Chapter 24
Vega woke to the sun shining in her eyes, a bright gleam coming in from the snow on the roads.
She looked over at Bridger, who was rotating the wheel to turn into a park with a sign at the road she’d know anywhere.
Holy shit, they’d made it. Her eyes grew wide as they finally adjusted to the light. “Fuck, how long did I sleep?”
“The rest of the way.” Bridger’s eyes were rimmed with red. He was more tired-looking than Vega had seen him in years.
All that sex and fighting had done him in… No, bad Vega. We aren’t thinking about the sex.
“You have arrived at your destination,” the GPS said in her robotic voice.
“Damn, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s okay.” He cut her off, smiling as he followed her directions to the corner of the park where she and Arlet always abandoned the car. “You needed to sleep. After all, we’re about to break a fifty-five-year-old curse. You probably needed all the rest you could get.”
They had no idea what they were getting into. Vega wasn’t even sure if she understood what she was supposed to do next.
All signs pointed to the portal being the curse, but what if it was more than that? What if there was something she’d missed?
“What’s our plan when we get back to Tolevarre?
” she spewed, staring right into Bridger’s eyes.
She still didn’t trust him fully, and as badly as she wanted to, as annoying as it was to be close to him and feel the hum of their bodies calling to each other, Vega couldn’t believe him until the decision had been made—until Bridger made it clear whose side he was on.
Of course he was on her side right now. He had to be. He had to make it back to Tolevarre—but when they got there, would this be a setup?
The worry had been floating in the back of her mind since he’d first shown up.
The days blended together. Vega couldn’t even remember how long ago it’d been.
Three days? Four? What day was it?
“What do you mean?” he asked, gripping the steering wheel and tensing at her question.
“You know what I’m asking, Bridger. What’s your plan when we get back and Marlena inevitably comes after me?” She was almost too nervous to ask, but she forced the words out anyway.
She had to make sure she wasn’t walking into a trap—had to be prepared.
“Are you going to fight with m—with the rebellion,” she corrected, not wanting this to be about her. “Or was this all a lie?” The anxiety in the pit of her stomach rolled, giving her a momentary queasiness she had to swallow like bile.
The silence between them felt deafening. Vega found herself counting the seconds before Bridger spoke.
Twenty-two. Twenty-three.
“I told her I would—” he started but never got the chance to finish because pain shot through Vega’s chest, tearing a scream from her throat that pierced her own ears.
A loud crash vibrated through the redwoods, leaves and snow falling from trees as they swayed from a gust of wind.
Bridger reached out to grab Vega’s hands, but as quickly as the pain came, it left, leaving Vega breathing like she’d ran a marathon. “What the…” She trailed off, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead.
Birds squawked, soaring by the car and shooting into the sky. A bright light deep in the forest pulsed, catching their attention. It was so far away it would have been missed if that flicker of pain didn’t thrum inside Vega like a pulse.
“We have to run,” Bridger said with a breath, turning around to grab the dagger and gun.
Vega snatched the gun out of his hand and opened the door, abandoning everything else inside the car. There was nothing she needed to take home, nothing she cared about more than keeping herself and the bonded alive.
She knew exactly where they needed to end up—could run this path like she’d done it a hundred times before, blindfolded. Bridger kept pace with her, pushing her to go faster with his long strides and perfect control.
It usually took over an hour to walk the trail, but with Vega and Bridger booking it, they might be able to clear it in twenty minutes with the terrain and without their abilities. Another flash of light in the distance made Vega hunch over and scream, more pain radiating through her.
The portal.
The portal was going to fucking kill her.
Bridger reached under her arms and hoisted her to a standing position. “I know it hurts, but we have to keep moving. You don’t get to stop now.”
She’d come too far.
She’d fought too hard.
Vega wouldn’t let this be the end.
This will not be the end.
They were so close—so fucking close to ending this thing.
Vega threw herself forward, fighting the fizzle of pain sitting at the back of her brain, waiting to be refired again.
They had to slow a few more times, Vega begging her own body to keep moving—to push through. To live.
The sound of maniacal laughter rang through the trees, and Vega’s body reacted, goosebumps peppering her skin like jolts of electricity.
So close, Vega. You’re so close.
