounted slowly, slapping Nyx’s rump. The horse trotted off after Rydon and the others.
Terena shivered beneath her cloak, the soft wolf fur tickling her cheeks as anticipation fired in her veins. Her fingers flexed.
The gates yawned open and men with swords waited impatiently to rush her. Terena widened her stance and shook out her hands.
A moment later, the soldiers roared as they ran toward her.
She heard Rydon bellow at her and Lerek shout something that was swallowed up by the men stampeding her way.
Time stopped.
Red flashed behind her eyes. Fiery red light pulsed beneath her skin along her veins. Heat slid down her fingers as she fanned them out.
Terena took a breath.
She expected the Twins, her short swords, to appear. But when time resumed in a sudden snap, Terena’s fingers flicked forward.
A pulse rushed out, the ground beneath her quaking. Dirt and snow flew as an invisible force rumbled forth, the ground tearing in a massive wave, crashing into the soldiers.
After the deafening roar of the shockwave, the dust cloud dissipated in a quiet patter like raindrops falling. Nothing remained of the soldiers.
Nothing but ash.
The sudden silence following the quake was so absolute, Terena swore she could hear the flap of the pennant atop the tallest spire of Sydney Hall off in the distance.
She felt peaceful, her breath expelling evenly. Even her mind was quiet for once.
A choked cry from above her on the wall made Terena snap her eyes up. Duke Ravos’s face was so stricken his chin wobbled. His jaw slackened as he stared in pure terror down at her.
“Abomination,” he said, his voice cracking on the word. Even as low as it was spoken, it carried on the wind to her, settling into her bones.
Long seconds passed before Terena smiled.
“No, Galen. I am retribution.”
Rydon had lived thirty years in this world. Because of his profession, much of that was violent, especially with the power shifts and greed of royals.
And he’d seen things he had thought lost to this world for a millennia.
But he had never seen anything like this.
“What the fuck just happened?” Lerek breathed.
“She’s becoming who she was always meant to be,” Cassandra said.
Lerek snorted. “A monster?”
Rydon opened his mouth to curse the fool but Cassandra spoke first.
“That’s what you see?”
Lerek looked at her in disgust. “Was this necessary?” He waved at Ren as she walked slowly toward them, her head bent so Rydon could not see her face. “The Terena I knew would never have done this!”
“The Terena you knew had to hide who she was in order to fit into your world,” Cassandra rebuked gently. “Your father’s done worse and yet you do not call him monster.”
“My father’s never—”
“Your father locked her up in your dungeons. Your father wanted to kill her because of who she is.” Rydon snapped. “Do not compare her to your father ever again.”
Lerek glared, but did not reply. Rydon tensed when he felt Cassandra lean her head on his back. She squeezed her arms and he exhaled, closing his eyes.
Someone began clapping. Rydon opened his eyes to see Soros, a wide grin on his face, clapping as Terena drew close. It was picked up by a few others, and Terena smiled.
Mounting Nyx, she looked at Rydon and Cassandra, then Gabriol. She frowned uncertainly at Lerek’s expression.
“What?”
“Are you fucking kidding?” Gabriol said, spreading his arms.
“I told you I had a plan.”
“Aye!” Rydon snarked. “I thought maiming. Perhaps a few deaths. Maybe. A tiny bit of what we saw in Olympia before we left?” He shrugged.
“I get it. You need the practice. But this?” Rydon ran both hands through his hair as he looked over Terena’s shoulder at the decimation she’d made of Ravos’s soldiers.
“No, Ren. I did not think this was the plan.”
“And when the fuck did you learn to do that? How did you do that?” Gabriol asked.
“I didn’t know I could, honestly,” Terena said, and for the first time, Rydon glimpsed the woman he’d met on the day of her execution. Uncertain. Vulnerable. Scared. “My plan was to use the Twins like I did before we left Olympia.”
Terena turned Nyx and rode away from the city walls. After a long moment, Rydon and the others fell in beside her. Captain Soros whistled, and soon his men were riding away, likely back to their camp.
“Did anything different happen that made you change your mind?” Rydon asked, mostly curious.
He was also cataloging the changes to her abilities as she neared her nameday.
Hermes had warned them unique powers would manifest the closer she came to her majority and powers all gods had would grow stronger and more consistent.
“There was no thought, Rydon,” Terena said, her voice almost sad, and he thanked Gaia for it. Lately, her demeanor was colder, her patience shorter. He feared what she was becoming and yet he knew her ascension was inevitable.
“It was… the same as walking. The same as breathing,” Ren said, lifting her face to his.
Rydon frowned as he watched her. Her expression was strange. She seemed troubled.
But excited, too.
A cold mask slipped over her face and she shrugged. “It was them or us.”