Chapter 94 #2
The deranged goddess blinked. Stared at him.
Assessed the hills in the distance, gaze churning with calculation.
“Time, all he needs is time, Morrígna. And—“ Her eyes grew wide, snapping back to Kade. She smiled, the glee sending an eerie chill into the air. “You’re the only one who can make her bend the knee, because she’d rather die than hurt you.”
Kade gabbed Morrígna by the throat. “I’ll not harm her. Ever.”
Morrígna laughed. “Oh, but you won’t have a choice. You drank the tea.”
As he had all the weeks ago.
“It was never Circe in my mind,” he said, loosening his hold on her throat. “It was you.”
She laughed and flicked her wrist. Immense power knocked Kade in the gut, and he let Morrígna go, dropping to his knees. She thrust her hand up, and the force had him sliding in the wasteland’s muck.
“It was impressive when you removed me from your mind, but patience has been a dear friend for all these years.” She slunk towards him, her shawl like a breathing, billowing cloud of black mists.
Morrígna squatted ahead of him “All I had to do was wait and fool you again, as I have for many, many, many years.”
“No—“
As if invisible shackles wrapped around Kade’s wrists ankles, he couldn’t move. He fought against the phantom restraints, but it was no use. His muscles and resolve quivered under the triple goddess’s power.
“You will do as I command. Of course, I can’t let you kill her thanks to that rather inconvenient mating bond, seeing as I need you.
Instead, you’ll bring Evelyn Carson to her knees so I may bind her magic.
Then” —Morrígna smoothed her hand down his cheek, and Kade recoiled— “you’ll rule by my side for the rest of eternity. ”
Morrígna planted her finger onto Kade’s forehead, and pain sliced through his mind like she’d pierced him with a dagger.
He fought, pushed and raged against the darkness.
No. No. No, he chanted to himself.
Obey me, obey me, obey me, Morrígna’s voice hissed inside his mind.
Kade growled. He had to fight. But she was stronger. More powerful.
A pulse down the mating bond had him falter forward. It was beautiful and magnificent and precious. Just like his mate.
Kade roared. The goddess’s darkness dug deep into the fleshy surface of his mind like talons. He didn’t fight the sensation, he inhaled it. Leaned into the pain. For there was only way to endure this.
He let the goddess in.
Morrígna shuddered, her eyes rolling in the back of her head. “Aye, yes, there you are.”
She released him, and Kade stood on steady legs. The tent, wasteland, his wound, all of it vanished. Both him and Morrígna returned to the battlefield. Smoke blew to the east.
Kade almost lost his knees at the sight of Evelyn.
Tears or nothing of the sort, marred her beautiful face.
But he didn’t need to see her pain to know.
It burned down their bond like acid. Yet, his brave mate didn’t falter.
She marched towards them with her staff in hand, steely gaze as sharp as any blade.
“Bring her to me!” Morrígna said.
Kade unsheathed his sword and charged.
Evelyn met Kade’s blow in a swift, effortless movement. His blue power ignited down his blade and danced with her silver flame. In her eyes, he witnessed the reflection his own.
Glowing and fathomless, it didn’t appear like any true part of him remained.
But he was there, fully present despite Morrígna invading his mind. He simply needed to show Evelyn that.
Kade, she whispered down the bond.
He attacked, striking from overhead. Evelyn veered left, his blade running inches from her arm. He growled, but she didn’t draw up flame. Kade tried again, bringing his blade down. His mates eyes widened.
Kade backed her closer to Morrígna. He needed her in striking distance.
Please! Evelyn screamed into his mind.
He tried a third time, his next advance the exact same as earlier. Evelyn pivoted and swiped downward, catching his blade with her staff. She paused. Blinked. Recognition rippled across her face. She swept her left foot outward. Kade mirrored the stance.
And his mate smiled.
For they’d practiced this sequence so many, many times during their training.
I’m here, love, Kade said. I’m here.
“NO!” Morrígna’s cry shook the sky and earth.
“Now!” he shouted.
Evelyn spun, and cast her silver flame towards the goddess. Magic hit her square in the chest, and she stumbled.
She pointed finger at Kade, steam rising from her festering wound. “How dare you disobey me?”
Kade cracked his neck, tilting his head side to side. Morrígna’s presence in his mind was like thorny vines that attached to stone. There, but barely. All Kade had to do was yank.
Sweat matted at Kade’s brow as he grasped hold of the slick power. His muscles quivered as he pressed and push and crushed it with his own.
Morrígna crumbled and writhed in pain. Her veins glowed blue as if Kade’s power burned her from the inside out.
“What is this?” she cried out. “Your mind belongs to me!”
Kade breathed through his nose, fisting his hand as he continued to push Morrígna out of his mind, destroying her essence in the process.
“I may have let you in,” he seethed. “But I never accepted darkness.”
A snap echoed between his ears as she left his mind completely. Morrígna grew ashen, frantic, scrambling away from Evelyn as she readied her flame engulfed staff.
For Kade believed both light and dark lived in his soul. Neither eclipsed the other, and like the moon shining brightest at night, he’d held onto hope and love.
Evelyn positioned her staff over the goddess’s chest, and with the blunt end, pierced her heart. She drove the Gray Wood’s bones further and further until she reached the soil underneath, pinning the Morrígna in place.
Kade lay a hand on her shoulder, and he channeled his power into his mate. Evelyn cried out as she mustered more magic.
Morrígna’s flesh tore away. Her muscles corroded to nothing, revealing her bones. They skeleton splintered and burst, crumbling to ash. Sorin’s winds whipped her remains into the air, and Evelyn’s flame reached out, scorching the dust until not a spec of the goddess remained.
Evelyn continued to channel her power. Her dark hair twisted in the wind while her eyes glowed. Like she’d fallen into some trance of light and life. Yet, Kade felt her pure heart.
Silver burst in infinite directions. Near the first ever tree, more sprouted.
Their white stalks rose to the sky. Branches burst free, splitting their barky exterior.
Silver dotted for miles, and the power of light pulsed from them.
Wherever it cast its light, demons shifted out of their dark forms. Animals roamed the Void, while the battle continued between mortals and gods.
A forest of ever trees overtook the Void, and Kade’s chest expanded at the sight.
Underneath his boots, roots crawled near Evelyn’s staff. They dug and parted the earth, ripping a seam into their realm.
Revealing oblivion.
But it was not the Otherworld, Hel or the expanse in between.
Evelyn’s had created a new realm.
Her intentions filtered down their bond. She needed his power too in order for this to work. Kade rallied it forth and used the natural tug of the moon to grasp the lasting darkness from their realm.
On the battlefield, gods stumbled as Kade pulled them away. They flew through the air, funneling into the opening between worlds Evelyn had forged. For ridding their world of Morrígna wasn’t enough. The gods themselves couldn’t be trusted.
Together, Kade and Evelyn finally defeated the darkness.