Transcend (Dark Gods: Selfish Myths #4)

Aim for the Back

Envy

Now he knows what pain feels like.

And maybe one other emotion, a persistent feeling that’s been shadowing him like a pest, creeping up on him since the day he first lost his mind and touched her.

That infamous moment in time when he’d traced the goddess’s sarcastic mouth, those lips painted a brooding charcoal gray to match her hair.

In the past, her chronic scowls, dreary clothes, and perpetual middle finger used to nauseate him.

But hidden beneath the tough exterior? The watery texture of hurt. The sweet-and-sour taste of rapture.

Those are the parts he wasn’t supposed to discover. Those are the parts that came later.

Yet his transcendence hadn’t begun until asking her a question. What’s your pleasure?

In return, she had thrown one back at him. What’s your pain?

On this bloodthirsty night, the answers chip away at his soul. Standing opposite from each other, they face off across a chasm.

Rivals to lovers.

Lovers to enemies.

At some point, the two of them chose different sides. He can’t remember how it came to this, how they’ve ended up fighting for different endings.

With the battle raging across the summit, his fingers tighten around the bow. On reflex, she nocks her own weapon. As they aim at one another, he smirks mournfully. This was only ever going to go one way, with only one outcome.

That’s fate.

So now he knows what pain feels like, every shift of its curves, every sigh of its breath, and every glint of its irises. It’s a permanent emotion, like a stain he can’t rub off.

What’s a god to do when his match is the last person he can stand? He resists.

And what does that goddess do? Naturally, she makes him regret it.