Light flashed, dimming as they came to a skidding stop. A figure stood in front of the portal, swinging a broken piece of what looked like glass at the branches holding the portal in place.
The person froze, their voice echoing around them like it was coming from everywhere. “Ah, there you are. I’ve been waiting for you.”
The feel of the unfamiliar male voice on her skin made Vega shudder. Bridger stepped closer as he began to turn.
Vega knew who it was the second their eyes met, his shining black against the glow of the portal.
Romulus.
Well, that answered part of their question.
Tolevarre had spent years studying how their world was built and where their powers came from. But no one ever asked about Romulus—as if he’d never existed in the first place.
Romulus was forgotten.
Erased.
He swung the piece of the portal like a sword, its tip whizzing as it caught the wind and sliced through. “I can tell you’re both perplexed, so let me explain. It’s the least I can do before I deliver you to your deaths.”
Vega and Bridger stood side by side, ready to strike when the time came.
“For thousands of years, I was trapped in purgatory here on Earth, floating around without power, no physical form, nothing but my awareness. All because I let my selfish twin brother outsmart me.” He twitched at the mention of Remus.
She soaked in his every word, waiting for him to slip and reveal something she could use against him.
Romulus stared at them like he could see through to the other side.
“Remus”—he hissed the name like a snake—“trapped me here and left me to rot. Alone for the rest of eternity while he played hero and created a new world for a new people. A world he didn’t think I belonged in.
” The anger was visible in the way Romulus’s muscles tensed and his body vibrated.
“But little did he know, all I had to do was wait.” He gestured towards the disheveled portal.
“Eventually, your curse would become my second chance at living. Marlena cursed you to a life of death, but your curse has given me life for fifty-five years… It’s let me hijack the lives of others, but now, your death will give me my own back.
” He looked at Vega with longing, like he was saying goodbye to an old friend.
“I tried to keep you here all those times before because it was what I needed to exist outside of my own consciousness.”
She and Bridger were motionless, their eyes following Romulus’s every move.
Romulus focused his black stare on Vega. “When Marlena cursed you, looking to banish you to another realm, her blood, your blood, my brother’s blood, our blood, called to me. It found me, tying your curse to Earth. Tying you to me, a cursed and forgotten demigod.”
He proved Marlena hadn’t known exactly what she was doing when she cursed Vega, that there were things out of her control she hadn’t known about.
The proud smile and truth behind Romulus’s words had Vega struggling to keep a look of indifference on her face. Their abilities didn’t work on Earth, but the curse did… because Romulus, the curse’s connection to their world, was already here. His essence predated the fall of the original gods.
Romulus glanced down at the portal piece in his hand. “The curse should have given me the power to kill you, to take over your life, but you took that from me when you summoned him and became a bonded group of four gods.”
Remus’s words were starting to make sense… I saved you. Do not waste this opportunity. He’d made sure the curse couldn’t take her life. Because Vega’s life was no longer just her own—it was Bridger’s, Arlet's, and Khort’s too.
But how could Chase get her so close to death this time?
“I couldn’t kill you, and then when you left, I had to go back to the in-between—to the purgatory my brother cursed me to.” An eerie smile slid over his lips. “It’s why I went easy on you in your last life with Chase… All so I could keep living, even through someone else’s body.”
Rage sparked to life inside her. A gust of wind picked up like it responded to Vega's growing anger. She longed for the bite of her electric heart sputtering in her chest.
Bridger’s fingers grazed against Vega’s wrist, reminding her she needed to breathe, to focus on what Romulus was saying. He leaned in and whispered, “He can’t kill you.”
Romulus’s attention snapped to Bridger. “There are many things worse than death, Bridger Dimico. Have you not learned that yet?” Romulus cocked his head to the side, and a new person stood in front of them—one Vega knew, but Bridger wouldn’t. “Did the dreams teach you nothing?”
Romulus turned into a chameleon, changing his appearance to all the men who’d hurt her in her lives on Earth.
A mixture of different facial features, heights, hair and skin colors blended from one to another.
The last one settled on Chase, his neck slit open in a gaping wound while his skin looked drained of life.
“Isn’t that right, Vay?” When he took a step forward, Vega and Bridger both retreated, keeping distance.